Career in Psychology: ONET Interest Profiler and Educational Pathways

Career and Interest Self-Assessment Results

U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (2000a) has developed a special tool that helps to “identify the strongest work-related interests” of a person (p. 1). This tool refers to the RIASEC spectrum, which classifies work-related interests in six groups: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional (U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 2000a).

With the help of this tool, I found that my strongest work-related interests are investigative (10 scores) and social (9 scores). Thus, my primary interest area is investigation, which means that I prefer activities that involve more thinking than physical labor and also stresses my inclination for solving various problems rather than having active interaction with people. It seems to be true; however, my secondary interest area is social. Indeed, I like being of service and think that helping people is one of the most important factors in assessing the significance of the occupation. Considering the above-mentioned, I may conclude that the combination of science and its practical application is the best option for my future career.

U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (2000b) suggests that for exploration of my possible occupation I should think about my “current job zone” and “future job zone” (p. 4). My current job zone is Job Zone 2, for which employees’ professional experience may be helpful but is not needed. With my undergraduate knowledge of psychology and investigative and social interest areas, I could work as an emergency medical technician, medical and clinical laboratory technician, or funeral attendant (U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 2000c, 2000d).

For my future job zone, I choose Job Zone 4 or 5, which require considerable or extensive preparation and experience, as well as a master’s or doctoral degree. I consider such occupations as forensic science technician, clinical psychologist, and counseling psychologist (U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 2000c, 2000d).

Self-assessment of work-related interests has proved that I had chosen the right educational path since my interests coincide with a future career as a psychologist.

What Can I Do with a Degree in Psychology?

Graduates with bachelor, master’s or doctoral degrees in psychology are qualified to try a wide range of spheres of activity. Even master’s and doctoral degrees do not imply the necessity to work in an academic setting. If the graduate obtains a special state license, they may work as therapists, running a private practice (Kuther & Morgan, 2012). Apart from obvious occupations in the spheres of clinical and counseling psychology, school psychology, legal and forensic psychology, etc., former students of psychology may find employment as business, commercial, management, and human resource consultants (American Psychological Association, n.d.a).

Such a variety of job options may be explained by the fact that psychology deals with human behavior, motivations, mental and communicative skills, in other words, with everything that may be used or influenced in order to improve the efficiency of the workflow.

Do I Have to Go to Grad School and What Should My Undergraduate Degree Plan Be?

As it was stated in the first part of this paper, for my future career I am considering forensic psychology, clinical psychology, and counseling psychology.

Forensic Science Technician

Forensic examination is a popular sphere of activity among psychologists. The Occupational Outlook Handbook (n.d.) states that forensic science technicians “typically need at least a bachelor’s degree” (para. 3) and that most of them “spend their time writing reports” (para. 1). It seems that this occupation is rather boring and non-challenging, but if one takes into consideration that many doctoral degree holders apply to forensic sites to conduct sanity evaluations, one can see that this occupation also has potential to be interesting and rewarding (Kuther & Morgan, 2012). I believe that this specialty corresponds to my interest in investigations and inclination for searching for the answers to difficult questions.

Moreover, I am convinced that this occupation is of great service for people since it helps to establish the truth in controversial issues that have an impact on people’s lives. For this specialty, the undergraduate students may take such undergraduate courses as personality theories, social psychology, psychology of terrorism, and even psychology of combat (American Public University System, n.d.).