Job Ideas For Psychology Majors in 2022

Sometimes in life, it can feel almost impossible to make a decision on what career you wish to pursue. However, when going off to college, sometimes a particular degree may jump out at you without you fully understanding what you would ultimately do with that qualification. While it’s important to try to make a good decision when it comes to degree and career choices, it’s common for people to just take the plunge and go with their gut instinct.

Luckily, many degrees open up countless possibilities, and in fact, just spending the time to earn a degree is enough to get you onto a career path, as this shows dedication and a desire to improve yourself. Psychology is one of those areas which provides those graduates with a plethora of transferable skills which can be used across many different jobs. To demonstrate this, here is a list of career examples that you could get with a psychology degree.

Therapist Or Counselor

One of the most common ideas of career choice after studying psychology is going to be something to do with therapy or counseling. The common perception of psychology is that its sole purpose is to treat people that are struggling with mental health problems or behavioral disorders. While that’s not all psychology is for, it does play a huge part in these careers.

Starting a career as a licensed therapist or a counselor takes time and practice and requires a degree of some sort in psychology. To be a clinical psychologist, you will also require additional graduate-level qualifications and training, so be prepared for this if it’s something you intend to pursue.

Training And Development Specialist

These individuals spend a lot of their time teaching others how to do their roles better. They will administer specialist programs that aim to improve the understanding of certain employees in certain areas of their roles.

This will include teaching them new skills and abilities and stretching the limits of their knowledge in their industry. A psychology major may learn some great ways in which they can assist these trainees by utilizing their broader understanding of how people take on training and experience based on their higher understanding of human behavior and development.

Mental Health Support Worker

A large part of psychology is related to the understanding and treatment of mental health problems. While this is particularly specialized and will require an expert with many years of training and experience to become an expert in this field, a psychology major can start a career as a mental health support worker.

The knowledge and training that someone with a psychology degree attains put them in a good position to understand and empathize with those that are struggling with mental health disorders. You will assist patients with basic care, deliver certain therapies, and assist patients with day-to-day activities like taking their medication.

Life Coach Or Motivational Speaker

Alongside your psychology degree, there are other qualifications you can earn to bolster its effectiveness. For example, you could strive to become a life coach or motivational speaker by earning one of these psychology-based life coach certificates at the iNLP Center. This will allow you to begin practicing as an official life coach, providing clients with advice and guidance on certain aspects of their lives, from their careers to relationships.

These skills, combined with your training in psychology, can provide you with the means to assist people with some of the more troubling hurdles in their lives.

Human Resources Representative

All good corporations have a department that handles employees’ day-to-day management and care. This department is known as human resources, and being a representative in a team like this will require you to be level-headed and unbiased as well as caring and compassionate. A human resource representative is an employee’s first port of call if they have a problem with their job.

They will be able to attempt to rectify these problems or escalate them to a superior, acting as a middleman during this period. HR experts will also deal with certain aspects of recruitment within a business, both in the hiring phase and during onboarding too.

Social Worker

While a degree in psychology can be hugely beneficial to someone who wants to become a social worker, you will still be required to get a Master’s in Social Work or MSW to become an officially licensed social worker. Your psychology degree will help you to understand certain behaviors during your role as a social worker, but there are many more nuanced things you’ll be required to pick up about the role of being a social worker that you can only get from a specialized degree.

Either way, if you are interested in helping others through social work, then a psychology degree is a great step towards that career.

Criminal Psychologist

To pursue this route, you’ll need to earn both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in psychology at the very least to practice as a psychologist. However, most who want to increase their success and employment chances tend to pursue a doctorate. During your time earning this doctorate, you can focus your efforts and research on an area related to criminal psychology.

Once you become a doctor in your field, you’ll then want to become a licensed psychologist, which involves an examination process. It’s not a requirement to get this certification, but it will lend you significantly more credibility if you do.

Rehabilitation Specialist

Another respectable career choice after getting a psychology degree is to become a rehabilitation specialist. This is where you’d spend your time working with those struggling with a disability or addiction, and you’ll help them deal with the hurdles that come with these problems.

While a physiotherapist may focus on the physical side of rehabilitation, such as for those that have sustained severe injuries that restrict their movement and overall way of life, a psychologist working in rehabilitation will spend time with their patients to help them deal with psychological challenges. This can be rehabilitation following trauma, substance abuse, or even criminal actions.