• Question: is it true that the options for jobs after a psychology degree are narrow and limited and what different types of employment opportunities are available with a psychology degree?

    Asked by anon-203755 to Vassilis, Tirso, Matthew, Jane, Dawn, Alexandra on 4 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Alexandra Quigley

      Alexandra Quigley answered on 4 Mar 2019: last edited 4 Mar 2019 12:13 pm

      After a Bachelors degree, there are jobs but they tend to be low paid, compared to other degrees like maths, the sciences, business etc. If you wanted to become a clinical psychologist (someone who works with people who are having problems) rather than a research psychologist (in which case you might want to go on to do a Masters degree) you could apply to be an assistant psychologist, a support worker in a hospital, or a research assistant. However, if you didn’t want to go in to psychology, a psychology degree gives you lots of transferable skills and you could apply for lots of different jobs. You could find out more by asking your careers advisor or look at this website: https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/psychology-degree-helps-graduates-wherever-they-go-work

      There are lots of jobs post-qualification (from the Doctorate) in a huge range of services: addictions, inpatient mental health, children’s services, physical health services, older adults services, primary care (GP) talking therapies services, but there are fewer higher-level jobs now compared to 10-15 years ago.

    • Photo: Dawn Rose

      Dawn Rose answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      Hi, I don^t think my answer is very general because I was always self-employed as a musician and work was a bit all over the place, but I have always had work as a psychologist!

    • Photo: Vassilis Sideropoulos

      Vassilis Sideropoulos answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      I will agree with Alexandra. There are a lot of different routes. Check out the BPS website that she posted below! 🙂

    • Photo: Matthew Longo

      Matthew Longo answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      Psychology is one of the most popular fields to study in the UK, and many other countries. So not everyone who studies psychology is likely to work professionally as a psychologist. But the experience you get studying psychology with statistics, data analysis, and research methods is applicable in a wide range of fields.

    • Photo: Jane Aspell

      Jane Aspell answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      I don’t think they are narrow – quite the opposite – because a psychology degree teaches such a range of skills – from essay writing to statistical analysis, from critical thinking to experimental methods. As well as all the psychology-related jobs that are loads of non-psychology related ones such as working in the media, law, HR, etc., etc.

    • Photo: Tirso Gonzalez Alam

      Tirso Gonzalez Alam answered on 11 Mar 2019:

      In my experience, your options for jobs are incredibly broad. I have friends that did their undergrad with me and are working in industry like organisational psychologists, or in schools as educational psychologists, or you can work with patients as a clinical psychologist… the list goes on and on, going through media, VR, game development, consultancy, scientific research, you name it. Practically, wherever there’s humans and the human mind is involved, you can find a creative job for a psychologist to do!

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