Careers

Why major in Psychology?

The Psychology major offers opportunities to acquire and develop a number of skills valued by employers, the community and graduate school admissions committees:

Analytical and statistical skills for understanding, interpreting and reporting on data
Communication skills in writing and oral presentations
Problem-solving and information-search skills
Ability to work in and understand groups
Familiarity with computers and database software
Research and measurement/evaluation skills
Social awareness and the ability to understand and monitor self
Ability to apply psychological theory to individual, social and community problems

Careers in Psychology

What are the possible careers in the field of psychology?

For a useful overview of career options in psychology, we recommend exploring the APA (American Psychological Association) website.

We suggest that you spend considerable time investigating the resources and information at these sites which can answer most of your questions about what psychologists do.O*NET online has a massive database of occupational information classified in multiple ways and includes descriptions of necessary abilities, values and training plus salary and future outlook data.

Career Development Center

For career planning information here at UofL, the Career Development Center in Houchens Hall (852-6701) offers vocational testing and guidance, as well as job postings for full- and part-time jobs on- and off-campus. It is strongly recommended that you request this service early in your junior year to facilitate your post-graduation planning. The Career Development Center also offers job assistance with resume preparation, interview practice, job fairs, graduate school fairs, job placement services, internship/coop information, etc. Their website gives information about events and workshops, as well as useful links to occupational information in general (e.g. the Occupational Outlook Handbook, with salary and growth rate predictions updated annually.)

Want to speak with someone about careers in psychology? Contact Tess Collins, Academic Counselor for the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. tess.collins@louisville.edu or schedule a meeting https://calendly.com/uoflpsych/general

Psychology entry jobs in Louisville

Locally, students with bachelors' degrees in psychology often choose to work in entry-level psychological service jobs for community agencies like Centerstone. These hands-on clinical service jobs are challenging but rewarding and can be particularly valuable for obtaining experience with clinical populations prior to attending graduate school. The best way to prepare for bachelor's level jobs is to do our departmental internship course, Psychology 407, which will give you hands-on experience to add to your resume. The Career Development Center has information on job openings for current and graduating students.

Will I be a psychologist when I graduate?

Majoring in Psychology will not make you "a psychologist"; this requires graduate training (see Planning for Graduate School). The sorts of careers that former psychology majors follow are quite varied and, in fact, only about 5% of psychology majors ultimately have careers in an overtly "psychological" job area. Many work in management, sales, banking, information technology, teaching, human resources, customer service, health promotion, etc. and find that their background in psychology is important in non-specific but critical ways: knowing how to predict and understand individual and group behavior, understanding the use and interpretation of data, evaluating persuasive arguments, knowing how learning and memory function, having insight into problematic behaviors, etc. See https://www.onetonline.org/find/career?c=10&g=Go for a list of current occupational titles often used by former psychology majors.

What if I'm not sure if psychology is the right career field for me?

It might be wise to begin with self-assessment of your values, strengths, priorities and interests. There are a number of online sites for this purpose and you can also request testing on campus (see Career Center below). Career One Stop has a self-assessment test that provides a starting point.

"There are no jobs for Psychology majors."

Actually, the problem is that there are too many jobs for Psychology majors. Students often feel more secure when a certain job, with a specific label, is available or even guaranteed at graduation. What they mean by "no jobs" is this: I won't have an occupational title when I graduate, so how will I know what to do next? Some majors are specifically tied to certain jobs: Accounting majors become accountants, Chemistry majors become chemists. Others prepare students broadly, with skills applicable to such a diverse set of jobs that students paradoxically but understandably feel they have no job options at all. This can be made worse when well-meaning acquaintances inquire, "So what are you majoring in? And then what will you be?"

Because psychology graduates have skills in analyzing, evaluating, problem-solving, understanding human behavior and communicating, they are prepared generically for jobs in many fields: sales, management, social services, education, health care, human resources, law enforcement, banking, research, fund raising, public relations, counseling, etc. The savvy student will need to do some exploration and investigation in order to find the right match. For the student who finds not knowing exactly what job he/she will have on graduation is too unsettling a prospect, a more vocationally restricted major might be a better choice.

Useful publications

Getting in: A step-by-step plan for gaining admission to graduate school in Psychology. (2007). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Graduate study in Psychology, 2018. Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association.
Landrum, R.E. & Davis, S.F. (2014). The Psychology major: Career options and strategies for success (5th ed.) Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education, Inc.
Norcross, J.C. & Sayette, M. (2016). The insider's guide to graduate programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology. New York: Guildford Press.

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences