Top Career Choices for Enneagram Type 5 Individuals
If you’re a Type 5 on the Enneagram, you may be wondering which career type might best suit your personality. Many men and women desire to have a good balance between their personality and their interests, and the ideal job would be both interesting and something one can excel at for years to come.
Let’s explore the best career options for the Type 5.
Characteristics of the Type 5
Enneagram Type 5 personalities tend to be intelligent, contemplative, and feel a need to understand and organize everything within their reach.
At their best Type 5’s can be creative, innovative, and excellent problem solvers. They can take on others’ problems as their own, and find ways to puzzle the issues out methodically and effectively. Type 5’s can also become a bit obsessive, nervous, and isolated when stressed out, and handle medium-sized projects best.
So which career paths might bring out the best in a Type 5, and allow them to really shine? Let’s look at a few below.
Social Worker
The social worker has to be an intelligent and compassionate problem solver. He or she needs the ability to look at a situation, asses its seriousness, and make a wise and decisive judgment call meant to improve or save a person’s life.
Social workers must also be organized, disciplined, and be able to get a good sense of the overall picture. All of these factors, combined with the ability of a social worker to truly make the world a better place, would make this an excellent choice for a Type 5.
Project Coordinator / Middle Management
Type 5’s are excellent at coordinating, sorting, and planning. They’re bright and make excellent leaders, and are especially good at thinking outside the box. This would make them especially adept at mid-level leadership within an organisation.
The size of the projects the Type 5 would have to handle in this kind of a career would be small to mid-size, and would allow the Type 5 to be an excellent problem solver and delegator without overwhelming them with too much work.
They could also really let their independent streak shine, and find creative ways to grow the business and land new clients, while solving inter-personal conflict efficiently. Allowing them to both work as a team and lead from above, this would be a great career choice for a Type 5.
Research Scientist
Though it can take a long time and a lot of education to make it to this career path, it’s a vocation many Type 5’s would likely relish. A life of knowledge-seeking, study, data collection, and presenting findings would really be a dream come true for many Type 5’s.
This career path would allow a Type 5 to truly immerse themselves in their field of study, share their knowledge and findings with others, and allow them a good deal of independence while working. This would satisfy their curiosity, give their independent streak plenty of room, and give them the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the well of human understanding.