Career Guidance

For those who seek to enter the academic job market after earning their PhD in personality or social psychology, the process can be seem shrouded in mystery. Often, knowledge about how to best navigate this process is passed down informally through advisors and lab mates. Members of SPSP wanted to share the wisdom they’ve gleaned by being on both sides of the process. Funded by an SPSP Small Conference Grant, the first Job Market Workshop was held August 2017. Attendance was targeted to those from groups underrepresented in the field, but contents are posted here as a resource to all.

Application Resources

• Demystifying the job market: From PhD to Professor
• Collective Attendee Job Market Workshop
• Cover Letter, Research Statement, Teaching Statement Templates

Special thanks to Neil Lewis Jr. and Jay Van Bavel for organizing the workshop and to the panelists: Diana Sanchez, Tessa West, Jon Freeman, and Jenny Xiao.

*A doctoral degree in personality and psychology can lead to a variety of opportunities, including working in government, non-profits, and industry. Thinking about one of these pathways? Consider a Non-Academic Internship.

Our graduates end up in a wide variety of career paths. While some follow a more traditional trajectory from graduate school straight into a tenure track research and/or teaching job at a university or college, others get more training through postdocs or find jobs in industry, government, and non-profits.

Our graduates end up in a wide variety of career paths. While some follow a more traditional trajectory from graduate school straight into a tenure track research and/or teaching job at a university or college, others get more training through postdocs or find jobs in industry, government, and non-profits.

• 2017 NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates
• 2016 NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates

Read about what some of our members are doing, both inside and outside academia:

Member Spotlights

MORE RESOURCES

#SPSPchat Q&A: Advice from our members

• Academic Job Market
• Non-Academic Job Market

Academic Job Market Workshop: Resources from our 2017 event

SPSP has a variety of resources to help members explore and navigate the non-academic job market.

SPSP Learning Online

• Beyond Academia: Alternative Careers Using your Social Psychology PhD
• Non-academic Careers: Is a Non-academic Life for Me?

#SPSPChat

• Psychology Research Careers for the Public Good
• Consulting
• Non-Academic Careers Q&A

Non-Academic Job Market Survey

• 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 2020-2021 SPSP Student Committee gathered quantifiable information on recent graduates’ experiences on the non-academic job market including features of the applicant profile (e.g., number and types of internships, skills, publications), job search strategies, and employment outcomes.

March 2021 SPSPotlight: Non-Academic Job Market Survey

Internships

Completing an internship outside of academia can provide exposure and experience that will help in the decision about what career path to pursue.

To find a non-academic internships, check out:

• Websites for specific companies and organizations of interest
• Job/internships search engines: USAjobs, Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Google, your university career center
• Your network
• Social media: Twitter, Facebook groups

Perceptions of Non-Academic Internships

In 2016, a task force was charged with surveying SPSP membership on their opinions on non-academic internships for personality and social psychology students and found interest and support from all segments of our membership.

• Executive Summary: Perceptions of Non-Academic Internships
• Full Executive Report: Perceptions of Non-Academic Internships

• Chronicle of Higher Education Career Network
• National Academies of Science Career Opportunities