INFP occupations.
I'm just curious what this forum's INFPs do for a living... I'm aware of the common fields INFPs tend to end up in... but I'm just curios where you actually have ended up.
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INFP occupations.
I'm just curious what this forum's INFPs do for a living... I'm aware of the common fields INFPs tend to end up in... but I'm just curios where you actually have ended up.
Where I ended up . . . lol . . . for some reason I find that funny . . . is at home taking care of the house and indulging my every whim. I married for money.
But my favorite jobs included Human Resources where I wrote policy and procedures and employee handbooks, speeches for my boss along with composing letters and memos. I was giving the general idea and had the freedom of expression within context. I love that!
Then I balanced the daily cash flow for the same company, in another position obviously. I balanced the books on paper and then on the computer and generated daily, monthly, yearly cash reports. I loved that job too. I think here it was being able to finish my work daily even though I did the same thing everyday. I think this overflows with the first job I mentioned in that having a completed project with my name on it suites me well. I don't work well in groups/part of a team.
Humm. Generating ideas is one thing I just can't do. Cone always bugs me to write and I keep asking, "write about what?" He reminds me that I have tons of journals. Yeah . . . but they are a record of my thoughts and ideas and not something you could put together in any related way.Quote:
Originally Posted by Herzblut
I guess I have no imagination. In fact when Cone and his sister used to ask what if? questions . . . those relating to fantasy. I would tell them emphatically that I deal in reality and fantasy does not exist. You get the idea . . .
I'm not yet out of school, but I've met INFps doing the following occupations: opera singer (who works at a law firm during the day to pay the bills, lol), chef at a restaurant, and my favorite English teacher. I myself have done the following:
- freelance writing for local newspapers/journals/magazines
- worked at Borders Books and Music
- worked at a local music shop
- feeding cats, dogs, and rats at an animal shelter
- freelance web-design
- artist-in-residence for a small opera company; I got asked to design posters and programmes
And this is exactly what I'm going to probly end up doing... -_-Quote:
the long term goal for me is to create some stable income so I can freely dedicate myself to music production.
My longterm goal is become the second coming of Christ. :D That or a musician.
bah, that sucks :) we're all going to die at only 27.
Well folks, I've reached that critical juncture in my life in which I have to make some tough decisions about my future (read: I'm applying to grad school). I have a number of internships coming up that will probably help me decide which careers I like (or don't like) best, but in the meantime I'd like to ask if you know of any careers that INFps have found success and happiness in.
MBTI (which I often disagree with) usually lists counselor, teacher, social worker, etc, as optimal INFp careers, but I sometimes wonder how many INFps actually ARE in these professions. I also dislike MBTI's narrow focus on :Fe: jobs for INFps - psychological types are much more versatile and dynamic than that system gives them credit for. In a perfect world I'd be a freelance artist, but my current skill level is not what it needs to be, and even if it was, I doubt it would pay the bills.
The few adult INFps I know are:
a freelance bookseller (former teacher)
a hospital administrator (oversees Medicare patients' medical records)
a psychologist
and
a library assistant
What do you all think? Thanks :).
There is no such thing as an "INFp career." Do what you want to do. There's some crazy jobs out there in the world that you can't even dream of. Socionics accounts for only 16 possibilities. Obviously, you're much more complex than that. It's also a fairly young theory (and even Jung's psychological types have gone mostly unnoticed/disregarded for some very good reasons), so we don't know how far the theory actually extends... so it would be very unwise and perhaps very dangerous to let it influence you at such a critical juncture in your life. You know yourself better than Socionics does, after all.
Be open to everything. And I mean everything. Be open to becoming a completely different person a year from now, even.
your personality profile, analyzed by all of your posts in this forum, suggests that the following professions may be suitable:
farm assistant
truck driver
elementary school janitor
pretzel vendor
mortician
gravedigger
hobo
Yeah, good point. I suppose spending so much time on these forums has led me to think far too much in terms of "type" instead of "person."
But I don't intend to make any serious decisions based on what's posted here; I'm just looking for some food for thought.
Let's not forget your career profile:Quote:
your personality profile, analyzed by all of your posts in this forum, suggests that the following professions may be suitable:
farm assistant
truck driver
elementary school janitor
pretzel vendor
mortician
gravedigger
hobo
Crash test dummy
Dog food taster
Prison pen pal
Manure inspector
Dating show reject
Criminal sketch model
Go-go dancer
Bugger off.
:lol: Actually I quite enjoyed niffweed's post. I don't think he meant to make a commentary on your intelligence, but rather to demonstrate how ridiculous it would be to base such an important decision on a personality theory. It's basically a parody of those stupid MBTI career things you'd mentioned.Quote:
Originally Posted by uninspired
Some GREAT food for thought is actually just to check out the Roadtrip Nation site. <- it's a PBS show in which three students set out on a roadtrip to learn more about uncharted and individualistic career paths by interviewing people with some rather fascinating stories. You can watch a lot of the interviews on the website. It's really interesting, and pretty uplifting.
really? you think i would be a good dog food taster? i've worked extensively in the field of dog food research, without much success. in fact, i was laid off by three different dog food companies for putting arsenic in the food machines and killing the dogs.Quote:
Originally Posted by uninspired
i think a criminal sketch model would be a much more lucrative career for me.
no; that's not it at all. rather, i can clearly tell from uninspired's extensive use of the word "the" that he would make a terrible cardiologist. i mean, what would you think if your cardiologist went around saying "the" all the time?Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby
all other professions other than those listed are similarly infeasible.
Ah, true. But do you really think this guy is pretzel vendor material? Surely his comma usage indicates otherwise. I give him two weeks on the corner of 11th & 3rd before he realizes that he's just not cut out for it and has a breakdown.
you might be right about that, but his extensive use of parentheses leads me to believe otherwise.
Ah, I hadn't thought about the parentheses. Good point... Still, those commas are hard to ignore. Best to be safe than sorry, though. We don't want him to think he can just go about pursuing anything now. Once you let him be a pretzel vendor, he'll think he's got the balls to pursue a career stocking the shelves at Safeway. It's recipe for disaster. No one who uses commas like that could ever be a shelf-stocker.
I think taking it to either extreme is wrong. To say that an INFp can do any job and be happy is, in my opinion, irresponsible. The fact is that most people have shitty jobs that they hate, some people even worked hard to get their job because they thought they'd like it... but they don't realize this until ten years down the road and then they have an existential crisis and find something like socionics and are like wow I wish I had this information beforehand...... I'm INFp and i find it's very important to me that I find the right job. It would be stupid for me to believe that I'm going to "change" over night and suddenly love to do aimless repetitive tasks all day. While the whole individualistic mind frame that our culture perpetuates is attractive it's also bull shit. Yes we are individuals but no we can't do anything and find happiness in it, I think the increased amounts of prescription drugs being dished out should make that evident. Especially when first entering a career it therefore would be clever to err on the safe side. If Socionics is bull-shit and you end up hating a job that's supposed to be for INFps well then at least you learned something. But if you get it in your mind that you can do anything and be happy and then get stuck in a job whilst lying to yourself every day that it's going to get better, at the same time paralyzed to change careers for fear of failing and losing your financial security, then one day you'll realize you fell into the same stupid trap so many others do, may as well marry an ESTj.Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby
Socionics articles that I've read, (in machine translated russian but hey it's readable), all indicate we're best in "humanitarian" activities and not well suited towards business or industrial activity. By "humanitarian" is indicated anything having to do with the arts and personal expression - anything having to do with writing, media etc. The limit of socionics is that it won't tell you exactly what you'll like, obviously writing for a magazine you hate is not going to be a good job for you. On the other hand you'd likely enjoy doing so for one you loved. Your passions, what inspires you, only know or only you can find out. I'm still working on it myself.
And I agree MBTI is groundless and I don't see how an INFp would enjoy being a teacher (in elementary/highschool) or a social worker. No socionics articles I've read have listed these professions. Socionics INFps need jobs that value Ni, jobs where fellow employees also value Ni.
Anyways as an INFp I'm hoping of getting masters in Library information sciences and then seeking employment in some kind of cool government institution. I was also thinking of maybe museum curator or something along those lines. I figure by working in a library/museum I'll a) have access to priceless information b) have the priceless know-how on how to acquire priceless information and c) if worse comes to worse and I hate my job be able to use these abilities to enter a diverse field like journalism.
You missed the most important line of my post:
And quite frankly, I think it's a shame that you are aligning your personal preferential career paths with the Socionic designation "INFp." Do something you would enjoy doing? Yes! Do something an "INFp" would enjoy doing? No.Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby
In my opinion, Socionics oversteps its boundaries when it says:
This is ludicrous... (hmmm... I've used that word twice today.)Quote:
Socionics articles that I've read, (in machine translated russian but hey it's readable), all indicate we're best in "humanitarian" activities and not well suited towards business or industrial activity. By "humanitarian" is indicated anything having to do with the arts and personal expression - anything having to do with writing, media etc.
There are also plenty of career paths that do not fall squarely within either "humanitarian" or "business/industrial" - and I think one would be quite foolish to close off completely from a career path in either of these fields because a typology theory (that claims to deal specifically with the metabolism of information elements) claims you are "not suited to." Business is a vast field - there are many types of businesses, many types of business environments, and many different types of people in this sphere. You might as well say INFps are not meant to use computers. Do you see what I'm talking about? Do you see the limits and the underlying fallacies present here?
I never said Socionics is bullshit. It is, however, a theory of convenience. It takes highly complex phenomena and attempts to distill them into a more digestible vocabulary. In doing so it ignores a large amount of information, oversimplifies another large amount of information, and makes sense of a tiny bit of information. To let Socionics be any influence on your choice of profession is shortsighted because Socionics, ideally, should not tell you anything you don't already know about yourself. And ideally, you know a lot more about yourself than Socionics accounts for. You also know a lot more about what career paths are out there (without grossly simplifying it into cute, convenient little terms like "humanitarian" and "business/industrial") than Socionics can account for in a pithy little article.
Ah Niffweed, so great talking to you. Sadly, I must go, so you'll have to save your obnoxious comments for your imaginary friends "living" with you in your parents' basement.
Thank your lucky stars that twerps like you can hide behind the internet; the real world of people (perhaps you've heard of it) isn't so nice.
P.S. I'll use parentheses as much as I want (and then some)
Thank you for your response, misutii. Baby, though we disagree, thank you too. Niffweed... forget it.Quote:
I think taking it to either extreme is wrong. To say that an INFp can do any job and be happy is, in my opinion, irresponsible. The fact is that most people have shitty jobs that they hate, some people even worked hard to get their job because they thought they'd like it... but they don't realize this until ten years down the road and then they have an existential crisis and find something like socionics and are like wow I wish I had this information beforehand...... I'm INFp and i find it's very important to me that I find the right job... If Socionics is bull-shit and you end up hating a job that's supposed to be for INFps well then at least you learned something. But if you get it in your mind that you can do anything and be happy and then get stuck in a job whilst lying to yourself every day that it's going to get better, at the same time paralyzed to change careers for fear of failing and losing your financial security, then one day you'll realize you fell into the same stupid trap so many others do, may as well marry an ESTj.
You're welcome. This is one of the troubles of talking with identicals. No matter how much I contend otherwise, you will never agree with what I'm saying unless you experience it for yourself to confirm it, lol. If you do have such an experience sometime in the future, don't say I didn't warn you. If you don't, though, feel free to forget you ever spoke to me. :D
And much luck!
Admittedly, my biggest qualm with this thread is really just the fact that I find the prescribed "INFp" career paths unconscionably boring, lol. Libraries, schools, museums, hospitals??? They all serve a useful purpose, but I would eventually hang myself if I had to work there. (Except maybe the hospital and I wouldn't mind teaching high school.)
human relations, artist, translator(?)
I agree. My ideal job isn't in one of those places, but then again, my "ideal" job isn't easy to come by. If I could be anything, as I said earlier, I'd be an artist, an opera singer, or an actress. Right now, though, I can only do those things in my spare time because I need to survive. I think in my case, and in many other cases, the ideal job is one that doesn't consume one's entire life and allows one to pursue his or her passions on the side. I don't want a job that I have to take home with me; I want to punch in, punch out, and be done with it until the next morning. If someone can be truly passionate about what he or she is doing, that's awesome. It's just not the case with everyone.Quote:
Admittedly, my biggest qualm with this thread is really just the fact that I find the prescribed "INFp" career paths unconscionably boring, lol. Libraries, schools, museums, hospitals??? They all serve a useful purpose, but I would eventually hang myself if I had to work there.
In that case you'll have no trouble finding an appropriate job.Quote:
Originally Posted by uninspired
I see. If you know a lot of those people who are pursuing art, music, theatre, etc. almost all of these guys are leading the "double-bill" sort of lifestyle; i.e., having a day-job (temp. work, working in law firms, hospitals, libraries, etc.) to make ends meet, while pursuing a professional career in their less practical field by night or on the weekends (music and theatre are particularly well made for this as rehearsals/performances are typically during the night hours/weekends). And yes, I know a lot of INFps who live this way. It is frustrating and exhausting at times, but they are actually quite happy. (Some ultimately regret putting themselves through such a taxing process and "burn out" - while others actually develop more fortitude and gain success in their artsy-fartsy field. Among opera singers, it's actually not all uncommon to be making in the lower six-digits.)Quote:
Originally Posted by uninspired
And as thehotelambush has noted above, finding a "day job" is pretty easy. Putting up with it? Different story. :lol:
:lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby
What, I don't get a name?
lol, sorry. I forgot the username when I edited it (and the edit page doesn't have the "Topic Review" thing). I'll edit. :P
Ah, my self-worth has been restored. :wink:
See I see this as the typical idealistic belief that I see other people fall victim to while simultaneously knowing how susceptible I am to it. Yes I know more about my "ideal" self then anything or one can tell me. Yes I know more about the "ideal" of jobs that appeal to me than other can tell me. This is the problem though. Unfortunately the more that I hope that I can make the ideal real, the more I risk suffering disappointment in failure and being hurled away from that ideal. Crawling back up is always harder than falling down, and therefore I consider it my personal responsibility (at least for the sake of my sanity!) to correspond my knowledge about the world with my goals so as to prevent a cycle of unbearable failure and regret in the future.Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby
In terms of jobs it's not about things that INFps generally do and enjoy, it's about things that I enjoy that also correspond with fields that INFps have achieved mention and respect in with a reliable probability of success. It may seem like I'm taking an overly defensive approach, in that at first it appears that I'm leaving control of my life to the hands of "fate", but in reality it's offensive in it's defensiveness: in the sense that I'm taking a defensive position from the get go because such a position allows me the time and attention to observe situations for that one 'right' moment to act, it's in that one moment that what usually takes years of hard work and personal sacrifice to accomplish can be attained with a smile and a wave.
They generally wait for employers to find and hire them. It's a unique strategy.
Wait... you're calling me idealistic, but then have the nerve to tell me:
:PQuote:
Originally Posted by misutii
Yes, we're always searching for that "right" moment, aren't we. The truth? There is no such thing as the "right" moment. You'll likely die before anything resembling it comes unless you actively pursue it as an ends. This is how people - not even just INFps - get caught in ruts.
There are, however, many not-so-perfect moments in which you will awkwardly and gracelessly have to meander and fumble about and step out of your comfort zone.
We hear these stories of the tenor who was heard in the sweeping the floors at the Metropolitan Opera and asked to step in for Pavarotti who just happened to be indisposed that night... how convenient. But it's a fairy tale. That sort of thing doesn't happen in reality. In reality, if you want to be an opera singer, you go to a conservatory and train and study and practice your ass off, go to graduate school and train and study and practice your ass off some more, go do some training programs while working a day job, eventually pursue some professional gigs, and then audition endlessly for artistic directors and producers and managers and so forth. There is no smile and wave about it.
All I'm saying is: do what you want, but go about it in a way that is systematic, but (and this will sound weird) open to failure. You're plans are perfectly in tune with what I'm saying. It's just the Socionics justification for playing it overly safe and taking no responsibility for initiative in your life that I object to. I understand why you want to be offensively defensive. I realize you are taking a responsibility to greatly minimize the probability that you will fail, thus placing you in a pretty shitty position from which you'll have to work your way up from again. But, when I did that, I ended up disappointed with myself and where my life was heading, with a huge case of ennui, and consequently, depression. That may not be the case for you, I admit. I don't value stability perhaps because I have never been stable to begin with - even when I was under the financial auspices of my parents.
The ideal job for you:
something that you can stand to do all day. and that allows you to earn enough money to maintain the values and lifestyle you prefer.
seriously.
a friend loved making pottery as a hobby. when she tried to parlay it into a business, she began to hate making pottery all day and procrastinated until it failed.
you should find it interesting and have some talent for it. it should be more or less a flow, not a force. then you won't run into more than the usual work related problems.
they try to tell you when you are in college how important your "career" is and how many fantastic contributions you can make. don't buy this. it's a job. most of it's been done before, most of use are cogs in the machine and are easily replaceable.
to me, what's important is my life and the people i care about and God. don't sweat what you are going to do too much. it's a process and you'll definitely get there.
I've seen that happen more than once... people ruining their hobbies and passtimes by trying to turn them into carrears (Sp???) My little brother nearly lost all inspiration and talent for art after he got out of art school and had to try to make a job out of it... jobhunting, resemes, painting and drawing other peoples ideas... once he gave up and just got a shitty full time job for mininum wage his inspiration came back and he started producing art that people actually wanted to buy... it's a tricky line to walk I think in those instances.Quote:
Originally Posted by diamond8
Hmmm... that's an interesting way to think about it, Blaze. And if that is what uninspired was saying I guess I can see where she's coming from.
I actually have heard someone say: "Just because you were blessed with a talent, doesn't mean you have to act on the twisted notion that you should make a career out of it." :lol: And I have seen a lot of people become disillusioned and lose interest in something they loved once after being forced to deal with the business of it. There's a disheartening aspect to making art into something profitable.
All that said, I still think it would be unwise to let Socionics dictate your decision. Socionics works well after-the-fact. As a predictive tool, it's highly fallible. I guess I'm much more a "live to work" sort of person than a "work to live" one... I'd much rather work without any guarantee that that work will result in success, but be working in a field that excites me, allows me to coordinate both mind and body, and that I can get up in the morning without feeling like it's just something to get out of the way. But my priorities might be a little screwed up, lol. Blaze's priorities seem more in tune with what's really important.
For what is worth, the five INFps I know best IRL have the following jobs:
- high school music teacher
- lecturer in a nurse college
- PR officer in a company that sets up events, exhibitions etc
- salesman
- secretary in the EU
hmmm well i was like you baby until about 2 years ago. i literally lived to work and it backfired big time. but i do agree that you have to be able to stand to do your job all day. you have to get something out of it and feel at least somewhat gratified or you go home really feeling like the proverbial cog in the machine instead of only kinda sorta. lol. i mean, you do have to be there all day, you should at least enjoy it somewhat. it's just that i think that the educational system brainwashes younger people into thinking that career is more important than it really is and that things are malleable in the workforce and that you can change things substantially. this leads younger people to believe that work defines them and that they have more power and influence than they really do. all of which results in people's priorities getting out of whack and then oops there's your typical 40 something crisis.Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby
not that i think i can very likely prevent this happening to anyone here, but i figure i'll at least try to show the other side.
i'm about to come out of the other side of the cog theory. the lesson learned here is this: that even though it's all happened before and it's all been done before, and you're just a cog, your mission and purpose in any given situation changes all the time. so i try to figure out what my purpose is in the daily dramas and stories, what my role is supposed to be, and what things mean in the larger scheme of time and what i'm supposed to add or contribute. so yeah, i'm a cog, you're a cog, but i'm a special cog and so are you and we have a special purpose and meaning and influence on day to day events in the continuum of time. we're all a part of the plan, man.
peace *holds 2 fingers up*
:lol: @ the plan, man!
I do see where you're coming from. I agree that we are all essentially cogs on this big thingamabob orbiting the Sun. And I definitely think a lot of young people (myself included) are being misled into identifying with their work more than is healthy. But, if we've got to be a cog... we might as well be a happy cog. :D
i am sincerely amused by your interpretation of my comments.Quote:
Originally Posted by uninspired