Career in Psychology
Why choose psychology?
You may want to consider becoming a psychologist if you are interested in working with people and have a 'scientific mind' and enjoy employing scientific methods.
Psychologists work in many areas of society such as business, health, education and sport. They employ scientific methods and knowledge about human behaviour and the human mind develop and procedures to deal with practical problems such as:
- Helping people overcome depression, stress, trauma or phobias
- Easing the effect of parental divorce on children
- Helping to deal with addictions
- Helping alleviate educational problems such as dyslexia and learning disabilities
- Speeding up recovery from brain injury
- Helping to stop or prevent bullying at school or in the workplace
- Ensuring that school pupils and students are being taught in the most effective way
- Making sure that people are happy at work and perform to the best of their abilities
- Helping the police, courts and prison service to perform more effectively
- Helping athletes to perform better
About 15-20% of psychology graduates eventually become professional psychologists after obtaining relevant experience and postgraduate training. The breadth of the subject and the skills developed through studying it, provide an excellent foundation for a wide range of careers.
Sought-after skills
A psychology course helps develop some of the most sought-after skills in fields such as:
- scientific reasoning
- research
- social care
- communication
- numerical reasoning
- information technology.