Commander

The Best Careers for the ENTJ Personality Type

The ENTJ (extraverted, intuitive, thinking, judging) personality type tends to be ambitious and driven, so a career is particularly important to them. Before diving into the best careers for an ENTJ, let's have a look at why certain careers suit the ENTJ better than others.

Traits relevant to the ENTJ’s career choice

Ambition

For the most part, it’s important that whatever career an ENTJ chooses gives them a ladder to climb. That being said, some careers with less upward mobility can still suit the ENTJ, as long as constant projects need to be done or various clients to work with, and that these opportunities offer increasing levels of challenge.

Extraversion

Most ENTJs want to be working with other people in some capacity, though outliers may break this rule, providing they have a vibrant social life outside of work.

Analytical nature

Whether it be data to crunch or problems to solve, an ENTJ likes to analyze and the career they choose should reflect this. Rote practical work, on the other hand, will probably bore them due to a lack of mental stimulation.

Respect of hierarchy

ENTJs both love to have mentors and love to fulfill mentorship roles themselves. This means a strong hierarchy that makes it clear who’s supervising benefits the ENTJ regardless of where they fall within an organization.

High energy

The ENTJ wants a workplace that has a large amount of activity. While competing demands or deadlines may get some workers down, these provide fuel for the ENTJ’s fiery sense of drive.

10 Great Careers for an ENTJ

CEO

What could appeal more to the ENTJ's ambitious nature and tendency to thrive in high-pressure, high-activity roles? Of course, one usually doesn’t enter the workforce as a CEO; this position can also be an excellent goal for the ENTJ to work toward within an organization.

Financial analyst

Most ENTJs are socialized well enough to know that money and finances are not just about numbers on a screen, they’re about people and resources. The high stakes of this role in combination with its innate social complexity make financial analysis a position in which the ENTJ can thrive and feel fulfilled.

Marketing

Working within marketing (especially advertising) gives the ENTJ a constant stream of projects to attend to. Marketing involves a fantastic mix of being people-focused yet also analytical and data-oriented, creating a match made in heaven for nearly any ENTJ. Marketing as a field has many entry positions, yet also has esteemed roles to climb to when the ENTJ proves their true worth.

Politician

Whether Alexander Hamilton or Margaret Thatcher is more your style, many ENTJs have climbed to the top ranks of the political sphere. This is little wonder, since their intuitive and thinking nature makes them excellent at decision making, and their drive and tendency to judge give them the will to see their convictions through ineffective policy.

Editor

The natural mentorship structure of the writer/editor relationship can be highly appealing to an ENTJ who’s skilled with language. Nowadays, much editing work is done via remote communication, so an ENTJ editor might want to organize some direct interaction (whether in person or on video chat) to increase the socialization aspect of their work and make the most of their interpersonal skills.

Real estate agent

The ENTJ's ability to communicate convincingly and with conviction makes them excellent in any kind of sales role. Yet, real estate is one of the best areas for the ENTJ in the sales field. It involves plenty of face-to-face time and a ladder to climb in the form of pricier and more impressive properties to sell.

Architect

Architecture lends itself well to ENTJs who are more analytical in terms of people, their desires, and their behaviors than in terms of math and sciences. In the modern world, sustainability is becoming more and more highly valued and, through the challenges of architecture, this can appeal to ENTJs whose judgment has fallen on the side of ecological consideration.

Agricultural scientist

For those ENTJs who are more science and math-based, a role in agricultural science lends them the opportunity to pursue some real advantages for real people with the breakthroughs they might make. To perform well in this kind of role, the ENTJ needs to be content with the somewhat less hierarchical nature of the scientific world and instead be happy to focus on stimulating projects and the prospect of scientific progress.

Photographer

Though the ENTJ is not one of the more overtly creative personality types, some ENTJs may excel in artistic fields. The brilliant thing about photography is that it’s often much more functional than many art types, allowing the ENTJ to work on projects that involve plenty of social and societal crossover with the more practical world and with organizations that they might admire.

Project manager

This is a looser title that can be combined with many fields depending on the ENTJs personal interests. The crux is that management is an ENTJ specialty, as all projects come with the people needed to do them, appealing to the ENTJ’s extraverted nature. Furthermore, the sense of achievement when a project is complete and successful provides an ENTJ with something to work toward and a dopamine payoff when they get there.