I’ve been receiving quite a few emails from psych undergraduates (or even those from other majors) asking for career advice. Hence, I’m going to write a two-part post (originally planned as one but the first one got pretty long) that is more career-oriented.
This first part is a general guide on how to decide on your career path as a psychology graduate, with some ideas of actual jobs that psychology graduates are in at the end. The second part discusses the Public vs Private sector distinction.
Part 1: Career Prospects for Psychology Graduates
Alright, so you've graduated after 4 hard years of memorising psych theories and frameworks. What now? One question I'm asked often is:
‘What career prospects do you think a psychology major has?’
The simple answer to this is ‘plenty’. The longer answer…. Well, read on.
1) Do you want to do something psychology-related?
If yes, go to 1a. If no, skip this section and go to question 2.
Don’t feel bad if the answer is no – for me, the answer was no too, hence I ended up doing policy work for MINDEF instead.
1a) Do you like research?
If no, go to 1b. If yes, there is an obvious path in academia, where you pursue a Masters > PhD en route to becoming a university professor.
However, some points to note:
- Competition will be stiff. Each university only has that many Masters / PhD spaces, and you will have to scout for Professors with similar interests as you, and get them to accept you. This may involve networking (e.g. through conferences) prior to graduation, or even after.
- The application process is not easy. You may get rejected countless number of times. You need to be resilient.
- There is a high chance you will need to go overseas for your studies.
- If you do your Masters / PhD locally, there is a good chance you will not get to work locally, as I heard they like people from overseas. (this is hearsay, so don’t take my word for it)
- Even if you do your Masters / PHD overseas, if you are not from a good university, you may not be considered in the local unis. (again, hearsay)
- You need to go be good at managing your time, as there are no fixed schedules.
1b) Are you sure you don’t like research?
Even if you work in a more applied field, chances are that you will need to do some amount of research. Two of the biggest local employers of ‘Psychologists’ are MINDEF, and the Home Team – think SPF, SCDF, SPS, HTA, ICA (you can Google these acronyms). If you end up working in these agencies, your job may entail some amount of I/O / Clinical work, but of course it depends on the context and the specific position. Regardless, you will need to do research projects, which can be quite challenging especially if you are already tied up with day-to-day work. Do also note that while these positions currently require only a Degree, there is a push to need Master’s as a basic requirement to be called a ‘Psychologist’ in Singapore. Regardless, you will eventually need to complete a Master’s degree to progress further in these agencies.
An alternative would be clinical work. This could mean a therapist of some sort (e.g. speech therapist; though most of these would likely require a Master’s), social services (e.g. counsellor, child protection officer, etc)… EVEN THEN, I would think you need to do research to stay current in the latest techniques, etc.
A final option I can think of is I/O Psychology work, perhaps for a private MNC or something (I don’t think smaller firms will actually hire a I/O Psychologist). This usually requires Master’s though, if I’m not mistaken. Again, reading up on current practices is probably a necessity.
2) I don’t want to do anything directly psych-related!
That is fine, your options are plenty – you can apply for any area that only requires a general degree (think of those job ads where they list like a dozen majors). It will then come down to your own personal interest, and you can approach this from two angles, industry-wise (2a) or function-wise (2b)
2a) Industry-wise
Which industry do you have an interest in? E.g. Healthcare? Sports? FMCG? E-commerce? Tech? If you have a strong interest in any particular industry, it can help narrow down your search to companies in these industries.
For example, there was a period where I had an interest in the gaming industry, and I applied for all the gaming companies I knew, such as Asiasoft, Ubisoft, etc (and got into Garena), from roles such as marketing to operations. Someone I know was interested in healthcare, so she applied to hospitals, MOH, GLCs, etc. You can try to talk to people in the industry which you are interested in to better understand it and the prospects within the industry. You may change your mind after knowing more. Who knows?
2b) Function-wise
Perhaps you have an idea of what job function you want to try. HR? Communications? Marketing? Business development? Advertising? Do know that even within each function, there is a lot of depth to explore?
For instance, HR could entail Recruitment/Talent Acquisition, HR Administration, Learning & Development, Performance Management. Marketing could be B2B or B2C marketing (very very different). Communications could be PR, internal communications, marketing communications, etc. Advertising could be in an agency or in-house (again, very very different).
Again, it is useful to talk to people in the relevant functions to understand what work is like. Do know that there is no one-size-fits-all answer; work culture is very dynamic and can vary across companies or even across departments within the same company. For example, marketing in Changi Airport Group could mean frequent trips overseas and different time-zone conference calls; marketing in a small local firm could mean sitting in a small cubicle all day taking out newspaper ads, optimising Facebook/Google ads, focusing on SEO etc.
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To sum it up, I will list out some of the actual jobs my Psychology batch-mates are currently in. As you will see, it can get quite diverse. Maybe it will inspire you as to what job you want to try for. As always, if you have any further questions, or just want to continue a conversation, you can drop me an email at atqhteo [at] gmail [dot] com. I reply to all emails, no matter how small the question. Good luck in your job hunt!
Academia (currently pursuing PhD in Canada/Overseas)
Psychologist (SPS, SPF, MINDEF, SCDF, ICA, HTA, MINDS)
Behavioural Insights Team (MEWR)
Policy work (MINDEF, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Manpower)
Speech Therapy (requires Master’s!)
Education (MOE, Special Needs Teachers)
HR (CPIB, MINDEF, PSD, Singhealth, Mercer, Johnston & Johnson, Danone)
Marketing Consultancy (Bain)
Operations / Business Development (Amazon)
Enforcement (Singapore Customs; SPF)
Customer Relations / Case Management (HDB)
Real Estate (Propnex)
Social Services (MSF, VWOs)
Admin Officer / Cabin Crew (SIA)
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Want to read part 2 about '5 Myths/Stereotypes about working in Public Sector vs Private Sector'? Click here!
