Modern hunter-gatherers at the workplace

The world of work with its 9-5 routine jobs is pretty much a farmer (SJ) world. Consequently, it is also the farmer types who are happiest with their jobs as well as the highest earners. In particular, the XSTJs are among the highest earners:

High serotonin (J) predicts higher income. So does high testosterone (T). Introverts have higher stress levels in an extroverted work environment and typically would not have positions in upper management, therefore. Hunter-gatherer types earn less than framer/pastoralist types as materialistic goods and display of status (e.g. expensive cars) aren’t as important to them as self-actualization.

Ironically there is almost an inverse relationship between giftedness and financial success.

With the exception of the INTJs (typically found in jobs such as university professors, engineers and lawyers), all of the IN types are among the low earning group. High IQ, therefore, doesn’t necessarily predict financial success and sometimes it is even negatively correlated. Most N types are very humble and non-competitive, in a typical hunter-gatherer fashion.

You might be able to spot a hunter-gatherer type by the amount of coffee they need to get through a typical workday. Hunter-gatherer types often struggle in the modern workplace for several reasons:

They find routine jobs boring

Routine jobs also kill their creativity

They haven’t got the sustained 9-5 focus farmers have, but the can focus even harder when working on interesting tasks (working all-nighters is not rare for them)

They might suffer from ADHD which actively interferes with 9-5 jobs and they might not be able to hold a job

They are highly sensitive hand have higher cortisol level  in an extroverted work environment

Unlike farmer types, they find it hard to switch off after work and typically don’t separate work and relaxation

Their problems are more likely to interfere with regular sleep

They are at a higher risk of bourn-out

In particular, the fabled INTPs have a hard time being successful. As they are the archetypal orchid children they might end up as the founders of Google (Larry Page and Sergey Brin are both INTPs), but just as well as hobos.I have seen many people on Quora (a social network with mostly HG types on it) ask the question: “What job can I do with high openness and low conscientiousness [=NP]?”.  Here is a table from a recent database that describes typical personality profiles for a variety of jobs (in OCEAN)::

here is a link to a database: behavioral-ds/VocationMap

It is interesting to note that many employers would probably avoid employing people with such a low conscientiousness level as INTPs have. And this is definitely one shortcoming of the OCEAN model, low levels are usually considered negative traits (at least true for low conscientiousness, emotional stability, agreeability). The MBTI on the other hand, also highlights the positive sides of the P (perceiving) trait, i.e. flexibility and versatility. Paired with big-picture thinking these are great qualities in software developers.

Google is a great hunter-gatherer workplace. Even though INTPs only make up about 3% of the population, they make up an estimated 30% of the highly skilled workforce at Google. Google provides ample possibilities for hunter-gatherer types to de-stress and develop their creativity with fringe benefits such as floating working hours, lots of possibilities to relax or exercise during the workday, 20% creativity time plus plenty of free healthy foods.

Einstein (INTP) had a hard time finding a job after graduation. Fortunately, he found a job as a patent clerk (he wasn’t a good employee, definitely never nominated for the employee of the month) that allowed him enough free time to develop his ideas. You can’t pay creative people by the hours they work. That is not how creativity works.

One of the biggest obstacles for creative people like the NPs in becoming financially successful might be education to begin with. As this table shows (N)P types consistently get worse grades at school than what can be predicted from their actual skill-level. This is because they struggle with sequential and rote learning.

The problems of hunter-gatherer minds in schools, like social anxiety and their struggles in a traditional educational system, are discussed in a different blog post.