The lifelong skills gained from a psychology degree

Recent psychology graduates find their degree has given them employability skills as well as psychological skills.

That is a finding from the second phase of the British Psychological Society’s careers destination survey, which is following the 2011 cohort of psychology graduates over seven years.

The report on phase 2 of the survey draws on replies to a survey by 2927 psychology graduates from 85 universities. To enable comparisons to be made between cohorts, students graduating in 2007, 2009 and 2011 were also surveyed.

More than 70 per cent of respondents said that business skills such as self-management, problem solving and communication had been ‘well developed’ by their psychology degree.  The majority of respondents said these skills were used most of the time in their current job.

Overall, the responses to the survey confirm the view that it takes at least three years for a career in psychology to be established. Graduates from the earlier cohorts were more likely to say they used their psychological skills most of the time in their current jobs, though more recent graduates did find their basic knowledge of psychology useful.

The responses also pointed to the longevity of the skills gained from a psychology degree and their usefulness whether graduates were pursuing a career in psychology or beyond it.

Phase 3 of the data collection will be launched in 2016 to capture the progress of the 2014, 2013, 2011 and 2009 cohort of psychology graduates. The final phase of the project will be conducted in 2018 to determine the final career destinations of the 2011 cohort, who will then have then been followed for seven years.

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