IN*FJs on the job hunt

Since I've mentioned being and INFJ in that last post: every so often I look at where people come from to get to this blog (is there anyone who has a blog who doesn't?). There are a few odd posts that people seem to arrive at via searches quite often, though I doubt what they find is all that helpful. One of the top searches that brings people here is "in*fj careers" (without the asterix, just so they don't end up here too). Tortured souls that we are, and rare as we're supposed to be, it would seem that every INFJ in the universe is out there trying to work out what to do for a job, and somehow they end up here. I don't know whether it's partly in the nature of the INFJ to be looking for a certain kind of fulfilment.

I've taken a winding and tortuous path through my working life, which wasn't planned. Somewhere along the way I shed my "career", and I actually find it quite a liberating place to be. The truth is, I think when I shot out of university I was quite ambitious in my way. I wanted to do something exciting, meaningful and adventurous (save the world and all of that). And I did, working up in far North Queensland trapping wildlife (well, I contributed to saving a few species). When people asked me what I did with myself, it started a half hour conversation that people seemed to think it was fascinating. But also, and INFJ descriptors will back me up here, I don't know that my initial study choices were really the right ones - either that or my interests have shifted quite dramatically since. Working with words and writing would seem to be closer to where I'm supposed to be - if there is a such a place. And I have always loved books and writing and literature, I just didn't pursue that line (odd when I think about it, because it was the after school classes in 3 Unit English I liked the most in school).

But these days I don't hang so much on my job. It's become something I do more to support myself, and I just assume I'll have to indulge my true interests in my own time. And I talk to a lot of people for whom that would be the case. The flip side of that, however, is that if you're going to get out of bed every morning and do something for about eight hours, you'd like it to be in some ways stimulating, so I am always feeling like I should goad myself into finding something else. It's a conundrum, because I like the flexibility of where I am now (which gives me a bit more time for those other things) and I get nervous about landing a job that's no more satisfying, it just saps up more time. Thus I am probably one of those people who occasionally does one of those searches that mean people hit my blog.