Career Choices for Introverts

Our personality type plays an important role in deciding our career path. Some people make their living by interacting with people; leading them, motivating them, while some like to be confined in their own world, preferring to chart the course to success on their own, shunning what has now become the cliched 'collective effort'. Individuals have been broadly classified as extroverts and introverts; extroverts are people who are at ease in company of people. They are warm and outspoken. Introverts on the other hand, are usually shy and reserved, often mistaken for being arrogant or 'anti-social'. This is primarily due to their lack of ability or lack of desire to socialize with people.

The question that we are trying to answer here is - Does 'not' being an extrovert limit the career prospects of an individual? Do extroverts have an edge over introverts when it comes to gaining skillful employment? May be not. As Carl Jung, the famous psychologist who extensively studied personality traits says, "Introvert's psychic energy flows outward, gained for solitude". There are numerous career options for introverts which allow them to make the best use of their abilities. These careers demand minimum contact with people and concur to the preferences of introverts. Let us check out some of the best careers for introverts.

Career Options for Introverts

Creative careers
Introverts are usually introspective, with a keen curiosity to understand the complexities of life. They are good observers and have an ability to take a holistic view of the world. As introverts are more concerned about the inner life of the mind, they have a natural gift for creativity. So, it is not surprising then that they make a sizable chunk of people working in creative fields. Some of the best creative career choices for introverts are

• Writers/Copywriters/Editors
• Painters/Sculptors
• Architects

Information Technology
Information technology has emerged as one of the great fields for introverts. Although in most organizations, individuals working with the information technology department need to work in groups, the interaction is limited allowing introverts to spend most of the time working alone. The various jobs available for introverts in information technology sector are

• Graphic designers/Web developers
• Computer system analyst
• Software engineer
• Computer security analyst
• Database administrator
• Data communication analyst

Environmental Science
Psychologists who have studied introverted personalities have found out that the thought process of introverts makes them think more about issues concerning human life and environment and they have an inherent desire to help in betterment of life on earth. Based on these personality traits, some of the career choices for introverts are

• Environmental scientists
• Geographers
• Ecology educator/Naturalist
• Hydrologists

Teaching and Counseling
Although, introverts may not be good at dealing with people socially, they are at ease when given the responsibility to share their knowledge with others. This is perhaps the reason that introverts are good at teaching jobs. Introverts are good at one-to-one conversations and their observant eye can help individuals to identify their true potential and harness it to succeed in life. Some other fields career options introverts are comfortable with are

• Teachers/Professors
• Counselors
• Therapists

These were some of the best jobs for introverts. One thing that most of the introverts have to deal with is that none of the jobs mentioned above will provide complete solitariness and will involve some amount of interaction with people, but the interaction would be limited to a certain extent, allowing them to spend most of the time working alone. We hope that this article would help you get an insight to the various career options for introverts.