Enneagram 8 careers are those job options that allow them to meet their goals for achieving peace and happiness in life. They receive motivation from their desire to become self-reliant. These people wish to make careers in those fields where they can easily attain authoritative positions and make good professional growth.

All those people with enneagram 8 personality types can easily tackle and even handle the trickiest of situations and make smooth progress toward their goals. They are upfront, confident, and always remain in complete control over proceedings.

The following post will talk of different job profiles where enneagram 8s can work and attain success in their careers –

Enneagram Type 8 Careers

Enneagram type 8 careers refer to job opportunities where colleagues and subordinates respect their independence, hence letting them work on their own. When it comes to managers or bosses, eights must receive encouragement on the advice and suggestions they offer for the growth of the organization.

Type 8 is the Challenger. They love taking challenges professionally and inspiring their co-workers to do the same. These people are confident and adopt a charismatic approach to fulfilling their duties. Nothing is impossible for them to achieve in their life.

Hence, they wish to make others develop this attitude as well. Eights never want to hear no for an answer from anyone associated with them in any manner. If we relate this enneagram eight with Myers-Briggs, they can easily relate themselves to ESTJ and ENTJ personality types.

Type 8s enjoy working in fast-paced environments where they can use their energy for leading others in the right direction. Their energy level goes up when seniors tell them to make decisions on behalf of their team. They would love to see their boss giving due respect to their opinions and encouraging them to do better.

It would give them immense pleasure if their colleagues consider them as their leaders and pay heed to their advice.

12 Career Options to Decide Upon

Let us now briefly discuss some of the most preferred career options that enneagram 8s can pursue and hence attain professional growth. In the growth phase, enneagram type eight would acquire the positive traits of type twos. 

The following careers are those which match the personality type as per their strengths and weaknesses and help them grow –

1. Lawyer

In life, some problems do not seem to resolve on their own. Under those circumstances, people can opt for the legal route and get in touch with a lawyer. They can assist them and let them find peace of mind. These professionals provide justice to their clients.

They make them come out of tricky legal matters. Initially, a person who starts practicing in a court works under a senior counsel. Gradually over some time, the experience they gain in the process enables them to handle cases independently.

It is a perfectly suitable career option for an enneagram 8 personality type individual. The reason behind this is that they love to be in a position of authority. They love performing their responsibilities independently. When one aspires to become a lawyer, one should first attain an undergraduate degree. 

They must maintain a minimum score, and then move ahead to do their major in a relevant subject. Once that is set, they need to take the Law School Admission Test before getting admission to a law school. It takes three years to obtain a law degree.

Getting a degree does not guarantee an individual that they are ready to practice law. They can become a practicing attorney only after passing the state bar examination for the state the enneagram 8 wants to practice.

2. Director

An individual with an enneagram 8 personality type can excel in their career as a director. This profession involves a lot of glamor along with the great opportunity to come into the limelight. It enables these individuals to gain popularity. They are someone whom other members of the crew and actors would look up to for guidance.

The depiction of the script in the best possible manner would primarily depend on how a director interprets the storyline, ascertains the actors’ acting skills, and frames the story perfectly.

It helps to enthrall the audience and captivate their attention with the use of superb directorial skills. If a type eight person takes up this profession, their professional life will flourish and inspire them to improve further.

3. Politician

An Enneagram 8 individual can do well even as a politician. If one wants to excel in this profession, he or she would need to be bold, outspoken, and carry the ability to influence people toward believing whatever they say is right.

A person cannot have any kind of inhibitions if they want to become a successful politician. They must prepare themselves to do all kinds of work, appoint efficient workers for working under them and carry out all their duties in the best possible manner.

Moreover, they are powerful individuals who know how to make agencies follow their instructions and let them undertake duties for the overall welfare of society. It is an ideal career where people would naturally follow them and they would get ample opportunities for instructing others in various ways of doing their assigned responsibilities.

4. Financial Advisor

The role of a financial advisor involves guiding individuals and businesses to make smart and effective choices for their financial future. Their primary focus lies on meeting the long-term goals of clients. They include investing across different instruments and making retirement plans.

For accomplishing this ambitious goal, financial advisors form long-term relationships with their clients. They even offer help with several financial decisions like how they can secure their future after retirement.

This job profile is perfectly suitable for any individual who shows interest in finance along with the willingness to aid families and companies formulate their ideal financial plans. An enneagram 8 would love playing the role of a financial advisor as it is a respected profession.

Moreover, the client clients always abide by their suggestions for propelling their capital. Everyone trusts the level of competency these professionals carry within themselves for performing their responsibilities.

5. Firefighter

An individual with an enneagram 8 personality type is brave. They never back out from challenging situations and face them head-on. Their confidence level is so high that it allows them to find a way out of very tricky conditions and move ahead toward achieving their goals. Hence, they can find it easy to perform their duties as a firefighter.

Eights have courageous nature and the willingness to have a positive influence on others for serving long-term purposes. They make them an ideal candidate for serving as a firefighter.

Moreover, a person with this enneagram type is highly competitive. Thus, an enneagram 8 can easily adjust themselves in this competitive work environment and thrive in their career.

6. Marketing Strategist

Another job profile that can work wonders for the career of an enneagram 8 personality type individual is that of a marketing strategist. The role of a marketing strategist involves carrying out thorough research, development, and communication of strategic plans for fulfilling the company’s requirements.

It gives this person an excellent opportunity to lead and maximize their marketing efforts for fulfilling the company’s targets with ease. They also handle clients’ campaigns most efficiently and hence meet their expectations. These professionals remain active for work with multifunctional teams for the proper execution of plans.

7. Business Owner

If one has to look for someone who is ideally suited for becoming an entrepreneur, there cannot be anyone better suited than an enneagram 8 personality type individual. They are self-competent and have the natural tendency to lead. These people always enjoy grabbing the bull by the horns.

It helps them to make things happen using their proactive approach. Enneagram Eight enjoy being the boss and commanding respect from others. They never take no for an answer. Hence, these attributes make them perfect candidates for becoming successful businessmen.

8. Sales Director

When an Enneagram 8 works as a sales director in an organization, he or she is responsible for managing and overseeing sales operations.  They have the responsibility of designing concrete plans for fulfilling targets. These professionals make sure to forge relationships with customers and evaluate expenses to sell different products and services.

An Enneagram Eight professional, while working in this role would also develop and execute a strategic plan for achieving sales targets. Their focus will also be on increasing the customer base of the organization.

They will make presentations and proposals to effectively communicate the value that their company would offer to their clients. Hence, the sales director will play a vital role in increasing the revenue and expanding the client base.

9. Real Estate Agent

A person with an enneagram 8 personality type is also ideally suited for working as a real estate agent. This line of career involves helping clients buy, give rent, or sell properties. They act as the middleman between the owner and the client.

These professionals advise their clients about the current market conditions, the prevailing rates, and how much they can negotiate to get the right price after the sale. They even conduct walkthroughs for the clients to demonstrate what lies in store for them in the property they are willing to purchase. It becomes easier for clients to make well-informed decisions.

10. Project Manager

An Enneagram 8 personality type individual can even do wonders in their career if they work as a project manager in an organization. The role of a project manager involves taking good care of different operations taking place across the workplace.

It includes planning and allocating resources, formulating budgets, keeping a track of the progress that associates are making while performing several responsibilities linked with the project, and many more tasks.

A project manager even makes sure to inform all their stakeholders about the progress they are making, the timeline that the client has set, and the uncertain time on which their team will manage to deliver the work. They make sure to keep everything in line with the company’s goals and fulfill their long-term vision.

11. Investment Banker

An investment banker is responsible for performing various financial duties. They include combining the expertise of the financial services industry, an analytical mindset, and highly effective communication skills to persuade clients and raise capital for business expansion.

They do mergers and acquisitions on behalf of clients and help their businesses grow. Once they make their clients’ businesses grow, it in turn allows their work to flourish as well.

12. Police Officer

Any fearless person who carries a great sense of control over their proceedings and offers protection to others will make an efficient police officer. Therefore, those who have the Enneagram 8 personality type would be a perfect fit for the role since they carry those traits.

Their natural urge toward work in an authoritative position serves as an asset for this person whenever they decide to go into the field of law enforcement. They are ideal people who would force people to follow their instructions for maintaining law and order.

Enneagram 8 Careers to Avoid

Enneagram 8s do not like being in those working environments where people ignore their suggestions or tend to overlook them completely. These people aspire to work in those organizations where they get the chance to lead and make others follow their instructions for making progress in life. When these things are not available in some job profiles, they would hate working in those organizations.

Eights will not prefer to work in places where their bosses demand full authority. They will not want their peers refusing to involve themselves in discussions about different issues. These individuals would hate to work in those professions where their direct reports need constant guidance for carrying out their tasks.

Let us now look into the career paths Enneagram 8s must avoid under all circumstances:

Final Words

We have talked of several career choices of enneagram 8, where they can find enough opportunities for carrying out responsibilities that are perfectly in line with their personality traits. It has also managed to bring different fields of work that are not ideally suited for these individuals and hence must avoid them at all costs to prosper in their careers.

Eights love working in those environments where they can have complete independence to formulate strategies, advise others on what to do, and lead them toward fulfilling the objectives of their subordinates.

They will even prefer to face challenges, use skills to overcome them, and make others develop enough strength to do so as well. They need to get valued by others in the workplace.