How Do Hiring Managers View Psychology / Sociology Degrees? (interviewed, jobs, career)
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Interesting...I have a psych degree (from 1991) and I've never had trouble securing employment. Then again, I was a double-major and also have a communications degree. I originally chose psych because I planned to earn a PhD and have a career as a practicing psychologist, but I changed my plans in my senior year. I've been gainfully employed in a variety of positions over the past 23 years. I don't remember my psych degree ever being discussed in an interview, except perhaps early on when I worked for trade associations serving mental health professionals.
There was a statistic about it not too long ago. But it doesn't apply to people who are married or have some other source of income. It means "fully supporting oneself".
As I said I would love to see that statistic and the study, as I know plenty that fully support not only themselves, but their spouses and children with their earnings from straight commission sales positions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by palomalillie
And multi-level marketing is not a real career.
That is fully debatable, but for this study we are talking just sales people and I would love to see something backing up your claim.
I think it depends on the industry combined with what experience and skillset you bring to the table in addition to your degree.
I'm in the tech field and while few hiring managers/HR might care what my degree is in, from what I've seen, it was more of just a checkbox that I simply have a degree. ie, does this person meet the requirements to receive an interview? That's basically all your resume does for you anyway -- education, experience, etc. It answers the question of whether or not you make the cut to interview.
Once interviewing, your experience and education may come in to play in the sense that you're able to draw from it to answer questions; however, I have the most worthless degree focus imaginable and it never served as a hindrance to me. Do I believe my degree was essential in gaining my first 'real job'? Oh yeah. Did it matter what the degree was in? Nope.
In my experience, hiring managers view the Pysch/Sociology degree about the same as any liberal arts degree: English, History, Anthropology etc... And yes the whole "I am a good critical thinker and I have excellent communication skills etc..." is a cop out, it has been done to death, and it has it is the token advice given by every career advisor to every liberal arts grad worried about his/her job prospects.
Yes sales is certainly an option and you can make a living of it but sales is not a field for everyone. Your best bet is to somehow land an entry level administrative assistant, general assistant, research assistant, marketing assistant etc... type position and work your way up into the specialized roles. All the while bearing in mind that many of these "entry level" jobs do want prior experience.
But no I have never seen a job ad where the requirement was only a "Pysch/sociology degree"
A neighbor who was let go from her job running a call center told me that every time she ran an ad looking for people, the majority of applicants who had graduated from college got their degree in Psychology and some had graduated four years earlier.
I would be interested in hearing what positions in the tech industry psych majors are landing.
A neighbor who was let go from her job running a call center told me that every time she ran an ad looking for people, the majority of applicants who had graduated from college got their degree in Psychology and some had graduated four years earlier.
I would be interested in hearing what positions in the tech industry psych majors are landing.
I am wondering about this as well unless the pysch major brought previous experience or he/she found an employer that was willing to train him/her for the IT position-but then it can be argued that could go for really any degree and not specifically psych.
A neighbor who was let go from her job running a call center told me that every time she ran an ad looking for people, the majority of applicants who had graduated from college got their degree in Psychology and some had graduated four years earlier.
I would be interested in hearing what positions in the tech industry psych majors are landing.
Well, my bachelors degree is a "Bachelor of General Studies" -- with focus on three cores: IT, business administration, and psych/sociology. Talk about a worthless major, but I had reached a point where I just needed to graduate and start working.
I started my job search in tech industry in 2009, very specifically to work with Linux/UNIX and to have an employer that did full tuition reimbursement for future schooling (mostly to trump my crap major). Over a two month period, I had about 30 apps out, did about 9 interviews.
90% of the jobs I app'd for were an "entry level" or junior UNIX/Linux Systems Administrator position. The job search was national, and companies included Mozilla, UTC, Lockheed, Oak Ridge National Labs, Sony, etc. I took the first offer I received that met my criteria.
First job out of school with the crap degree was as a UNIX admin managing mission-critical systems for a global conglomerate in the aerospace/defense industry. Pay was pretty bad given the job responsibilities and title, even for a very low cost of living area (high 30s), but it did pay for grad school and it did launch my career.
So, at least in my situation in the tech field, the major didn't really mean a thing.
There are many people with psych degrees who end up working in clinical research (academia as well as industry) and having very successful and lucrative careers.
I don't think they just have terminal undergrad degrees, though.
I don't think they just have terminal undergrad degrees, though.
Actually, yes they do. CRCs, CRAs, CTAs, QA specialists, Regulatory Specialists, IRB Analysts, Program Managers, etc etc etc.
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