Specific psychology jobs can often be hard to come across. There’s a number of factors why this is the case; such as the amount of education needed, as well as the strong competition once you reach that level of education. In this article, we’ll look at what action you can take directly after your undergraduate degree has finished, and see what avenues this can open. If you want to work for the NHS, temporary positions are available in psychology as they are for doctors or in a locum OT job but finding a permanent home can be more difficult.
Firstly, it’s important to not write off a masters based in a field of psychology just because you no longer wish to pursue a specific path in psychology. There’s a few reasons for this. Firstly, psychology is such a broad subject spanning many different specialties. At undergraduate level, it’s only ever really possible to scratch the surface of this. A masters in a specific field of psychology can help you explore those areas that stimulated your interest more than others. This doesn’t just have an academic benefit, specific fields of psychology, researched at a higher level, can help open careers into other fields more loosely related to psychology.
For example, clinical psychology is one of the most popular masters in psychology. This looks more closely at the psychology surrounding trauma, and specific mental illnesses. This qualification can open doors into mental health that has an element of psychology to it. A recovery worker is a perfect example of this. Recovery work is usually based around creating systems, and looking at ways in which service users can help themselves overcome addiction and reliance. There is both one on one and group sessions where people’s progress can be tracked. All of this has a large psychological element to it. Specifically, areas of clinical psychology in terms of mental illness deriving from addiction and vice versa.
Someone with a masters in psychology can apply for jobs on this sort of level, and it can be a great way to open the door to a career focused on support, rehabilitation, etc. This is just an example related to one specific masters course. You can also explore careers related to child-specific psychology. This would give you the chance to go into a career where you’re working and helping children. Or even forensic psychology, which can lead to a career focused around criminality and possibly working within the police force. Each of these areas have their own masters courses to specialise in.
Choosing to undertake a masters isn’t an option for everyone. However, it can be a great way to explore areas that were of most interest to you within psychology, while also helping toward the chance of landing a graduate job outside of specific psychology roles.