Are You Happy With Your Career?
Keirsey.com's Career Survey Results Shine Light On What Makes Rationals 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 Rationals true satisfaction? How many of us truly enjoy what we do for a living? What does your temperament have to do with it? Are Rataionals as happy, say, as Guardians when it comes to career choice? What makes Rationals 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.

Rationals' Level of Career Satisfaction
Slightly more than half of all Rationals rate themselves as either 'Satisfied' or 'Highly Satisfied' with their careers. It's not surprising that this is the lowest of the four temperaments, as the typical Rational is continuously questioning the status quo - including the decisions they have made for themselves - in search of a better way forward. Guardians are the happiest with their careers (more than 65% rate themselves "Satisfied" or higher), with Artisans and Idealists at about 60%. 48% of all Rationals would choose the same career if they were starting over, again the lowest level among the four temperaments, with Guardians again the most likely to make the same choice again. Rationals are pretty consistent in these ratings across the four types, Fieldmarshals, Masterminds, Inventors, and Architects were all clustered within 2 percentage points of each other.

A conclusion for Rationals to take from these numbers: you are most likely going to be interested in changing careers multiple times over your working life. Take a look at other careers that Rationals like you find satisfying - even if they seem unrelated at the present - and keep up with developments in those fields for the future. The strategic Rationals often tie seemingly unrelated fields together in a career progression that allows them to bring competencies developed in one field to the next. As an example, here is the career path of one Rational Mastermind from our survey:

• Earned BA degree in music, teaching credential for secondary education
• Started career life as a high school music teacher
• Earned Masters degree in Administration
• Became a school administrator
• Earned law degree (night school)
• Passed bar, entered law practice representing school districts
• Became Executive Director (CEO) of a major non-profit academic institution

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 particpants are pay (#1), and job security (#2). The table to the right summarizes the top factors cited by Rationals affecting both their satisfaction and dissatisfaction levels with their jobs. Pay, having challenging work, and learning new skills are tops for those rating themselves as either satisfied or very satisfied with their career, while low pay and unchallenging work are the primary factors affecting those stating they are either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. All types of Rationals were consistent in the factors most important to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. It is clear that, as a Rational, if you take a position that doesn't challenge you intellectually on a regular basis, you will be soon looking for another job. An additional factor that Rationals deemed consistently important was length of vacation time offered. While most Rationals work hard at their vocations, they definitely need adequate vacation time to unwind and recharge. Keep this in mind when you are negotiating your next job offer - ask if your new company can match whatever vacation time you've built up at your current employer. If you have to, you might even consider trading some starting salary for an extra week.

The importance of company size
The size of the company they work in has a measurable effect on the career satisfaction of the Rationals in our survey. The most satisfied Rationals are those that are self employed, the least satisfied work at very small companies (2-10 employees). Rationals who don't work for themselves are generally more satisfied at the largest companies than those employed by smaller organizations. The graph below shows the job satisfaction ratio for Rationals 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, Rationals seem to be happiest when they answer to themselves, or in larger organizations that offer opportunities for autonomy and/or learning new skills.

The Best Careers for Rationals
As noted above, Rationals are motivated by a job environment that offers challenging work and the opportunity to learn new skills. Organizations that require adhering to tried-and-true, standard operating procedures, or a lack of autonomy are environments Rationals should be wary of. Three types of careers were popular with all Rationals: Software development (software engineer or systems analyst), research, and college instructor (professor, lecturer, adjunct professor). Administrative assistant and all types of retail-based customer service showed consistently low satisfaction ratings and clearly are not optimal career choices for any type of Rational. Here are additional selected top career choices for each of the four Rational types:

Fieldmarshals (ENTJ) excel in positions where they can marshal resources to tackle strategic issues. They reported high job satisfaction as business executives, technical managers, and program/project managers.

Masterminds (INTJ) were drawn to careers that take advantage of their strategic planning skills. They report high satisfaction as attorneys (particularly in complex areas such as contract negotiations), management consultants, and financial analysts (venture capital and investment banking).

Inventors (ENTP) are drawn to satisfying careers where they can employ their strategic creativity. Entrepreneurship draws Inventors as company founders and co-founders, especially in the role of leading new product development. Inventors also enjoy technical careers as engineers of all types, and management consulting.

Of the four types of Rationals, Architects (INTP) were the most strongly drawn to the medical field, as physicians, surgeons, therapists, and researchers. Architects also gave high marks to careers in software development, especially as systems architects.

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.