After the degree: Finding work after studying Psychology
Many degrees have a clearly outlined career path to follow after graduation. But for graduates of certain degrees, deciding where to go after university can be a real challenge.
We spoke with two Psychology graduates to gain some insight into the difficulties of finding work after university ends.
Ellie
- University: Newcastle University, 2013.
- Course: Psychology BSc
- Position: Team Leader and SEN Manager at IntoUniversity
Psychology graduate Ellie Rowley has found herself pursuing a career in education - a path she never considered before she got her degree. After graduating from Newcastle University in 2013, Ellie went on to find work at IntoUniversity, a national education charity devoted to helping disadvantaged young people get into university.
"I knew that I wanted to work with people," she says.
"But education wasn't what I thought I'd do before I went into university."
Ellie's work with IntoUniversity includes setting up a new centre for the organisation in Leeds and she has found the work to be rewarding, if unexpected.
"My decision to go into education was influenced by the range of modules I could pick at university. In my final year, I took a module in Educational Psychology. It wasn't an area I was interested in because I thought I wanted to work with adults with disabilities."
"But when I took the module it was something that really fascinated me and led me to consider jobs in education, but not directly teaching," she says. "This job gives me the best things about teaching because I run workshops all day. IntoUniversity does this because the whole company actually cares about the kids and the outcome."
Ellie says she would definitely recommend an education career to Psychology students, despite the fact it was never her initial career goal.
"Within a psychology degree, you develop so many maths and language skills, which sets you up for a range of careers. Say you were to do just an English degree, you will never have to do much statistical work. Whereas with Psychology you have a broad base for it all."
According to Ellie, pursuing different career paths is not unusual for Psychology graduates and from her experience, the degree opens up a range of doors.
"It surprised me how many people didn't go into a psychology role," Ellie says. "A few of my course mates have gone on to further study to become educational psychologists or psychotherapists. However, the majority went on to use their degree in loads of different sectors. A lot have people have gone into business."
Psychology graduates also develop nuanced approaches to practical skills that become relevant in the workplace. One that stood out for Ellie was statistics and numerate approaches.
"While statistics was what I disliked most about my degree and I couldn't see how applicable it was, now I'm in a job it comes up all the time," Ellie says. "Even the programmes we used for statistical analysis at university are being used in the company I work for now!"
Ellie offers some advice for Psychology graduates looking at Education careers: take advantage of other opportunities to gain experience while at University.
"When I joined IntoUniversity, I was surprised by the amount other people had done alongside their degree," she says. "It wasn't so much the degree that made me feel like I was under skilled, but all the options available to people at university such as societies and volunteering are definitely worth doing."
Camica
- University: Nottingham Trent University
- Degree: Psychology with Criminology BSc
- Position: Currently studying for CIPD Diploma in HR Management
Camica Bond-Farrell knew what she wanted to do from day one, and has focused all her energy on getting there. After graduating with a degree in Psychology and Criminology from Nottingham Trent University, Camica set her sights on getting as much experience as possible in her chosen field of Occupational Psychology.
"I found this quite difficult because a lot of the work they deal with is confidential, and as well as having no work experience in HR or Occupational Psychology, people didn't really want to take me on," she says.
Despite the hurdles, Camica is looking set to complete her CIPD Level 7 Advanced Diploma in Human Resources Management and pursue a career in HR - a path which will allow her to explore opportunities in Occupational Psychology further down the line. Like Ellie, Camica was inspired by her choice of studies at university.
"Occupational Psychology wasn't something I was interested in before university, but when I was there I became really interested in human behaviour. I also thought that it was a broad subject and would help my employment prospects when I graduated."
A lack of experience is something that graduates from all degree backgrounds come across at one stage or another. Camica says she has been proactive in addressing this problem and has secured a placement after university with the British Psychological Society to gain more workplace skills. She believes her experience there will help her in the long run.
"It was a very administrative role and I was the first point of contact for incoming calls that came into the Society. I was responsible for distributing calls to appropriate people, dealing with careers enquiries and acting as a point of contact. This helped me develop skills to prioritise, multitask, basic admin skills and network. Also a sense of resilience because sometimes I had incoming callers who weren't very happy."
Going from Psychology to Human Resources may seem like a natural progression for graduates - or so Camica thought, believing her degree to have provided her with a range of skills and understanding to make headway in the field. But her mind changed as she learnt more about HR.
"I always thought that there was a stronger link between Psychology and Human Resources. When I have spoken to people in the department they've always asked why I chose Human Resources quite sceptically, before telling me it was very different. I always thought it was a natural step, but not everyone has that viewpoint."
"The strongest link I've seen is the Psychological Contract. This is the unwritten expectation between an employer and an employee. Simply put it is everything that is not in a contract that you'd still expect from one another."
Camica adds that she thinks her psychological background has helped her with her human resources studies.
"I think now I'm on my Human Resources Management qualification, my psychology background has certainly made it easier to progress on the course," she says.
Despite setbacks, Camica says she feels confident about her future. She believes all she needs now is the opportunity to prove herself, and her career in HR and Occupational Psychology is just around the corner.
"I would say I'm around 90% there. I just need find opportunities to put the theory into practice, because I know what you do in the job can be different to what you learn in the classroom or lecture theatre."