The INFP Career Dilemma
Safe Stability or Risky Dream...
INFPs face a dilemma early in life as we realize our skills and interests don’t align with stable high paying career paths. The advice of “do what you love” instead of being inspirational ends up feeling like a proclamation condemning us to a life of uncertainty, singleness, and poverty. Below are the typical INFP career suggestions. On the surface this seems like a decent variety of options but in practice these jobs tend to be low paying with higher education financial burdens (aside from the art paths).
This leaves INFPs with tough options of either going all in on artistic pipe dreams or spending years in school for mid to low income careers. Even the higher paying career paths like psychologist or professor require doctorate’s and mountains of debt for pay that’s on par with a registered nurse with an associate’s or an IT position with a bachelor’s or less. So that often leaves INFPs who value stability with tertiary introverted sensing (Si) choosing work that is outside of their natural inclination like IT, analytics, medicine, trade work, engineering, and law which are fields that have quicker and more certain paths to high pay and more room for high earners. In general though INFPs tend to drift into low income jobs frequently coming in last out of all 16 types for average income. The artistic pipe dream usually turns into the starving artist, and the doctorate route frequently ends in financial ruin instead of a secure position in academia.
I Chose the Safe Path
As I neared my late teenage years and career paths started to fork I ultimately chose the safe route. I loved, music, literature, history, and writing but I didn’t feel I had the talent or ambition to compete with the multitudes who also wanted to breathe that rarified air of making a comfortable living in a low demand impractical field. I ended up choosing to major in finance in college with the naïve intent of living below my means, making a lot of money in a short time, and then retire early. In reality life happened. A few years into my career the 2008 financial crisis happened and reeked havoc on the idyllic dream of early wealth. Overall though I don’t really regret taking the safe path. My finance degree got me into a budget analyst position which then led to business analyst positions and now a 20yr and running data & analytics career. There are still times I daydream of a “what if” life as a psychologist, historian, or writer but my current reality is pretty good. My experience in Data & Analytics has been full of laid-back intuitive types and many times intuitive feelers who understand the value of creativity, storytelling, and work life balance. The 9 to 5 office job turned out to have a lot of freedom and agency that fits my personality well.
Don’t Let Your Type Restrict Your Career Choice
All that to say, don’t let your INFP personality restrict your career choice. Sometimes compromising a little passion for financial stability is ok. The world is a messy place and one shouldn’t completely ignore what careers are in demand when choosing a path. Sometimes you can make the career fit your type rather than your type dooming you to a low paying high debt job. Also, the internet has changed the landscape of ways for INFPs to generate income. Content creation, day trading, and online business is easier than ever to participate in. I think the age of AI will also flip the script on INFP skills. Our soft, artistic, and human skills that have had low demand in the past may soon carry a premium and be highly sought after. The age of thinkers is being outsourced to AI now it’s time for the feeler’s day in the sun.
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Hello INFP. INFJ here