There are two valid forms of personality tests: Myers-Briggs and the Sorting Hat—BUT ONLY the Sorting Hat as defined by the collective wisdom of the broader Harry Potter fandom. J. K. Rowling’s Slytherinphobia is as well-documented as it is inexplicable. We cannot trust Pottermore.
If you don’t know your Myers-Briggs personality type, you can find out pretty easily. Free tests of varying length and quality clog the internet. I like this one, personally. It’s thorough but nowhere near as long as others.
In general, Myers-Briggs judges personalities in four metrics: introvert (I) vs. extrovert (E), sensing (S) vs. intuition (N), thinking (T) vs. feeling (F), and judging (J) vs. perceiving (P).
If you don’t want to take a quiz, you may be able to guess what you are. Introverts feel recharged when alone, and extroverts feel at-home among others. Sensors like to take people at their word, while intuits tend to look for meaning between the lines. Thinkers are rational and logical, while feelers are empathetic and expressive. Judgers (not to be confused with the judgmental) prefer plans and orderliness over the perceiver’s more casual, open-ended approach.
Your Myers-Briggs type, your income
Check out this infographic on Myers-Briggs types and household income. I find it fucking fascinating.
It makes a lot of sense that of all the possible combinations of personality traits, some people hit upon a combination that’s more in-demand by employers. Or at least more marketable.
What makes an ENTJ a consistently high earner?
I can speak to this one, because I am an ENTJ! And ENTJs are very good at talking about themselves. #borderlineNPD
It’s a rare type—only about 2% of the population. Given that, this personality is disproportionally represented among executives.
ENTJs are decisive, big-picture thinkers. They move toward goals with all the delicacy of an elephant. (“There’s a tree in the way.” “Never mind, it’s gone.”) Though relentless, they are not hyper-focused in the way that some types might be. Instead, like painters, they step back frequently to reassess, then move forward again to hone in on some deficient detail. Efficiency is their drug of choice. A mistake is perfectly acceptable, but a mistake repeated is the fourth Unforgivable Curse.
Unlike many results-oriented types, ENTJs are also highly flexible, adaptable, and charismatic. It’s a package of traits that goes hand-in-hand with hostile takeovers. My whole personality is a hostile takeover.
In terms of money management, Myers-Briggs enthusiasts agree that ENTJs are peerless. Their ability to change plans quickly, adapt to new problems, see the big-picture and little-picture simultaneously, drive relentlessly toward a goal, and marshal an army of supporters are their key characteristics.
Employing the ENTJ
All of these traits serve to make me a very attractive employee. I work fast. I’m self-motivated and self-managing. I understand my time as a strategic investment—where it pays to be a perfectionist, and where I can afford to be sloppy. If there’s a leadership void on a team, I fill it. I’m extroverted and gregarious enough to make friends around the office and inspire their loyalty. Intuition helps me suss out political drama and cut straight to the heart of problems.
I’m also not emotionally involved in my work whatsoever. I can be very “mercenary” about my own career. When it’s time to move on, I leave. I don’t make unnecessary sacrifices for my employer. At 5:01 p.m. every evening, they’re dead to me. This aloof aura of self-importance has actually gotten me more respect around the office.
Crucially, I have a keen idea of what I’m worth, and absolutely no compunctions about advocating for myself. I will be paid what I deserve, or you will admire my ass on its way out the door.
And friends? It is a fine ass.
More on ruthlessly navigating the workplace:
- Santa Isn’t Coming and Neither Is Your Promotion: How To Get Promoted
- How I Chessmastered Myself Into a Promotion at Work
- My Secret Weapon for Preparing for Awkward Boss Confrontations
- Woke at Work: How to Inject Your Values into Your Boring, Lame-Ass Job
- Season 2, Episode 7: “How Do I Throw My Incompetent Coworkers under the Bus?”
What makes the INFP a consistently low earner?
I can also answer this question with a high degree of authority, because my partner is an INFP.
The first time I saw the above infographic, I roared with laughter. Because it was absolutely, totally correct. I make $100K a year, and at the time I’m publishing this, he makes $20K.
Why do INFPs earn so little? It’s an interesting question, because INFPs are not bad with money. There are some personality types on here that are impulsive and capricious with their money, but not the INFP. They’re actually super frugal. My husband is haunted by lunch guilt when he springs for a $2 hot dog between shifts.
INFPs are low earners because what makes them special is very difficult to monetize. Within each INFP is a bottomless lake of love and consideration. Exactly what the fuck is an employer supposed to do with that?
Employing the INFP
There’s a “joke” that I’ve heard many times while working in corporate ‘Murica: “How many of you in the room are in sales?” The idea is that everyone is supposed to put their hand up, because everyone, no matter their function, is in sales. All functions within a company—whether it’s HR or marketing or IT or building maintenance or janitorial—all drive toward enabling the company to sell whatever product or service they provide.
And INFPs make for terrible salespeople, especially if what they’re trying to sell is themselves.
Where ENTJs love conflict and can easily detach, INFPs hate conflict and can’t help attaching. They’re also slow-working perfectionists who easily wander off into the trees, missing the forest entirely.
INFPs undersell themselves to potential employers, negotiate less and accept less for their salaries, pour their hearts into their work, become fascinated and absorbed with its most minute details, and lay awake at night thinking of all the ways they could’ve done things better.
But all of these undesirable traits in an employee add up to a truly incredible human being. They’re humble, caring, thoughtful, deeply emotionally involved, and peerless at anticipating others’ needs. Companies and corporations have no use for those things and no idea how to monetize what makes an INFP special.
In contrast, a fellow human being knows exactly how to utilize an INFP. Cold-blooded ENTJ reptilian shapeshifter that I am, I bask in the warm, steady glow of my INFP spouse’s ardent dedication.
Why are you here?
While writing this, I asked my partner what he felt he was put on this earth to do. “To love,” he said, after quite a lot of thinking. “How about you?”
“To conquer,” I said, with no hesitation whatsoever. And we both smiled at each other with admiration. Our strengths and weaknesses compliment each other perfectly. And then we puked everywhere because love is fucking disgusting.
Personality typing is lighthearted fun, but I also think it leads you to the important question of “Why are you here?” Ask yourself now: what were you put on this earth to do? If that skill is easily monetized, you’re probably going to come to wealth a little more easily. If it isn’t, you might not. Conquering is what businesses do best. They conquer roadblocks, other companies, their own customers. Loving, by contrast, is the one thing no one will ever be able to put in a box and sell.
I want to hear about your personalities and incomes now! Are you a big bar, or a little bar? Tell me what you are and how you think your personality influences your finances in the comments below!
I’m going to start us out by admitting that I am a proud (proud?) INTJ! Also known as the “Architect” in certain Myers-Briggs circles, INTJs also fall under the Rationalist category of reasonably high earners.
As to why I’m here? I’ll admit, it didn’t take me long to think of an answer. What immediately popped into my head: “To make things better.” Which, as a professional editor and unprofessional den mother to the Island of Misfit Toys (aka my friends), feels quite fitting indeed.
Also INTJ here! Looking forward to coming into that $70k bracket any moment now. Super interesting post, I never would have thought of the connection between personality type and earnings but it makes total sense now.
I knew we were kindred spirits!
Also an INTJ. And similarly, I just wanna fix stuff and make it better. (.2% of women, waddup?!)
Wut WUT?! I find that percentage deeply fascinating, especially since most of the bevy of INTJs who have commented here are financially savvy women.
INFP here and I realized that it is probably for the best that I work for my government, where no salaries are negotiated and everyone makes the same amount of money according to their experience level, lmao.
It was kind of disheartening to learn that people with my character type usually earn the least, but it’s also no surprise to me. Also not surprising that outgoing personality types tend to make more but it is shocking, how much the difference between the groups is. Maybe a change of personality wouldn’t be bad to stand a chance in the big mean world of business.
This is SUPER interesting. I’m an INFP, and am a much higher earner than the average for that personality type.
I’ve found staying consistently employed has been a bit of a challenge, but working for myself has proved profitable and much more self aware.
I’m here to live my fullest life, and enrich the lives of those around me!
I thought this was going to have more advice and now I’m just sad because literally any way you run my personality and interests through the stats I’m never going to have a dollar to my name, three jobs aside. going back to my INFP depression hole now. It doesn’t matter why I’m here if I can’t afford to do it or to put food on the table and a roof over my head.
INTJ checking in. Make about $20k a year. I work third shift. It’s quiet. People, for the most part, leave me alone. Spend 75% of my shift writing and watching netflix or messing around on twitter.
Really interesting post. I can see how INTJs have the potential to be high earners in certain fields. Put us in a small, distraction free room, isolated from the rest of the world, and there isn’t much we can’t do.
Yes, more INTJs! We are legion.
ISFJ baby! I make more than my type in that chart but was definItely stuck in lower pay while I was in journalism. What’s stopping me from earning more? At this stage finding a job that doesn’t require too many trade offs for the $$$ (in terms of, I still want to love my work more than not, and not have too much stress as I don’t cope well with stress).
Partner I believe would be ENTP – also a low earning type. As Penelope Trunk once wrote the problem with ENTPs is lack of follow through. Indeed lack of follow through and lack of direction. Is what keeps him where is currently. He’s of the type that has no Calling and so IMO why not do what makes you the most? We’ll see how the next couple years play out. (Bit more on that here http://nzmuse.com/2015/06/post-jobs-settling/)
SO MANY INTJs!! ❤️
So, I’m another INTJ. What am I here to do? “To make things better” definitely resonates. To offer perspectives that no one else is offering. To be curious; to question from the root, but then to do something about what I find. To investigate & then create.
I’ve been a low earner my whole adult life because I had a surly inner disdain for the idea that I even really needed money when instead I could instead have freedom, time, and devote my time to creative work that was meaningful to me but not very financially remunerative.
I don’t regret those choices. But I recently decided that I needed to change my game plan & earn at a higher rate (because it turned out that Society and Social Norms are *not* the only reason a person might want to have money; go figure), so I looked pretty strategically for the right kind of opening, found one, and am now on track to double my income this year.
I see a thread here in which I decided what my priorities were, made a plan, and got what I wanted, all of which seems very INTJ of me 🙂
“…it turned out that Society and Social Norms are *not* the only reason a person might want to have money…”
YES. THIS. Choosing to make your goal “make more money than I need to survive” can make you feel hella shallow at first, but it all depends on what you’re going to do with that money. I wanted a high-earning job so I could afford to buy a house. Now that I have a house I can offer space to people and animals stuck in shitty situations. That makes my heart feel FULL AS FUCK. Double your income and I bet you’ll quadruple the resources you have to “make things better.” THANK YOU FOR READING!
EXACTLY. I deeply relate to the classic INTJ inability to gaf about doing things because “that’s how it’s done”, “that’s what you’re supposed to care about,” etc. i.e. social norms, and honestly I had never been exposed to a framework for money that matched my values, so I aimed for doing shit that matters to me + earning enough $ to live frugally-but-comfortably, and decided anything beyond that wasn’t relevant to my interests.
But like you, my heart feels FULL AS FUCK when I’m able to share resources, and a big part of my perspective shift has been realizing that more resources within my control = more resources I can deploy toward what matters to me.
Also, I DON’T feel shallow, because why should we leave resource deployment solely in the hands of people who are “interested” in money, whose interests/values beyond that may frankly suck?
If you don’t mind me asking, what did you finally start doing for work? I’m an INTJ woman as well, and am stuck in a financial rutt right now… Any advice? Thanks!
INFJ here. I’m here to be myself (artist/advocate), achieve my potential (writer), and inspire/enrich others’ lives while doing so.
I’m writing to beg you lend your Office Politics saavy (savagery?) to me; my soul is being murdered by this corporate hell but I need to earn a livable wage. Thank you.
I’m also an INFJ, but I tend to lean towards my more Loki (also an INFJ) side at work and I’m in a management position. I am not to be fucked with.
I tend to channel my artist and advocate sides into being determined to make things better for people, so I concentrate on managing teams that aren’t working well and changing things for those working in them.
That said, I have some INFP aspects to my personality. If someone used that ‘we’re all in sales’ line on me, I’d do a little sick in my mouth. I can not stand it and left a role immediately when then merged my team with a sales team.
I am sometimes an ENTJ…and sometimes two or three others! XD
Each time I take it, I get a different result — even three times in the same week once. The “T” is very strong, but the others tend to be weak. And…just took it again and got ENFP, so go figure.
This probably means you’re on the border of some of your traits. For example, my N/T/J are strong AF but I’m a weak E. I’ve taken the test five times, and gotten ENTJ four. I got INTJ once, and it was during a time where I was very frustrated with my roommates. It definitely colored my answers. (Also…some tests suck. Looking at you, 16 Personalities.)
Great post, love the chart categorizing income by personality type. I’m an INTP and always wished I was more extroverted, but it’s comforting to see that it isn’t my introvertedness that is limiting my income, it’s my lack of organization Thanks for putting this together BGR!
You’re so welcome!
Hey MSF,
I too am INTP. I like to think of us as an elite 1%. We may not be as fun at parties as the ENFJ but we have our unique strengths. You can definitely do well financially as I have proven. Don’t get discouraged. I have learned how to have people and technology cover my blind spots while I do what I’m good at.
Bitches Get Riches: Infested with INTJs Since 2017.
Hahaha, it’s real 🙂
So I am a INFP (holler to your husband!) and I landed in a career trajectory that seems like it maximizes my INFP tendencies to SAVE THE WORLD, BUT QUIETLY, as well as being well paid. I am a psychiatric nurse in a part of the country that pays nurses well. I make about $95,000 so I’m an INFP outlier. However, had I not stumbled into nursing, I could be very easily working in a tiny non-profit or as an adjunct professor somewhere and being an underpaid idealist. I am lucky to have found a profession that pays me well, because as the article notes, there isn’t a ton of market demand for the easily distracted, abstract thinking nurturers out there 🙂
Well first off, hello, I love your kind. I’m so happy you found something that fulfills your values AND pays you well!
Mr. Kitty would not make a good healthcare provider because he’s not great at compartmentalization, BUT he’s making a career change to become a full-time software engineer and he’s really excited by the idea of working on healthcare/wellness apps.
Another frickin’ unicorn here (INTJ female)! I make a pretty good living ($100k/yr) bossing nerds around. Like another commenter, I always wished I was more extroverted. But it’s simply not to be…
First time seeing your blog (via the Rock Star Blogs list); but with this many Masterminds in your readership, I think I’m going to be a regular visitor. Oh – and the pupp-ay (kitt-ay etc.) love as well. I’m all down for that.
Wooo! Welcome! Thank you for your sweet comments. And we’re trying to reach INTJ critical mass over here, so the more the merrier.
I’m an INFP at last check (i’m borderline on a couple and too lazy to retake it just for the sake of a hello). I’ve kind of managed to make myself look good to potential employers just by emphasizing my caring empathetic side as ‘good at teamwork’ and minimizing my hyperfocusing by calling it ‘nitpicking’. I just got a job thanks to a number of guides all over the internet, but it’s low paying, so I get to start off slow on my get rich journey.
I’d say my purpose is to experience, and to help others experience too.
INFP here. So true, so true about what they . I allow the universe to dictate what I am worth based on love. *cough**cough*
It took me til my mid 40s to finally stand up for myself in negotiating. But I also need to thank my friend who really made sure to help me get what I was worth through the years.
Here’s an INFJ (according to most recent testing) who is here to “leave it better than they found it”. Very close to that ideal of making things better but just a bit too much emotional decision-making I guess which is probably the biggest thing holding me back financially. I know exactly how I could earn more, and prepared a syllabus for how
to do so, but I just CAN’T because it feels YUCKY.
What is it about the thought of earning more that makes you feel yucky? (Not that I’ve never felt this way. I used to not charge charitable non-profits…until I realized all I was doing was making it harder to feed myself.)
I think it comes down to the prospect of selling; specifically convincing my clients to spend more. I have a very hard time telling other people what to do with their money and time. I can imagine “better” ways for them to spend it and most of my advice to clients centers around getting them to a place where they no longer require my services. Mary Poppins much? Would you call her an INFJ?
Ooooo, I relate to this a lot. Personally, it helps to remind yourself that in selling, you are only suggesting. They still have the choice of whether or not to buy your services. So all you can do is show them the value you will add to their lives, and then step back and let them make the decision.
Consistently test INFJ, but I borderline between S/N when I look at the explanations. Either way, veryyyyyy much little bar — not a surprise since my goal is to go into a nonprofit career! And to answer your other question, I believe I was put on this earth to help or to care for others, something I’m excited about but that I know will most likely not lead me to a six-figure salary at any point in the future.
As a fellow personality-type enthusiast, I’d like to recommend to you the Enneagram types. They’re super fascinating, and take a different yet similar approach compared to MBTI. I definitely suggest you look into it for some fun!
I am an Eight with a Nine wing! I have no idea what Piggy is.
I decided to comment for the first time to say thay another INTJ lady is here. I am still a student, so we’ll have to see about that earning bracket, but as for what I’m here for: to be successful in whatever I decide to do!
I SOMETIMES AM AN entj!!!! Other times I like to go around Downtown LA and pretend that I’m Amaatheus- Destroyer of worlds!!!! (We don’t know what Amaatheus’s MBTI is yet, but I do get a kick of ppl looking at me like I’m one of the crazies.) I can speak to this one on earning potential, as I moved out to LA to start my 1st successful conglomerate at the age of 26. This was a great challenge for me, as I deliberately picked industries I had never been in before to test this whole “ENTJs are natural entrepreneurs” thing. It actually worked, granted I have very solid business training, and am relentless to a fault when there is a goal that I can’t achieve. Now at 29 I am on the hunt to make $12M by this time next year. I had no idea that ENTJs were the best at money management, I would have assumed that we were among the top, but tied or second to another type. I can also speak to the whole need to concur. After LA I plan to go to NYC, then London, and hit every mega city till Tokyo, where I plan to have my Global HQ for my businesses. That won’t be for some time though.
Another female INTJ here and I’d say I’m here to learn (I’m an academic). Which is why, I suspect we INTJs are not as high-earners as some of the others—too deeply invested in getting completely immersed in the one thing we’re into, rejecting authority (and thus bosses), and not concerned enough for making smiley-faces at our bosses and co-workers.
I am an INFJ/P social worker, and my husband, an ISFJ, happily works in radio. We are the epitome of the lower earners on the graph, and it cracks me up. This is also funny to me when I think about how I’ve been actively dissuading myself from applying for positions where I could make more money because it would mean leaving the trenches of community-based work–where the “real need is.”
ENTJ here and my spouse is an INFP! Such a perfect combination. We are both self-employed artists, and YES! He is always worried about money even though we have THREE homes in three different states! However, he makes good money now because I negotiate for him! (being self-employed helps of course) SUCH a great article. Healthy ENTJs are money-making machines. And i totally agree – I love and admire Jorge’s sensitivity and strong gentleness… and he admires my audacity and conquering drive!
So glad I found your blog! I’m a fan!
Hi guys! INFP here . “To love,” fits me well, but I feel like “to understand,” is what resonates the most. To me, they’re pretty interchangeable, though. Once you understand someone, it’s hard not to love them. I’m going into elementary education, so my projected salary is around 50k. I thought about going into psychology (super frugal person here. If I ever want to spend money, I need to have so much of it I feel like a hoarder ) but constantly being around people in pain… it would kill me. I’m not mentally stable enough to do that. Anyway, tell your partner hi for me . It’s always good to hear about another INFP.
I’m an INTJ, an architect (no, really, in real life not just the M-B archetype) and earn $100K+. An earlier poster noted that the best way to work with us is to give us our own space and leave us alone – I concur!
It seems that there’s quite a few of us INTJs lurking … *waves to Piggy*
And here I am, the INFP guy who landed here trying to figure more about myself relating to the job market 🙂 While I do find it more difficult to perhaps sell myself and make money, I also don’t feel the need for it as much as others do. In the end its perspective. Or perhaps, like how far a U.S. dollar will go in Mexico vs. in the ‘States.
In any case, thank you for posting this. Definitely sharing this out. The personality diving is a hoot.
On an odd note, all of my closest friends have been (and are) female INTJs. Only one of them is male. Don’t know what the chemistry is but the pairing makes for some pretty meaningful connections. Or at least mischievous ones.
One major thing is the INFPs traits are not valued as being a priority in most 1st world countries (except for some places in Asia perhaps?). And yet, even though they’re not outwardly valued, they actually are very much so but int he privacy of people’s personal lives. Just ask yourself:
Who writes your music?
Churns out your favorite fiction (especially fantasy)?
Plays one of your well known super heroes in cinema?
Cracks jokes so you can relax with your drinks and friends at the local comedy club?
Listens to all your B.S. while you’re sitting in their therapists chair?
Tries to keep that stab of the needle in the doc’s office as painless and quick as possible?
Practically babysits your kids all day while you’re at work at a place called “school”?
Yes, we are the dreamers. But we’re also the ones who let YOU dream, relax, disengage, let it all go, etc. Our culture is so focused on the worth of everything on a business level and yet all of the workaholics I’ve known would still binge watch a favorite TV show sometimes when given the chance. We all focus so much on monetary worth and status symbols. When it comes to the things that are sought outside of work are generally the things that the INFP has quite an edge on. This relates to relationships, close and meaningful friendships, lovers (being a feeler means we can read people physically too), and even just dealing with people in general. We have a great 6th sense at sniffing out the BS in life which usually comes from the people trying to sell themselves too much 😛 We can smell that desperation like it was alcohol diffusing from your very pores. And because we’re so damned focused on being genuine (too much at times I might add), if we sense that in another person we generally do not do well with them. We appreciate and respect people who are genuine and authentic. But to us, in this world around us, people are rarely ever if that.
In many ways for an INFP, it’s like society is trying to sell water to a person who is drowning. We self-validate and do not require the acceptance of others to know who and what we are. It makes many of us rebellious (and unfortunately also a delusional at the extreme of it). Society likes to constantly push everyone into neat little boxes while at the same time everyone spouts about being special or unique (or at least wanting to be). We figure it’s one way or the other and since we’re not much into the little boxes idea, it’s certainly the latter.
In order to understand an INFP (and for us INFPs to better understand others) it’s really about asking “What does this other person believe is best for their happiness?”.
INFPs aren’t generally in it for show. Which is exactly why the writer is correct on us being horrible sales people 🙂 I come from a database marketing background so I get it.
What clinches the deal in making a database marketing job feel right as an INFP is making it about the customer experience. That’s where I pour my “love”. I get to be an advocate for them which means i strive to keep them engaged at a proper level and for their needs. This means I’m analyzing data in order to avoid thresholds for higher levels of disengagement (unsubscribes and low CTRs). Sure it’s not saving the world, but Big Data’s not going away any time soon and is infiltrating many other industries (least of all Medical, right?).
Sales, marketing and customer service are all parts of the same package nowadays anyhow.
And one last proof of being INFP is how friggin’ long my response is. I can’t count how many times I have to rewrite emails to par them down. Typing flow-of-consciousness is just too wordy. So I’ll just leave this on your “desk” and slither away 🙂
Anyhow, thank you for writing on this topic!
Your response actually made me feel good for being an INFP. I was just about to lament how I earn the lowest among my peers and family, and have never been able to increase it since. I wasn’t able to see myself as an individual who can live a comfortable life due to low income and constantly felt bad about comparing myself to others. And here it’s mentioned that INFPs love yet I failed to maintain a relationship and have left a lot of people’s lives, vice versa aka losing friends.
There might be a bright side to us after all, so thanks for writing this. 🙂
I’m am INFP. I am laughing so hard about the INFP being bad at selling themselves and being dirt poor. I am almost 30 and have never been financially independent, in fact money issues are part of why my previously rosy relationship with an INTJ partner ended in a sudden, catastrophic fashion like a flamethrower through an English flower garden. I also have no self esteem and get distracted by everything. I have great ideas and horrible abilities to turn said ideas into concrete plans or strategies. The only time I really excel is doing my graphics or creative work by myself, and being given ample time (My personal graphics business page on Facebook has 10 likes even though I have 362 friends, because I don’t like pushing my amateurish work down people’s throats, so uncomfortable! It’s why I need 2 other PT jobs + countless loans from my family to not be homeless)
Damn, I could relate to this a lot. I too lack skills and the motivation to execute my ideas which look bright in my imagination but dull on paper. I feel like I will never live a comfortable life. And, just like you I do need time and space to do creative space even though nobody likes it or takes it as a sample to publish. I guess I too might need to borrow money and work multiple jobs to sustain myself.
I’m an INFJ. The description fit me so perfectly too, I’m even going into one of the jobs listed as being perfect for my type before I even knew what it was!
ISFJ married to an INFJ ♡
My personality type is INFJ, and while I see that those are not at the top of that chart (I cry), I think that I might find my little space with a decent pay. Tomorrow it is my first day of uni studying to become a vet! I think I have been put on this earth “to help”… I guess those kinds of jobs don’t generally pay that well?
INTP here… I think we’re among the lower earners because it’s nearly impossible to find a job that meets our intellectual needs outside of STEM, and those jobs require a lot of specialized training that seems unattractive when you’re 16 and choosing a college major. I get bored easily and need to be challenged on an ongoing basis to not hate life, and I would honestly rather do manual labor than have a traditional desk job where you do the same thing day in and day out. I realized that my personality was a bad match for conventional office jobs within a few years out of college and went back to school for a hard science rather than becoming another victim of the sunk cost fallacy.
Alison,
I can relate to all you wrote. I’m an INTP also but have found ways to thrive. Personality isn’t destiny and I have done very well financially despite this. Reach out if you want to talk more.
ISTJ in a field full of ESTJ’s. Got to the top of my peers because they can’t seem to be quiet for long enough to listen 🙂 I also learned how to pull the E out as much as necessary. I wonder if the S/N is what causes the mercenary approach, I’ve been incredibly loyal to an employer at times to my detriment.
Loved the comparative wage charts
ENTJ woman here. I agree with this post. I earn $150K now and find myself telling my boss what to do quite often…and he does it. I am still the youngest manager in my organization, but the second highest paid, and listened to the most. I always just know what to do, and it is strategic and works.
I’m not sure what specific type I am married to, but he is also a lover/helper type, and a low income earner, but someone that I appreciate greatly.
The art of being an ENTJ, in my opinion, is knowing what you want, going after it, and seeing a way to get to it. Sometimes the way to the goal is subtle and indirect, other times it is a lot more direct. I am always looking for new tools to aid me in getting to what I want. I don’t spend time watching TV or having fun, searching for self improvements that I can in turn use to pursue my goals is what I spend my time doing. My eye is now on investing (very active/not stock market), and getting into some sales marketing on the side. Ultimately, I would like my talents to benefit me more than my employer. It’s the achievement that drives me, plus some visioning of what life would look like after I achieved my goal.
I am ENTJ. We are natural born leaders. Everywhere I find myself, I am never content with being a pon. I want to be a key player, a rook at least. This also causes self-imposed stress sometimes. This is an interesting article, love it!
INFP here, and new to the corporate world (panic STATION, guys). Found my niche through first getting hired as a market researcher – happy, repetitive work. I could hyperfocus on it enough to get promoted to being a sales and marketing coordinator for a software firm based overseas. Full control of the account, full autonomy, minimal oversight and enjoyable – and the software can help prevent worker death on construction sites. I got really lucky –
it hits so many of my happy points while paying well. It’s possible!
As an INFP married to an ENTJ husband, I enjoyed your perspective and had to especially laugh when you both puked because of how fuckin gross love is! Regardless of anything else in the article, it was so refreshing to see another couple react that way haha!
Oddly enough, I’ve always been the main breadwinner between the two of us over the last 9 years, though I definitely still fit your description. Was a public school teacher for several years, where the average $50,000 salary looked more like $35,000 (at least in my district). Even so, I only left public education because of the atrocious work/life balance, not the low pay (seriously, even I draw the line at 80-100 hour work weeks, though I think this was partly because I taught secondary English, one of the most grading-heavy subjects I could have picked).
Since then, I haven’t really gotten better at negotiation, but I’ve been lucky enough to attract the attention of someone in the corporate world who was willing to pay almost double my asking price. I think INFPs have a chance if we can balance our desire to spend hours in the minutia with knowing what will best support the team we work with (and becoming well versed in time management!). When I help drive success for my team, it can shine a spotlight on the work I do without having to talk myself up, which feels overstated and icky.
Thanks for this! Great read, interesting find, and cheers to my favorite MBTI combo of ENTJ/INFP!
ISTP here according to the test version you referenced. My T and my P game is strong no matter which version of the test I take, my I-E and mt S-N sometimes flip, so I am borderline in those areas. I definitely see myself in the descriptions for ISTP/INTP traits, disorganized, doesn’t do “the feelz” very well, starts lots of things but not always a good finisher (gets easily BORED halfway through). I am happily in a relationship now that allows my independent self to go be me. My most recent ex had the main problem with me that “I don’t talk about my feelings enough”… well duh, that’s just how it is.
Since the nicknames for ISTP/INTP is craftsman/engineer I guess it is perfectly fitting that I am an engineering technician. It also makes me a nice solid living.
I love this website, you girls are funny AF. (shout out to Kitty, I am also a card carrying member of the queer side AND….. I own a horse. And yes he is like the most awesome thing EVER).
INFP feeling very annoyed about life UNTIL I remembered that Kitty’s husband is coining it now so it’s all going to be ok?
I feel kind of obligated to post here because I don’t see any other ISTJs. I am just below my designated bar in yearly salary, and actually just took a position that will eventually put me spot on. I’d define my purpose in the world as “to improve things.” I have endless admiration for the people who can trample their obstacles and don’t shy away from conflict, as well as for the ones who are truly motivated most by compassion and caring.
I’m naturally an INFP (though under stress, I seem to default to “jerk”). This kinda explains a lot of things.
(Though I doubt anyone is doing much conquering in mid-2020 anyway!)
The title of the article grabbed my attention, but the INFP salary table made me sad. I felt a strong sense of kinship as I read some of the reasons why many of us aren’t on par with our peers’ earnings. I don’t think I could do professional sales to save my life, because it simply goes against my value of freedom of choice to try influencing someone to buy something when their first inclination is to say no. And yet, Sales requires you to disregard this (and I’m sure sometimes it’s actually for that person’s good…and sometimes, yes, I am that person) – I’m just not the person to decide for someone else, so I can’t be the one to push them either. I’d rather leave that to my amazing “by any means necessary” ENTJs to conquer. Hey, it takes all kinds, and I’m not mad about that. However, what does concern me is the idea that what we INFP’s bring (and what makes us so incredibly valuable as human beings) is so difficult to monetize that we earn so very little by comparison. I don’t disagree with it; I just don’t think it should be so.
I’m an INFP whose salary isn’t on this chart and if you doubled the top salary (of $85K), I’d be less than $10K shy of needing to increase the scales maximum again. For full transparency and context, I didn’t start here. It’s been a 35-year journey, where for many years I moved back and forth between the stages of job and career. It wasn’t until I found myself leaning more and more towards the most purposeful part of work (for me), that I finally shifted into my preferred orientation to work, which is Calling, and my work calling quite simply is an organization’s people. About 15 years ago I started being paid, as an integral part of my role as an administrative manager, to focus on learning people’s strengths, experiences, perspectives, interests, ideas, motivations, conflict styles and yes, even personality types (Once their onboard, of course! You can’t rely on MBTI as an objective predictor of performance in recruitment, so I’m not advising that at all ;-). Learning for the purpose of leveraging as much as we could to accomplish the work of our organization. Of course, as a card-carrying member of the INFP club, I would never be able to sleep at night if I felt like I was “leveraging” or using people “simply for profit”, so I co-created with them and together explored ways to identify and use what they bring to accomplish more. This strategy hasn’t always led to the formation of Google-like teams, but far more often than not it has yielded positive objective and subjective results. So much so, that over the past 5 years I’ve moved into coaching, consulting, managing an employee engagement program for my organization, and collaborating to develop an organizational strategic plan as a roadmap for our organization to leverage these kinds of strategies at an enterprise level.
Figuring out how to do more of what I love in any work and then being positioned to do the same for others (which is something I would do for free if I could) is the very thing that shifted this INFP’s salary outlook. I wish I would have figured this out years ago, so I really hope my (perhaps INFP-style) share will help inspire some other INFPers to do it sooner, faster and better. Lastly, I’ll say this: 99% of us need to work and most spend more hours a day in workplaces than we do in engaging in our personal lives. As one who’s been in the workforce for as many years as I have, I’ve seen a lot, and workplace cultures (with a spectrum of MBTIers) day in and day out is a lot! And according to Chat GPT: “Workplaces need INFPs for their creativity, empathy, and deep commitment to values. They bring unique perspectives, foster harmony, and excel in roles that require innovation, meaningful connections, and understanding diverse needs.” What’s your way in? Find it, mine it and hone it for all it’s worth.