Canny Callings: Analyst Personality Types and Career Compatibility (Part I)

A Puzzle with Many Pieces

Analysts approach career selection with the same inquisitive mind-set they apply to all of life. They seek to build an understanding using facts, and it’s no surprise that many look to personality type information to inform their career choices, especially early in life.

But there isn’t simply one correct career for each personality type. There are many factors in play, creating lots of choices, depending on your goals. A great career isn’t just about earning money. Most Analysts also want a career that’s intellectually engaging and satisfying.

Certain careers may be a better match for Analyst personality types than others. Of course, we’re only talking about probabilities, not certainties, but it’s only logical to consider such facts when contemplating a career path.

It’s equally logical to note that your career might not progress exactly as you expect. Analysts often make changes as new information comes to them, and that’s wise. But believing in a direction can also be critical to success. A goal is far more reachable when your mind and heart drive you toward it.

Analysts can certainly excel in careers that they don’t enjoy. But this article isn’t pushing you toward compromise, it’s about helping you find something truly satisfying in the long-term.

Thinking about likely career compatibility is important, but don’t completely discount any career path that appeals to you. Statistics aside, personal experience can make almost any career a great fit for Analysts, even if it initially seems counterintuitive.

Little Pieces Combine into a Big Picture

Analyst personality types may have strengths that are well-matched to a particular job, yet that’s not always the same as aspects of a job role matching them well. One is more about output, the other, input. But strong compatibility in either can compensate for a mismatch in the other, making a job satisfying enough.

For example, we often think of Feeling personality types as ideally suited to careers involving a lot of human interaction. Their tendency toward empathy helps them achieve warm connections with others. A career path as a teacher is a prime option for these types.

But Analysts’ Thinking trait certainly doesn’t prevent them from being great teachers, especially if they have a passion for a specific subject. Their appreciation of knowledge motivates them to share it with others. And in an academic career, being intellectually vigorous yields excellent results.

While Analysts are likely to bond through information, this can nonetheless create positive connections with others. However a career and a personality type seem to initially align (or not), nuances of both can ultimately have a profound effect on compatibility.

It’s good to be shrewd when choosing a career. So, in addition to the broad compatibilities between Analyst personality types and various careers, we’ll also point out certain job facets that might require some critical consideration.

Let’s look at some jobs likely to be a good fit for Analysts.

Different Shapes of Analyst Careers

These personality types tend to have logical, inquisitive minds. Analysts like to discover the hidden mechanisms of the world, both physical and conceptual. Understanding the constructs of life often leads them to a desire to create or improve things.

The structures Analysts focus on are more likely to be technical than social, but this doesn’t preclude wanting to make the world a better place for everyone.

When Analysts plan their career, it can be useful to ponder how it might relate to the rest of the world. We invite you to consider which of these three rough categories best describes your professional hopes:

Optimizing the world. Selecting a career where you can figure out ways to make things better can be very satisfying. Obviously, this is a broad concept with many possible directions. Almost any organization or profession can be improved, and you can help improve them best when you connect personally with the work.
Being on the cutting edge. Some industries and careers involve very new things, such as investigative research, designing systems, or creating experimental products. If you like big ideas and grasping for the unknown, you may enjoy treading new ground with other forward-looking people.
Asymmetrical pursuits. Many Analysts have their own strong ideas, desires, and opinions and may find most larger organizations or traditional job roles confining. If you’ve got a passion for something outside the mainstream, you’re not alone. It may take a little more effort to find a job that fits you, but you can seek like-minded people to work with.

Specific jobs may be more (or less) compatible with one of the above goals, but any broad career area can be approached in a specific style. For example, three different Analysts, one in each of the above categories, might approach being an engineer in their own ways.

The first might want to “optimize the world” by working in conventional or seemingly outmoded industries. They could help improve and refine the processes and practices of anything from manufacturing to waste management to agriculture. They can enjoy finding better ways to achieve efficient – even elegant – outcomes through the application of knowledge.
The second might want to “be on the cutting edge” by working in an advanced technology field. Anything from aerospace to biomedical engineering could put them where the action is. Designing something new is a particular thrill, and those who crave novel information and experiences might like a career that advances human achievement.
The third might want to engage “asymmetrical pursuits” with a flexible career like construction engineering. They could benefit from both broad employment opportunities and the skills to design and build what’s important to them personally – anything from a dome home to a recording studio.

As you decide what you want to do for a living, it’s also smart to consider a practical context for your goals. Thinking about the above approaches can help you narrow the field a bit. Whatever your preferred style, some career fields nicely match the ways Analysts like to use their abilities. Let’s check some of them out.

Discovering Where You Fit

Based on their traits, Analyst personality types are likely to find compatibility in the following career areas. Finding the right “fit” is about more than just selecting an industry, but the broad strokes are a great place to start.

No list can be a perfect match for every individual, even when based on personality type research. We hope this information will inspire your decision, not define it.

Engineering

An extremely broad area, this career path is a likely match for Analysts who like to create or build things. Whether it’s a conceptual design like a process or systemic practice, or something tangible like a building, expressing personal creativity in a technical way is often one of the most satisfying life pursuits for Analysts.

Just a few examples of such fields include:

Architect
Urban or environmental planner
Software engineer
Mechanical or electrical engineer
Materials engineer
Production system designer
Industrial engineer
Product designer
Video game designer

Academics

Education is not just something that Analysts benefit from, but also something that they often revel in. Sharing this enthusiasm with others can be an incredibly satisfying way to make a living.

Career choices in this vein include:

Teacher
Tutor
Teacher’s aide or educational assistant
School psychologist
Adult education teacher
College professor
Academic researcher
College lecturer (science, philosophy, history, etc.)
Religious educator
Educational consultant
School principal

Science and Research

Their own desire to understand the world around them makes Analysts good candidates for careers in science, especially in research positions. Discovering the unknown can translate into an engaging career full of enjoyment.

A few areas of this kind of work include:

Physical scientist
Life scientist
Astronomer
Biomedical researcher
Physicist
Geoscientist
Psychological researcher
Agricultural scientist
Chemist

Health and Medicine

The world of health and medicine is a complex one, perfect for Analysts to apply their rational skills and do some solid good for the world. Often objectively detached, these personalities focus well on unraveling problems and achieving positive outcomes without getting too personally involved.

On the flip side, providing health care is also a great way for Analysts to improve their people skills.

Some career options include:

Psychiatrist
Psychologist
Nurse
Lab technician
Pathologist
Neurologist
Pharmacologist
Surgeon
Cardiologist
General practitioner
Diagnostician
Nurse practitioner
Optician

Business

The clinical way that Analysts are often able to view things can be an asset in the competitive world of business. Working toward a defined goal by maximizing available options is something that Analysts often enjoy as if it were a game of strategy.

The modern world offers countless such careers, some of which include:

Business administrator
Management consultant
Project manager
Investment analyst
Marketing strategist
Economist
Educational consultant
Lawyer
Political strategist
Anything involving analysis and forecasting (e.g., market intelligence)

Creative Arts

While turning artistic vision into a paycheck isn’t always easy, Analyst personality types who want to express their talents can seek a career in the arts. Some may have more obvious market value than others, especially when tied to other industries like media production.

Some artistic career examples include:

Music production engineer
Musician
Actor
Painter
Graphic designer
Cartoonist
Writer
Comedian
Woodworker
Photographer
Material artist/sculptor

Any of the jobs we’ve mentioned can be a good fit with Analysts’ common strengths, tendencies, and preferences.

But even when positive compatibility seems likely, Analysts may want to watch out for potential downsides in a work role or environment. That’s exactly what we’ll look at in the second part of this article. We hope you’ll join us again as we continue piecing together “The Puzzle of Career Compatibility.”

If you’ve had a past work experience that was a perfect match for your personality type, we’d love to hear about why. Would it be a good match for other Analyst personality types? Share your inspiring experience in the comments below!