What shall I do with my psychology degree?
Psychology graduates tend to be inquisitive and highly analytical, comfortable with looking at both the bigger picture and the finer details. A psychology degree is great if you are interested in science and the arts and will provide you with several employment opportunities. Some popular career paths amongst psychology graduates include teaching and public sector roles, such as joining the police force.
Career options
Natural career paths following a psychology degree:
- Counseling
- Clinical Psychology
- Research
- Human Resources
- Mental Health Services
- Education
- Social Work
- Non-profit Organizations
- Market Research
- Occupational Therapy
Transferable skills career paths:
- Human Resources
- Marketing and Advertising
- Sales
- Customer Service
- Social Work
- Non-profit Organizations
- Education and Training
- Research and Analysis
- Public Relations
- Healthcare Administration
Work experience
Those wanting a career in psychology should investigate doing an industry placement – pre-entry work is valued highly. Your careers department at your university should be able to help you identify these. If your university course does not offer a placement year, you may want to consider doing part-time, summer or voluntary work.
You can look for work experience in the area of psychology that you are interested in, such as an assistant psychologist or in areas such as nursing or social services. For educational psychology, you may consider gaining experience from teaching in a school as an assistant. For occupational psychology, experience in human resources or business management roles will be valuable.
Careers in psychology can be extremely competitive, so experience in any kind of experience will give your application an advantage. It will also help you to develop the essential skills needed to succeed in the industry. Employers highly value work experience and will allow you to network and build a list of contacts who may become useful in the future.
Typical employers
Psychology graduates thrive in careers where they are given the opportunity to engage with a range of complex issues and have to develop a strong understanding of these areas in a short space of time. These include:
- Human Resources: Corporations, businesses.
- Marketing and Advertising: Marketing firms, advertising agencies.
- Sales: Retail companies, manufacturers.
- Customer Service: Retailers, call centers.
- Social Work: Social service agencies, healthcare organizations.
- Non-profit Organizations: Charitable organizations, NGOs.
- Education and Training: Schools, colleges, universities.
- Research and Analysis: Research institutions, consulting firms.
- Public Relations: PR agencies, media organisations.
- Healthcare Administration: Hospitals, clinics.
Below are some of the job titles you earn with a psychology degree:
- Psychologist
- Counselor
- Therapist
- Researcher
- Case Manager
- Human Resources Specialist
- Behavioral Analyst
- School Psychologist
- Mental Health Advocate
- Rehabilitation Specialist
Skills for your CV
Through your degree, you will learn various professional skills, such as applying a reasoned approach, problem-solving and data manipulation. You will have also developed subject-specific knowledge of human behaviour and motivation, make an argument and think of new ideas, which are all applicable and necessary for a role in the creative industry, the legal sector, government and education. Alongside this, you will have developed additional skills which will be transferable.
Make sure the following skills are highlighted on your CV:
- Active Listening
- Empathy
- Interpersonal Skills
- Research Skills
- Data Analysis
- Problem-solving
- Critical Thinking
- Counseling Skills
- Report Writing
- Assessment and Evaluation
- Ethical Decision Making
- Cultural Competence
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Time Management
Further study
If you are keen to become a chartered psychologist, further education and qualifications are necessary to register as a practitioner psychologist. You can tailor this to the specific area of psychology that you would like to specialise in such as counselling, educational, health, occupational, health, sport and exercise or forensic psychology.
For those that want a mixture of both research and teaching, a popular choice is to undertake research at Masters and PhD level.
What are psychology graduates doing?
After six months of graduating, nearly half of all psychology graduates are in full time employment, and over 20% went on to further study.
Related Courses
Study the human mind and behaviour in this professionally accredited Masters programme – your first step towards becoming a chartered psychologist.
This programme is designed for graduates with an Honours degree in a discipline other than psychology – or a non-accredited psychology Honours degree who wish to specialise in psychology.
Investigating social and political change, you will explore how we understand society and how we can change it for the better, developing your critical thinking alongside a wide range of research and transferable skills highly valued by the public, private and voluntary sectors.
This degree is perfect for anyone interested in working with young people, adults and communities, to engage in learning about how to live the best life possible and to challenge discrimination and all forms of injustice.
Teaching, learning and assessment are underpinned by theories and practices relating to youth and community work, equality and social justice, wellbeing and community empowerment.
