ESTJs are driven and dedicated people who can find their ideal career path in a variety of fields. Their skills for organizing others and for leading means that they quite often find a lot of success as well as personal satisfaction in this aspect of their lives.
General Overview
ESTJs are dependable. This is one of their best qualities in the workplace. They’ll always get their work done in the most efficient way possible, and their personal integrity makes them eager and happy to take on extra work to benefit their place of employment. ESTJs use extraverted thinking as their dominant function, which is focused on completing tasks in the external world and is very helpful when it comes to their work life. This function can be a little too focused on accomplishing tasks sometimes, and may lead to the ESTJ neglecting their family or friends in favor of work, but it’s also highly valued in most workplaces.
Tips for Job Interviews
ESTJs are very confident in what they can do but they don’t often find themselves in job interviews. This type tends to choose a job and stay with their company for a long time, rising through the ranks in a methodical, determined way that nonetheless is marked by the ESTJs strong sense of integrity. And this loyalty and willingness to operate according to the rules and structures of their workplace makes a very good impression on potential employers as long as the ESTJ chooses the right kind of workplace to interview at. ESTJs need to choose their potential workplaces according to their own needs and tendencies, because if they find themselves interviewing for a job that requires more autonomous work or creative, out of the box thinking they may struggle.
ESTJs are blunt, straightforward people and they need to be careful with this tendency during job interviews. They don’t have the greatest people skills or the best communication skills, and can alienate people with what they say or how they say it. To an ESTJ, this is simply the most efficient way to communicate, but potential employers may take it as an insensitivity that could cause trouble in the workplace. ESTJs need to be aware of this weakness and work on it if they want to be successful in their job interviews.
Best Careers for the ESTJ
ESTJs do best in corporate jobs or those that are focused on facts and data. This is the ESTJs comfort zone, the area of life in which they feel most comfortable and thrive, and in these fields they can use their dominant function without worrying too much about hurting more sensitive people. ESTJs usually seek out these kinds of career paths instinctively, attracted to their clearly defined steps to success and the rigid structure of these kinds of work places. This makes them uniquely qualified for jobs such as law enforcement, military service and finance as well as other fields that demand attention to detail and adherence to the established order.
Unsuitable Careers for the ESTJ
Because of their extraverted thinking dominant function, ESTJs are focused on facts and on getting things done, not on other people. In fact, they have very little awareness of emotions, either their own or other people’s, and very little patience with them as well. An ESTJ uses introverted feeling as their inferior function and this means that their emotions are mostly buried and inaccessible to them. This combination of traits makes them unsuited for jobs that require a lot of empathy or the ability to make emotional connections with people. This isn’t to say that ESTJs can’t make emotional connections of course, just that it takes time and patience, so any job that requires an immediate sense of connection would put them out of their comfort zone. This includes a lot of jobs in the medical field as well as jobs that focus on the emotional side of life.
ESTJs don’t often move into freelance work. They want and need the structure and the support of already established institutions, and like to have their work days clearly defined for them. So in the freelance field, with its uncertainty and lack of structure, they’ll usually feel unsupported and unstable. ESTJs prefer to follow a pre-defined path to success rather than try to make their own path, and this makes them extremely unsuited to freelance work.
Workplace Roles
ESTJs have a number of qualities that make them natural leaders. Their confidence and attention to detail coupled with their ability to organize other people and systems often puts them into leadership positions and they thrive in them. But ESTJs don’t usually want to be in a leadership position in their own company. They prefer the traditions and the structures of companies that have been running successfully for years and don’t usually want to move out on their own. But as long as they have the support of an already established vision and direction, they’re the ideal choice to lead others down that defined path.
ESTJs enjoy being model citizens and they work hard to make sure they’re contributing to society and to their company in the right ways. This makes them ideal employees. ESTJs have a natural respect for authority, particularly authority that has stood the test of time, and are quite likely to work for one company throughout their lives. This kind of loyalty comes from their introverted sensing auxiliary function, which gives them this attachment to the past and the reliance on it to determine value in the present. And it makes them excellent employees who can be relied on for any task.
Final Thoughts
This practical, task driven type enjoy the challenges that come with establishing their career. ESTJs are incredibly focused on getting things done in the most efficient way possible, which makes them very popular in almost any field. They do have some issues with interacting with others, but as long as they choose the right career path, they’ll usually find themselves enjoying the journey and finding great success as well.
References
- Storm, Susan. “Understanding ESTJ Thinking“. Apr 21, 2017. (Retrieved Mar 2018).
- “The Fourth or Inferior Function“. (Retrieved Mar 2018).
- “ESTJ – The Supervisor“.
- “The ESTJ in the Workplace“.
- “The ESTJ as an Entrepreneur“.
- “Best Jobs For Your Personality“.