4 Hot Careers for INFJs

As highly creative and intuitive individuals, INFJs excel both in artistic pursuits and in various helping professions. They're gentle-spirited people who, while they might seem mysterious until you get to know them, are warm, idealistic, and have a strong sense of responsibility toward other people. They tend to enjoy working with people one-on-one instead of in groups. Hot careers for INFJs are those that give Counselors plenty of opportunities to express their creativity and compassion.

Speech Pathologist

If you're an INFJ who wants to help adults and children maximize their potential, you might want to consider a career as a speech pathologist. Speech problems may arise from physical disability, disease or cognitive impairment. Speech pathologists work in schools, clinical settings or patients' homes and design and develop plans to help each of their patients overcome various difficulties with speech and language. These range from stuttering to problems with producing and comprehending language.

If you're interested in becoming a speech pathologist, you'll need to earn a Master's degree in speech pathology, preferably from a program that's accredited by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Though 47 states in the U.S. have regulations in place for speech pathologists, specific requirements vary from state to state.

Librarian

In our modern day, librarians may be regarded as information professionals. Many people think of libraries as places filled with books and papers. Increasingly, however, libraries are becoming hubs for all kinds of information, including that which is digitally-based, and librarians are the people who are skilled in helping people locate the information they need, whether in paper or digital form or on the internet. INFJs who love books and learning and possess strong attention to detail would do well as librarians.

To become a librarian in most libraries, whether academic or public, you'll need to earn a Master's degree in library science. Many colleges in the U.S. offer library science programs, but the 49 programs accredited by the American Library Association tend to be preferred by employers.

Clinical Psychologist

Another helping profession well-suited to intuitive, caring INFJs is that of clinical psychologist. As a clinical psychologist, you would work with patients who suffer from mental illnesses. You might also work in a counselor capacity, helping people cope with divorce, the death of a loved one or other personal trauma. Psychology can be looked at as a humanitarian science; the most helpful psychologists possess a great deal of empathy, one of the INFJ's strongest assets.

If you'd like to become a clinical psychologist, you'll need to earn your doctorate, either a Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) or a Ph.D. In the U.S., all states require psychologists to be licensed or certified; however, these laws vary from state to state. In most states, psychologists must pass an examination, and in many states, continuing education is necessary in order to retain a license to practice.

Editor

INFJs are sensitive not only to details but also to nuances, characteristics which are essential for editing. If you're an INFJ who loves working with words, the career path of editor might be ideal for you. As an editor, you'll play a tremendous role in bringing book projects to fruition. You'll work with authors on their manuscripts to make them as polished as possible, both with regard to wordsmithery and expression of ideas. Editors for other kinds of publications make decisions as to what content will appear in those media.

Many editors start out as writers; in any case, if you wish to become an editor, you would be well-advised to do a lot of writing yourself and earn a Bachelor's degree in English, journalism or a related field. Whether an editor works with printed matter or online content, experience and reputation are even more important than formal education and offer the surest route to advancement.

INFJs embody integrity and devotion to principle. Hot careers for INFJs are those in which these caring visionaries can commit themselves to a path on which they can make positive differences, both in the lives of individual people and in the world at large.