Are You Happy With Your Career?
Keirsey.com's Career Survey Results Shine Light On What Makes Idealists 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 Idealists true satisfaction? How many of us truly enjoy what we do for a living? What does your temperament have to do with it? Are Idealists happier than, say, Rationals when it comes to career choice? What makes Idealists satisfied with their careers and, conversely, if they're not currently satisified, 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. (And yes, Idealists are somewhat more satisfied, as a group, with their careers than are Rationals).

Idealists' Level of Career Satisfaction
Of the four temperaments, Idealists as a group are generally right in the middle when it comes to job satisfaction, with about 58% of Idealists rating themselves as either satisfied or very satisfied in their jobs. Guardians are the happiest with their jobs, with more than 65% them reporting themselves satisfied or higher. Artisans are slightly more satisfied than Idealists at 60%, and Rationals rating satisfaction the lowest at 51%. 51% of all Idealists would choose the same career if they were starting over, again in the middle among the four temperaments. Teachers are the most content of all NF's in their choice of career at more than 60%, followed by Champions (55%), and Counselors (51%). A sizable majority of Healers would choose another career, given the chance – only 40% would stick with their current career choice. Healers, you may want to consider obtaining your Keirsey Career Temperament report at keirsey.com, and learn more about what jobs and job factors contribute to greater satisfaction. As a comparison, 56% of all Guardians (SJs) and 51% of all Artisans (SPs) would choose the same career again, while slightly less than half of all Rationals (NTs) would make the same choice.

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 for all four temperaments are pay (#1), and job security (#2). The table to the right summarizes the top factors cited by Idealists affecting both their satisfaction and dissatisfaction levels with their jobs. Pay, having challenging work, and likeable coworkers are tops for those rating themselves as either satisfied or very satisfied with their career, while low pay and lack of job security are the primary factors affecting those stating they are either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. There is some variation among the four types of Idealists: Learning new skills is highly important to Teachers and Champions, while having more control over their personal time was a high factor in the satisfaction levels of Counselors (length of vacation time) and Healers (availability of flextime). Additionally, Idealists that are dissatisfied with their jobs reported a much higher level of poor bosses than other groups. Overall, relationships at work are very important to Idealists - those that like their coworkers and bosses are pretty happy, while those with unlikeable coworkers and bosses are among the least satisfied of all respondents to the survey. This is a critical factor - if you are currently exploring job opportunities, make sure to meet your potential new coworkers before making a decision on whether to accept a new job. If you don't have a good feeling about them, you may want to pass on the offer, no matter how positive other factors might seem to be.

The importance of company size
The size of the company they work in has a measurable effect on the career satisfaction of the Idealists in our survey. Interestingly, it is not linear - the most satisfied Idealists are those that are self employed, the least satisfied work at small companies and job satisfaction generally rises with the size of the company; Idealists at the largest companies are more satisfied than those at smaller organizations. The graph below shows the job satisfaction ratio for each of the Idealist types 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, Idealists seem to be happiest when they answer to themselves, or in larger organizations that offer opportunities for relationships with coworkers.

The Best Careers for Idealists
As noted above, most Idealists are motivated by a job environment that offers challenging and meaningful work, with likeable coworker and a good boss. Disharmony, overt competition, and siloed organization structures are environments Idealists should try to avoid. In our survey, two careers were especially popular with all types of Idealists: Teaching and Counseling. All types of teaching careers were well represented teaching primary and secondary school teachers, college professors and instructors, and corporate trainers. Popular counseling careers included school counseling, career counseling, social work, therapists, and psychologists. Teaching and counseling clearly aren't the career choice for all Idealists; each of the four types had additional unique preferences; here are selected top (as well as low satisfaction) career choices for each of the types:

Teachers (ENFJ) excel in positions where they can actively contribute to the well-being of others. They reported high job satisfaction as medical practitioners (physicians, physical and occupational therapists) and librarians. They gave low marks to restaurant work, with wait person being among the lowest rated jobs for their type.

Counselors (INFJ) were particularly drawn to the non-profit sector. Their fulfillment shows, as they tend to stay in careers in this arena, rising to positions of leadership with job titles such as Executive Director, Vice President, and General Manager. Careers in retail sales scored uniformly low among Counselors.

Champions (ENFP) are drawn to satisfying careers in several areas, including Arts & Entertainment (acting, designing) and consulting (management consulting, organizational development). They also reported high satisfaction in marketing careers and clergy. A clear area of low satisfaction for Champions were all jobs related to accounting.

Like their fellow NFP Champions, Healers (INFP) also rate Arts & Entertainment and Clergy highly. Additionally, they report high satisfaction with careers in research. They give low marks to sales careers of all types, and uniformly distained careers as clerical or administrative support staff.

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.