Not everybody is a people person. If this sounds like you, your best approach for finding a job could be searching for work where people skills aren’t all that necessary.
To find these jobs, we averaged data from the Occupational Information Network, or O*NET, a US Department of Labour database full of detailed information on 974 occupations.
O*NET rates each occupation on a scale from zero to 100 on how much a job requires workers to be in contact with others and how much a job requires workers to be pleasant with others. We averaged these ratings to find which jobs had the highest overall score.
While people who hold these positions aren’t necessarily standoffish, the following jobs got the lowest average scores and therefore require minimal good-natured interaction with others:
1. Foundry mould and coremakers
They make or form wax or sand cores or molds used in the production of metal castings in foundries.
Required sociability score: 58
2. Watch repairers
They repair, clean, and adjust mechanisms of timing instruments, such as watches and clocks.
Required sociability score: 58
3. Quarry rock splitters
They separate blocks of rough dimension stone from quarry mass using jackhammer and wedges.
Required sociability score: 58
4. Agricultural equipment operators
They drive and control farm equipment to till soil and to plant, cultivate, and harvest crops and may perform tasks like as crop baling or hay bucking.
Required sociability score: 58
5. Mathematicians
(Flickr / Ivan T)
They conduct research to develop and understand mathematical principles. They also analyse data and apply mathematical techniques to help solve real-world problems.
Required sociability score: 58
6. Economists
They conduct research, prepare reports, or formulate plans to address economic problems related to the production and distribution of goods and services or monetary and fiscal policy.
Required sociability score: 57.5
7. Potters
They operate production machines such as pug mill, jigger machine, or potter’s wheel to process clay in the manufacture of ceramic, pottery, and stoneware products.
Required sociability score: 57
8. Transportation-equipment painters
They operate or tend painting machines to paint surfaces of transportation equipment like automobiles, buses, trucks, trains, boats, and airplanes.
Required sociability score: 56.5
9. Forging-machine setters, operators, and tenders
They set up, operate, or tend forging machines to taper, shape, or form metal or plastic parts.
Required sociability score: 56.5
10. Fallers
They use axes or chainsaws to fell trees using knowledge of tree characteristics and cutting techniques to control direction of fall and minimise tree damage.
Required sociability score: 56.5
11. Hand-grinding and polishing workers
They grind, sand, or polish — using hand tools or hand-held power tools — a variety of metal, wood, stone, clay, plastic, or glass objects.
Required sociability score: 56
12. Geological sample-test technicians
They test or analyse geological samples, crude oil, or minerals to the detect presence of petroleum, gas, or mineral deposits.
Required sociability score: 56
13. Moulding, core making, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders
They observe the continuous operation of automatic machines to ensure that products meet specifications and to detect jams or malfunctions, making adjustments as necessary.
Required sociability score: 54.5
14. Garment or textile pressers
They operate steam, hydraulic, or other pressing machines to remove wrinkles from garments and flatwork items, or to shape, form, or patch articles.
Required sociability score: 53.5
15. Craft artists
(Corbis)
They create or reproduce handmade objects for sale and exhibition using a variety of techniques, such as welding, weaving, pottery, and needlecraft.
Required sociability score: 53.5
16. Poets, lyricists, and creative writers
They create original written works, such as scripts, essays, prose, poetry, or song lyrics for publication or performance.
Required sociability score: 52
17. Farmworkers and crop labourers
They manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, and field crops.
Required sociability score: 51.5
18. Hunters and trappers
They hunt and trap wild animals for human consumption, fur, feed, bait, or other purposes.
Required sociability score: 51
-Independent
