EDUCATIONAL AND CAREER PURSUITS FOR PSYCHOLOGY ALUMNI

You should identify two or three careers that you are interested in pursuing and then thoroughly investigate the level of education and the types of experience that are required in order to obtain such positions. Your choices will affect the decisions that you make regarding your study habits, course selections, amount/type of volunteer work that you choose to do, the kinds of summer and part time jobs you will seek, the amount/type of networking that you will do, the student groups you will get involved with, etc.

Recommend that you begin your search for information by reading the following sections in the Psychology Undergraduate Student Handbook:

• Learn About Yourself and Others
• Psychology Majors Development Distinctive Skills
• Prepare for Further Studies at the College or University Level
• Research Opportunities for Current Psychology Majors
• Psychology Co-op Students on Work Term
• Employment of Alumni with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology
• Psychology Master's and PhD Graduates at Work

Then review the following miscellaneous resources:

• Career Advisors - Contacts
• Centre for Career Action
• Community involvement (volunteer or paid positions)
• Courses relevant for future goals
• Graduation and employment rates
• Job postings
• Labour market trends - occupational projections
• Networking
• Recommendation/reference letters
• Studies beyond the Bachelor's degree in Psychology
• Miscellaneous

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Career Advisors - Contacts

• The Office of Alumni Affairs in partnership with the Centre for Career Action provides career counselling to alumni.
  
  
• Counselling Services assists students in evaluating their interests, skills, personal strengths, and career options. They specialize in helping those 'who don't know what they want to do in the future'.
  • Career Planning and Life Skills Workshops
    
    
• Student Career Leaders (SCLs) in the Centre for Career Action (TC 1214) provide advice regarding resumes and cover letters to current students as well as alumni.
  
  
• Psychology Department - direct career planning questions to the Associate Chairman for Undergraduate Affairs:
  • Colin Ellard until June 30, 2012
  • Myra Fernandes July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2014
    
    
• Job Bank - Services Canada - e.g.,
  • Career Navigator and Quizzes
    
    
• Youth Canada - e.g,. Career Counselling

Centre for Career Action (TC 1214)

Examples of the many services provided to students by the Centre for Career Action:

• Appointments Available with Career Advisors in the Centre for Career Action e.g.,
  • for résumé and cover letter critique
  • career exploration and decision making
  • job search advice,
  • mock interviews for jobs as well as graduate school and professional school applications
  • grad/professional school information
    
    
• Career Development eManual includes information regarding self-assessment, career decision making, resume writing, interview skills (including examples of questions the interviewer might ask you and questions that you might want to ask the interviewer), negotiating job offers, etc.
  
  
• Career Events at uWaterloo e.g.,
  • Career Fair
  • Job Fair
  • Faculty of Education Talks
  • Law School Application Information, Writing the LSAT
  • Medical School Application Seminar
  • Part-Time Job Fair
  • Professional and Post Degree Day
  • Grad Program Fair
  • Volunteer/Internship Fair
  • Work Abroad
  • etc.
    
    
• Career-Related Websites Index
  
  
• Career Workshops e.g.,
  • aspects of job search (e.g., assessing qualifications, research occupations, setting up and preparing for an information interview, networking, resume writing, interview skills, etc.)
  • Law School Application Information; Writing the LSAT
  • Work Abroad
  • etc.
    
    
• Site Map for the Centre for Career Action - e.g., Resource materials available for career planning and job search, links to search engines for job postings, etc.

Community Involvement (Volunteer or Paid Positions)

Why is community involvement (volunteer or paid positions) valuable and where to find opportunities?

Courses Relevant for Future Goals

This section was moved elsewhere

Graduation and Employment Rates

(note that Psychology typically falls under the heading of "Social Science" in these chart)

• uWaterloo - Graduation Rates and Employment Rates for uWaterloo Bachelor's degree holders.
  
  
• Graduation/Employment Rates:
  ('Psychology' falls under the heading 'Social Science'):
  
  
  • uWaterloo students (data required for the "2011 Common University Data of Ontario)
  • All Ontario Universities (data required by the Council of Ontario Universities in common format for comparison)
    
    
• See below for 'Labour Market Trends - Occupational Projections'

Job Postings

• For Current Students:
  • Centre for Career Action:
    • Job Listings
    • Links to Numerous Search Engines for Employment, etc.
  • Student Awards & Financial Aid Office:
    • Work Programs - part-time and full-time positions
  • Research Opportunities inside and outside the Psych Dept
    
    
• For Graduating Students and Alumni:
  • Office of Alumni Affairs - go to Alumni JobMine
  • Centre for Career Action:
    
    • Job Listings
    • Links to Numerous Search Engines for Employment, etc.
      
      
• Job Postings from elsewhere that the Psychology Department was asked to advertise.
  
  
• Job Banks in Ontario and Canada - See the 'Miscellaneous' section below for

Labour Market Trends - Occupational Projections

('Psychology' falls under the heading of 'Social Science' when you are searching data in the following categories)

• American Psychological Association
  • The Future of the Psychology Workforce -Statistics and Trends (presentation August 2009)
  • Psychology Workforce Trends in the 21st Century: What Students Need to Know (April 2009)
  • Psychology's Growth Careers - Psychologists' expertise in human behaviour is increasingly welcomed in many nontraditional career settings (Monitor on Psychology, April 2008, Vol 39, No. 4)
    
    
• American Labour Market
  • Information provided by Psychology Career Centre
    
    
• Canadian Labour Market (prepared by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada) :
  
  
  • Labour Market Information in Canada - sample job descriptions, wage expectations by occupation, skill requirements, etc. Can search for data by province or national.
    
    
  • Occupational Projections in Canada - search by profession e.g., audiologist, human resources specialist, lawyer, occupational therapist, physician, psychologist, social worker, speech-language pathologist, etc.
    
    
• Ontario Labour Market Information (prepared by the Ontario Government):
  
  
  • Annual Labour Market Information and Research Reports
    
    
  • Labour Market Information (Ontario Job Futures) - sample job descriptions, skills necessary, employment patterns and trends, etc.
    
    
• Occupational Information and Labour Market Trends (numerous links provided by the Centre for Career Action )
  
  
• Graduation/Employment Rates for uWaterloo and other Ontario Universities (see above)

Networking

Networking is important for making contacts, getting referrals, finding opportunities, and obtaining reference letters.

Career Action Centre:

• value of networking as well as tips
• sample resources for networking

Recommendation/Reference Letters

Whether you are applying for studies beyond the Bachelor's degree or for employment following graduation, the recommendation letters (also called reference letters) provide very important information to those evaluating your potential for success in the program and/or position you applied to. Think carefully regarding who you will approach for recommendation letters and the types of letters needed for your particular goals (e.g., academic references, references for volunteer or paid positions related to a particular field, character references, etc.).

See FAQ 35 on the Psychology website for further advice regarding recommendation letters.

What is a recommendation letter, how to obtain one, and who should it? See the information and suggestions provided by the Career Centre at the University of Alberta.

Studies Beyond the Bachelor's Degree

Psychology Majors are interested in a wide variety of careers. Many of those careers will require studies beyond the Bachelor's degree.

Miscellaneous

American Psychological Association

• Careers for the 21st Century (Nov 2003)*
• Careers in Psychology (see the right sidebar of that website for the table of contents of the brochure)
• Careers for Psychologists -- Non-Academic Careers* - numerous examples provided
• Career Books for Purchase
• (2011) APA has 54 divisions/interest groups/Societies representing many subdisciplines of Psychology such as Addiction Psychology, Behavioural Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Educational Psychology, Experimental Psych, Health Psychology, Industrial/ Organizational Psychology, Social Psychology, Sports Psychology, etc.
  • review the general information about the divisions provided for students.
  • review the complete list of divisions. When you select a particular division and read the description that will be provided, note that the link to the home page for that particular division is usually on the lower right column of the description page.

*Both of these include several informative employment profiles (what they do and where) of individuals who completed graduate studies in Psychology

Canadian Psychological Association

• advice regarding training and licensing requirements to practice Psychology in Canada
• Planning a Career in Psychology: A Canadian Perspective for University Bound and Beginning University Students (2009)
  
  

Government websites
(e.g,. career planning tools and resources, sample job descriptions, job outlooks, labour market trends, wages expectations, actual job postings, etc.)

• Canada Training and Careers: Career Exploration
• Canadian Labour Market Information
• Canada WorkInfoNet
• Community Mental Health Ontario (careers, job postings, etc.)
• Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)
  • Career Handbook by HRSDC
  • Labour Market Projections by HRSDC
• Industry Canada: Careers
• Job Banks:
  • Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
  • Services Canada
• Ontario Job Futures
• Youth Canada:
  • Career Planning
  • Job Search
  • Value of Volunteering
    
    

Book Lending

The Psychology Undergraduate Office (PAS 4005) has a small inventory of books regarding graduate study in Psychology, writing the Graduate Record Exam, and careers of interest to Psychology Majors which can be borrowed on a short term loan basis.

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Psychology Department
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
519 888 4567

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