In the career world, sometimes there seems to be little room for sensitivity. For some of us this isn’t a problem; we consider work as a means of bringing home the bacon and leave our emotions for personal things that truly matter to us. However, many people out there are empaths, and as such excel in jobs that require them to indulge their feeling and intuition. Below are a few career paths that would work best for empathy focused people.
The reasons why empathy is essential in the workplace
Don’t think of a workplace as somewhere traditional, requiring the use of good old IQ alone. Whilst it’s extremely subjective, it’s often been found that EQ is a better intelligence trick to employ in the workplace. You need to be able to understand your fellow human being, and often in roles such as retail and customer service, refining a customer model is dependent on interactions between staff and clientele. Similarly, having a workforce that’s positively orientated and feels supported is more likely to bring in more sales and company success.
There are a lot of different types of empaths out there. If you’re extroverted and have a high empathy skill, it’s good to keep yourself in a job surrounded by other people. Quite a few empaths on the other hand are introverted. A lot of people don’t do well constantly surrounded by others, but introverted empaths will be entirely drained by the end of the day, and are more likely to have a high level of absenteeism because of this.
What kind of jobs would empaths be most suited for?
If you’re looking for an extremely involved role, try searching for support worker jobs through online job boards for more variance. This will give you a greater return on your emotional investments, and is less likely to wear you out mentally due to the amount of difference in personal support situations and one-to-one care.
Teaching is another good career for empaths due to the serving element. By being a positive force in a young person’s life, you can help shape their future and pass on compassion skills, which the need for is becoming more and more prevalent with tales of bullying and bystander apathy constantly in our minds and on the news. Working in this kind of ‘helping’ sector can have adverse effects however, so be careful not to take on your student’s problems and instead reserve a distance between you and your charges.
Similarly, empathy orientated people will be good for self-employed jobs due to the lack of strain from working under a boss or with a schedule crammed with shifts and meetings. You’ll be able to choose your own pace and therefore make better quality work and relationships.
Everyone’s empathy has a breaking point however, so be careful that you or your employees/co-workers aren’t being pushed to breaking point with your choice in career path.
What kind of careers do you think are best suited for empathy skills?