Knowing my type helped me make a change
by Jude
I learned that i was an ENFJ personality type as I was finishing my doctoral and law degrees at the same time at a major research university. I was in therapy mending a broken heart and trying to write my dissertation. My therapist gave me the test and noted that it confirmed what he had thought all along. He told me that the ENFJ is unlikely to find satisfaction as a corporate attorney and that most find their greatest happiness in jobs where they interact regularly with others such as in psychology. Sick of being a poor graduate student - though honestly I absolutely loved being a graduate student for the social interaction - I went to work for an international law firm in San Francisco. I was instantly miserable because I was locked in my office so many hours per day. I began taking pro bono cases because the firm allowed us to have direct client interaction and I loved it. but ultimately my work performance was fairly wretched in the areas where I was locked away (and it felt like being in a prison cell - albeit with a view of the golden gate bridge!). I left to design and build a house up to date with all the newest "green" technologies. I loved it, but when it was over I went back to practicing law with a smaller firm that promised client interaction and again I loved the client work but too much of my day was spent in isolation; and again, my work performance and my interactions with my bosses (not ENFJs as you might expect) was not great. I left on bad terms and to this day still feel some bitterness about the experience. I was offered a job as an academic researcher in my doctoral field at a tremendous pay cut; but I love it. I love the research and the writing and since I am a social scientist I love the interactions with others. The office is disharmonious to the extreme but i stay out of the politics as much as possible.
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