Jobs (Part 2) for Diploma and Bachelors graduates (including Honours)

It is expected some psychology students may not be able to make it all the way to the Masters or postgraduate studies in psychology; this is a disheartening fact however there is always a way out to allow you to move towards the career of your desire..
Options that one may have would be: (1) do a Masters in some other areas that are related to psychology, such as social work or counselling, or (2) go and find a job and earn some money (to save, spend, or even pay those university fees). So today this post is focusing on the second option of jobs and what type of jobs u could look for.

So as mentioned in an earlier post, you (as graduates from degrees and diploma courses) can find work in different sectors, such as:
  • Corporate Sector 
  • Uniformed services 
  • Governmental bodies 
  • Educational Institutions 
  • Research and test development organisations
  • Not for Profit Organisations
However your choice of sector and area of work would be of your own choice, e.g. if you feel more comfortable in an office environment, you may wish to try to look for jobs in the corporate sector. Similarly if you feel more comfortable to work in schools, try the education institutions, or if wish to proceed to more clinical psychology work, you may wish to approach the mental health institutions or hospitals.

Type of work that you might be doing may include administrative level work for the psychological or mental health institutions, social workers, counsellors, mental trainers, workshop coordinators, etc. It all depends on your experience and comfort levels on your abilities to do the positions that you might be applying for. 

Question: Where should I start looking for jobs?
Answer: The SPS website do offer some jobs from time to time. However to really widen your job search, you should be applying with all the job search databases and web portals. I would recommend you to just put in "psychology"  (or social work / counselling, etc.) as the main keyword and see what happens.

Every experience is a good opportunity to learn something, hence do not think that a position that you might not be interested in will never be a suitable job for you. In psychology, you have to try everything and experience as much as you can to allow you to have a good idea of what is happening in the field of psychology, allowing you to experience and have a good knowledge of the real world out there.

If you have any specific areas or sectors you might be thinking of entering (such as educational institutions) but not really sure where to start, feel free to comment and tell me. I will try my best to research and give you some directions towards your choices. 

Comments

  1. Hi, I am an undergraduate at James Cook University (Singapore). Neuropsychology and cognitive psychology have always been my areas of interest. I would be interested in a job in the field of neuropsychology once I graduate but am not too sure about the opportunities in Singapore. I believe that with a Bachelor's degree (and hopefully good Honours), I will probably be looking at something like a position of research assistant. I hope you can enlighten me about where I can start looking for relevant job opportunities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Catherine, it is really good that you know which direction in Psychology you wish to pursue. You should probably get at least an honours degree to increase your chances of being a research assistant, as you will have more exposure to research in the Honours program. Other ways would be to try to get an internship in the area of neuropsychology or neuroscience to try it out before you go full-on into it for full-time work. You can try to do some research on places like the Neuroscience or Neurology departments in the respective hospitals and/or even the National Neuroscience Institute (http://www.nni.com.sg/).

      Delete
  2. Hi,I am interested in psychology maybe more towards this subject but I have not much idea what I really want to do in future but maybe more interest towards industries like people's association or ministry of social and family. I dont mind even if it includes office job i jus hope it would be some kind of meaningful and able to help people. But some would advice me if i dont know what i wan it is better to take more general degree like business.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would say that psychology is also a general degree like business, as it exposes you to an array of jobs after your university degree. Furthermore, If you wish to specialise as a psychologist, you will need a masters degree.

      Delete

Post a Comment