Why You Need to Know Your Personality Type 

Firstly, it’s important to understand that personality typing is not designed to pigeonhole a person or to say that one personality is better than another. Each personality has its unique characteristics. Personality typing is an empowering personal development tool that will help you to:   

• Identify your strengths and weaknesses and understand your thoughts, feelings, and motivations.     
• Make smarter education and career choices   
• Be confident in a job interview  
• Thrive in the workplace 
• Network with others successfully 
• Improve your relationships 

Introduction to Personality Typology  

Understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses, needs and wants, helps with:   

• Identifying relevant opportunities  
• Accessing career information  
• Planning and taking career-related decisions  
• Presenting oneself effectively to gain access to courses or jobs  
• Networking and building relationships

The road to modern personality typology was first paved by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst. Based on his work, psychologists Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Briggs created the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which is one of the most popular methods of personality typing today.  

To explain how people differ in the way they use their personality preferences/cognitive functions, Myers and Briggs use the following four preferences for their self-evaluation personality assessment. 

1. Introversion (I) or Extraversion (E). Do you prefer to draw energy from your inner world or the outer world? 
2. Sensing (S) or Intuition (N). How you receive information. Do you prefer to focus on the information from your surroundings or interpret and add your meaning? 
3. Thinking (T) or Feeling (F). How you make decisions. Do you take a logical approach or prefer to look at people and circumstances? 
4. Judging (J) or Perceiving (P): How you interact with the outside world. Do you like to have things decided and organized or prefer to remain open to new information and options? 

The letters assigned to the above preferences make up a four-letter acronym for each of the 16 personality types. This simple coding system shows how your four preferences interact, and which one you prefer to use first.  

How you use these preferences can change over time and some of these preferences may be used more often than others.  

For example, the ESFJ personality type uses the following preferences in this order: extraversion, sensing, feeling, and judging. 

ESFJs are extroverts  

As ESFJs are extroverts, they draw energy from the outside world, and they like to be around lots of people. 

Extroverts are easy to spot as they are friendly, cheerful, talkative, and energetic. Wherever there is a party, an extrovert will be there making everyone laugh with their jokes and witty stories. Despite their constant cheerfulness and light-heartedness, ESTJs are deeply committed to their closest relationships.  

Personality Profile of the ESFJ and Characteristics 

ESFJs are also known by the nicknames “The Caregiver” and “The Protector” because they are kind, warm, compassionate, and empathetic. They are genuinely interested in the well-being of people, and they care about animals too. 

Caregivers/Protectors are always looking for ways to improve people’s lives whether it’s in the community, at work, or at home. ESFJs show their concern through practical help and support and counseling. They are so committed to serving people; that they will often put other people’s needs above theirs.  

ESFJs may not seek out leadership positions, but they make great leaders because they are approachable and confident, and have excellent organizational skills. They will gather people together, get everyone excited about the project, meeting, or event, and ensure everything runs smoothly from start to finish. 

Their orderly nature can make it hard for them to change and adapt to new ways of doing things. They tend to make quick decisions based on their emotions and can be too quick to share their feelings, which makes them appear frivolous and shallow. They can also be prone to gossip.  

ESFJs are pragmatic but tend to make decisions with their heart rather than their head. Maintaining social harmony is important to them, but they are no shrinking violets.  

Highly ethical, ESFJs are passionate about their ideals, beliefs, and values. If they see acts of injustice, they will defend the disenfranchised and look for solutions to make things right. They are willing to consider different points of view but can have trouble tolerating people who don’t share the same values as they do.  

ESFJs can be ruthless when they are in hot pursuit of their goals, but they are still sensitive souls. They put so much effort into their humanitarian missions that they can get upset when their efforts are not appreciated. Being liked is very important to them so they need approval from others, and they don’t respond well to criticism.  

Cognitive functions 

Sensing 

ESFJs use their sensing preference to receive information from their surroundings. Their heightened senses mean they are extremely observant, good listeners, and often pick up on the little details that other people miss. 

While they prefer to live in the moment, they have an unusual ability to retain vivid memories from the past. They use these memories along with their large repository of stored information to complete difficult projects, solve problems, and plan for the future. 

Feeling 

Although ESFJs do consider all the facts before making a decision, they primarily make decisions based on their feelings, values, and circumstances. They like to consider others and what is socially appropriate before concluding.  

Judging 

ESFJs use their judging preference to help them interact with the external world. They prefer to be organized rather than spontaneous and flexible like an ESTP. 

When things are getting out of control, ESFJs can get anxious, but when their life is well-organized, things are settled, and they have closure in their relationships, they are at peace with the world.   

ESFJs avoid hasty decision-making and rushing before a deadline which helps them to maintain their highly prized ordered life. They stay calm, make a list, stick to a schedule, and they can have fun once their work is completed.