occupational or health psychology - ageism?

[PrawnsYouUp]

Hi I'm 53 and thinking of retraining as an occupational or health psychologist. I can see that after you have Graduate Basis for Chartered membership (GBC - which I have), you need to do an MSc which is stage 1 of the training. After that comes stage 2 of the training, which is supervised practice. I am worried about being the victim of ageism during stage 2, in terms of getting recruited in the first place. I'd also like to understand more of what stage 2 consists of. Please can any occupational or health psychologists out there let me know. Thanks!

I’m an occ psych. I got my masters 23 years ago but never pursued chartership as I had my children and worked freelance. It’s perfectly possible to work in the area without the additional certifications although I do wish I had them sometimes. I have worked freelance for 20 years in Graduate assessments, outplacement. Work dried up a bit lately (AI took over) and so I’ve now got a coaching qualification and work in the Neurodiversity field. It’s pretty interesting. I’m 50 and have just taken an actual job part time- everyone is younger than me but that’s ok, I’ve got the life experience!

I wonder if psychology is an area where it's OK to be older. Is it likely I'd get a job if I'm not chartered? What aspects of the job are threatened by AI?

I feel that it is ok to be older. The associate work I do in the recruitment side seems to be full of people who worked in corporate and then took early retirement and work freelance. Quite a few employers will offer roles where they will support towards chartership. But I can honestly say it’s not been an issue for me not being chartered. It’s very hard to do when freelance

Hi @baublegirl353Baulble. I'm also looking at retraining as an Occ Psy as I have an undergraduate psy degree. I love specialist assessing / psychometrics. I tried to do Ed Psy but is impossible to break into. Can I just ask for clarification on the stage 2 part. Are you an Occ Psy ? But you didn't do part 2 ? I understood it was a protected title and HCPC registered. Thanks a lot

Hi. I officially call myself a business psychologist but I have an MSc from Birkbeck in Occ Psych. I’ve not really encountered issues getting work but that’s due to building contacts. TBH a lot of people doing the assessment work are HR professionals. The career path has changed since I qualified.

Thanks for clarifying. Would you recommend it ? Ideally I would like a profession with an HCPC registration but worried that is a long route.