10 Best Jobs for Social People and Extroverts
If you’re an outgoing, extroverted people-person, it might help to tailor your job search to careers where your personality can be an asset.
Your people skills can be a major factor in helping you land a job. Recent research shows that employers are interested in human skills, including traits associated with extroverts like leadership and communication, even amid the rise of tech skills like AI.
There isn’t necessarily a hard line between introverted and extroverted people, but more so a spectrum of how sociable you might be. You might even be an introvert who excels in social settings or an extrovert who gets shy in social situations. You might have both introverted and extroverted aspects to your personality, but there are a number of jobs where you can excel if you’re a people person.
Read on to learn more about jobs for extroverts and start down the path to finding a good fit for your individual personality.
Common Characteristics of Jobs for Extroverts
Jobs for extroverts feature teamwork, communication, and flexibility.
If you’re a people person who loves social interactions, there are a number of jobs that might fit your personality. That could mean working in a customer-facing role as a sales representative or leading teams behind the scenes as a business management professional. It could also mean building students up as an educator or managing people as part of a human resources department.
It’s also important to look for a job that allows you to build relationships with clients and coworkers. A rewarding career for an extrovert might entail being part of a team and brand that they’re proud of.
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What Are the Best Jobs for Extroverts?
Public Relations
Public relations careers will see you working as a liaison between a business or organization and the public. That’ll mean writing press releases, running communications campaigns, and even managing a brand’s social media presence.
Being a public relations professional is an ideal job for extroverts who love outreach and being the face of a brand, company, or organization. Public relations specialists had a median salary of $66,750 in May 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Journalism
Journalism can take many forms, but whether it’s writing a traditional news outlet or producing video for a digital media company, extroverts will excel in this fast-paced field. The median annual wage for news analysts, reporters, and journalists was $57,500 in May 2023.
Working as a journalist will mean talking to a host of different people across your community and tapping into current news. Extroverts will thrive in a collaborative newsroom environment and in managing sources, securing interviews, and interacting with community members.
Sales
Sales is a broad field, but making a pitch and working directly with clients is an almost universal part of this extrovert-friendly occupation. Promoting a product and working directly with consumers or other businesses is a key aspect of sales regardless of your industry or product, and extroverts can thrive in that fast-paced, high-interaction environment.
The median annual wage for sales representatives, specifically in wholesale and manufacturing, was $65,630 as of May 2023. For sales representatives in the technical and scientific product field, that figure was $99,710.
Business Management
Business managers lead teams and work cross-functionally to meet goals — an ideal gig for extroverts who like working with people. You’ll need to work your way up to leading a team, but having people skills is a major bonus as you climb the ladder to business management.
Business management comes with the dual role of meeting business needs and also keeping up team morale and communicating effectively. Master of business administration (MBA) degrees can help prepare you for this high-demand job by mixing both leadership and fundamental business skills.
Management occupations as a whole are fast growing and lucrative. The median annual wage for management occupations was $116,880 as of May 2023.
Social and Community Service
Employment of social and community service managers is growing, and the public service field is a perfect place for extroverts to interact with and help their community.
Whether you’re working for a local recreation center, food bank, government agency or nonprofit, a community-facing service role will help you interact with members of your community while also helping people locally. Social and community service managers had a median annual wage of $77,030 as of May 2023.
Education
Educators play critical roles in shaping students’ futures, so having an extroverted personality can help you excel in both teaching and counseling students.
Education can take many forms, whether you’re working as a primary school or high school teacher, or even teaching at a college or other higher education institution. It can also mean tutoring or working in any number of support roles at schools. High school teachers had a median annual salary of $65,220 as of May 2023.
Human Resources
Human resources is, first and foremost, a people-oriented job. That might entail onboarding, training, and managing people at a company. It can also mean dealing with challenging situations, like internal complaints and other issues that crop up in businesses.
Having an empathetic, people-focused personality will help you excel regardless of your role in human resources. Human resources managers had a median annual wage of $67,650 as of May 2023.
Law
Working in law requires people skills well outside of the courtroom. You’ll be interacting with clients, court staff, and other lawyers regularly. As a lawyer, for instance, you’ll need to be an expert negotiator and be willing to think on the fly — an extroverted personality will help you manage those many requirements on top of speaking publicly in court.
Becoming a lawyer is a long road, but can pay off with a high return on investment. Employment of lawyers is growing, and the BLS estimated their median annual wage at $145,760 as of May 2023.
Social Work
Social work requires people skills, empathy, and understanding. People skills are a must for helping people deal with challenging circumstances. Social work careers are all about supporting people and communities, whether you’re providing therapy or counseling or working on the policy and research side of the profession.
The median annual wage for social workers was $58,380 as of May 2023. That critical occupation is projected to grow over the next decade.
Consulting
Consulting will see you working with various organizations and businesses to improve their efficiency. This will mean interviewing people across teams, analyzing data, and presenting your findings to leadership. People skills are a must in consulting, which relies heavily on networking and effective communication.
Management analysts, who work directly with clients to boost a group’s efficiency, are in high demand. They also bring in a lucrative wage, with the BLS projecting a median annual wage of $99,410 as of May 2023.
Job | Extrovert Strengths |
---|---|
Public Relations | Communication, brand awareness, teamwork |
Journalism | Interviewing, communication, flexibility |
Sales | People skills, pitching, fast-paced |
Business Management | Leadership, communication, team building |
Social and Community Service | Empathy, community building |
Education | Teaching, engagement, development |
Human Resources | People skills, communication, mediation |
Law | Negotiation, networking, public speaking |
Social Work | Empathy, counseling, arbitration |
Consulting | Networking, negotiation, public speaking |
7 MBTI Extroversion Personality Types
Personality is a dynamic and highly individual thing. Not all extroverts are the same, and not all extroverts are even extroverted all the time. Introspecting and describing your personality traits can help you start down the path to finding a job that works for you.
One popular method for describing personality types is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI. Take it with a grain of salt. It’s by no means a hard measure of personality, but it can help you describe your traits and reflect on what potential careers might be right for you.
You can take the Myers-Briggs assessment online.
Guide to Letters
- E = extroversion
- I = introversion
- S = sensing
- N = intuition
- T = thinking
- F = feeling
- J = judging
- P = perceiving
ESTP
ESTP personalities are described as flexible problem solvers who tend to be spontaneous. That also includes having strong practical and technical skills and an entrepreneurial mindset with an emphasis on engagement.
ESFP
ESFP personality types are all about empathy, people skills, and acceptance. That feeling, compassionate, and practical focus lends itself to creative and collaborative environments.
ENFP
ENFP personalities are described as imaginative, confident pattern identifiers who are supportive and team-oriented improvisers. The ENFP personality type is also touted as lifting up others and seeing potential in their peers.
ESTJ
Process driven and task-oriented thinkers, ESTJ personality types are known for both their work ethic and organizational abilities. This personality type is sometimes known as the executive or supervisor, particularly given the matter-of-fact, task-driven approach associated with it.
ESFJ
ESFJs are known as the consul or provider due to their altruism and drive for peace in their environment. That lends itself to team-oriented social settings, as well as organizational roles.
ENFJ
ENFJ are tuned into the emotions of people around them, and help to bolster growth in their environment. That means a strong emphasis on connections with others and seeing the potential of their team members, as well as a desire to be valuable parts of the organization they’re a part of.
ENTJ
ENTJ tend to excel in leadership roles, particularly due to their logical, decisive approach to their hard work and organizational charisma. They are sometimes known as commanders due to their tendency toward drive and efficiency.
Frequently Asked Questions About Social People and Extroverts
Extroverts might be more successful in people-facing roles than introverts, but ultimately it’s training and experience that leads to success. Every type of personality can find a career that works with their strengths.