Are You Happy With Your Career?
Keirsey.com's Career Survey Results Shine Light On What Makes Artisans Satisfied in Their Jobs (or not)

Confucius gave his career advice more than 2500 years ago, but truer words of wisdom have never been spoken. How many of us began our careers, not because of passion we felt for the vocation, but through the well-intended advice of parents, teachers, a college counselor, or just because the job was available when we needed it? We may have thought at the beginning, "This first job is just a start, something temporary until I figure out what I really want to do..." Then, before you know it, 5 (or more) years have passed, you're making pretty good money, and the thought of changing careers is a distant memory.

What jobs bring Artisans true satisfaction? How many of us truly enjoy what we do for a living? What does your temperament have to do with it? Are Artisans as happy, say, as Guardians when it comes to career choice? Does the Artisan natural strength in tactics and improvisation have an effect on what careers make them the happiest? What makes Artisans satisfied with their careers and, conversely, if they're not currently satisfied, what would help?

Keirsey.com recently surveyed more than 5000 readers to find the answers to these questions. Whether you're just thinking about career satisfaction, contemplating a career change, or have had the opportunity for change thrust upon you by the current economic meltdown, the best time to consider your happiness in your career is now.

Artisans' Level of Career Satisfaction
60% of all Artisans rate themselves as either "Satisfied" or "Highly Satisfied" with their careers. This places Artisans as the second most satisfied with their careers among the four temperaments. This is not too surprising, as Artisans are the temperament most "in the present", and spend less time than the other 3 temperaments worrying about "what might happen in the future" or "what happened in the past". They are generally the best at focusing on the present and making the best of their current situation. Guardians are the happiest with their careers (more than 65% rate themselves "Satisfied" or higher), and Idealists come in slightly below Artisans at 58%. Rationals are the least satisfied with their careers, at just slightly more than 50% reporting themselves "satisfied" or "highly satisfied". 53% of all Artisans would choose the same career if they were starting over, again second among the four temperaments, with Guardians again the most likely to make the same choice again. There is a wide spread though, among the 4 types of Artisans, with Performers and Promoters significantly more likely to choose the same career again than were their introverted counterparts, the Composers and Crafters.

Satisfaction vs. Dissatisfaction: Factors
With the current state of the economy - high (and rising) unemployment, stagnant wages, and falling home prices, it's no surprise that the top factors affecting job satisfaction overall for survey participants are pay (#1), and job security (#2). The table to the right summarizes the top factors cited by Artisans affecting both their satisfaction and dissatisfaction levels with their jobs. Pay, job security, having challenging work, having good coworkers, and learning new skills are tops for those rating themselves as either satisfied or very satisfied with their career, while low pay, low job security, boring work, a bad boss, and not enough vacation time are the primary factors affecting those stating they are either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Typical corporate trappings such as perks and prestige of the position and organizational reporting structures were low on the lists of all Artisans, whether satisfied or dissatisfied. It's pretty clear that, beyond the current economic environment factors influencing pay and job security as issues, Artisans are happiest in environments that take advantage of their natural tactical strengths - where they can continually learn and use new skills, and are not forced to do repetitive and boring work. If you are currently considering changing jobs, pay attention to the vacation policy of a new employer you are considering. If they start all new employees at the bottom of the chart and you will be losing a week or more of earned time off per year, it may be worth your while to see if this is negotiable - our results predict you will be much less satisfied with your job change down the line when the reality of less time off is clear. Also, try to arrange to meet some of your potential coworkers as part of the interview process. The most satisfied Artisans were those that were happy with the colleagues around them.

The importance of company size
The size of the company they work in has a measurable effect on the career satisfaction of the Artisans in our survey. The most satisfied Artisans are those that are self employed, the least satisfied work at the largest companies. This makes sense, as Artisans are the temperament most frustrated by dealing with red tape, which gets in the way of them "getting things done", and larger companies and organizations tend to build bureaucracies that generate large amounts of rules and regulations. "Far better to ask forgiveness than permission" is the motto of many Artisans - which often conflicts with highly structured Guardian-dominated large companies. Artisans tend to thrive in smaller, entrepreneurial organizations that take advantage of their tactical and improvisational skills to achieve results. The graph below shows the job satisfaction ratio for Artisans by company size. The ratio is determined by the number of respondents rating themselves as satisfied or highly satisfied vs. those rating themselves as dissatisfied or highly dissatisfied. As you can see, Artisans seem to be happiest when they answer to themselves, or in smaller organizations where, at least, there aren't too many other people to answer to.

The Best Careers for Artisans
As noted above, Artisans are motivated by a job environment that offers challenging work, the opportunity to learn new skills, and a lack of red tape that inhibits their effectiveness. Organizations that require adhering to tried-and-true, standard operating procedures, or a lack of autonomy are environments Artisans should be wary of. Two types of careers were popular with all Artisans: Artisan women rated careers in nursing (e.g. RN, surgical nurse) highly, and Artisan men enjoyed challenging careers in the military (e.g. Navy SEAL, Marine, Military Intelligence). Careers in sales also were generally highly rated by all Artisans. Not surprisingly, clerical jobs (e.g. clerk, administrative assistant, medical records administrator) were low rated. In addition to the above, here are examples of careers that were rated highly by the 4 types of Artisans:

Promoters (ESTP) excel in positions where they can make use of their bold tactical skills and outgoing personality. They reported high job satisfaction as business executives, and sports coaches (including personal trainers). They also reported high satisfaction in teaching careers.

Crafters (ISTP) were drawn to careers that take advantage of their ability to master tools of all types (from machinery to musical instruments to their own bodies). Careers enjoyed by Crafters include firefighter, copy writer, and professional engineer.

Performers (ESFP) are drawn to satisfying careers where they can employ their natural people skills. Performers are often at the center of a group of friends, and can be the most charismatic of all the types. Sales careers of all types (e.g. sales rep for industrial products or financial services, and retail or hospitality), marketing positions with high customer interaction, and teaching were all popular with Performers.

Composers (ISFP) were most strongly drawn to the fields that make use of their natural strong sense of aesthetics. Design fields including graphic artist, interior designer, and design engineer were popular choices.

A comprehensive analysis of how your temperament affects your career is available in your custom Career Temperament Report at Keirsey.com. If you haven't completed the KTS-II, click here to take it today.