INFP Careers: Best Jobs for INFPs and Ones They Avoid
The CQ Team · 6 min read ·
Where satisfied INFPs work, from the test publisher's data on 1.3 million working adults: the top jobs, the job families INFPs favour and avoid, and how far type should steer you.
The most common jobs among satisfied INFPs in the publisher's career data are artist, music composer and florist. The data covers more than 1.3 million working adults in 746 jobs, all in their job for over two years and satisfied with it. 43,616 of them were INFPs. It shows where INFPs choose to work and stay content. That is a different question from where they perform best.
These are the top ten, in rank order, from the 2020 MBTI Career Report by The Myers-Briggs Company. A job ranks high when INFPs hold it far more often than their share of the US population would predict.
| Rank | Job |
|---|---|
| 1 | Artists and related workers |
| 2 | Music composer and arranger |
| 3 | Floral designer or florist |
| 4 | Massage therapist |
| 5 | Poet, lyricist or creative writer |
| 6 | Multimedia artist or animator |
| 7 | Actor |
| 8 | Copywriter |
| 9 | Camera operator, film and TV |
| 10 | Designer |
Further down the same list: interpreter or translator, anthropologist, midwife, editor, clinical psychologist and advanced practice psychiatric nurse.
The report sees two trends. The biggest group is in the arts: language, visual and performing arts, and design. The second is work that serves other people.
In the same data, INFPs were least likely to be found in these jobs.
The report's own advice is not to rule out a job just because your type rarely picks it. In an unusual job, it says, your different approach may be valued and you may be seen as an innovator.
The report scores 23 job families from 0 to 100 for how popular they are with INFPs.
| Job family | Score | Group |
|---|---|---|
| Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media | 100 | Most attractive |
| Community and social service | 72 | Most attractive |
| Personal care and service | 68 | Most attractive |
| Education, training and library | 63 | Most attractive |
| Life, physical and social science | 50 | Most attractive |
| Computer and mathematical | 39 | Moderate |
| Legal | 38 | Moderate |
| Management | 29 | Least attractive |
| Business and financial operations | 29 | Least attractive |
| Production | 19 | Least attractive |
| Construction and extraction | 19 | Least attractive |
The report lists the tasks and settings INFPs tend to prefer.
That fits the type. An INFP leads with introverted feeling, a deep private sense of what is right. It is backed by extraverted intuition, which spots possibilities in ideas and people. Read more on the INFP type page.
Less than any job list implies. The test's publisher says there have been no meaningful studies of the MBTI predicting job performance, and that it is unethical to make job applicants take it in order to screen them out (MBTI Facts). Psychologist David Pittenger also showed that occupational type tables partly track the gender mix of each job (Pittenger, 1993).
So use the lists as a map of where people like you landed and stayed. Then test a job directly: talk to people in it, try the work, check the pay.
Not sure you are an INFP? Our MBTI-style test takes about three minutes. It is a short test in the style of the Myers-Briggs, not the official MBTI instrument. For every type's career data in one place, see careers by personality type or the personality and careers hub.
There isn't a single one. Among satisfied INFPs in the publisher's data, the most common jobs were artist, music composer, florist, massage therapist and creative writer.
Yes, though fewer choose it. Management scored 29 out of 100 for INFPs, in the report's least attractive group, and the publisher says preferences do not indicate skill or ability.
Writing jobs are common among satisfied INFPs. Poet, lyricist or creative writer ranks 5th, copywriter 8th and editor 21st in the publisher's list.
No job is off limits. INFPs were least often found in jobs such as plumber, millwright and license clerk, and the report says not to rule out a job for that reason alone.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Myers-Briggs and MBTI are registered trademarks of The Myers & Briggs Foundation. Cerebral Quotient is not affiliated with The Myers & Briggs Foundation or The Myers-Briggs Company.
Curious where you sit? The MBTI test is free, takes about 3 minutes, and needs no sign-up.
Take the MBTI test →