His palms are sweaty, his knees are weak, and his arms are heavy. Do you recognize where this comes from? Of course, you do, everyone does. And if you don’t recognize the song, then you definitely know exactly how this feels, since you qualify yourself as a socially anxious introvert. Therefore, what do you do when you need to find a job? Don’t worry because we have just the advice and examples of jobs for introverts you need.
Can a Job Be the Solution?
Overcoming your social anxiety is going to be a very long and sinuous road. Although there are a lot of steps one can take to get to the point where you feel comfortable around other people, getting an adequate job might just be the most important one.
The simple reason which makes this statement ring true is the fact that a job will ‘force’ you to be around other people five days a week, eight or nine hours per day. Sooner or later, the love of socializing will get the best of you, and you will start to crave human interaction.
Curing your social anxiety via your job is the easiest way to do it too. You won’t have to take a special class or see your therapist for this. You can let it happen naturally and organically while you do your everyday job and earn an honest living.
Evidently, it will not happen from day one. It will take a while, but it will be worth it. If you don’t feel at ease talking to other people and letting them in, you are still going to achieve your goal. Simply being in the presence of other individuals who interact among themselves and expose their entire emotion range will help you get out of your shell.
Remember – the goal here is to step away from your non-sociable milieu and get into a sociable one. While you are at work, this will happen without you even trying. You will face people all day long and, therefore, will be obliged to communicate with them sooner or later. Don’t be afraid to do it. If you hear a conversation around you on a topic which is of interest to you, go ahead and say what you have to say.
Moreover, if they ask for your opinion, here is a fantastic opportunity for you to speak up and fight your fears.
The second step of this strategy will have you starting your very own conversations. Once you get to know your colleagues a bit better, you can begin talking to them yourself. Pick a few to whom you feel more attracted to as human beings. Maybe you have a few things in common, the same passions or come from the same hometown. All these can be outstanding starting points socialization-wise.
You can also ask for professional advice every once in a while. This idea will act as an ice-breaker with your peers. If you happen to read or stumble across a link that might help your team, don’t be afraid to share it with them. In the same way, if you have a colleague who has told you about his or her plans, you might want to ask them how it’s going. It will show them that you care and consider you for the following social interactions.
As far as approaches go, this is the soft one for using your job to overcome your social anxiety. The other option is getting a job where you actually have to talk to people for a living. Here are the examples we mentioned in the introduction as well as details on how each of them will work in your favor.
Jobs for Introverts to Overcome Your Social Anxiety
As noted above, a fantastic way of getting over your fear of talking to people and being in social situations is this one. Try to get a job that will coerce you into dealing with other individuals directly. The first option is called the ‘soft’ type because it leaves you the choice of approaching your peers or not. The ‘hard’ tactic doesn’t give you that option. Instead, it makes you face and overcome your anxiety.
Here are a few examples of the best jobs for introverts to help you face your fears.
#1. Taking care of animals
Here’s a light choice as far as lines of work go. It can start you off easily when it comes to looking for jobs for introverts to help you overcome your anxiety. You get to work with animals all day, which you will love. This situation also means that you don’t have to interact too much with people.
However, you will have to discuss with their owners about what ails the pets and what you can do to make them better or about their grooming needs. This interaction will be short and only happen once or twice a day. That is just enough for you to start socializing. However, it is not that much as to make you feel afraid of doing it.
#2. Social media manager
In today’s growing digital world, social media manager is a very sought-after position. It’s also one of the best jobs for introverts if they wish to overcome their social anxiety. It will start you off on the right track, as all the communication you will be doing will be online.
We all know it. Talking to people in a digital fashion is a lot easier than doing it face to face. Safe in your living room or the confines of your own office, you can talk to as many people as you want or your job requires. After a while, when you get used to doing this, you can start talking to your colleagues in person.
#3. Librarian
You know how they say books are better than people? Now you will have the chance to find that out. And not only that, but you will also get to talk to people about, what else, books. As a librarian, you will, most likely, spend most of your time arranging the books. You will be doing all the related work as well. However, you will also have to spend some time with the people that come into the library. The job will require you to answer their questions and help them find the right book.
This is an amazing opportunity as far as jobs for introverts go. It requires a minimal conversation with other people about completely non-personal topics. As times goes on, you will see just how much this job will help you feel at ease answering questions and interacting with other people on a personal level.
#4. Photographer
Being a professional photographer will definitely help you get out of your shell. Being one of the best jobs for introverts, photography teaches you to be patient, relax, wait, and try to do what others expect you to do in a social situation.
You can be a photographer for weddings, graduations, and other festive events. This job comes with an added psychological bonus. When you see just how happy you are making the people around you with the work you are doing, you will feel a lot better about your interactions. In other words, you will feel like you want to do it more and more. Evidently, that is exactly what our goal is. To make you want to interact more.
#5. A radio DJ
This is the talking job by excellence where you can also be as alone as you want. You get to sit all day in a DJ’s booth, convey news and play the hippest music. However, there is also a reason why this is one of the best jobs for introverts. If you want to take calls or even ask someone to be a guest on your show, you are free to do so.
Interacting with these people and knowing that you are addressing some thousands of listeners will help you get over any fear of talking you might have. After you have spent a few months or even years as a radio DJ, you will find it a lot easier to engage in social interaction with other people. You will even be seeking it.
In the end, here’s a piece of advice about jobs for introverts. When being afflicted by this condition, it’s always best to try and find a balance when it comes to the job you perform. There are people out there who have reported having chosen a job for introverts which allowed them to work strictly from home.
After a few years, however, they state that they have developed something close to cabin fever. This syndrome made them go out and look for a job which allowed them to get out of the house more. They also wanted to interact with people, at least on a part-time level.
Therefore, as far as studies related to jobs for introverts go, it’s best you take our advice. Go for the middle solution which will let you nurture your social anxiety and not push you to do anything you don’t want to do. However, it should also challenge you to take on new tasks social-wise.