Hiring and Employing an INTJ

I know many companies look to the MBTI in the hiring and interviewing process, and I find that to be valuable, as it provides key personality insights to your potential employee and assures that the employee will fit into the culture of the company. In my opinion, this method is heavily weighted in preference to extroverted types. Extroverted types can offer valuable skills to any company that I certainly can’t, but there are the overlooked introverted types that offer their own flavor to your team, where the INTJ is no exception.

Reasons You Would Hire an INTJ

Your Processes and Efficiency Could Use Improvement

If your business is running inefficiently, you will want an INTJ on your team. We are masters of efficiency, and it is not necessarily something learned as it just comes naturally to us. In jest, I like to tell others that I want to spend as little time as possible doing my job, therefore I will find the most efficient way to do it, without losing accuracy and productivity in the process. Funny thing though, there is a lot of truth to that jest. Our natural efficiency encompasses all of life’s tasks and we cannot abide spending more time on a task then necessary.

If I had known that an ‘Efficiency Expert’ was something I could be and pays the salary it does, I would have pursued that career path. Young INTJs should take note.

The trick in hiring an INTJ for this purpose though, is to not tell them that you want to hire them for efficiency. Hire them to do the task in which the efficiency needs improved, and they will just do it without being asked. In my experience, the best possible way to improve efficiency is to do the work. As I am doing the work, I will just find a better way to do it and revamp the process, then eventually presenting it in an “oh, by the way” format when my colleagues ask how I get things done so quickly.

You Have A Lot of Mundane “Busy Work”

I don’t know about other INTJs, but I love mundane busy work. Not because I enjoy the work itself, but I love the challenge of making the work happen more efficiently (see above). Work that requires the use of spreadsheets will really get me going, because it is always fun to find more efficient ways to utilize them. Because of this “mundane busy work”, I have become a master of Excel and Google Sheets, going so far as to automate with scripts and utilizing rather advanced functions. This is my happy place.

You Want Results

Results are what I live for, regardless of the line of work, and I love the challenge of achieving them. If your business has standstill results, it may be time to employ an INTJ who would enjoy nothing more than to make those numbers look much better, and keep looking better over time.

You Want Dedication, Reliability and Work Ethic

It is my opinion that the INTJ (and ENTJ for that matter) hold the strongest work ethics in the MBTI. It is no secret that many CEOs and COOs are ENTJs and INTJs. I have possessed serious work ethic all the way back from when I worked in fast food as a teenager. We work hard and produce and present only the best possible work, and we settle for nothing less than completion. We do what we say we are going to do and never make false promises. We are also extremely self-disciplined, self-critical, visionary and lead by example. We can always be counted on and trusted to produce our best work, and we love to do it.

What You Won’t Get Out of an INTJ

A Corporate “Kiss-Ass”

We don’t play the corporate game and find it a complete waste of our productive time. We are not keen on being fake or lying, so we are not well-suited for corporate kissassery. We are not going to act like something is great when it isn’t and we are certainly not going to make friends with our co-workers for the sake of getting ahead and being accepted. We go to work to work, we are good at it and are not down to waste our time on these unnecessary efforts.

A Bubbly Outgoing Personality

My work itself has rarely, if ever, been criticized, but my personality in the workplace most certainly has. In school, you get in trouble for talking in class, but in the workplace, you get criticized for not talking. I have had more extroverted coworkers dislike me simply for the fact that I didn’t want to talk about the latest celebrity gossip, which has absolutely nothing to do with my work. I generally like to have a purpose behind my words, and if I am at work, that purpose is generally related to a current task. I also never enjoyed the after-work happy hour or any socializing outside of work, and I prefer to keep my work, home, and social lives completely separate.

Someone Who is Good On The Phone

I have always preferred working in my dark, quiet “hidey hole” with as little interpersonal and customer contact as possible. This is where I thrive. I have never been or pretend to be good on the phone. I excel on the phone in my current work as there is a purpose, as I am working directly with the client to present the fruits of my “mundane busy work” and efficiency. Sales, customer retention, building rapport? Count me out. I suck at it.

Someone Who Can Be Micro-Managed

INTJs are extremely trustworthy and productive employees, but we do not take micro-management well. We can’t even fake it as many others can, and we are very bad at "corporate politics.” Being trusted and treated like a responsible adult who will get our work done is key, and micro-management only produces the opposite. We take our tasks seriously, will not miss a deadline, and will produce very high-quality work, so long as we are allowed to do so on our terms and at our extremely self-disciplined pace.

How to Attract an INTJ Employee

Check Your Job Description

Nothing turns me off more than a canned job description that lists key terms like “outgoing personality” and “social” as requirements. This is never a requirement in most lines of work that INTJs will enjoy. When I see this in a job description, I immediately picture the office as some inefficient, distracting social hub where I would never get any work done.

Offer a Working or Project-Based Interview

Because of our personalities, we don’t come off as super-outgoing in our interviews, which often kills us. We are likely the stellar employee you seek, but our lack of glowing social skills in an interview may be lacking. I have always done my best with a project-based interview. Give me a small project, let me complete it, and present you with the completed work. That is what you are looking for anyway, right?

Allow Remote Work

I have worked remotely for a decade and always prefer to have the option to do so. Offices are distracting, particularly to the INTJ, for many reasons. We prefer to escape or work in the comfort of our distraction-free and productive environment. For work that doesn’t require office presence (which is most office work, in my opinion), offering this option will give you a better chance of landing an INTJ employee. We also see commuting as a waste of time and inefficient when it isn’t necessary, so when remote work is not an option, you can be assured that we are likely seeking it and will become an ex-employee when we find it.

Don’t Require a Strict Schedule

I maintain my own strict schedule, but on my own time. I know what times I work best, and that is between 7:30am and 3:30pm with no lunch. If I am required to work from 9am – 6pm, I will go nuts, as this does not align with my most-productive work time. Most modern companies will offer some flexibility on start and end time, and to attract an INTJ, this is almost a requirement.

Avoid Open Office Concepts

If you have the open office concept, offer an alternative, such as remote work or quiet private offices. In any job where office work was required, I always asked for an on-site interview so I could survey the environment. I have also turned down jobs based on the environment alone, for example; I interviewed at a pretty stellar Denver marketing agency. An agency that was so great, I was willing to explore working onsite, until I saw where my desk would be. The desk was nothing but a long table with a seat in the middle of 4 other people who were super-talkative with messy desks piled with toys and other distracting clutter. There were no offices, only one big room with several long tables and no option to work in any semblance of quiet. Couldn’t do it. I knew that second that there was no way I could work in that environment, so I turned down the job.

Make a Competitive and Well-Researched Offer

One thing I can guarantee every INTJ does, is their homework. We know very well what other companies are offering and what your company’s reputation is. If you are ready to extend an offer, make sure it is competitive in the industry and is in line with your competing company’s offers.

This post is from an archive of the Intjness blog I authored between 2016-2018.