Introvert! Get Thee to Career Counseling!
Today I’m excited! I just returned from career counseling. The last time I was there I took the Strong Interest Inventory. Today, my counselor and I went over the results. Results of awesomeness, I might add!
It turns out that all those little intuitions I’ve had about myself in the past, at least where careers are concerned, were on the right track. Librarian. Forester. Graphic Designer. Photographer. University Professor. Systems Analyst. Technical Writer. Geographer.
The Strong Interest Inventory doesn’t just spit out a list of jobs. It gives you insight into which general occupational themes are your best fit. Then it outlines your personal values, basic interests, and personal style (Ha! I don’t like working in a teamwork environment – who’d have guessed that!).
It also compares your likes and dislikes with those of people in the same occupation areas that you score high in, and goes on to tell you the jobs you’d probably be most likely to get satisfaction from.
What the Strong did for me was give some credence to what I already suspected. Why I needed that reassurance, I don’t know. You might not have the same need for some test to tell you what’s right for you.
Regardless, my next step is to spend more time researching these areas for myself – all of which are quite suitable for an introvert like me.
I will be using the following two websites to give me further insight into possible career and education choices: O*Net Online, and The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Will keep you posted. I am confident that there are satisfying careers out there for introverts.
By the way, if you’re interested in taking the Strong Inventory, click here and here. It will cost you (and I’m not advertising these two websites – I don’t get a cut). If you can find a career counseling program that is open to the public at a local college or university, like I did, you might be able to take the test for a lower cost or for free.
As a forester that works with a bunch of introverts (myself included), I do wish they would update the forester-as-intovert job description. Once upon a time that was the case, but these days there is a lot of interaction with individuals as well as the public. Forestry jobs allowing you to go hide in the woods are few and far between.
Graphic Design, eh? Come to the dark side….
For some introvert perspective on that end, I think it’s a pretty good career. Although I do have frequent meetings, and I’m in with the developers and quality assurance folk and project managers so they can easily come to me, there does come a point where the actual work needs to get done, which leaves me with a considerable amount of time being left alone during the day.
I will say that I am no good at the freelancing stuff, though. I’ve decided over the last month that I am no longer going to actively pursue freelance work. Is that a result of my introversion? I suspect that certain traits of introversion play into the things that make me bad at freelancing, but I can’t say conclusively whether it is entirely to blame. I’m really bad at the business-ey parts. Not the administrative tasks, mind you, but if you end up negotiating with me on anything, you’re in luck, because I will most likely give in to whatever request you may be putting forward.
Great news! I look forward to hearing more while you are on your new career quest.
Hi Townelin –
Thanks for your input here. It is best to hear from people in the field, for sure.
One reason I think this area came up strong for me is because it involves both a realistic and an investigative theme–working with things, working outdoors, using practicality and common sense and possibly the use of science and research skills. The test also compared my overall answers for similarities with those that were given by women who actually already work in forestry, and there was a fairly high match. So the test took that stuff into account, as well as my reserved nature.
I’m wondering if you can shed some light further on this–what types of forestry jobs are not for an introvert, and which ones (the few and far between work in a forest cabin for weeks at a time?) might work OK for an introvert. Or is the whole occupational area not good. What do you like and dislike about your job as a forester?
Thanks again for commenting about this.
Conventional wisdom would say that an introvert should not be a SOCIAL worker, but that’s what I am. I am an ENHANCER type introvert and hence like to help people. It can be very draining so I have to make sure I don’t ignore my needs for down time. I wouldn’t be happy locked away from people, but also need to stay grounded to my inner world, so I think the job thing is about making whatever situation you like fit well, i.e. adaptation. I do think I’d make an excellent college professor though because it really uses your brain power a lot with research and toying with different ideas and theories. I have taught as an adjunct professor of psychology, but teaching really sucks the energy out of me, so I’d be better doing research studies and writing vs. a lot of teaching. Good luck in your search.
I have a new job working in medical records for a multi-doctor practice. I pull charts to go with phone messages, run the messages to the nurses, then put the charts away. So far, I am enjoying it. The only downside is that nurses are generally extroverts and I’m getting tired of hearing, “Oh, you’re the quiet one,” and “Do you ever talk?” At least they are not customers, though – I don’t have to be nice to them (ha!).
My dad is a civil engineer and his office has hired a company that scans blueprints and technical guides for equipment into the computer so that they can be easily accessed. They make indexes and cross-references, also. I don’t know how one gets into this business, but I think it would be right up my alley (and maybe yours, too).
Also, my office is scanning files in preparation for paperless record keeping. We are doing it in-house, but I bet there are businesses that do that for medical offices. My office did hire a woman who comes in once weekly just to copy charts for patients who want their records for various reasons. She brings her own scanner/copier.
Good luck with the career search! Thank you for sharing it with us!
I don’t talk much, and I don’t write much – so here’s the stretch.
Well, I thought a lot about a career, and finally ditched all opportunities that came along – there’s too much stuff involved I don’t like; managing people, for example, and, worst of all, being managed by superiors! I lowered the bar to making a living. And that sounds easier than it is. I’m still searching. My quest is to find a way to get money for things I really like to do. The “making-money” thing always got me into bad compromises. My mind still takes over and tries to tell me how things have to be. I find it difficult to listen to the heart/intuition and act on it without intervention of the mind. Because the mind “knows the future” (of my financial well being)? Right. And intuition is just a stupid feeling that knows nothing of reality. Am I alone with this dilemma?
I’m a definite introvert and I also did the Strong’s Inventory a few years back with similar results. I have done, in one form or another, several of the jobs you mention (university professor, forestry, technical writer, designer).
What I’d say about this is that it’s not about finding a job that is particularly well suited to an introvert, it’s about finding a career that you will love, then figuring out how you work in that career as an introvert. Being a college prof for example can involve masses of people interaction, and that can be very draining. I dealt with this by how I taught (lots of delegation to assistants for student interaction) and by volunteering for committees and other activities that involved smaller groups and less dealing with large numbers of changing faces. A graphic designer (or any kind of designer) involves interacting with people a LOT, but again, this can be managed by working with other people who enjoy doing the things you don’t. I worked in a design practice where one principal LOVED getting out and selling/meeting people – and I got to sit in the office and produce. So find a career you love, then figure out what kind of situation you want to do that work in.
For the past several years I’ve chosen to work as a consultant alongside a project manager who is excellent at the people stuff: I produce high quality work that makes him look v good, I get stuff done, and he does all the politics and schmoozing. It works really well for me and for him, and as a team we do extremely well.
Catherine, I completely agree. It may not be so much about the job, but about the situation. I’ve mentioned this in other posts regarding careers. We need to focus on where our strengths, interests and talents lie, and then work ourselves into a situation that is going to be complimentary to our introverted nature. I’m glad you’ve found your niche, and am looking forward to finding mine.
I liked the Strong because it didn’t just say, “Oh, you’re an introvert, so you need to be a librarian”. It took into account the fact that I have interests, leanings and strengths that add up to there being a decent chance that I’d like a particular field.
Comparing yourself to other people in an occupation isn’t helpful unless people in the occupation actually are happy with the occupation.
For instance- A lot of dentists are introverted. As students, they were good at science and liked working with their hands. Dentistry uses those traits, so they became dentists. In real life, the dentist works extremely close to patients and staff all day long. It’s not an introvert occupation even though most dentists are introverts.
Similar things could be said about other occupations. Think about what it will be like to actually do the job you are considering.
Well that’s certainly true. In the end, each individual is responsible for teasing apart the question of whether or not they will be happy in an occupation. As I’ve said several times already, introversion is not the one and only trait to be considered when selecting a job. People have other traits that will lead to them liking and disliking certain aspects of a job, and frankly, it is very, very likely that each and every job is going to have aspects that a person will and won’t like. No one should ever choose or reject a job based only on the fact that they are introverted. That would be ridiculous.
An introvert can work in almost any profession. It whether or not you will be happy doing it…that’s the question.
I have been doing “career” search work for over a decade, and I still have not found anything yet to my liking. Yes, I have read all of the books and taken all of the tests and been to graduate school 3 times. I got nothing. The problem is my strong campbell score always comes out Artistic-Social and my Myers Brigg is usually INTx (currently, INTJ, and yes, it does change). The careers that interest me are social careers, but I am not a sociable person. Because there are two definitions here: social as caretaker and social as extroverted. I am only interested in the care taking part; I do not wish to get to know you.
What career counseling does not do, because it can’t, is help you with the day-to-day. The career could be fine, but the day-to-day job in that career group requires me to do things in a way that makes me extremely uncomfortable or work with people I wouldn’t even give two moments notice to at any other time because they are annoying. I do not want to participate in the “sunshine” club, I do not want to speak to you before 9am. I do not want my work place to be like a “family”. If you knew what my family life was like, then you’d understand why. The interview is where you get trapped because if you are any good for the job they will oversell it and avoid telling you that the manager is a bitch and hasn’t kept any underling longer than a month for the past three years, or that the co-worker in the cubicle next to you who smells like a tobacco factory is on meth and stealing but they can’t fire him yet. Or that the office is broken up into 5 cliques, chose one at your own peril.
I am now a preschool special education teacher (SEIT). Thought it would be good for me because I don’t manage my own classroom, I work with individual students in different schools, I get to be creative (because preschool does more with arts and crafts than other grades) and I get paid more than average teachers. So why am I unhappy? I have to get up at the crack of dawn to leave NJ to go to my schools in East Harlem despite asking to be assigned to lower Manhattan, all of my students have behavior issues (not necessarily learning issues) and when you are working with 4-5 of these students at different schools it can wear you down. I am talking hitting, spitting, kicking, biting, running out of the classroom, and that is just one child. Then I have to deal with the school’s administration and rules which sometimes are not in concert with those of my company, my company has assholes running it and some of the teachers at the schools are looking for someone to blame for the child’s behavior, and will blame you (even though the “bad” behavior has been occurring before you started working with the child). I have had told parents and teachers how to manage children in their care and they do NOT want to do anything to help these children. I have been doing this for over a year now and am already trying to find another career.
Guess what? Teacher is on the INTJ list.
I am saying this as an INTJ (and am surprised but nevertheless) I would not rely so much on tests. I would rely on internships, informational interviews, tours, interviews with people who work at companies you may want to work for, strategic networking, but not tests. True, there’s troubled people everywhere, but there has to be some way to minimize the exposure to stupidity and hostility on a daily basis. Haven’t quite worked that out yet.
I wish you luck in your search.
Hey there!
I went through the career counseling process about 15 years ago and I remember vividly the euphoria of thinking I’d found the true path.
My advice is to not get too up or too down. It wound up taking me another 5 years of mis-fires here and there until I found my current career of …librarian.
Libraries are full of introverts but that doesn’t necessarily make you better at your job or more suited to it. Most people have no idea how many different types of libraries or librarians there are. You can work in public services, cataloging, administration (my current situation), IT, web development, collection development, outreach, archives, digital preservations and so on. It will differ by type of library too whether it be a public, academic or special library. Every corporation from Disney to Bank of America to CNN has librarians on staff. You might talk with different people who work in these fields to get a better sense of how you fit in and talk to an admissions counselor at a library school near you. Just remember the market for new librarians is pretty tough right now – media specialists are in the highest demand. With a teaching background this could be an easy transition for you.
Good luck to you.