5 Great Entry Level Jobs for Introverts
Oct 10, 2020
You might be thinking. Entry level jobs for introverts? Ain’t nobody got time for that.. What about my dream career, huh? Well.. You’re right.
As introverts we often aspire for the romantic careers in the arts, like being an Author or Artist.
Or we lean towards the more logical counterpart like becoming a Software programmer.
Whatever our introverted hearts desire the most, our perfectionistic minds demand we start off in those amazing careers. Anything else means we’ve basically failed life.
Sounds, a little dramatic right?
Truth is almost none of us start off our first day after graduating college in our own downtown New York art gallery.
Or publishing that instant classic novel to be indulged in by all future generations to come.
Why? Because we are young, dumb and broke, that’s why.
Ooh and we are introverts as well, remember?
Now do you see the problem here?
Not only do we need money, we also need our delicate introvert needs met by making that money in a not too stimulating environment (in this day and age? Good luck..).
Yes, a common struggle for us introverts and I'm saying that as an INFJ male and introvert myself!
If job hopping was a kingdom, I would be its king for sure.
In that process of many years I have learned that my dream is to work for myself one day. Nothing too wild right?
But, until that day.. an introvert has got to eat.. Chances are this is the same for you.
That’s why I have compiled a list of 5 great entry level jobs for introverts which I all had myself at one point.
May it be of help to you on your own career path as an introvert heading towards that dream!
1. Store Clerk
One of the great part time jobs for introverts is being a Store Clerk.
Yes, you will be interacting with customers for most of the day, but here’s a secret.
Find a type of store that is aligned with your own quirky interests. Are you deeply into literature?
Go work at an interesting book store in your city.
If it’s music that’s your passion then start working at a record shop.
This works because those moments that you do have to interact with customers, you can talk about your favourite topic.
Even though as introverts we are mostly reserved or modest, this allows you to shine by showing off all that knowledge you have gathered about the subject by years of diving deep into the seemingly trivial details.
Expanding your Horizon: People Skills & Curiousity
This brings tremendous value to the store and enhances the customers’ experience.
It is also one of the best jobs for introverts with anxiety as it helps you develop your people skills.
If that is something you need to work on. This works also for the thing you’re curious about, but have little knowledge of.
Photo by Annie Theby on Unsplash
For instance, I have a deep love for Soul, R&B and Hiphop music, but I wanted to expand my musical horizon.
That’s why a while back I started working at a renowned record store which had very little of those genres.
Working at the store exposed me to so much beautiful music, I didn’t even now I was into, like House, Electro, Ambient, Brazilian and many more.
Because, my coworkers were all DJ’s I got up to speed of which artists were the best within those genres.
I also met a lot of music lovers in the store, even artists that I admired and I could play which ever record all day long and getting paid for it!
Whatever it is you’re interested in, use your introvert power to take that role of Store Clerk to the next level!
Definitely, one of the best jobs for introverts without a degree.
2. Customer Support Agent
Another one of the best entry level jobs for introverts is working as a Customer Support Agent.
I can already see the puzzled look on your face.
What?! Hanging on the phone all day with annoying complaining customers?
I understand where you’re coming from, but please hear me out.
You’ll have to make sure that it’s a customer service job with very little to no phone calls and all e-mail or chat.
This may sound impossible, but there is a global trend now of more and more companies getting their customer support agents off the phone.
Think about it. In this information age we live in we have practically every answer at our fingertips with Google on our Smartphones.
If you want to know something, you want to know it NOW.
You don’t want to call to this customer service department to wait in a queue for at least 15 minutes just to have your question answered, maybe. Ain’t nobody got time for that..
I’d rather send an e-mail with my question and go on with my day until I get a reply.
Well, what’s great about this development is that companies want to make their websites great resources with information for customers to self serve.
Photo by Bench Accounting on Unsplash
Self-management
For instance, by providing an abundant FAQ section and removing any phone numbers from their website. This saves everybody time.
As such, if you do your little research, you can work at customer service by dealing almost exclusively with customer questions via e-mail and chat.
Isn’t that amazing as an introvert? You can manage your own time working on those cases throughout the day.
You can go to the bathroom when you want.
Even listen to your favourite podcasts while enjoying some coffee (for which you now finally have the time to make) while working uninterrupted by phone calls.
No need to stand by all the time or needing to stop what you were doing and attend to the phone (multi-tasking… an introverts’ nightmare).
That’s why this is also one of the best jobs for introverts with anxiety.
You can avoid direct contact with customers all together.
Considering the Covid-19 pandemic times, this work is especially suited for working on your computer from home.
3. Research Assistant
Research Assistant is also among the good introvert jobs.
Now, granted this is a job you do need a specific degree for depending on which field it’s in.
However, for most academics this is an entry level job you can pick up pretty easily.
When I worked as a research assistant on a project at University, I had to transcribe interviews that were held with participants.
Sure writing down whole interviews word for word is tedious.
However, I could just get the audio files on my laptop and work from home, a coffee shop or the University library with my headphones on.
Independence
For another research project I was assigned the role as co-author.
This meant that next to reading up on the research subject, performing data analyses and writing academically made up 90% of my daily tasks.
This could also be done remotely as I only needed my laptop.
Can you picture it? Diving deeply into complex abstract subject matter you have a huge interest in by reading.
Then formulating your own research questions about what you’ve read and linking all those concepts together in carefully crafted sentences in your research paper.
Then also analysing the data you and your team have collected and discovering patterns in that data which might give answers to your questions?
All that in solitude and according to your own schedule while getting paid? Ladies and gentlemen..
If that isn’t one of the best entry level jobs for introverts, I don’t know what is!
4. Concert Hall (Volunteer)
Now this tip is based on a very specific volunteering role I had at a concert hall. I’m not sure if this attainable for everyone, but who knows.
For a local hipster concert hall that is 80% depended on volunteers they needed a group of people spreading posters throughout the city of their shows coming up.
As a volunteer you were paired with a buddy volunteer and together you were responsible for supplying a certain district.
These were all a certain number of awesome coffee shops, records stores or bars you had to go to and put up the posters.
This needed to be done twice a month and in exchange you got a membership card for the concert hall.
This meant you could go to every single show or club night for free! Now, I already hear you guys say. Club nights?! Introverts don’t dance..
We read books on a Saturday night.
Most small concert halls are open from at least Wednesday till Sunday and feature low key concerts of great bands and artists on the rise.
To Each Their Own
You could go wild on a club night, but you could also keep it nice and intimate with a midweek slacker-synthpop concert and even be home on time for bed.
This was perfect to do next to a day job as it was only twice a month and took maybe 2 hours each time.
This is pretty specific, but I’m sure there is a cool hipster concert hall in your area that might be open for volunteers. Why not take a chance and ask!
Being part of a community with a common interest gives an amazing feeling.
Especially when you contribute by volunteering and getting something else in return than money.
An invaluable experience!
5. Working Abroad
This one doesn’t have anything to do with a specific job. The point is that it’s abroad.
What are the countries and places you always wanted to discover? Think seriously about it for a minute.
It is well known that introverts really enjoy having their own familiar comfortable place.
Yet, moving to another country or city you’ve never been to and starting a life there for at least a couple of months is a beautiful introvert adventure.
You’re a complete stranger to everyone.
You could make new friends or really take that time for introspection and self-reflection.
You can use the weekends to go out and explore the city all alone making it one big observing experience.
Deeply taking in the new surroundings. The city street view, the architecture, the people, the culture.
Photo by Brad Knight on Unsplash
Rite Of Passage
Sit on a park bench on a lazy sunny Sunday with a good book and people watch in between chapters.
Start a creative project there for yourself and live the Bohemian lifestyle in solitude.
Even-though it’s scary, there is something magical that happens when venturing out solitary into the world. A rite of passage.
As we are always very much introspective and wanting to learn more about our inner selves, what better way to see what we are truly made of by challenging ourselves this way.
Let the new experiences be your inspiration for strong character building. Something shifts deep down forever when gone on such a journey.
Obviously, there is a global pandemic now which makes traveling difficult.
At the same time this is a good time to reflect on the things you always wanted to do but haven’t done.
How does it feel now that it is no longer possible? Will it ever be possible in the ways we were used to?
Really, meditate on that. When the pandemic subsides, what is it that you will do first?
We all need to make our money somehow, but get out there and live life!
Food For Thought
1. What does your dream career look like?
2. What type of job suits you the most while you work towards that dream career?
3. Which jobs do you need to avoid at all costs to save yourself from torment?
What is your personality type? Take the MBTI test!
Recommended Reading
Solo, R. (2018, August 24). The 9 best jobs for introverts [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://introvertdear.com/news/introvert-jobs/
INFJ Male
As a psychologist with a Master's degree in Clinical & Health Psychology, and as an INFJ male, highly sensitive human being, the author aims to blend the objective, subjective, mind, body and spirit for a holistic view on true well-being
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