14 Best Jobs For Empaths (And 8 To Avoid)

Nobody wants to hate their job. It’s miserable. It’s stressful. And, it bleeds into the life you live outside of those office walls.

Work-life balance is important. It is also difficult to find if you spend your days counting down the hours and wishing you could quit.

Finding a job that fits your skillset is one thing. Finding a job that suits your personality? That’s how you find happiness and longevity. It’s the most efficient way to find a career you enjoy.

No two people are alike, even if they do share certain personality traits. Still, your personality type can indicate what jobs you are best suited for.

Empaths may benefit more than others.

Their sensitive nature makes them better suited to work in certain jobs or industries. Since it is so easy for them to get overwhelmed and burnt out by those around them, it is in their best interest to choose careers that align with their needs.

Key Takeaways:

• Empaths are highly sensitive to others’ emotions, often feeling them themselves in force. This means that they often find being around others draining, and recharge while alone or in nature.

• If you’re an emapth, you’ll likely to well in a low stress position that allows for solitary work. However, some empaths excel in care-taking positions, such as healthcare, due to their strong abilities to read to and relate to others.

• Empaths tend to suffer in positions that require high levels of social interaction, most especially if these jobs don’t involve helping others.

14 Best Careers for Empaths

Due to the nature of empaths, they typically thrive in jobs that are lower stress and have lower social contact. There are exceptions, of course, but as a rule it’s best to look for jobs of that nature. Barring that, empaths excel in positions that involve caring for others, such as healthcare.

1. Writer
   Average Annual Salary: $57,000
   Work from home option: Yes.

   As an empath, you read people better, feel things more strongly, notice things others may not. Those are all qualities of a great writer.

   If you’re a creative person and you have a way with words, writing is an excellent career choice for empaths.

   Find Writer jobs near me

2. Editor
   Average Annual Salary: $51,000
   Work from home option: Yes.

   While this work can be stressful thanks to tight deadlines, it is a job that is mostly solitary. If you have a mastery of the English language and are a grammar expert, this is an excellent career choice.

   Find Editor jobs near me

3. Artist
   Average Annual Salary: $72,000
   Work from home option: Yes.

   Artists are often driven by emotion, passion, and their ability to see things differently than those around them. As are empaths.

   Most artists work alone in their own space and on their own time. And, as an empath, you can use your abilities to feed your art. It’s a great fit for creatives.

   Find Artist jobs near me

4. Graphic Designer
   Average Annual Salary: $45,000
   Work from home option: Yes.

   Empaths tend to be creative thinkers, so it is no surprise there are so many jobs on this list based on creativity. Graphic designers are artists in their own right.

   Like most creative jobs, this too is a position that allows for a lot of solitary work.

   Find Graphic Designer jobs near me

5. Web developer
   Average Annual Salary: $72,000
   Work from home option: Yes.

   This position is a mix of creative and analytical, a little left and right brain mixed. It is another job easy to do solo.

   Those who are technologically talented and have an eye for web design will do well in this job.

   Find Web Developer jobs near me

6. Virtual Assistant
   Average Annual Salary: $24,000
   Work from home option: Yes.

   Whether you work for an agency or are self-employed, Virtual Assistants (VAs) usually work alone. As the name implies, this job is done remotely and the majority of Virtual Assistants work from home.

   The beauty of this job is that it is so varied. You can offer a specific list of services, you can choose a specialty and focus your attention on that industry, or any number of other options. The possibilities are virtually limitless.

   Find Virtual Assistants jobs near me

7. Nurse
   Average Annual Salary: $59,000
   Work from home option: Unlikely.

   It is very common for empaths to work in the healthcare industry. Their innate need to help others makes them well-suited for caretaker positions like this.

   Nursing can be very stressful and is not for all empaths. Some will find it too physically and emotionally draining. Others, though, will thrive in an environment where they can help others and provide emotional support.

   Find Nurse jobs near me

8. Psychologist
   Average Annual Salary: $72,000
   Work from home option: Yes.

   Empaths have a connection to other’s emotions and an ability to understand their experiences. They are great listeners and are often sought out for advice. These traits make them well suited to be psychologists.
   

   Psychologists can work in all kinds of environments and can successfully provide care remotely.

   Find Psychologist jobs near me

9. Guidance Counselor
   Average Annual Salary: $47,000
   Work from home option: Unlikely.

   Guidance counselors generally report their jobs as very fulfilling. While it is not necessarily a caretaker role, it allows you to provide support and help guide students to the right path.

   An empath’s ability to read people and their emotions makes them uniquely suited to positions like this.

   Find Guidance Counselor jobs near me

10. Social Worker
    Average Annual Salary: $51,000
    Work from home option: Unlikely.

    Like nursing, this can be a very stressful job and it is not for all empaths. While it can be very rewarding, it can also be very emotionally draining. Not every case that comes across your desk will have a happy ending.

    This is a job that would allow you to help others and provide them with the emotional support they may need along the way.

    Find Social Worker jobs near me

11. Lawyer
    Average Annual Salary: $121,000
    Work from home option: Yes.

    Not all law specializations are suited for empaths, but they make great lawyers. There are many fields of law that provide empaths with an opportunity to help those in desperate need.

    You could help victims of domestic violence, work for non-profits, help immigrants, work in family court, etc. There are many options for empaths in law.

    Find Lawyer jobs near me

12. Professor or Researcher
    Average Annual Salary: $142,000
    Work from home option: Yes.

    If you have a passion for learning and teaching others, a career in academia may be for you.

    Whether or not you want to be behind-the-scenes or behind the podium is up to you. Empaths do well in either role.

    Find Professor jobs near me

13. Gardener
    Average Annual Salary: $47,000
    Work from home option: No.

    Empaths often feel at home in nature. Many find that they can recharge outdoors the same way they can when they’re alone. So, a job working as a gardener or landscape artist makes perfect sense.

    Find Gardener jobs near me

14. Librarian
    Average Annual Salary: $50,000
    Work from home option: No.

    Surrounded by books in a quiet, often solitary environment? That sounds like the perfect job for an empath.

    While this is not a position with a remote work option, it is often solitary work. It also allows you to help others. People don’t just come to libraries to find books; they use computers to do research and apply for jobs, they take classes, they seek assistance, and more.

    Find Librarian jobs near me

What Is an Empath?

An empath is someone who displays a higher level of empathy than most. They are attuned to the emotions of those around them to the point of feeling those emotions themselves.

Often called “emotional sponges”, empaths are highly sensitive to those around them. They are more perceptive of the emotions of those they interact with—even if those people are unfamiliar to them.

Empaths often mirror other’s emotions, feel their pain, their anger, their sadness. It can be overwhelming at times.

You may be an empath if you:

1. Are an introvert. Empaths are typically introverted. That doesn’t mean extroverts can’t be empaths; it is just less common. Socializing takes more energy when you are sensitive.

2. Struggle with crowds. When you feel the emotions of those around you, it can make it difficult to be around people. Crowds can often lead to a sort of sensory overload for empaths. They’re draining and overwhelming.

3. Enjoy your alone time. This is true of introverts and empaths. Spending time alone to recharge is a common practice among empaths. If you are alone, there are no outside emotions to deal with, just your own.

4. Are a good listener. Taking care of others is second nature to empaths. They are often described as good listeners and many of their friends and family may come to them for advice.

5. Are highly intuitive. With their enhanced ability to read others, empaths tend to rely on their gut feelings about people and situations.

6. Are a human lie detector. Empaths read people. They can sense emotions in others and rely on their gut feelings (as mentioned above). So, they are often more sensitive to lies.

No two people are the same and the same rings true for empaths. Each empath feels and interprets things differently. Typically, though, empaths are better suited for:

• Low-stress jobs

• Jobs where they can work alone

• Remote positions

• Self-employment

Offices can be overwhelming for empaths. They have more control over their environments when working remotely and many empaths prefer to work from home.

But, that’s not true for all. As natural caregivers, many empaths find their calling in healthcare.

Jobs to Avoid If You’re an Empath

We know some jobs are great for empaths. So, it stands to reason, that there are also jobs that are terrible for empaths.

You should not seek out jobs that are high-stress and demanding or require you to deal with highly emotional people all day. While some of the healthcare-related jobs above do fit this description, many empaths find them rewarding in different ways.

Jobs like those listed below are draining and often overwhelming for sensitives and introverts. They can leave you feeling burnt out and unfulfilled.

Empaths should avoid jobs in:

1. Sales

   Sales positions require a great deal of social interaction, and due to the commission nature of most positions, they’re high stress. They also reward those who ware willing to be pushy, which is a strain for empaths.

2. Politics

   Not only must politicians be highly social, a lot of their job is dealing with arguments and complaints. People’s unhappiness and anger is especially wearing on empaths, making them ill suited to a life in the political realm.

3. Tech Support

   It’s almost impossible to work solitary in tech support. You’re always been called to solve one problem or another, generally by people who are frustrated. And you have to troubleshoot all while dealing with unhappy customers.

4. Customer Service

   While empaths are good at reading people and knowing what they want, customer service is built entirely on emotional labor, which is especially draining for empaths.

5. Retail

   Retail is largely customer service work, which makes empaths ill suited to it. It also involves a lot of social interaction and following policies that may not be ideal for the customers.

6. Restaurants

   Food service positions have the double issue of being high stress long hour jobs with a high level of customer service. This is especially true of wait staff.

7. Public Relations

   Public relations is all about dealing with the fallout of actions. Public relations experts spend a lot of time fielding anger and displeasure, and even when they aren’t doing that, their job is largely to spin things, which may feel dishonest.

8. Corporate.

   Working in a corporate office is unsuited to empaths in several ways. For one, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to work for home. for another, it involves being around others all days, which is draining. And the last is that it’s often removed from the main part of the business, which means you’re making rules for people you’ll never meet, which can be jarring.

Author

Samantha Goddiess

Samantha is a lifelong writer who has been writing professionally for the last six years. After graduating with honors from Greensboro College with a degree in English & Communications, she went on to find work as an in-house copywriter for several companies including Costume Supercenter, and Blueprint Education.