ISTJ Careers
This page looks at careers for an average ISTJ. However, every ISTJ is different, and you are a unique individual. Our career questionnaire helps you confirm whether your type is ISTJ, and provides an optional report that matches your unique personality with over 100 potential careers.
ISTJ Types
If your closest personality type is ISTJ then you are interested in clarity and knowledge. You like to observe and listen, and have a particular interest in facts and information which help you to develop as clear a knowledge as possible. You like to know where you stand, e.g.: having clear goals to which you are working, and to know that what you are expected to do is achievable. You value your experience, which serves as a strong guide to your decisions.ISTJ Career Enjoyment
The table, below right, shows which careers ISTJs say they enjoy doing most - based on research involving over 10,000 people. We asked people to tell us their job and how much they were enjoying it. We also asked them to complete our questionnaire and/or declare their personality type. We found three important lessons from this research:
- Unsurprisingly, ISTJs tend to enjoy certain jobs more than others. This happens when the demands of a job match the preferences of an ISTJ
- Some jobs are inherently more enjoyable than others, irrespective of personality type. This is because there are many factors other than personality type that make a job enjoyable, such as the opportunity for achievement or the degree of freedom/autonomy you have in the job.
- Not all ISTJs are the same. There are variations in individual preferences that affect how much each ISTJ enjoys each job.
| Career | Average 'Enjoyment' Score (max=6) | n |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 4.6 | (5) |
| The Arts | 3.8 | (8) |
| Training | 3.8 | (7) |
| Medical | 3.7 | (31) |
| Project Management | 3.7 | (27) |
| Science | 3.7 | (19) |
| (Our Careers Report contains many more) | ||
The scores in the table (right) show how much ISTJs scored each type of career for enjoyment (the maximum score was six). The number in brackets is how many ISTJs were in that career in the survey. This aspect of our research involved 10,631 people, of whom 535 had preferences for ISTJ.
The tables sometimes contain some surprising results. This can happen if a job is inherently enjoyable, or if there are low numbers of people doing the job (which means that individual, unique preferences have a greater bearing on the results).
Example Stretch Diagram (Auditor)
| Profile Match |  |
| Job Rating |  |
What people in this job liked about it: teamwork, developing relationships, interacting with clients, being respected as an advisor, learning (e.g.: about different businesses), challenges, travel (to client), investigative work, improving things, non-routine, good money.
What they disliked: stress of work overload, lack of meaning or intellectual challenge, being disliked by some people, being in an office all day, accountancy work, working alone, lack of clear goals, politics.
One way to identify a suitable career is to match your personality preferences with the behavioural demands of potential careers. You are likely to find a career enjoyable if there is a good match, but stressful if there is a poor match.
The diagram (right) compares the average preferences of a ISTJ with the demands of working as an auditor. In this diagram, each segment represents a particular style of thinking or behaving that corresponds with each of the sixteen personality types.
This diagram shows not only how much opportunity an ISTJ has to use ISTJ behaviours in the job, but also how much you are expected to use the behaviours associated with the other types, and whether the overall balance suits your individual preferences:
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A red segment suggests that the career demands more of this type of behaviour than is your preference. |
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A blue segment suggests that you would like to use these types of behaviours more than is needed in this career. |
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A white (or very light green) segment suggests that there is a good match between the demands of the job and your individual preferences. |
This diagram matches an average ISTJ with one job (auditor). Our career test matches your individual, unique preferences with over 100 potential jobs: