Aries Astrology Career Profile

Top Careers

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Aries

March 21 - April 20

By Jane Hodges

These Mars-ruled workers approach a job the way the stereotypical drill sergeant regards lazy troops—with plenty of bark and a little bite.

Top Career Programs For Aries

What Motivates Aries

Aries, ruled by warlord and initiator Mars, craves battle, competition and deadlines—and enjoys every minute of what others might consider a harrowing ride to success.

Because Aries natives approach their careers with the impulsiveness that marks their personal life, they may change pursuits several times within their lives. This doesn't mean they're indecisive. Au contraire: When an Aries pursues something, he or she puts heart and soul into it and comes to a complete and final conclusion before moving forward—or onward.

Aries in the Workplace

But don't mind their howling: These folks test others' mettle because they want to make sure they're among coworkers who share their high standards. They can be effective managers, but their lofty expectations can frighten milder or more detached coworkers.

Fortunately, popularity-loving Aries eventually make it clear that there's a sense of humor lurking behind that serious brow. Aries humor emerges in classic office gags, corny jokes or amusingly strident screeds against corporate rivals. These folks' dispositions soften up when they describe a hobby they're passionate about, which often reveals their "inner kid" and tones down their 9-to-5 dictator persona.

Why Aries are Special

Aries folks differ from other zodiac signs in that they aren't satisfied with a generic sense of accomplishment. For Aries, it's necessary to actually win—and to know who or what they've beaten. Within the office, this means Aries individuals need their own "turf" to guard and preserve.

On a larger scale, this means Aries are constantly investigating what's afoot in the industry—scouting enemies' camps and finding ways to stay ahead of the bad guys or to join the best business in their field of choice. The Aries' competitive intelligence-gathering can be an asset in business, computer programming or any other type of organization.

The Aries is generally extroverted and prefers leading to following. This means careers where the Aries runs a team or has autonomy over his or her own tasks will appeal. They like making swift, black-and-white decisions and prefer executing work to lolling about in research and development mode and deciding what work needs doing. This is a critical function in health care careers such as nursing.

Because Aries natives are all about action, fast-paced environments suit them. They don't mind working overtime as long as they feel their contributions are vital to a corporate mission. They'll happily burn the midnight oil crunching code for a new computer program, grab an early cab to make an important management seminar, or spend all night nursing a sick patient back to health. Aries folks bring energy and enthusiasm—as well as magnum cups of coffee and the occasional rubber chicken—to any professional task.

How to Spot an Aries at Work

Aries career manual: The Art of War.
Color: Red—the brighter the better.
Aries success symbol: A really expensive sports car or pair of great shoes.
Spare time pursuits: IMing 20 people at one time; sports of any kind; stand-up comedy.

Famous Aries: Alec Baldwin

Aries Alec Baldwin exemplifies his sign's professional persona. Not only has the actor's broad range and wide oeuvre impressed critics throughout his long career, but his off-screen temper and angry edge—a tabloid divorce; a widely publicized angry phone message admonishing his teenage child—have raised eyebrows. Still, his broad span, from serious drama to serious comedy, keeps his critics more charmed than alarmed.

These days, Baldwin's style has reached a pinnacle of expression in one of his best-ever roles: fictional entertainment company boss Jack Donaghy on comedy show 30 Rock. It's hard to say if his Aries energy brings life to Jack Donaghy, or if Donaghy was created to personify the Aries boss.

Regardless, the depiction is spot-on: Baldwin's Donaghy is meddling but sweet, overbearing but charming, brash yet insecure, and embarrassingly blunt. He endears himself to coworkers to elicit secrets, then swiftly reminds the team who's in charge. He views work as a battle, often dispensing advice to his underlings based on his climb to the top. Aries bosses like Donaghy are so sneaky that they teach you to help them lead you into submission—and often do so with disarming humor.

Famous Aries Leaders

Aries leaders range from the funny (David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Zach Braff, Vince Vaughn) to the scary (Adolf Hitler, Kenneth Lay). This sign's leadership style is blunt, provocative, fearless—but often Aries leaders have a way of making themselves seem harmless or un-serious. Don't be fooled: It's all part of their shtick.

Aries media figures, like Aries managers, don't shirk from taking tough or taboo stands on topics that inspire them: Al Gore spent years pushing his agenda around environmental issues before gaining traction with the film An Inconvenient Truth. Likewise, talk show maven Rosie O'Donnell and activist Gloria Steinem excel at stirring debate.

Aries leaders can make a career of enjoying personal physical risk, such as Danica Patrick, Wilbur Wright, Harry Houdini, Jackie Chan, Sarah Michelle Gellar as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." They will also discuss their personal experiences of risk-taking: Witness how true-to-life the Aries actress Sarah Jessica Parker seems in her role as confessional columnist Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City.

Generally speaking, the Aries motto might be "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." The Aries risk-takers may fail at some attempts, but they are so impervious to defeat that they'll be back up in no time, energized for the next fight.

In business, designer Oleg Cassini, director Francis Ford Coppola, finance titan John Pierpont Morgan and Playboy empire-builder Hugh Hefner were all born under the sign of Aries. Performers such as Reese Witherspoon and Aretha Franklin are also ruled by Mars. They all demand, as Franklin famously reminded us, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and they tend to get it.