The ISFP is one of the 16 Myers-Briggs personalities. Known as the “Artist,” “Adventurer,” or “Composer” personality type, people in this group possess Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving traits.
The ISFP personality type describes people who enjoy spending time alone. These people value the actual, practical, and present rather than focusing on concepts and ideas. Additionally, they base their decisions on feelings and values. And they are adaptable, flexible, and spontaneous instead of planning and organizing.
If you’re reading this article, you’ve probably taken an MBTI assessment, learned your personality type, and are considering the next step in your career. You may be wondering, “What are the best ISFP jobs?”
Fortunately, the MBTI can provide useful insight into the best career paths for an ISFP.
Your personality can help you find the perfect fit based on your natural abilities and strengths. In this article, we'll focus on the ISFP personality type. You'll learn some of the shared characteristics of people with this personality and how these traits relate to a professional environment. We'll also cover the top career paths to consider and what to avoid if you're an ISFP.
However, as you read, it's important to remember that we are all unique and may not fit into the “norms.” When choosing a job that’s right for you, you must always consider your personal interests.
To discover how to find a career that matches both your interests and your personality traits, read this article about Holland's Theory of Occupational Choice.
8 Top Careers for the ISFP Personality
ISFPs have intrinsic traits that can influence their motivation for working in a particular field or within a specific work environment.
People with the ISFP personality are a good match for jobs that require innovative thinking, creativity, practicality, and making a positive impact on others. As with any career choice, weighing the pros and cons is essential when choosing the best career for your ISFP personality.
Here are some of the best jobs for ISFPs.
1. Occupational Therapist
Since ISFPs are creative problem-solvers who enjoy solving real-life problems, they're bound to find fulfillment as occupational therapists. This profession also requires empathy, passion, flexibility, and adaptability to the patient's changing needs. These are all areas in which the ISFP personality excels. Their ability to think outside the box and make quick decisions makes them a good fit.
2. Artist
Creative thinkers like ISFPs are well-suited for artistic careers, such as painting, photography, sculptor, tattoo artist, and musician. Their compassionate nature makes them good artists who can spread messages that resonate with people.
Most art jobs include hands-on work and offer the opportunity to freelance and work alone or in small groups. This would appeal to ISFPs who are introverted and adventurers, as they work with various clients on various projects.
3. Designer
ISFPs are often in tune with how things look, feel, smell, sound, and taste; thus, they are gifted in creating things. Design careers like interior, fashion, web, graphic, and UX design allow these individuals to get their creative juices flowing and use their aesthetic sensibilities. Also, the design field presents a great deal of variety, which matches the energy and spontaneity of the ISFP personality type.
ISFPs are typically excellent innovators and problem-solvers, which is crucial for any design job. As if that wasn't enough, they have active listening skills and a perceptive nature, which helps them to bring a client's vision to life.
4. Brand Manager
Though brand managers sit at a desk, which can be monotonous, this is a promising career for the teamwork-oriented ISFP. Brand managers are creative and hands-on and work with different teams on advertising, social media, promotions, market research, product development, branding, etc. The constant brainstorming and working with various groups to create new ideas and strategies will allow the ISFP to thrive in the workplace.
5. Teacher
ISFPs are often patient and understanding, with a strong desire to help and share their passion with others. This makes them excellent teachers in various fields. Those who enjoy working with kids can work as elementary school teachers. On the other hand, if you want to explore academic topics, you can become a university professor.
Teaching jobs, especially those focusing on practical, hands-on experiences like art, physical education, and technical subjects, are an excellent fit for ISFP skills and interests. Some even translate their artistic skills into a teaching job, like becoming a music teacher or a dance instructor.
6. Marketer
A career path in the marketing field gets the ISFP's creative juices flowing through various marketing campaigns. Marketing jobs also require a lot of brainstorming and coming up with new and unique ideas. These are areas where the ISFP personality type is well-gifted.
An effective marketer must also be able to empathize with their target audience to understand their desires. And this fits with the ISFP's personality, which is having excellent sensing and perceiving skills.
7. Nurse
Nursing is a multifaceted career that requires many of the characteristics and abilities of the ISFP. The job requires developing and implementing effective treatment plans that suit this personality's curiosity. Their friendly, social, and empathetic nature makes it easy for ISFPs to care for the sick or those in need.
The work environment is often engaging and high-energy, especially when working with many patients or during emergencies. The ISFP's decision-making and problem-solving come in handy here!
8. Chef
Serving people with the best and aesthetically pleasing dishes makes this a desirable career option for the ISFP personality type. A career in the restaurant industry also offers endless opportunities to be creative and spontaneous. Lastly, the work environment is usually energy-filled, fast-paced, and varied, ensuring you never get bored.
ISFP Jobs and Careers to Avoid
Some careers may not match the ISFP personality type. But even as we go through this list, use it as a guide and not a limiting factor. With hard work and dedication, anyone can make it in any field.
In general, ISFP personalities get easily bored. As such, they don't like working in slow-paced environments or jobs that do the same thing every day. They also love their independence, so jobs with strict schedules or requiring long-term planning may not be a good fit.
That said, here are some examples of careers ISFP individuals should consider avoiding:
- Accountant: While this job allows for independent work, the predictable and monotonous nature would be dull for this personality type. Accounting jobs also lack the creativity that ISFPs crave.
- Sales: The introverted nature of ISFPs makes them uncomfortable with intense and constant socializing, which is what sales jobs require.
- Attorney: This profession is quite rigid, thus unappealing to the creative ISFPs.
- Surgeon: Although this job involves helping others, the long, grueling hours in the same work environment wouldn't fit the spontaneous and energetic nature of many ISFPs.
Discover Your Perfect Career As An ISFP Personality
The 16 personality test is one piece of the career planning process to help you better understand who you naturally are and why you do what you do. Knowing your personality type, you can live an authentic life and build successful careers based on your strengths.
We all have the potential to do anything we set our minds to. However, when it comes to careers, that doesn't mean we will be happy or fulfilled doing it. Research shows that people are less satisfied when jobs don’t match their personality.
So, if you are looking for fulfillment and job satisfaction, choose a career that fits your personality type and interests!
