Carrer Planning: Personality & Careers: ENTP

Extravert, iNtuitive, Thinking, Perceiving - ENTPs represent approximately 5% of the population. ENTPs are exciting, enthusiastic, friendly, amusing, outgoing, and talkative people. They generally understand things quickly and with great depth, allowing them to be flexible and adapt well to a wide range of tasks. ENTPs are visionaries and their perceptive abilities allow them to see possibilities everywhere. They get excited and enthusiastic about their ideas, and are able to spread their enthusiasm to others. However, they are less interested in developing plans of action or making decisions than they are in generating possibilities and ideas. Following through on the implementation of an idea is usually a chore to the ENTP. They are fluent conversationalists, mentally quick, and enjoy verbal sparring with others. They love to debate issues, and may even switch sides sometimes just for the love of the debate (1,2,8).

Although the ENTP is more interested in absorbing information than in making decisions, they are quite rational and logical in reaching conclusions. When they apply Thinking to their Intuitive perceptions, the outcome can be very powerful indeed. A well-developed ENTP is extremely visionary, inventive, and
enterprising (1,2,8).

An ENTPs Career Choice Should Probably Include...

1. An opportunity to further develop their introverted thinking to help them critique their ideas and inspirations.
2. The opportunity to work on a variety of creative challenges that let them try new and different approaches.
3. A casual yet exciting atmosphere where rules and restrictions are kept to a minimum.
4. An environment that encourages and condones risk-taking and autonomy.
5. Plenty of opportunities to meet influential people and constantly increase their own level of personal power.
6. The chance to be recognized, evaluated, and compensated for their creativity, expertise, and competence and to see their visions materialized into the world.
7. A position in which they can use their talents to understand people rather than judge them.
8. A support staff they can rely on to assist in the follow-through and detail management of projects.

An ENTPs Strengths are...

ENTPs are characterized by a quick ingenuity. They are clever and amusing, constantly scanning for the new and unusual around them. They are very perceptive and notice possibilities everywhere. ENTPs are resourceful in making what they imagine become a reality. They are impulsive and versatile, love surprises, and are adaptable to change. They are pragmatic, goal-oriented, and creative problem-solvers and can be especially good at using their charm and wit to inspire others and enroll them into their own endeavors (1,2,7,8).

ENTPs are able to weigh the cause and effect of various choices and critique several options at once due to their propensity for logical thinking. They are often energetic conversationalists and thoroughly enjoy debating issues. An ENFP will sometimes argue for the sake of argument, simply for the enjoyment they receive from the interplay of ideas with another person. Spontaneous and easy going, they look for fun in everything they do and bring zest and originality to every project (1,2,7,8).

ENTPs are good at...

• being able to grasp difficult concepts and theories
• being natural leaders and communicating with enthusiasm and inspiring others to buy ideas (but not in a controlling manner)
• being logical, rational thinkers
• looking at things creatively and analytically and seeing unique ways of solving problems
• being innovators, inventors, planners, and designers
• public speaking and leading meetings
• becoming excited about concepts, challenges and difficulties and "jumping in" to deal with them
• working with a diverse group of people on a variety of tasks
• intuitively understanding people and situations
• detecting flaws in logic and debating issues with conviction

An ENTPs Weaknesses are...

While ENTPs are motivated by creative endeavors, they are quickly bored by anything repetitive or routine. Once they have mastered a subject or solved all the creative problems, they frequently lose interest and may leave projects half finished. They tend to ignore the details when they are not interesting and can resist taking a more traditional route simply because it has been done before. In their desire to take full advantage of every opportunity that intrigues them, they can be are less than dependable with commitments (1,2,7,8).

Even though ENTPs need people to stay inspired, they are easily distracted by them. They can find themselves neglecting their responsibilities in lieu of anything fun. They need to take the time to focus fully on their projects, rather than relying on their ability to improvise. Even though ENTPs can be very charming and entertaining, they run the risk of saying just what people want to hear, and being perceived as ingenuine (1,2,7,8).

Things to watch out for...

ENTPs value their ability to use imagination and innovation to deal with problems. Trusting in their ingenuity to get them out of trouble, they often neglect to prepare sufficiently for any given situation. This characteristic, combined with their tendency to underestimate the time needed to complete a project, may cause the ENTP to become overextended, and to work frequently beyond expected time limits. Complicating this situation is their predisposition to experiment with new solutions. This makes them eager to move on to the next challenge when things get boring. ENTPs become stressed when their improvisational abilities are ineffective and they will avoid circumstances where they might fail (1,2,7,8).

If stress continues, ENTPs become distracted and their "can do" attitude is threatened. Feelings of incompetence, ineptness, and inadequacy take over. They need to escape situations that are associated with anxiety is more prominent for the ENTP than for any other personality type. Doubtful of whether they will have what it takes to accomplish a task, they displace their fears onto situations they can elude. Panic, fear, and anxiety then block the expression of their creativity. Defensive phobic reactions cause the ENTP to circumvent achievement in other areas and prevent the success they strive on (1,2,7,8). Other concerns to watch for:

• improvising to get things done at the last minute instead of fully focusing on projects and following through on them
• starting more projects than can realistically be finished
• saying what people want to hear and appearing as ingenuine
• being hasty and overlooking essential facts and details
• talking over and interrupting other people when anticipating what they will say
• losing interest and leaving projects half finished because the skills to master the project have already been learned and incorporated into his/her abilities
• being bored by repetition and routine and becoming irresponsible with deadlines and commitments
• not valuing other people's input enough and appearing overly harsh and aggressive by not considering the personal or human element in decision making
• making promises that cannot be kept

Developmental Needs: ENTPs would be advised to work on developing a plan of action and resisting the urge to get sidetracked by fun opportunities. Practicing listening skills will help to avoid "talking over" other people and interrupting them before they have the chance to finish their sentences. They may need to learn to set realistic priorities, targets, and schedules, and to acknowledge the contribution that others have to make.

Sources:

1. Looking at Type and Careers, by Charles R. Martin, Ph.D., Copyright 1995 by Center for Applications of Psychological Type (CAPT)
2. Looking at Type: The Fundamentals, by Charles R. Martin, Ph.D., Copyright 1997 by Center for Applications of Psychological Type (CAPT)
3. Jedi Girl: Careers and Jobs - The Jedi Girl Internet Community - Concept and Design by Robert Jon Religa
4. Career Manager (US Department of the Interior)
5. The Virtual Office - may no longer be at this URL
6. Hardcopies from an internet resource based on the Kiersey Bates material - URL unknown/no longer available
7. Personality Types Under Stress
8. The Personality Page

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Ron Vick, MA, LPC
Counselor / Academic Advisor
Int'l Student Advisor