Stop me if you lot take already heard this one. Psychology is i of the most popular undergraduate majors in the U.Due south.; in the last yr the data are available (2014-2015), 117,557 bachelor's degrees in psychology were awarded. Said some other style, in the past ix years, one million individuals received psychology baccalaureates (National Center for Education Statistics, 2017).

Request the question "what tin can you lot exercise with a available's caste in psychology?" is a very relevant question to a lot of people. Allow me to clinch y'all from the start that if someone tells you the answer to that question is "cypher," that answer is plain false. Virtually 25 per centum of psychology baccalaureates go to graduate school in psychology, almost 18 percent go on for more teaching but not in psychology, and 57 percent are workforce graduates (Lin, Christidis & Stamm, 2017).

If no 1 was getting a job with a bachelor's degree in psychology, that tidbit of information would have made the news past now and I suspect the popularity of the major (every bit evidenced past annual number of graduates) would decrease substantially. But a quick, brusk answer, such as "nothing," is a blurb and a sound seize with teeth — easy to understand even so meaningless. The bodily reply is much more complicated and nuanced, and information technology goes similar this — the psychology bachelor's degree qualifies a person for a large number of jobs, but the degree does not uniquely qualify a person for whatsoever particular chore.

Huh?

Starting time, let's start with the large number of jobs part. Below you tin can see the Holy Grail list of potential jobs with a bachelor's degree in psychology. I don't know where this list started, perhaps with Marky Lloyd and/or Drew Appleby, curated over fourth dimension by Paul Hettich and/or Jane Halonen, but information technology seems at present that I am the curator of "the list."

Activities Director Labor Relations Manager
Admissions Evaluator Loan Officer
Advertising Sales Representative Management Analyst
Alumni Director Marketplace Research Analyst
Animal Trainer Occupational Analyst
Benefits Manager Patient Resources Reimbursement Amanuensis
Career/Employment Counselor Personnel Recruiter
Career Information Specialist Law Officeholder
Caseworker Polygraph Examiner
Kid Development Specialist Preschool Teacher
Child Welfare/Placement Caseworker Probation/Parole Officeholder
Claims Supervisor Projection Evaluator
Coach Psychiatric Adjutant/Bellboy
Community Arrangement Worker Psychiatric Technician
Customs Worker Psychological Stress Evaluator
Computer Developer Psychosocial Rehabilitation Specialist (PSR)
Conservation Officeholder Public Relations Representative
Correctional Treatment Specialist Purchasing Agent
Corrections Officeholder Real Manor Agent
Criminal Investigator (FBI and other) Recreation Leader
Customer Service Representative Supervisor Recreation Supervisor
Data Base Ambassador Research Assistant
Data Base Design Annotator Retail Salesperson
Department Director Sales Clerk
Disability Policy Worker Social Services Aide
Inability Case Manager Substance Abuse Counselor
Employee Health Maintenance Program Specialist Systems Annotator
Employee Relations Specialist Technical Writer
Employment Counselor Veterans Contact Representative
Employment Interviewer Veterans Counselor
Financial Aid Counselor Victims' Advocate
Fund Raiser Vocational Training Teacher
Health Care Facility Administrator Volunteer Coordinator
Human Resource Counselor Writer
Data Specialist
Job Analyst


To say that a bachelor's degree in psychology prepares you for no job is simply ludicrous. Simply let'southward think about the more nuanced part — a available'southward caste in psychology does not exclusively entitle a person to any of the jobs in this list. Using O*Internet from the U.S. Section of Labor (2017) for the following bulleted data, allow me to explicate what I mean past psychology's lack of exclusivity.

  • For a job like animal trainer, the vast majority of individuals with this job accept a loftier schoolhouse diploma (or less) as their highest educational attainment. So a bachelor's caste (in whatsoever field) is not necessarily a prerequisite requirement.
  • In lodge to be a claims supervisor (claims examiner) for an insurance visitor, nearly 70 percent of those individuals accept a available's caste. This blazon of position can be filled by individuals from many different majors.
  • To serve equally a corrections officeholder, 89 percent of individuals in this career take a high schoolhouse diploma or equivalent. Psychology majors can exercise well in this area, but every bit you tin probably understand, so do criminal justice majors, sociology majors, and others.
  • Xxx percent of labor relations specialists concur bachelor's degrees, and 25 percent concord master's degrees — a psychology major could certainly achieve this job, merely will sometimes be competing with others with higher educational attainment.
  • Technical writers typically crave some college (35 percent acquaintance's degree and 33 pct available'due south degree), but every bit you tin imagine, a psychology major competing for this position would besides be competing with individuals who were English language majors in higher.

It is my hope that these examples illustrate the nuance and complexity of discussing career options for psychology workforce graduates. There are many, many job possibilities, simply in that location is also much competition awaiting in the workplace due to the lack of exclusivity. Psychology majors, no matter what the career trajectory, need to be thinking nigh, cultivating and honing their skill sets; in that regard, I highly encourage yous to review the works of Miller and Carducci (2015) and Strohmetz et al. (2015). Do not be passive near your future, hoping that it "all comes out in the wash" — be forcefully empowered to exist your own best ally and abet for a satisfying and successful future.

References

Lin, L., Christidis, P., & Stamm, K. (2017, October). The path to condign a psychologist. Monitor on Psychology, 48 (9), 17.

Miller, G.J., & Carducci, B.J. (2015). Student perceptions of knowledge, skills, ad abilities desired by potential employers of psychology majors. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1, 38-47.  doi:10.1037/stl0000015.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2017). Degrees in psychology conferred by postsecondary institutions, by level of caste and sex of student: Selected years, 1945-l through 2014-xv [Table 325.80]. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_325.80.asp?current=yes.

Strohmetz, D.B., Dolinsky, B, Jhangiani, R.S., Posey, D.C., Hardin, E.E., Shyu, V., & Klein, E. (2015). The skillsful major: Psychology curricula in the 21st century. Scholarship of Educational activity and Learning in Psychology, 1, 200-207.  doi:10.1037/stl0000037.

U.S. Department of Labor. (2017). O*Internet Online. Retrieved from https://world wide web.onetonline.org/.

Most the author

R. Eric Landrum R. Eric Landrum is a professor of psychology at Boise State University, receiving his PhD in cerebral psychology from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. His research interests center on the educational conditions that best facilitate student success as well every bit the use of scholarship of teaching and learning strategies to accelerate the efforts of scientist-educators. He has over 400 professional presentations at conferences and published over 25 books/book capacity, and has published over 75 professional articles in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. He has worked with over 300 undergraduate inquiry assistants and taught over xiii,000 students in 25 years at Boise State. During Summertime 2008, he led an American Psychological Clan working group at the National Conference for Undergraduate Instruction in Psychology studying the desired results of an undergraduate psychology education. During the October 2022 Educational Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., Eric was presented with a Presidential Citation from so APA President Nadine Kaslow for his outstanding contributions to the teaching of psychology. He is a member of APA, a fellow in APA's Div. 2 (Social club for the Teaching of Psychology or STP), served as STP secretary (2009-2011). During 2014, Eric served equally president of the Society for the Instruction of Psychology; for 2016-2017, he served as president of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association; and Eric is currently president of Psi Chi, the International Accolade Society in Psychology.