Career Options and Employability
The Psychology department comprises members of academic staff who use cutting edge techniques in order to become world leaders in their research field. The experience gained with us will therefore enable you to enter the workplace with knowledge and hands-on experience of how psychological issues are investigated and how this knowledge is applied to solve problems in the world.
I had an excellent experience as an undergraduate on the Psychology (Applied) course. My experience at Queen's Campus has been second to none, I found the course intersting and enjoying the three years I spent there. The excellent research-led teaching, combined with the wide range of final year options, is what - in my opinion - makes this degree in Psychology far superior to others. The third year modules allowed me to get to grips with more practical aspects of Psychology and guided my decision of what to do after graduating.
Arwah, BSc (Hons) Psychology (2006)
Destination of Leavers (who responded to the DLHE survey) - Psychology 2011
Of those students that left in 2011:
- 32.4% are in full time paid employment
Of those in employment:
- 55% are graduate level employment
- Median salary £18,000
Of those students in further study:
- 91% are in graduate level study, in areas including:
- Conversion course/Speech & Language Therapy
- PhD/Psychology
- Masters/Psychology
- PGCE/Primary
- PGCE/Secondary
-
Conversion course/Law
Employment development opportunities
The Careers, Employability and Enterprise Centre works closely with the Psychology Department to ensure that students receive information, advice and vacancies relevant to their needs. A Careers Adviser delivers talks focused on ensuring that students receive the most relevant and up to date advice about professions that are of interest to students in the department. This includes inviting professionals such as Educational, Counselling, Clinical and Forensic Psychologists onto campus to talk to students about their work.
A wide range of work is carried out in conjunction with the Careers, Employability and Enterprise Centre to develop students' employability skills, including presentations/workshops on CVs, applications, assessment centres, interviews, commercial awareness, leadership, etc.
A wide range of recruiters of Durham Psychology graduates attend careers fairs and run presentations on campus, from career areas including: Psychology, Teaching, Accountancy, Law, HR, Retail, Management Consultancy, Marketing Advertising, PR, Banking, IT, to name a few.
Work experience
Our department encourages you to gain experimental expereince during your time with us. To that end you can get involved via a participant pool scheme for which you can gain credit and also take part in our research assistant scheme. In this scheme you have the opportunity to join a research group in the department to see first-hand how ideas turn into experiments, how those experiments are run and what the results mean.
We also encourage our students to find related vacation experience either within the department through a summer bursary (external funding) or by working with one of our employability partners.
Professional recognition
Our degrees are accreditied by the British Psychological Society as conferring eligibility for the *Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership, which is the first step in your career as a psychologist.
(*minimum of a second class honours degree required)
Kelly Mowbray, Director of Operations, Neuro Partners,