If you have a psychology degree what job do you do?

[Aria20]

I have just finished my psychology degree - spent 4 years after having my youngest child studying for this.

I am not sure what I want to do now!! Ideally I would like to work from home for the most part (yes my youngest will go to after school club!) as my 14yo has additional needs so I'd like to be in the house when he gets home from school/school holidays - he doesn't need direct input and won't be a distraction!

Before having youngest child I was working in early years but I don't want to go back to that as not enough earning potential and 15 years ago I worked in conveyancing and property law but I have been out of that so long I don't think I could get back in.

I find psychology fascinating and was looking into PWP/EMHP roles but it's super competitive to get a trainee place. I also enjoyed the research side of psychology and statistics/analysis so I thought about something along those lines but again I am struggling to get interviews as have no recent relevant experience!

I'm interested in what other jobs people do following psychology degrees - how did you get into your role? What is the flexibility and earning potential? Do you enjoy your job??

Oh and you need a PHD to lecture at nearly all unis.

I did a part time Masters in Occ psych, then moved into freelance work in Selection & Assesment. I've been doing that for 18 years and am bored but it's relatively decent money £200-£750 per day. I also do outplacement work and would like to move into career guidance but don't really want to do another Masters

Are you interested in nutrition,I was seeing a nutritionist once a few years back and she said if she was doing her degree now she'd do psychology because so much of people's eating habits are psychological.
So maybe some extra training in nutrition too first.

@Aria20 I've worked for the charity for about 10 years, started as admin then admin manager, then a front line practitioner, then a quality support officer, then quality manager, then senior quality manager. When I started, the charity was very small and didn't have any quality roles so I have applied for them internally as we have grown.

Now we are quite large and I have colleagues who have similar backgrounds to me but also those who have come from related fields (supporting marginalised people) and/or management roles in those fields.

The job is often called Quality/Performance/Compliance Officer/Manager. The smaller the organisation, the more you would do a little bit of everything and the larger the organisation, the more you might specialise. For example, pre GDPR I used to do lots of data protection/information governance work as part of my role but now we have a separate team of people including a DPO for that.

@PsychPhD I am not sure if I can PM on the app? I'll have to try via the laptop tomorrow but yes please that sounds interesting. Thanks

To teach at a university you need a masters as a minimum and many will expect a PhD.

@Bobshhh what is involved in corporate communications?

Market research

I do the same as shoes4life but within a recruitment company not freelance, as a business paychologist/organisational psychologist/occupational psychologist.
We design the methods used to select and assess candidates.
With good SPSS skills you could go into an entry level role in psychometrics, have a look at opportunities on psychtalent newsletter on LinkedIn.

I have PM'd you :)

I work with the top leaders in a global company to shape their communications strategy (which ultimately supports their business strategy), helping them refine their leadership persona and ensure that employees are informed and engaged with what we do and how we’re doing it.

A lot of my day to day is translation from business nonsense into normal person speak. E.g this super technical banking product is really exciting. We need to tell everyone about it tomorrow. My role is to gently help them find the most powerful way of doing this and create something compelling that brings that initiative to life.

I work with film and design agencies too and particularly enjoy my role because I’m exposed to things that only a handful of people in the company know and I’m working with very intelligent, very interesting people at the top of their game.

I joined the probation service. Great graduate programme. 15 months 'on the job' training alongside a further paid for diploma and you start on £34k rising to £42k within 5 years

Spent years in a career not using my degree (which I got in 2003!), but then started volunteering for a large mental health charity at age 40 and worked my way in and up from there. My degree was needed for the role I'm now in (and bloody love).

Pay isn't great though, you're probably looking at £30k-ish tops, but it could be a great stepping stone for you. Many ex colleagues now work as asst psychologists, PWPs, etc.

I'm a healthcare assistant in the NHS and wish i did a more vocational course. Quite a few people on my course went on to do a PHD and now work as clinical psychologists etc. I got as far as a masters before I fell pregnant and left a bad relationship 🫠 I'm looking to retrain in something else now my DS is in school and my mum has retired but I'm trying to figure out what will suit

@Luvvies that sounds interesting too

@LobeliaSackville how did you get into market research and did it require further study?

@webster1987 although I find forensic psychology and rehabilitation interesting I don't think I could work in that field!

I am glad I started this thread it's really interesting to see the paths others have taken and all the different possibilities!
Thanks everyone so far.

Just to add my experience, I did a degree in social psychology with the OU, I also have an associate degree in social and behavioural sciences. I currently work as a functional analyst for a software company. Basically my role is to take the client's business requirements, and our software product and make them meet in the middle. I use the data and research skills but not my degree, as such. And I got the role based more on experience than anything else. However when I was interviewed by the COO, it turned out she did her degree with the OU, so that gave us something in common, and I think she respected the time and commitment I'd put into it. So in that respect it helped me get the job. I started on 35k, I've seen similar roles advertised up to 80k, depending on the company, product, experience etc.

I'm looking at next steps to building my career, and I'm probably going to do a masters in organisational or business psychology. I'm also looking at some online tech type training, something like building databases with outsystems, or Dynamics 365, just to open opportunities in the tech world for me. (Also because I like to always be learning something new!)

HR. Psychology and understanding of why people do what they do is useful mosts jobs, especially when you start managing others. In previous employee relations roles I have drawn on my psychology background (often subconsciously!) when managing casework with challenging employees. I'm in a systems based hr role now, so no psychology required, but have had a 20 year career and now earning £60k part time (4 days/week). The entry requirement for my role was a 2:1 degree, so I couldn't have got it without the degree, even if it didn't have to be psychology. If you're not bothered about sticking with pure psychology based roles, look at big corporations recruiting for HR, marketing, communications functions.

My daughter did a Psychology degree, did a MSc in Marketing and is not a Marketing Manager. She also considered HR.

Marketing manager.
Human buying behaviour and what influences it fascinates me. I wfh 2 days pw.

I work in health policy. The analytical skills of a psychology degree stand you in good stead for this type of role. I work from home. Currently earn about £50k but at a more senior level could be up to about £100K.

I have a psychology degree. I initially then did mental health nurse training and worked as an RMN for 20 years. Now I'm a childminder. So both used the degree but the degree wasn't actually required for either!

I do a similar but diff job to @Bobshhh
I work in tech in a non tech role and my role is more commercial based but a big part of my job is t help "translate" tech talk to sales people speak that make it understandable and interesting for a wider audience. I also run some basic numbers, solve alot of problems and negotiate between parties to keep projects moving.
I work with great smart people have fully flexible working and good benefits.
its stressful at times obvs. But i like it.
Pay is excellent +100k and im under 40.
I am very much midlevel in my company but fairly happy there as progression is quite competitive and the next level is too demanding my family is more important than the £££ at this level.