I think the MBTI types that are most suited for work in finance are very different from the people who are most common in finance.
Finance can be very lucrative compared to other professions, and combined with the media portrayal of finance (which is usually only 3 subsets – sales & trading, asset management and investment banking), people expect to live lavish lifestyles with endless parties and unique experiences within this line of work. Because of how the media portrays the lifestyle of people in suits, Extroverted Sensing (Se) users are the most attracted to finance as well as INTJ/INFJ (because it is their inferior function and that unconsciously motivates them).
However, in reality, finance is often alot of mindless, boring work, which can usually be mastered relatively quickly. You would be working incredibly long hours and then have very little time left over to actually live your life. This means that in reality, it would actually be extremely unappealing to dominant/auxiliary Se users such as ESTP/ESFP/ISTP/ISFP and to INTJ/INFJ types. Unfortunately, since people are often forced to make their career decisions at a relatively young age, the Se people usually do not realize what the actual lifestyle will be like until they actually start working.
For me as an INTJ, I know I can be effective in finance, but after having some exposure, I felt it did not satisfy me enough because I was not making a direct positive impact on the world (I reckon my introverted feeling (Fi) at play). Other personality types would have other reasons, such as ENTPs who desire lots of novelty in their work or the INTPs who have huge problems with bureaucratic chain-of-command models in general.
I would say that finance work would likely be most suited to introverted sensors (Si) and extroverted thinkers (Te), who can grow into their habits and work with systems happily, such as ISTJ/ESTJ/ENTJ and ISFJ/ESFJ can be well-suited too if they get a good grip on thinking side. If you look at many mid or late career professionals, you will often find that they are the ISTJ/ESTJ/ENTJ/ISFJ/ESFJ types, who have come to love their work.
If you’re a student having trouble deciding what kind of work you’d be interested in, looking at your MBTI and Enneagram type can be a great pointer for where you should focus your efforts. If you don’t know your MBTI or Enneagram type, check out the resources page to find websites that can test you on your MBTI and Enneagram type.
Keep in mind that the tests are not necessarily right and that it will usually take deeper self-reflection for you to figure out which type is truly yours. To confirm if your type is correct, check out my Masterpost on MBTI for broader information on personality typing.
If you found this post interesting, you may enjoy this:
Leave a Reply