9 Jobs Perfect For Extroverts
Not quite sure what job fits your extraverted personality. Here are 9 jobs for the people-person in you.
Published 05 Nov 2020
Are you a people-person? Do you love making connections and forming new relationships? Are you someone who thrives in social environments?
As an extrovert, it’s important to look for a job that has high social interaction and collaboration. Otherwise, you may find yourself dragging your feet to work and feeling like your spirit has been sucked out of you. Sitting at the desk the whole day with no interaction? No thank you!
So, if you need some career options to suit your extraverted personality, then look no further. Here are 9 jobs perfectly suited for extroverts like you.
Note: Think you’re more of an introvert? Check out these jobs instead.
#1. Sales / business development executive
At its very essence, sales is about promoting products and services to other people. A highly social job, many extroverts flock to sales and business development roles as they require plenty of interaction with customers — just the kind of thing extroverts gain energy from.
As a sales executive, your job will require you to approach prospects and pitch your product or service. This includes cold calling potential clients, going to meetings for sales presentations and maintaining relations with existing clients.
Extroverts are particularly good at sales and business development because they’re comfortable starting conversations with new people and are naturally more persistent than their introverted counterparts as they aren’t as sensitive to rejection, an unavoidable part of the sales process.
DID YOU KNOW
If you’re an extrovert, business is a great field to explore. Check out this guide for more information about studying business.
#2. Event planner
In event planning, your main duty is to discuss with clients to understand their vision for an event before meeting up with suppliers and venue providers to make that vision a reality. To be successful in this career, you need certain qualities.
Firstly, you need to be social. You are the main bridge between your clients and suppliers. As such, communication is an important part of the job. This gives a natural advantage to most extroverts who thrive in social settings.
On top of that, you need to be a leader and work well in a team. Finding all the vendors and suppliers is only part of the job. You have to know how to lead them into functioning cohesively together. This means understanding their work dynamic and ensuring that everyone can work in tandem with one another. It’s not exclusive to extroverts, but leading different groups of people may be easier for the socially-inclined extroverts.
DID YOU KNOW
Event planning is one of the many exciting career opportunities within the hospitality industry. Find out more about the course here.
#3. Nurse
Nurses provide care services and often serve as the first point of contact for patients.
When a patient comes in, they usually don’t come with the knowledge to know what’s wrong with them medically. It’s a nurse’s responsibility to calm them down and explain what they need to know. Your patients could be disorientated or distressed, thus good people skills are essential.
As the bridge between your patients and the healthcare service providers, you will also need to learn to work with other healthcare workers. Teamwork is important in delivering quality care. This makes the job more enticing for extroverts who enjoy working in teams.
In addition, the work environment in healthcare can be noisy and stressful. Every day, you’re expected to deal with patients, help doctors and constantly be available to help others. For extroverts who thrive better in fast-paced social settings, this can feel like home.
PRO TIP
Want to know more about nursing? Check out our course guide.
#4. Journalist
For journalists, nothing can quite beat the thrill of meeting new people, chasing down leads and writing breaking stories.
As a journalist, your job will take you to meet new people from all walks of life, the perfect recipe for a social-loving extrovert. These people come from different circumstances and to get their willing cooperation when interviewing them, you must know how to put them at ease and make small talk, something extroverts are particularly good at.
Aside from that, a good journalist must have a reliable network of contacts that can act as sources in their stories. These contacts can come in useful by providing data and new information as well as insights.
#5. Teacher
Extroverts can make for great teachers for a variety of reasons.
For one thing, teachers have to meet and interact with their students every day as they go from class to class to teach different groups of people. For extroverts who recharge themselves through social activities, this can be quite fun.
As a teacher, approachability is also important. Research shows that students engage better when the teachers are more approachable. Due to the social nature of an extrovert, they are often perceived as more approachable than their introvert counterpart, which makes them ideal teachers.
Alongside high sociability and an approachable nature, teachers also need to be confident as children can smell fear. While confidence is not exclusive to extroverts, they can often fake it better because they are less intimidated by large crowds. As a teacher in charge of classrooms full of students, this can come in very handy.
DID YOU KNOW
Great teachers can change the world. Find out more about studying education here.
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Explore Now >#6. Lawyer
In an environment where you’re required to voice your opinions loudly and clearly, advocate for your client firmly and engage in business development activities, it’s no surprise that extroverts thrive in the legal arena, especially in areas such as litigation.
The reason for this is because litigators spend a fair amount of time arguing and defending their clients in court. Having an extroverted personality can help your case, as you’re comfortable speaking publicly to a crowd and can confidently present your arguments.
Aside from that, you need to be a team player, something that an extrovert would have an advantage in. Winning a case is a team effort; you can’t do all the research alone. In addition, lawyers work with people a lot. So many of the things they do — meeting clients, brokering deals with opposing counsels, referring to experts for resources — depend heavily on human interaction. As such, you need to have a high tolerance for socialising.
PRO TIP
Think you have what it takes to be a lawyer? Start your law education with this course guide.
#7. Social worker
Do you love helping people?
A social worker needs to be comfortable with being challenged. Part of their job is reaching out to vulnerable communities and this often pushes them out of their comfort zone. You must not be so easily intimidated by new experiences. While anyone can possess this trait, the more outgoing and adventurous extroverts can claim a home advantage.
In your line of duty, you might come across cases that need specific types of services. This means maintaining a reliable network of people who can offer these special services. To network, you need to actually enjoy socialising and forming new connections, giving extroverts another advantage.
In addition, social work can be a lot like litigation. In your effort to secure better help and resources for your clients, you need to be a vocal advocate. Good advocacy requires you to be relentless in pursuing your goal. You can’t take no for an answer. As an introvert, this can sound a bit aggressive.
#8. Human resources executive
It’s in the name. Human resources executives work with people, taking care of employees and ensuring their compensation, benefits, education and welfare are taken care of.
The job requires you to be a communicator — you are the link between the employees and the employers. As part of your role, you have to attend meetings, recruit new human capital and deal with workplace disputes and conflicts. There will be a lot of face-to-face interactions. So, if you’re the kind who finds social activities tiresome, this may not be the job for you.
Being a team player is crucial in this job. As an HR executive, you may work alone or in teams but the nature of the job requires you to know how to work with people. You have to understand them and know the best way to get a good performance out of them. For extroverts who enjoy social activities, this can be an exciting challenge.
DID YOU KNOW
Many psychology graduates go into the human resources field. Find out more about the programme here.
#9. Public relations specialist
Public relations is all about managing relationships with people on behalf of employers.
As a PR specialist, you’re in charge of cultivating and maintaining a healthy public image for your employer. This involves interviews, networking and press releases. You will often be the public face of the company. Hence, you must be comfortable with being in the spotlight.
A good PR specialist is also a team player. Managing the company’s brand is not a job for one person. You need account managers, copywriters, editors, media professionals and so many more to ensure that your company’s brand is consistently and appropriately portrayed. If you prefer working alone, it can be harder to make it in this job.
The very nature of the job is about reaching out to people and communicating your values as a brand. For extroverts who thrive in social settings and connecting with people, PR is the ideal place to be.
While these jobs may suit extroverts better, it’s important to remember that it’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of situation. Introverts can thrive in these jobs too, as long as they have the passion, determination and persistence.
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Dzulfazreena Dzulkefli
Too busy complaining about lemon but I sometimes read.
