A degree in psychology helps you to develop skills that are valuable to a whole range of employers. Your options are open and you can continue down the science route, go into arts or a career path that may appear to be completely unrelated.
Thanks to your psychology course, you should now possess these skills:
You should also have a much better understanding of how people behave and what they are motivated by. This can be extremely valuable in working in any role that deals mostly with people.
Think about what you consider to be your greatest strengths and which aspects of the course you enjoyed the most. Ideally, you will want to be able to use these in whatever career path you decide to take.
The table below gives you a break down of the types of roles your fellow graduates have gone into.
| Type of work | Percentage |
| Childcare, health and education work | 16.4 |
| Retail, catering and bar work | 16.1 |
| Legal, social and welfare | 14.1 |
| Secretarial and numerical clerks | 10.3 |
| Other | 43.2 |
Source: https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-graduates-do
With so many graduate jobs available and so many doors open to you, it’s hard to know which career path to choose. However, this is a decision that only you can make. It has to be based on what sort of tasks you enjoy doing, what your long-term goals are, how you like to work and your personality.
If you’re in need of a helping hand, take a look at the job profiles of some choices for psychology graduates.
Sales can be a lucrative and rewarding career for the right person and there are plenty of opportunities out there to choose from. To succeed in sales, you need to be a great communicator, self-motivated, competitive, a natural influencer and target-driven.
It isn’t for everyone due to the pressurised, fast-paced and dynamic nature of the role. Whereas for others, building strong relationships, the generous salaries, bonuses and progression opportunities, not to mention the overall thrill of the job, makes a career in sales the perfect choice.
Find out more about sales careers here >
Recruitment isn’t necessarily a career that instantly springs to mind when figuring out what you want to do. It is, however, a career that can be fulfilling and financially rewarding.
If you like the idea of helping people find jobs and are a great communicator and influencer then it may well be worth considering. The recruitment industry has seen rapid growth in the last decade and good Recruitment Consultants are in high demand.
Find out more about recruitment careers here >
Unless you have some pretty impressive work experience, it’s unlikely that you’ll stroll straight into a managerial role after finishing your studies. However, management graduate schemes are a popular choice for ambitious and hardworking psychology graduates.
If you have fantastic leadership skills, you’re great with people and have the confidence and independence to make it as a manager, these schemes are great! They offer you excellent training, allowing you to understand the business and develop the necessary skills for leadership.
TOP TIP: When considering management roles, bear in mind that you will have to work your way up and develop your own specialisms along the way. Telling employers that you want to work in management is a bit vague and doesn’t demonstrate a passion for their industry.
There are plenty of other psychology-related professions that you may want to research and consider. These include:
If you’re still unsure about what types of roles would best suit you, we recommend taking a career personality test. This should give you some pointers about your natural strengths and what careers would be a good fit for you.
There are plenty of career options out there for psychology graduates and it’s completely down to you whether you want to stick with the psychology route or branch out and put your transferable skills to good use.
While securing a graduate job will require some time and effort on your part, a psychology degree will only work to your advantage!
At Bridgewater Graduates, we offer commercial graduate roles with market-leading businesses. Search our graduate jobs here >
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