Sagittarius Astrology Career Profile

Top Careers

Learn more about:

Sagittarius

November 23 - December 21

By Jane Hodges

Sagittarius, ruled by lucky planet Jupiter, craves adventure, travel, and learning by doing.

Top Career Programs for Sagittarius

What Motivates Sagittarius

Sagittarians enjoy reading and classroom study, but these folks know that real learning doesn't take place inside one's head; it takes place on the street, ball field, theater stage, open road, and in ruins and jungles accessible only to those with a well-stamped passport and a million frequent flyer miles.

These philosophical people need the freedom to scratch their curiosity's many itches, and fortunately most have the energy and idealism to use that freedom well—if friends, a mate and employers will grant it.

Trailblazers Extraordinaire

At work, Sagittarians are enthusiastic, but occasionally impatient and tactless. Their charm usually gets them forgiven for blunt remarks, and their energy and flexibility usually wins support and help from others. Sagittarians are informal and friendly, and they do have leadership skills. However, they may prefer to work on a loose tether and radio in now and again to mission control rather than manage folks inside the trenches.

These folks are all about moving onward and outward, forging new trails, rather than making sure some middle manager's vacation form got signed or that Mr. Smith in accounting got his annual review before the New Year. Need someone to handle new business development, travel 60 percent of the year doing product demos, oversee sales of any kind or become a spokesperson? Want someone to open a new field office or work as an activist? Hire a Sagittarius. Their bag is already packed.

Too Many Fingers, Too Many Pies

Sagittarians are lucky, popular, and usually gregarious—or they surround themselves with those who are. The only downside to being an optimistic adventurer who gets a lot of lucky breaks is that Sagittarians can, occasionally, get a little lazy. They're so good at getting other people to do their legwork and help them that at times they don't make as much personal investment in endeavors as they should.

The other Sagittarian sin is lack of follow-through: These folks have so many fingers in so many pies that as soon as they begin getting traction with one interest, they abandon it in favor of the next untried pursuit on their mile-long list of things to do before they die. Sagittarians need to be reminded that executing and refining a new art is a form of learning it, too.

Insatiable Intellects

Sagittarians are often fed a steady stream of promotions by bosses who sense these folks need to keep learning or else they'll leave the company. Sagittarians, however, also like informal and entrepreneurial environments or the freelance life available in multimedia & web design, information technology and other professions. Their egos are fed by learning, not job title, so if life as a bohemian philosopher, college professor, radio DJ, dog walker, film scout, talent agent or airline steward pays the bills, then they're content.

Sagittarians also love debates and politics, and many succeed in Hollywood, where the games behind the scenes are as amusing as the scenes produced. Sagittarians bring optimism and a sense of urgency—as well as genuine, idealistic curiosity—to any professional task.

How to Spot a Sagittarius at Work

Sagittarius career manual: Do What You Love and The Money Will Follow
Color: Purple
Sagittarius success symbol: High-end luggage, a well-stamped passport
Spare time pursuits: International travel, working with animals, backpacking, dancing

Sagittarius in Action

Sagittarius Tyra Banks exemplifies her sign's professional persona. Like many Sagittarians, she was drawn to physical work (modeling) and has used her luck and charisma to propel her forward. Not content to stay in one job for too long, she stepped back from modeling and launched both a talk show and a reality show where she teaches aspiring models life lessons about what it takes to work in the business.

Unafraid to dole out criticism or share harsh truths with the women she mentors on America's Next Top Model, Banks is also unafraid to stand up for herself: After letting her model-thin physique return to normal proportions, Banks lashed out at entertainment publications that claimed her body had gotten too big, claiming that the perception of how American women are supposed to look is distorted and unfortunate.

From Sex to Sage: Career Change in Full View

Banks isn't the first Sagittarian to bring her fiery tone to showbiz and to provide the world with a display of career change—Sagittarius style—from sex symbol to sage soothsayer. Like Jane Fonda decades before, Banks decided to use her celebrity for the greater good. (Fonda, an actress, also became an exercise guru and activist.)

Many Sagittarians are interested in the concepts of literal and philosophical freedom, and as artists their performances include a high degree of physical activity (Britney Spears, Milla Jovovich, Christina Aguilera, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix) or a focus on sports (Ty Cobb). Sagittarians' work can also focus on battle (Winston Churchill) or allude to themes of needing to "break through" society's barriers (Noam Chomsky, Margaret Mead).

Teaching their Passions

Sagittarians can excel in business, particularly in entertainment (Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg), and their playwriting and screenwriting usually involves witty repartee and banter (David Mamet, Woody Allen). For the Sagittarius, life need not be taken seriously 100 percent of the time, although even comedians and actors born under this sign seem to wind up using their shtick as a pulpit for politics (Brad Pitt) or even feminism (Margaret Cho).

Sagittarians excel in politics, too (John Kerry). Sagittarians enjoy teaching, and, like Tyra Banks, many translate a love of something they themselves have done or studied into a curriculum for others. John F. Kennedy Jr., the handsome scion of a political dynasty, launched a popular magazine called George in the late 1990s as a way to get more Americans interested in the characters and stories that fuel domestic politics and to urge greater participation in politics.

Sagittarians bring enthusiasm and wit—not to mention walking shoes for lunch hour and flyers for their next charity marathon—to any work enterprise. Get to know them before they leap to the next position.