The last session in the Spring international student careers programme was aimed at non-EU Psychology students. As careers advisers we see the frustration when such students find that they cannot pursue the careers in clinical or counselling psychology that they wanted to. This is because the only route into this is through the doctorate programme supported through the NHS and they are unable to offer places to non-EU candidates. Only about 30% of students who apply for clinical psychology manage to secure a place.
Careers related to Psychology
Dr Alison Woodcock organises a fascinating series of careers seminars for Psychology finalists where you can hear about and explore different career routes related to Psychology. You should try to attend as many as you can because they can open up new fields of interest for you. There is also a great guide to employability in Psychology here and the careers centre has excellent resources including What to do with a Psychology degree.
There are typical career paths. For example, occupational psychologists consider how workers interact with the job they are doing, how management relates to staff etc and are employed by a diverse range of organisations. A lot of companies would consider employing non-EU candidates on the basis of the post-study work visa which is the preferred immigration entry route for most students.
Other routes include Educational Psychologists who evaluate the requirements of school pupils and make recommendations on support. Educational Psychologists are often employed by local government who have restrictions on non-EU candidates but should be worth approaching. A relatively new area is Sports Psychology which provides professional support for athletes to help them develop mental techniques to focus them. Health Psychologists consider theories about the delivery of health care. Other career routes might include forensic and environmental.
The issue is that many of these jobs involve being employed through part of the NHS or the National Offender Management Service who have restrictions on the immigration status of who they can employ. There are private companies such as Reliance who undertake work in offender management and they may have different policies on recruitment.
Given that, what other options are there?
Well lots actually. And maybe that is the problem. Psychology graduates are highly desirable because of the skills they acquire during their degree. Specifically the ability to undertake (ethical) research, design and interpret surveys, analyse data and manage comprehensive research projects.
Careers that Psychology students tend to prefer include Human Resources which may also include personnel management, recruitment and professional training and development. These positions are often available in large corporations many of whom will recruit on a post-study work visa. Have a look at the database here.
Other careers would involve providing one-to-one or group support and advice. For example, local authorities, charities, faith groups and other organisations will employ specialists to help with providing advice on housing, benefits, drugs, alcohol, sex and issues affecting youth, the elderly or minority groups.
So where do I start?
If you still don’t know what career path you want to follow you should start by doing some basic research into the career areas above. That will help you decide which areas don’t interest you, and narrow down your options. Once you have done that you can book to see a careers adviser who can give one-to-one help to focus your interests.
There are many online resources to help. The British Psychological Society is a good starting point. They also have a couple of videos that might help. The Careers Group’s website Careers’ Tagged has a huge amount of resources available through the one site. You may also want to have a look at job websites for positions in the public sector (and many will be open to non-EU candidates to consider) such as jobsgopublic. Charityjob is a good site for positions in the “third sector” (voluntary sector). The Guardian has a useful jobs site for health related roles.
The market for non-EU students
Recessions are difficult times for graduates. The reduced number of vacancies makes them more competitive. International students will need to make a legitimate case for them to be employed.
Some key tips:
Know your competitors: Think about who else is going to be applying for this position and what they have to offer. For example, do you feel disadvantaged by not attending a Russell Group university? Do other students have greater work experience than you? Is there something you can offer that others can’t? What do you excel in?
Know what’s needed: Have you developed your skills sufficiently for this job? A great degree in Psychology isn’t enough. You need work and extra-curricular experience to maximise your employability. Gaining work experience in the profession can be difficult but there might be voluntary opportunities instead. Think about what skills are needed, reflect on whether you have them, and spend time developing them.
Be clever in job-hunting: Not all positions are going to be advertised. There are sometimes “back-door” routes into positions. Think about organisations most likely to recruit non-EU candidates and send speculative enquiries. Watch the market, where are the jobs more likely to be? And be realistic, you may have to start lower down the organisation that you had hoped.
The careers service can help you with identifying employers, marketing yourself through you application forms and CVs, and give you a practice job interview too. If you are going on to other qualifications we can help you with your personal statements.
