When examining potential career paths, most people prioritize things like financial advantage, the promise of job security, medical benefits, paid vacations, and the potential for career progression that allows them to climb the corporate ladder straight to the top.
Who doesn’t want to earn enough money to achieve financial security in this uncertain economy? Even the most hardcore Enthusiasts will have their heads turned by a job that offers all the above. However, while it is usually enough to entice them to get on the train, it takes much more to get them to stay for the ride.
As an Enneagram Type 7, the journey is as important as the destination (if not more), and the means are as crucial as the end. Yes, you want financial security, but not so much that you will bore yourself to death to achieve it. If the job doesn’t offer you the thrill you seek, the freedom for creativity, and the opportunity to socialize, grow, and learn new skills, it’s usually not worth the effort.
Since you are here, you’ve probably taken an Enneagram test, learned your Enneagram personality type, and want to know the best Enneagram Type 7 careers to kickstart your professional career. Or perhaps you just got out of a bad job in a toxic work environment, and you’re wondering what to do with your life.
As an Enthusiast, you would love to go on adventures and have fun for the rest of your life, but those things cost money. And unless you’ve got some generational wealth stashed somewhere, you must work to pay the bills and live the life you deserve.
But working doesn’t have to be a chore or something you endure just to get through the day.
Finding a job you love may be difficult, but the benefits are worth the effort. You can have as much fun as you want when you choose the right career that enables you to work to your strengths and minimize your vulnerabilities. Many famous Type 7s have found success and fulfillment by embracing roles that allow them to explore their curiosity and dynamic energy across various industries—something you'll find shared among well-known Enthusiasts.
Now, let’s take a look at the best careers and jobs for Enneagram 7, where their natural enthusiasm, curiosity, and love for new experiences can truly thrive.
Best Careers for Enneagram 7 Personality Type
Naturally, Enthusiasts seek excitement and have a profound love for new and exciting experiences. Their propensity to look for the next big thing to bring them joy and happiness makes it challenging to find a career they’re willing to stick with for the long term. However, we’ve found that the best Enneagram 7 jobs align with their strengths without exposing their weaknesses.
Type 7 Enneagrams will likely prefer jobs similar to the ENFP personality type. However, many Type 7s have been known to favor ENTP or ESFP jobs. The following career choices fit well because the work requirements and environment align with many of Enneagram 7’s most favored traits.
- Event Planner
- Travel Agent
- Pilot
- Entrepreneur
- Tour Guide
- Marketing Officer
- Sales Officer
- Chef
- Fashion and Interior Designer
- Life Coach
- Flight Attendant
- Travel Writer
- Graphic Designer
- Archaeologist
- Public Relations Specialist
Let’s take a closer look at a few of these professions to see why they make some of the best Enneagram 7 jobs.
Event Planning
What entices Enthusiasts about Event Planning is its constantly changing nature and variety. Event planners get to work with different clients on different events and at different times. Hence, the job never seems monotonous or boring. The career is fast-paced and usually offers Enthusiasts the opportunity to think creatively, meet new people, and plan memorable events. Everything about it screams fun.
Travel Writer or Blogger
Travel writing is a career that allows you to travel places, go on fascinating adventures, witness new cultures, and learn new things. You also get to narrate your experiences and have thousands of people experience these events through your words. Having thousands of people depend on your stories to witness an event or plan their vacations is a lot of influence that Enthusiasts won’t mind having.
Flight Attendant
A career that allows you to travel places, meet new people, and experience different cultures? Yes, please! Enthusiasts will enjoy working as flight attendants because of the excitement of always being on the move, interacting with passengers from all walks of life, and traveling to foreign locations.
Entrepreneur
What do Enthusiasts love best about being an Entrepreneur? Is it the opportunity to use their creativity and imagination to create great business plans and innovative solutions? Or is it the absence of office bureaucracy and hierarchy?
Entrepreneurship seems like the perfect career path for Enthusiasts who love using their creativity and innovation to come up with new and exciting business ideas. Enthusiasts tend to become successful Entrepreneurs because they love taking risks, and the career affords them the flexibility to work when they want and take a break when they want, for as long as they want.
Tour Guide
Working as a tour guide allows Enthusiasts to learn new things, experience new cultures and destinations, and guide tourists to new experiences. Even though Enthusiasts don’t like repeating experiences, they don’t mind narrating it to different audiences and watching them experience it for the first time.
Sales/Marketing Officer
Marketing helps a company reach its customers, and Sales focuses on converting them. Marketing requires constant innovation to create new ideas and stay ahead of the competition. In contrast, Sales requires confidence, assertiveness, and great communication to convince potential customers to buy products. An Enthusiast should thrive in both careers.
Fashion/ Interior/ Graphic Design
The design field is broad, with different career paths within it. However, each career path requires creativity, and Enthusiasts have it in abundance. These careers also require Enthusiasts to meet new clients, understand their wants, brainstorm ideas, and create beautiful art pieces.
Worst Enneagram Type 7 Careers
When you hear worst Type 7 Enneagram careers, you probably think Enthusiasts can’t survive or thrive in this profession. That’s not true. Anyone can succeed in anything as long as they are hardworking and dedicated. There is also an argument to be made for how important IQ is to success. The factors determining the chances of success in a profession are numerous.
But you should know that just because you can succeed at something doesn’t mean you will enjoy doing it. The following jobs are poor fits because the work requirements and environment clash with many of Enneagram 7’s most favored traits.
- Accountant
- Doctor
- Actuary
- Librarian
- Customer Service Representative
- Secretary/ Administrative Assistant
- Office Clerk
- Debt Counselor
Let's explore a few of these jobs to better understand what makes them bad career choices for most Enneagram 7s.
Accountant
How do most people like their accountants? We’re guessing they want them focused, serious, detail-oriented, and boring. We can’t think of many situations where accountants get to have fun on the job. No one wants an accountant whose priority is fun anyway.
Accountants deal with numbers and require significant focus to avoid making mistakes while doing the books. A few weeks on that job would feel like a death sentence for an Enthusiast.
Doctor
Doctors have one of the most rigid jobs, deeply governed by protocol and leaving little room for creativity. The job is unsuitable for Enneagram 7s because there’s only so much room to veer from the tried and tested methods when dealing with lives.
Librarian
How much fun can you have as a custodian of books whose interaction with people on the job comes from “shushing” noisemakers in the library? We won’t go as far as calling this profession a nightmare for thrill-seeking Enthusiasts, but it’s one of the career paths that Enthusiasts shouldn’t explore even on a whim.
Customer Service Representative
You may think that Customer Service should be a potentially good career for Enneagram Type 7 due to the potential for socializing with customers and clients, but the job isn’t nearly as fun as it sounds. Firstly, you barely deal with customers directly since most complaints are made via phone, Email, or the company’s Live Chat.
You must deal with customer complaints, process orders, and provide necessary information about the company’s services. It’s the same repetitive, monotonous process day after day, making it an unsuitable career path for the Enthusiast.
Secretary/ Administrative Assistant
Organizing, managing, drafting correspondences, scheduling appointments, and responding to callers are some of the duties of a Secretary or Admin Assistant. We haven’t come across an Enthusiast who would enjoy building a career in this field. Thinking about it should send shivers down their spine.
Enneagram 7 Strengths in the Workplace: What Are They Good At?
Enthusiasts are valuable assets in the workplace because they are highly goal-oriented, productive, and get along well with others due to their infectious positive attitude. Their positive outlook on life helps them see the silver lining even when faced with disappointments, and they often transfer their positive energy to co-workers when they are short on motivation.
Type 7s are highly energetic, adaptable, confident, and creative, with an insatiable curiosity for the unknown. Their fun-loving nature helps them build a good rapport with their colleagues at work. Some of their key characteristics in the workplace include optimism, creativity, quick thinking, and big-picture thinking.
Enneagram 7 Weaknesses in the Workplace: What Do They Struggle With?
Enthusiasts dislike repetitive tasks, strict rules, pessimistic supervisors lacking energy, and high-pressure work with strict schedules. Type Sevens struggle to stay focused on a task and follow through on commitments, especially after they lose interest. When working on one project, they want the freedom to switch if they find another that’s more interesting. Type 7s dislike repetitive or mundane jobs.
Type 7s may be seen as self-centered because they prioritize their need to have fun, and sometimes, that can come at the expense of others. They love socializing with co-workers, so they may struggle with secluded jobs where interaction is frowned upon. Type 7s want to work freely without being micromanaged. The more freedom they have at work, the better.
Preferred Work Environment for Enneagram Type 7s
Enthusiasts are quick thinkers who excel in fast-paced environments where they can use their imagination and creative thinking to solve problems. Their love for adventure and novelty makes them seek workplaces that allow them to explore new concepts and ideas and take on exciting projects.
An ideal work environment allows them to take risks and utilize their entrepreneurial spirit by innovating to solve new challenges. Type 7s prefer a career that constantly challenges them with new projects and tasks, as they love brainstorming ideas.
Most Type 7s are Extraverted, while some can be classed as Ambiverts. Therefore, they prefer a workplace where they spend time socializing with co-workers and clients. Since they tend to avoid negative emotions, Enthusiasts prefer an environment free of conflict and negativity.
How Enthusiasts Can Achieve Career Growth and a Healthy Work-Life Balance
What is your career plan? As an optimistic individual always looking for the next exciting adventure, how do you plan to remain engaged long enough in your career to achieve the necessary growth?
Enneagram 7’s basic desire is to have their needs fulfilled. Professionally, this translates to having a fulfilling career. And no career is fulfilling without regular growth and a good work-life balance. Here are five tips to help you achieve these.
Adopt Time Management Techniques
As an Enthusiast, you tend to take on multiple tasks simultaneously due to the fear of missing out on worthwhile experiences. This behavior might trick you into believing you’re killing multiple birds with one stone. However, multitasking is neither effective nor time-saving. To be more productive, adopt time management techniques like Pomodoro, To-do lists, Eisenhower method, Time Blocking, etc.
Continue Learning New Skills
Anyone who aspires to have a fulfilling career must not shy away from learning. Learning new skills helps Type Sevens adapt to changing environments, gain confidence, eliminate boredom, remain relevant at work, and provide possible solutions to new problems.
Practice Self-Care
A long and successful career depends on how well you care for your physical, mental, cognitive, and spiritual health. Make self-care a compulsory part of your daily routine. There are numerous self-care habits you can adopt.
It can be eating healthy to prevent stress and burnout, exercising regularly, setting healthy career goals, avoiding stressful situations, showing gratitude, and using positive affirmations. You can also practice mindfulness, meditation, or yoga to help you live in the present moment. All these tips will help you take care of your well-being.
Take Breaks
No matter how fun your work is, it is still work. And by its very nature, it challenges and stresses you. Taking short and long breaks is important to relax, recharge, and re-energize. Set clear boundaries to avoid working during your breaks.
Welcome Constructive Feedback and Confront Negative Emotions
Do not downplay or run away from negative emotions at work. Ask your colleagues and superiors for constructive feedback on your work performance. If they give negative reviews, take it as a challenge to improve your performance.
Prioritize Careers That Align With Your Enneagram Type 7 Personality
A career is a long-lasting pursuit, and what we know about Enneagram Type 7s suggests they won’t care to stay that long in one place. However, changing careers every few weeks won’t guarantee excitement in your professional career. Prioritizing careers that align with your personality is crucial.
If your career aligns with your personality, your job should have enough variety to keep you dedicated for a long time. This career ensures you are motivated and satisfied with your work. You wake up eager to go to work and apply your creative ideas to solve problems and tackle challenges.
Your productivity is at an all-time high when you’re doing a job you love, not one that puts your emotional well-being at risk by exposing you to stress and negativity. Choosing a career that aligns with your Enneagram personality helps you find fulfillment in your professional life and achieve a healthy work-life balance.
However, it’s important to understand that your Enneagram Personality is not the only metric for choosing the right career. Type Sevens tend to score very high on Extraversion and Openness to new experiences, so exploring the Big Five Personality Theory can help them choose a suitable career path.
Learning about Holland’s Theory of Occupational Choice is probably non-negotiable if you want to identify jobs matching your personality traits and interests.
