3 Interesting Jobs You Could Get With a Psychology Degree

If you enjoy studying the human mind and how it affects our behavior, then you’re more than likely someone who would enjoy pursuing a psychology degree. Understanding what makes humans tick has many benefits including improving your communication and interpersonal skills and perhaps even becoming more understanding. If it happens that you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have obtained a psychology degree or are interested in getting one soon, then you may be wondering what you can do with your degree when you finish. This article will look at three fun and relatively interesting career paths that you could consider pursuing if you decide to delve into the world of human psychology.

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Detective

If watching crime TV and cracking cases gets your engine going, then becoming a detective might be the career for you. As of 2016, there were said to be approximately 807,000 detective and police jobs, which is quite a large number. There are several types of work that you could pursue within this field which include the fraud squad, drug squad, criminal investigations department, fire-arms squad, child protection department and special branch to name a few. One of the first things you’d need to do to become a detective is at least have completed a high school diploma or GED. You can then go on to get an undergraduate degree as well as take an in-house or online Master’s in psychology to give yourself a competitive edge. Working in these specialized areas would also more than likely require further training. Completing these tasks won’t necessarily be easy, but this career certainly sounds exciting, challenging and rewarding.

Play Therapist

Becoming a play therapist is an interesting career path if you happen to enjoy helping children. More specifically, you will be using play as a communication tool in an attempt to help children usually between the ages of three and eleven struggling with traumatic experiences and emotional distress. Not only is this a fun career if you enjoy playing with children, but you may also find it rewarding as you can help them heal emotionally in the process. To become a play therapist, you’ll need a postgraduate qualification and experience working with children. In terms of qualifications, you’ll need an active license in the mental health field such as counseling, psychology, or social work. You would also need to have completed coursework in child development, ethics, or play therapy as well as have completed a licensure program like APA, NSWA, or CACREP.

Life Coach 

For those who enjoy motivating people and pushing them to reach their greatest potential, becoming a life coach may be a befitting career option. This career is quite attractive seeing as it offers flexibility, an opportunity to interact with eclectic audiences and opportunities to travel the world. There are said to be an estimate of 47,500 life coaches in the world charging an average of $229 for a session that lasts an hour which makes it both a growing and lucrative career to pursue. Seeing as the industry has no regulation on a state or federal level or a licensing board, you don’t necessarily need any qualifications to become a life coach. Getting a degree in psychology, however, will give you a more in-depth understanding of people which should help you develop your skills as a life coach.

Out of 1,870,000 bachelor’s degrees conferred between 2013 and 2014, psychology degrees accounted for a large percentage coming in at 117,000. This shows that it’s a relatively popular degree choice for many. There are tons of interesting careers that you can pursue after obtaining a degree in psychology and the ones mentioned above are just three of many. Taking the time out to learn about and understand people’s behavior and then dedicating years to using that knowledge to improve the world around you is likely something you’ll find rewarding in the long-run.