Careers Outside of Academia for Social and …

Careers Outside of Academia for Social and Personality Psychologists:

Strategies and Insights about the Non-Academic Job Market

A Technical Report by the SPSP Student Committee

By D. Kamiya Stewart, H. Annie Vu, Kathryn W. Austin, Fernanda C. Andrade, Hasagani Tissera, Beverly G. Conrique, and Heidi A. Vuletich

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Recommended citation: Stewart, D. K., Vu, H. A., Austin, K. W., Andrade, F. C., Tissera, H., Conrique, B. G., & Vuletich, H. A. (2021). Careers outside of academia for social and personality psychologists: Strategies and insights about the non-academic job market: A technical report by the SPSP Student Committee. Retrieved from the website of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology: [webpage address]

The research in this report was conducted and analyzed by members of the 2020-2021 Student Committee of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

The authors are grateful to the numerous people who provided useful feedback on the survey and on earlier drafts of this report: Roberta Andrade, Zachariah Berry, Catherine Butt, James Carter, Katie Corker, Amanda Diekman's lab, Amelia Goranson, Kate Grey, Daniel Jackson, Jan Kang, Brett Major, Sheila Meldrum, Marina Milyavskaya, Mary Murphy's lab, Drew Parton, Rachel Puffer, and Julian Scheffer.

Please contact us at spsp_gsc@with any questions or suggestions.

2020-2021 SPSP Student Committee

Fernanda C. Andrade, Chair, Graduate Student at Duke University H. Annie Vu, Vice Chair, Graduate Student at Rutgers University Zachariah Berry, Member-At-Large, Graduate Student at Cornell University James Carter, Member-At-Large, Graduate Student at Columbia University Beverly G. Conrique, Member-At-Large, Graduate Student at the University of Pittsburgh Julian Scheffer, Member-At-Large, Graduate Student at Penn State University Kamiya Stewart, Member-At-Large, Graduate Student at Tulane University Kathryn W. Austin, Spotlight Co-Editor, Graduate Student at the University of Texas at Dallas Hasagani Tissera,Spotlight Co-Editor, Graduate Student at McGill University Heidi A. Vuletich, Past Chair, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Indiana Jan Kang, Staff Liaison, Resource Manager for SPSP

Strategies and Insights about the Non-Academic Job Market

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Table of Contents

2020-2021 SPSP Student Committee

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Table of Contents

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Background

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Key Takeaways

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Method

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Participants

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Procedure

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Measures

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Analytical Approach

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Results

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Advice for Graduate Students

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Applicant Profile

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Internships

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Graduate School Training

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Non-Academic Job Search Motivations

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Job Market Occasions and Strategies

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Job Search Strategies

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Limitations

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Conclusion

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Appendix

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Recruitment Message Template

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Strategies and Insights about the Non-Academic Job Market

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Background

In recent years, employment in non-academic jobs for individuals graduating with a doctoral or master's degree in psychology has grown (e.g., Christidis et al., 2020). Non-academic jobs are highly variable and cover a range of fields including work in industry, government, non-profit organizations, K-12 education, non-teaching positions in higher education, and more. Although there are hundreds of job opportunities in non-academic fields, psychology graduate students tend to receive minimal exposure to these types of career paths, and exploring alternatives to academia may even be discouraged in some departments. Still, more students are considering alternative paths outside of academia (Langin, 2019; Roach & Sauermann, 2017). Recognizing the growing interest in non-academic jobs and the lack of information regarding the non-academic job market for social and personality psychology graduates, the SPSP Student Committee wanted to demystify the non-academic job market for graduate students who are interested in pursuing this path. Specifically, we were interested in answering commonly asked questions among students considering alternatives to academic jobs. For example, what are the types of jobs psychology graduates pursue? What features of graduate training can help with obtaining a non-academic job? Does having an internship in the industry help create job opportunities? How do you find job-postings for non-academic jobs?

To answer these and other questions, the SPSP Student Committee surveyed social and personality psychology PhDs and masters who graduated between 2015-2020 and applied for non-academic positions. The purpose of this report is to investigate the strategies of psychology graduates recently on the job market in search of non-academic employment. In this report, we focus on quantifiable information including features of the applicant profile (e.g., number and types of internships, skills, publications), job search strategies, and employment outcomes for recent graduates. We hope this report will be useful for students, faculty, and academic institutions as more students pursue alternative careers.

This report is part of a continuing effort to extend transparency about career paths after graduate school and provide students with information about how to get there (see Vuletich et al., 2019 for a previous report on the academic job market).

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Key Takeaways

The purpose of this report was to describe the experiences of recent master's, Ph.D., and soon-to-be graduates who were on the job market for positions outside of academia in recent years. Fifty-three respondents provided information on a variety of topics. These are the main takeaways:

What kind of jobs do social and personality psychologists graduates usually take? The most popular fields were in research and analysis, consulting, advocacy, and training and content development.

What do psychology graduates look for in industry jobs? Intellectual or skills fit, work/life balance, and applied/practical application of knowledge were reported as the most important factors when searching for jobs.

Is it common to limit the geographical scope when searching for non-academic positions? Geographical flexibility seems to be a perk of industry jobs. About 76% of respondents limited the geographical scope of their search in some way. Compare that to only 33% of respondents in SPSP Student Committee's academic job market survey.

What are the chances of receiving a job offer? Approximately 80.4% of respondents reported receiving at least 1-2 job offers. Of the respondents who received offers, 91.8% accepted a full-time position, 4.1% received an offer but did not take it, and 4.1% accepted a temporary, contract position.

What institutional resource is the most important? Advisor support was reported to be one of the most important institutional resources that psychology applicants have when seeking non-academic positions.

What can I do in graduate school to become a more competitive applicant? You may want to hone in on sharpening skills related to quantitative data analysis, survey design, experimental design, qualitative data analysis and lab management. Another important factor is networking ? create and make use of networking opportunities. Also, take advantage of this time while in graduate school and complete industry-related internships.

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