Feeling downhearted about prospects

purply

Here are my comments!Sorry for the longish post.
I did a degree in psychology, Msc in Pscyhology (i specialised in Health Psychology) and i am also a qualified lecturer in Psychology, so i hope i can give you some specific advice.

If you want a career in psychology, you NEED experience-i don't care what anyone else says. It is so hard to get a job related to Psychology without experience. E.g alot jobs are within the clinical field and this field is very competititive. I wish i had, whilst i was a student, worked in care homes, hospitals, charity organisations-it all adds up and really is so useful. Do some voluntary work-become a mentor, work with people with disabilities, work with the elderly, young people, vulnerable etc. All this experience is transferable and looks great on your CV.
Over the summer, get a voluntary placement-i did mine at a mental health hospital.

I did an Msc cos i didn't really know what i wanted to do and felt like i wanted to know more about Psychology. After an Msc, you can go ahead and do a PhD, but i chose to look at getting a research post within a university. That way, you are working, earning (about £20k) and developing your academic skills without the headache ofa PhD (Research jobs are like Psychology dissertations-you do some research, some analysis and possible write-up).

Personally, I feel that without the experience, you can't distinguish one Psychology degree from another. Psychology degrees seem to be the fashion with students (its a popular subject) but there isn't a defined career path-you have to create the oportunities. Its not like doing a nursing or medical degree (where there are defined jobs) and therefore a lot of graduates don't pursue their Psychology degree as they don't know what they want to do with it.

Also, if you ever consider teaching, remember that Psychology teaching posts are like gold dust!
So i guess my point is, get experience whilst you can! You CAN balance having a great time at uni whilst focussing on what it is you want to do.

bettingmark

just want to say thanks purply, great post and personally makes me more determined to do well and take my psychology on!

summerday

Hi,

I graduated in 2002 with a business and law degree. I agree with posters like Bettingmark, because nowadays when something like one third of all young people get a degree, a degree is no longer the sought after qualification it once was, as there are not nearly enough graduate level/paid jobs to go round. That's NOT to say I think a degree is worthless- it demonstrates several skills, BUT as there are thousands of others with degrees applying for the same jobs you will be it is essential that you make yourself stand out from the competition.

There are loads of things you can do in your spare time (and let's face it, on most undergraduate courses esp in year 1 and 2 there is plenty of spare time). For example, I helped run the uni Law Society for 2 years running, and for all 3 years I always worked about 20 hours a week in term time, just as a checkout girl but even still it showed I could time manage and other skills. I also did regular voluntary work with children- found out about this from the careers library at uni, you could scout yours to find out the options. In the uni holidays, I was involved in international workcamps, once as a volunteer at a project in Turkey, then I was a leader for one in Wales. Again, this let me pick up loads of new skills.

The point I'm making is that when you start to apply for graduate level jobs, they are whether you like it or not simply not going to be impressed with the fact that you have just studied for a degree- everyone else in there big pile of applications will also have that, plus some will have a range of extra skills to give them the 'edge'.

Of course, whichever extra activities etc you choose to do you must be interested in and enjoy, not just do them for your CV :-). But I can honestly say that I enjoyed my uni experience all the more for all my extra interests and projects, I had so many worthwhile things in my life. And when I was applying for jobs after I graduated with a 2.1 degree I found the questions much easier to answer with examples of how I'd developed skills and used them in the real world.

If you would like more details of where I found out about the things I did, feel free to pm me.

By the way, a few months after graduating I found a job starting at £19k. All my friends at uni who did little else other than study only found non-graduate jobs on about £10k.

Best of luck whatever you do,
sarah

purply

Completely in agreement with saraht! Especially when you said that you can use real-life examples to back up your skills-we leave uni with qualifications but we don't necessarily leave uni with skills that we need to use in jobs. sometimes we leave uni (i'm talking about myself here i guess) and we don't have a clue about the 'real world'.
Its a catch 22 scenario, hence why i feel so strongly about getting as much experience as you can.

bettingmark-keep going-your graduation day will be one of your best days! Words cannot describe the feeling-its a high!

lpoolt

Hey thanks for the advice everyone!

Btw I'm a fella lol. Alot of you seemed to think I was a girl (using psychology I'd say it's because people think girls are more emotional than guys only messin). And you lot who've done psychology should know not to use sexist language!! :rotfl:

I see what people are saying about experience, I had thought a lot about that myself and like some of you had said psychology is so popular I'm going to need something to distinguish me from others. A friend I know from before the course began is now on my course and her dad is principal of a school so I'm going to badger her to let me have some experience in the school. I'm not going to worry about experience until my first year is over me in the summer.

I still don't know what to do after uni!! I'm thinking either clinical, forensic or teaching. I don't know about anywhere else but in N.I. psychology can act as a base to primary school teaching so that's currently looking one of the best options.

EDIT: just been checking out some of the links. ditzymuppet, that just graduates job link doesn't work. Do you have the right link?

bettingmark

u probably dont want to disclose your identity, but are u at Q.U.B. doing psychology?? If so, thats where I am and if you need one-to-one bout things I'd be happy to talk. I've enough problems of my own uni-wise to realise that getting them off my chest might not be a bad thing. Also if you haven't done any 'psychology related experience' yet - neither have I yet, but going to start looking at my options more now. If you want to do something similar, it might be good craic to try together to get some psych related work?

greyster

lpoolt wrote:

Hey thanks for the advice everyone!

Btw I'm a fella lol. Alot of you seemed to think I was a girl (using psychology I'd say it's because people think girls are more emotional than guys only messin). And you lot who've done psychology should know not to use sexist language!! :rotfl:

I see what people are saying about experience, I had thought a lot about that myself and like some of you had said psychology is so popular I'm going to need something to distinguish me from others. A friend I know from before the course began is now on my course and her dad is principal of a school so I'm going to badger her to let me have some experience in the school. I'm not going to worry about experience until my first year is over me in the summer.

I still don't know what to do after uni!! I'm thinking either clinical, forensic or teaching. I don't know about anywhere else but in N.I. psychology can act as a base to primary school teaching so that's currently looking one of the best options.

EDIT: just been checking out some of the links. ditzymuppet, that just graduates job link doesn't work. Do you have the right link?

There are plenty of teaching posts in this country, hence the mass advertising on TV, free teaching courses and bursaries. I know secondary school teachers get their student loan paid off, not sure about primary. Anyway its only for the PGCE route which is a year at college after your 1st degree.

Or you can perhaps consider the Armed Forces, its not all about front line warfare so don't rule it out. Loads of roles like supply management and officers require degrees. Starting pay is higher than any figure mentioned on this thread. Some pay you to do masters. If that interests you, join the Reserves while you're at university for an insight. Best thing you could put on your CV, it shows your a thinker, a team player and active (and u get paid).

I did the reserves, then tried for the Navy and failed the 3 day interview (after the first 2 smaller interviews) - my maths sucked. Was invited to return after a year but paid for a MSc (which the Navy would have offered) myself. Was on JSA for 10 weeks (no money) ignored contract offers under 15k, and finally got job offers close to double.

I totally miss university, i think i posted earlier on this thread saying enjoy uni. I think its soo important

Xenomorhic

Ugh!!! I think a lot of you have just described me!!!

I was going to go to Uni to study English. Long discussions with careers advisors showed that I did not actually know what job I wanted to do, so they suggested Psychology. I'd had a little interest in this and was told it was a great Allround degree- I was not a numbers person but at least this way I wouldn't lose touch with numbers altogether, and I'd be writing reports as well as essays. I took an A/S level in Psychology and applied for Psych. degrees

I was accepted and went off to Uni. My parents did not want me to go and told me point blank I would have to pay my way and they couldn't give me anything, true to their word, they didn't! I had to be in part time work all the time and pay my board. I was working every night after uni at one point. I had no time to pursue experiences of any kind if they didn't get me basic money! On the plus side, with my being the last lot of the students to get grants, I scraped through with minimal debt and went straight on into postgrad study, a PhD.

Of course the problem is that I still did NOT know what I wanted to do! I was considering Clinical Psychology as I found it interesting but I steadily realised that I was not tough enough for such work. I get too involved with other people emotionally and I would never be able to distance myself from patients. I dropped that idea.

Without that focus I lost interest in the PhD, not helped by the fact that my supervisor was only intermittedly interested in what I was doing and never returned work to me on time.

Five years on I accepted that that was never going to go anywhere. I'm trying to cut my losses and get out with an Mphil but hey, guess what, my supervisor won't return my work- am still waiting. I feel stuck.

I'm in your average office job now. I'm working part time and back at college trying an alternative career path I dabbled in when I was younger- which I wouldn't even need a degree for. I have completely lost focus and can't see myself getting anywhere. Five years to do an MPhil is ridiculous and looks so bad.

Boy did I screw up.

fran_from_willesden

Hiya,

I know how you feel. I graduated in 2003 with a BSc in Geology and Physical Geography and during my final year I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my degree. So instead of rushing and picking something I would not have enjoyed as a career for the rest of my life, I took a couple of years out, earned some money and in September 2005 started a one year MSc in Environmental Engineering.

There seems to be this idea that you have to go into something straight after you've graduated with your bachelors but I've found this isn't the case. Most of my friends are only just starting to find their calling career-wise (except those that did vocational courses like Physiotherapy and Medicine). Have you spoken to any of your tutors/lecturers to see if they can point you in any directions in terms of how you can apply your knowledge of psychology?

Fingers crossed for you....and remember, you're only young, you've got loads of time to find something you're really interested in and excited about. It's not just your subject but your skills learnt at University...time management, research, team work etc etc etc!

Good luck

fran

whyaminotsavingany?

it is true!!i just completed my marketing degree and am starting literally from scratch (telemarkting) not very good. huh with full honours in bamarketing student, also i do regret goin to uni and wish i had not wasted 3 years down the drain. however the socialising is definatly was the best part and do miss that.