What Can You Do With A Psychology Degree? – 4 Nontraditional Career Paths

So what can you do with a psychology degree? Here’s what every budding psych major should know. Despite what some may say, career choices & job opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate psychology majors are on the upswing—if you are willing to think outside the box.

Similar to many other liberal arts majors, psychology degrees require a broad interdisciplinary focus. This is actually strength, not a weakness when it comes to job-hunting. Knowledge of the processes of human thought both functional & dysfunctional, is a skill set sought after by a large variety public and private sector employers. Four in-demand career areas popular with recent psychology graduates are advertising & market research, forensic psychology, sports psychology, and social media consulting.

After reading this article you will be aware of job opportunities for psychology graduates within these 4 unconventional careers.

1. Advertising & Market Research

Companies use professionals skilled in determining how and why consumers buy things. Armed with this information, these companies develop advertising and marketing campaigns designed to influence consumers to buy the specific products which they sell. This is a huge industry called Buyer Psychology or Sales Psychology. Psychologists are employed both to gather & help interpret consumer research data so that multi-million dollar ad campaigns can be designed to be as effective as possible.

2. Forensic Psychology

Local, state, and federal law enforcement officials, private investigators, and private attorneys all seek out psychologists for assistance. Peace officers and private detectives primarily employ psychologists to help them analyze and interpret evidence, or uncover psychological behavioral patterns. Many times this information is used to help apprehend criminals, or determine whether or not a criminal act has occurred.

Attorneys most often use forensic psychological consultants as expert witnesses to determine whether or not criminal intent was present. Also psychologists are called upon to determine the competence of defendants and sometimes of other witnesses.

3. Sports Psychology

At high school, college, and minor & major league professional levels, psychologists are often called upon to assist athletes in getting them to perform at their highest levels. Modern athletes are all aware of the huge part mental aspects play in physical performance. In addition to football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and tennis, other team and individual sports often have psychologists on the payroll behind the scenes.

4. Social Media Consultant

Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets are now common-place advertising & marketing tools for large and small business. Psychologists are skilled at interacting with individuals and groups of individuals and are therefore are well-equipped to properly communicate via these rapidly emerging technologies. More and more companies are finding out that the old ways of communicating with consumers that were honed through print advertising and television, are often not applicable in wholly-interactive social media outlets. This is a newer career path that psychology majors are just beginning to explore. However opportunities for psychology graduates in this area will continue to grow larger and larger.

In conclusion, when asking “What Can I Do With A Psychology Degree?”, students must think creatively. Due to the psychology degree’s broad interdisciplinary design the proper question is “What Do I Want To Do With My Psychology Degree?” rather than “What Can I Do….?”.

Now that you have this information, remember to take action. Locate professionals and professional associations in areas that interest you. Simply find professionals on the internet call them up and say “Hi, my name is ___________ I’m a psychology student at _________________ and I’m very interested in careers in __________________ . You’re probably busy right now but is there a time when I can call you back  for just a few minutes to get more information about what you do?”. Believe me, people love talking about what they do. You’ll get great contacts, and maybe even an internship.

By thinking outside the box, psychology majors can build a career that will be the envy of all their friends and relatives.