Advice about choosing a career related to psychology or business
March 25, 2017 12:06 AM Subscribe
I am a recent graduate with a bachelor's in psychology and would like advice for whether I should continue to pursue psychology (if so which field in psychology), or go into another field like business.
Although I enjoy observing people and understanding their quirks, I am very shy. Interacting people too much honestly drains me. I do want to be able to help others in some way, but have the problem of getting too emotionally involved and having trouble setting boundaries.
I am interested in going into school psychology or industrial/organizational psychology. From what I've read about these fields, they require more work with data, research, and assessments rather than always working with others in an emotionally charged way like therapists and counseling/clinical psychologists do. I am a pretty detail-oriented, and step-by-step kind of person, so I don't think working with data would bore me.
Would these fields of psychology (school and I/O) fit someone like me, or is another field like business better. I was considering human resources, accounting, or marketing, but know very little about business. Thank you!
Although I enjoy observing people and understanding their quirks, I am very shy. Interacting people too much honestly drains me. I do want to be able to help others in some way, but have the problem of getting too emotionally involved and having trouble setting boundaries.
I am interested in going into school psychology or industrial/organizational psychology. From what I've read about these fields, they require more work with data, research, and assessments rather than always working with others in an emotionally charged way like therapists and counseling/clinical psychologists do. I am a pretty detail-oriented, and step-by-step kind of person, so I don't think working with data would bore me.
Would these fields of psychology (school and I/O) fit someone like me, or is another field like business better. I was considering human resources, accounting, or marketing, but know very little about business. Thank you!
You should check out some of the career and student resources on the Society for IO Psychology (SIOP) website!
https://www.siop.org
posted by forkisbetter at 8:21 AM on March 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
https://www.siop.org
posted by forkisbetter at 8:21 AM on March 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
IO is a really cool broad field if you dig around, and if you like data you should also look into Human Factors (sometimes still called ergonomics). I know a number of HF folks working in software development, from video games to educational software, and there's sub-fields focused on other kinds of product development, manufacturing design, stuff that straddles the line between user experience and design and marketing.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:09 AM on March 25, 2017
posted by Lyn Never at 10:09 AM on March 25, 2017
I/O psychology and (the more human-focused aspects of) business overlap a great deal, and you're right that these paths would offer you a greater range of career options that are people-oriented but without the demands for such intimate interaction as would be required as a therapist. With that said, this is a very broad field which varies widely along this same dimension. There are very people-intensive jobs (like recruiting or training) and jobs which are more solitary and analytical (like compensation/benefits or instructional design). Your first step would probably be to narrow down the options a bit so you know where to start looking.
As forkisbetter said, the SIOP website should be a good resource for you in exploring the sorts of jobs out there. At some point you will want to interact with people in these fields to get a better idea of what they involve. Fortunately, most people in these fields, like you, enjoy feeling they are helping others and this will often extend to advising and helping people who are interested in entering the field. Reach out to people on LinkedIn who hold jobs you might find interesting. You can use me for a lot of the I/O type jobs (I've been in assessment for the past 20+ years, but did stints in consulting as well as corporate HR).
posted by DrGail at 10:16 AM on March 25, 2017
As forkisbetter said, the SIOP website should be a good resource for you in exploring the sorts of jobs out there. At some point you will want to interact with people in these fields to get a better idea of what they involve. Fortunately, most people in these fields, like you, enjoy feeling they are helping others and this will often extend to advising and helping people who are interested in entering the field. Reach out to people on LinkedIn who hold jobs you might find interesting. You can use me for a lot of the I/O type jobs (I've been in assessment for the past 20+ years, but did stints in consulting as well as corporate HR).
posted by DrGail at 10:16 AM on March 25, 2017
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Maybe read about these jobs too. How do they help people? How much do they pay? Hoow interested would you be in the work. How long would it take before you would make enough money to be comfortable? You may be able to start in HR now while you may need an accouting certification/AS etc.
posted by Kalmya at 3:52 AM on March 25, 2017