As you consider a career in psychology, an important goal to keep in mind is your flexibility of choice. Plan your education in psychology so that you have broad exposure to its many aspects, as well as to other disciplines. Avoid specializing too soon. Broad exposure to the field will ensure that you are making the wisest choice for both your education and your career.
There are many careers that differ substantially from psychology itself, but in which psychological knowledge, techniques, and skills are applied. These careers include psychiatry, psychiatric nursing, social work, work as a mental health technician, certain aspects of personnel work, human engineering, community planning, and even product-analysis and sales. Psychology can help to develop a career in any one of these related fields, but it would have to be coupled with specialized study (at the graduate level in some cases) for some of these careers. Psychology has been undergoing very rapid change over the last few years, and the trends are likely to continue for a while. New jobs in psychology and mental health work are constantly evolving, and new education and training programs are being developed to suit those new jobs. These changes increase the importance of maintaining a broad balance in your coursework in psychology.
In addition to your coursework and discussions with advisors, there are a number of publications which can be obtained concerning careers in psychology. Some of these publications are available in the Psychology Advising Office. Also, there are a large number of divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA), corresponding to the various areas and activities in psychology - visit their website, http://www.apa.org. Also helpful are Career Paths in Psychology: Where your degree can take you by R. J. Sternberg [APA, 1997], Is Psychology for You? Planning your Undergraduate Years by P. J. Woods and C.S. Wilkenson [APA, 1987], Opportunities in Psychology Careers [VGM Career Horizons, 1994]; and Great Jobs for Psychology Majors by J. Degalan and S. T. Lambert [VGM Great Job Series, 1994]. The Psychology Advising office has some of these publications plus many others including GRE books and practice exams that you can check out.
About 50,000 bachelor's degrees a year are currently being awarded to psychology majors. Approximately 30% of the students who graduate with a bachelor's degree in psychology later enter graduate school in psychology. Another 25% do graduate work in some other field (law, medicine, social work, sociology, etc.), and about 45% finish their education with the bachelor's degree. Of this latter group, approximately 75% find jobs in a field related to psychology. Thus, almost 90% of students completing a degree in psychology find work in psychology or a related field. As a result of the large number of bachelor's degrees awarded in psychology, and due to widespread interest in psychology, admission to psychology graduate programs is highly competitive. Even so, there are approximately 4,000 master's degree and 2,500 doctor's degree recipients in psychology each year.
In addition to the varied basic science, research-oriented careers of many psychologists, students often inquire about applied areas of psychology. In actual practice the distinction among some of these careers often blur. There tend to be almost as many differences within specialties as there are between specialties:
BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS: Careers in behavior analysis include specialization in either basic or applied aspects of the field, both of which focus on environmental approaches to behavior change. Tremendous growth has occurred in graduate programs and professional positions as a result of a national certification program in applied behavior analysis for individuals working in the areas of autism, children and families, developmental disabilities, education, industrial/organizational psychology, etc. Two levels of certification are available. The graduate program is approved by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board, and the undergraduate EAB course sequence counts toward certification at the associate level.
CLINICAL: Clinical psychology is the study and treatment of emotionally disturbed or intellectually deficient individuals. Clinical psychologists draw heavily upon the field of abnormal psychology, which is concerned with the development, manifestations, and treatment of personality deviations and intellectual defects, both organic and functional. Traditional clinical training emphasizes assessment, diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology.
COUNSELING: Counseling psychology is the study of ways to provide services to promote individual and group well-being and to prevent and remedy developmental, educational, vocational, social and emotional adjustment problems. Counseling psychologists provide a variety of treatments, e.g., career and educational counseling, psychotherapy, behavior therapy, rehabilitation counseling, marital and family therapy, or may provide training programs in such areas as communication and mediation skills, time management, and effective parenting. The emphasis in counseling psychology is to help people grow and make the maximum adjustment to their present problems and circumstances.
INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL: I/O psychology is the study of people at work and how they relate to work. The objective of this specialty is to develop and apply procedures that will result in the better utilization of manpower, the better functioning of organizations, and the maximum well-being of the worker. They often study the human factor on production. I/O psychologists are concerned with individual differences, motivation, morale, and the smooth functioning of workers within organizations. They try to create and maintain a balance of optimum production and worker satisfaction.
SCHOOL: School psychology is concerned primarily with the adjustment, mental health and achievement of children within the context of school. Graduate training in this field is normally in colleges of education. School psychologists promote emotional well-being and effective learning experiences. They assist children directly and indirectly through parents, teachers, and administrators. They are trained in intellectual, educational, and emotional assessment. School psychologists typically have a major role in determining what special resources would best benefit individual students. They act as staff consultants and collaborate with others to study and solve curricular and instructional problems that involve psychological understanding or techniques.
OTHER APPLIED FIELDS: Other applied fields in psychology include applied developmental psychology, psychological forensics, psychological social work, and human factors, to name a few.
-- by Greg Neimeyer, Ph.D.
Dr. Neimeyer has generously provided his PowerPoint presentations from his various workshops relevant to careers in psychology. Specific topics are shown below:
University of Florida:
Information about careers in psychology: