In our earlier post, ‘10 Steps for Becoming a Licensed Psychologist’, we looked at the steps involved in becoming a licensed psychologist.
In this post I want to address what happens on the other side of licensure. What are the practical benefits of passing your EPPP and becoming licensed? What type of career paths are open to licensed psychologist?
Sometimes people suppose that the only thing psychologists do is offer psychotherapy to clients. But a working as a psychotherapist is only one of a variety of psychology careers available.
Some psychologists pursue careers in academia, working as college professors or researchers. Others psychology careers can be found in industry, sport, entertainment or business. Many of these careers do not even require licensure, but simply a degree in psychology.
On their website, the American Psychological Association recognizes fifteen specialties in professional psychology. Let’s consider some of the most common.
Sports Psychologists
A sports psychologist might explore how psychology affects sports strategy. He or she might also work with athletes on the mental and emotional aspects of training. Areas of interest to sports psychologist include the psychology of motivation, visualization, confidence, self-talk, mindfulness and relaxation.
All of the NFL teams have a sports psychologist on the payroll. Our earlier post ‘Develop a High Performance Mindset’ explored some of the insights of Michael Gervais, a psychologist who works for the Seattle Seahawks.
Industrial Psychologists
Industrial psychologists (also known as occupational or organizational psychologists) work in both white color and blue color professions helping businesses prevent and troubleshoot problems. This can include helping office workers get along better, finding ways to increase employee wellbeing, discovering ways to optimize work-force performance, analyzing the relationship between humans and machines in factory contexts, plus much more.
Researchers
As already mentioned, some psychologists pursue careers as researchers. Psychology researchers usually work within a university or laboratory context, and could study such things as social psychology, neuropsychology, perceptual psychology, evolutionary psychology, marketing and countless other topics.
Other Jobs Psychologists Are Doing
Here are some others jobs that a degree in psychology can help prepare a person to perform:
- Clinical psychologist
- Counselling psychologist
- Educational psychologist
- Forensic psychologist
- Further education teacher
- Health psychologist
- High intensity therapist
- Occupational psychologist
- Primary care graduate mental health worker
- Psychological wellbeing practitioner
- Sport and exercise psychologist
- Jobs where your degree would be useful include:
- Actuarial analyst
- Advertising account planner
- Advice worker
- Careers adviser
- Counsellor
- Data analyst
- Forensic accountant
- Human resources officer
- Market researcher
- Physician associate
- Play therapist
- Psychotherapist
Within each of these psychology careers there are an almost endless amount of specialties. For example, a clinical psychologists might specialize in working with a certain age group, such as children teens or adults. Others might specialize in helping people who suffer from a particular disorder. A market researcher might specialize in food, or aroma, or clothing.
In addition to work as professional psychologist, a degree in psychology may also qualify a person to enter into other fields where a degree in psychology may be perceived as an asset. Many different jobs require someone who understands human behavior, emotion, and thought processes.