Best Jobs For HSP To Flourish and Prosper

Neurodiversity is becoming increasingly accepted in modern society. Therefore, workplaces are also more appreciative of people whose brains work differently than most people.

In the previous posts, we discussed neurodivergent-friendly jobs and roles that are a good fit for autistic women.

Today, we’ll look into the best jobs for HSP (highly sensitive people). We’ll start with an overview of who a highly sensitive person is.

Then, we’ll look into the traits of HSPs that are essential in considering their work environment.

Next, we’ll proceed to the challenges highly sensitive people typically face at workplaces.

We’ll also highlight some careers that might be a good fit for this kind of neurodivergent individual. This will be followed by describing the good work environment for an HSP.

Finally, I’ll share some tips and insights on choosing a career path based on my experiences as a highly sensitive person.

Who Is a Highly Sensitive Person?

The term ‘highly sensitive person’ (HSP) was coined by American clinical research psychologist Elaine Aron, who started her research studies in 1991.

Although the term appeared only in the 1990s, the sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS) trait isn’t a new phenomenon. In fact, it’s common among other species as well.

There are several common traits HSPs have, although every case of neurodivergence is highly individual.

What Are The Basic Traits Of a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)?

These are:

• An HSP reads out the subtleties most people miss, such as body speech, a slight change of voice, mood, etc.
• An HSP is more easily overwhelmed; this means they get emotionally drained quite fast under intense environmental circumstances, like when it’s loud, there is too much light, and/or too many things are happening at once.
• Once an HSP gets overwhelmed, they often withdraw to a private space with no people, no noise, and not too much light. Frequently, the sense of overwhelm sends them straight to bed so they can recover.
• An HSP makes it their priority to avoid conflicts, fights, or overwhelming situations.
• An HSP has a unique connection with art and typically enjoys very subtle art pieces.
• An HSP has a complex and rich inner life, with profound, almost philosophical thoughts and insights.
• From early childhood, an HSP is considered by their environment either sensitive or shy, sometimes both. Their lack of inhibitions in expressing their intense emotions is often wrongfully interpreted as their weakness.

This is a very generic overview of who a highly sensitive person is. To learn more about the concept, visit Dr. Aron’s website.

Key Traits Of HSPs That Influence Their Career Paths

As with any type of neurodivergence, being a highly sensitive person can be equally a blessing and a curse at the same time.

HSPs are known for their deep processing abilities and being detail-oriented. It’s something you might associate mainly with autistic people. Still, in the case of highly sensitive individuals, it links to their main superpowers: empathy and high emotional intelligence.

Being able to see various points of view, very often so distinctive from their own, can be a distinct edge at their jobs. For instance, in marketing, high sensitivity helps them understand what their customers want and need.

Or with copywriting, where they can see how the particular text should be written considering who will read it.

The above-mentioned attunement to art often makes them perfect for creative careers. Matched with their strong intuition, it can make them not only intriguing artists, for their creative process may work fine for more mundane jobs.

On the other hand, their high sensitivity to sensory stimuli contributes to how important more private and quiet their work environments should be. It’s strictly related to how easily they get overwhelmed.

This is also one of the reasons a highly sensitive individual needs to take particular care of their work-life balance and work only in low-stress environments.

It isn’t a matter of luxury or even preference; the sensory overload can easily transform into one or more mental health issues, eventually taking its toll on their immune systems and overall well-being.

Last but not least, highly sensitive people thrive when they feel they can have meaningful jobs. It’s related to their heightened empathy, and so knowing their career paths have a deeper meaning feels just right.

What Are The Challenges HSPs Face At Conventional Workplaces?

Unfortunately, there are quite a few. Due to their quite easy sensory overload, common workplace stressors can have adverse effects on their functioning.

If you’re familiar with typical job offers, it’s often mentioned that potential employers value applicants who are good at multitasking or who are “good at working under pressure”.

That’s something that is an immediate red flag for any highly sensitive person.

Why? It’s because if they are subjected to multitasking or work where an aggressive boss requires them to tolerate a stressed atmosphere, they won’t stand for too long.

These circumstances are also instrumental in terms of job satisfaction. As an HSP myself, I can tell from experience that taking care of your own work environment is always a priority over what the job itself entails.

No matter how exciting it seems, a job where there’s ongoing tension, a lot of noise, interruptions, stress, and/or conflicts, highly sensitive people won’t thrive there. And it isn’t a matter of choice.

Top Careers For Highly Sensitive People

In general, I can see there’s this tendency to see highly sensitive people in counseling and therapy or healthcare jobs.

However, because of how deeply highly sensitive feel their emotions and how they impact their own well-being, regular exposure to a very intense work environment can be too much.

For instance, for some HSPs, working in healthcare, tending to ill, can be terrific in terms of feeling they’re doing a meaningful job and aligning with their core values.

Nevertheless, watching people’s suffering daily can be draining and impact HSPs, ultimately worsening their well-being.

While I’m far from discouraging any HSP from following any option by default, I urge you to customize your career path highly.

By customizing, I mean to consider your particular circumstances. An HSP possesses great intuition and self-awareness.

Not only can they provide valuable insights for their job, but their deep connection to their own will tell them what conditions they are able to accept and what are a hard “no.”

Below are some jobs that might be a good fit for an HSP.

Creative Arts And Writing

Those highly sensitive people who have artistic or creative talents can use them to make a living.

The possibilities are endless. Highly sensitive people can thrive in jobs like copywriter, translator, writer, graphic designer, social media specialist, movie set designer, and many more, depending on their particular talents.

Many of these jobs come with different work environments. For example, translators often work remotely, whereas movie set designers deal more often with people.

Again, the choice should be deeply personalized. As much as most highly sensitive people are introverts, it isn’t a rule, and some might feel even better having more interaction with other people.

Counseling, Therapy, Healthcare, and Healing Professions

As mentioned earlier, many highly sensitive people will tie their professional lives with jobs that involve helping other people.

These jobs might include but are not limited to physical therapist, social worker, psychotherapist, counselor, and nurse. 

As much as choosing a job that is so close to their personal values will be incredibly fulfilling for HSPs, it’s extremely important to remember that about self-care activities.

These are meant to help them maintain the work-life balance that is so crucial for their well-being.

Education And Teaching

High levels of empathy can make highly sensitive people great teachers.

Their ability to see their pupil’s perspective and thus adjust their techniques for the best outcome not only helps their students to learn better.

Their high levels of empathy help them create environments where students (not only children) feel empowered and dare to experiment, setting the fear of failure aside.

Animalcare and Veterinary Work

Working with animals can be very rewarding for HSPs, who are deeply attuned to nature, including fauna.

However, just like with all the healthcare professions, jobs with animals might involve a lot of regular exposure to negative emotions.

For instance, as vets, the everyday occurrence of death, where many creatures suffer and can’t be saved, might be too much.

Again, this requires an individual approach and assessment of what’s best for a particular person.

Freelancing and Entrepreneurship

For many highly sensitive people, this option might be a game-changer.

Many jobs with traditional businesses rule out the possibility of working in quieter environments. That’s why many HSPs choose self-employment instead.

Contrary to popular belief, their heightened sensitivity isn’t a weakness but can make them great leadership material.

Highly sensitive people rarely choose to build big companies; instead, they focus on creating small businesses.

Being self-employed allows them to incorporate their core values into what they do. That’s why they often operate personalized, successful small businesses.

With technology’s evolution, a highly sensitive business owner can work around their own schedule or choose remote work.

It’s extremely useful when preventing overwhelm and planning their self-care routines.

How To Choose a Career As an HSP?

As said before, there are many career paths that highly sensitive people may find rewarding.

Nevertheless, criteria related to their work environment should be even more important than the specific function.

It’s crucial that they not only spend most of their days within a more relaxed work atmosphere.

And given how common the culture of constant chase and deadlines is, quiet environments aren’t a certainty.

That’s why they should also consider creating their own workspaces, building loyal teams, or working solo.

Wrapping Up

While an HSP’s job satisfaction relies deeply on their work environment, tech growth gives more and more options for their career paths.

Considering their personal circumstances should always be a priority, though. There is no one universal career path for all highly sensitive people, as everyone is different, and so are their needs.