What to do with your Psychology Degree What to do with your Psychology Degree The essential career guide for psychology graduates Matthew McDonald & Mita Das Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead Berkshire England SL6 2QL email:
[email protected] world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USA First published 2008 Copyright © Matthew McDonald & Mita Das 2008 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London, EC1N 8TS. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN-13: 978 0 335 22222 3 (pb) 978 0 335 22223 0 (hb) ISBN-10: 0 335 22222 6 (pb) 0 335 22223 4 (hb) Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data CIP data applied for Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by Bell and Bain Ltd., Glasgow Fictitious names of companies, products, people, characters and/or data that may be used herein (in case studies or in examples) are not intended to represent any real individual, company, product or event. Contents 1 2 3 Introduction 1 What kind of work is right for you? How to get your ideal job and be successful at it What employers are looking for in a potential employee How to market yourself to get your ideal job How to use this book 3 5 7 9 10 Occupations in mental health and therapy 15 Mental health worker Counselling psychologist Tutor for autistic children Assistant psychologist Clinical psychologist Forensic psychologist Mental health care assistant Counsellor/psychotherapist School counsellor Creative arts therapist Neuropsychologist Occupational therapist Graduate primary care mental health worker Case study 1. Catherine Farr, forensic psychologist Case study 2. Alison Roberts, graduate primary care mental health worker 15 17 20 23 25 28 31 34 37 39 42 44 47 49 Occupations in the community 52 Social worker Floating support officer Helpline officer Learning disability support worker Health psychologist Housing adviser Volunteer centre officer 52 54 57 59 61 64 66 50 vi 4 5 CONTENTS Mediation officer for young people at risk of homelessness Connexions personal adviser Employment adviser Probation officer Welfare rights officer Youth worker Drug and alcohol adviser Police officer Mental health and well-being adviser Mental health policy officer Case study 3. Rachel Maslen, mediation officer for young people at risk of homelessness Case study 4. Brian Hancock, police officer 93 94 Occupations in education 95 Special needs teacher’s assistant Special educational needs teacher School teacher University lecturer in psychology Educational psychologist Sport and exercise psychologist Research assistant/officer (psychology) Outdoor education instructor Basic skills and IT teacher in a specialist college Case study 5. Sam Coster, research fellow Case study 6. Jenny Morgan, basic skills teacher 95 97 100 102 105 109 111 114 117 119 120 Occupations in organisations and the private sector Human resources office