PSYC-2000-3,Psychology Seminar
week 2 Discussion.
Welcome to Week 2 of PSYC 2000: Psychology Seminar!
Based on your self-assessment during Week 1, you know that you have skills. You should also know which skills are important to you—once you determine this, then you have completed the first step toward finding a career. This week, you are going to work on finding a place for you to use your skills. More importantly, you will need to find a place where you can use your skills that meets your needs for a job. You will explore career options that can be obtained with bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Furthermore, you will consider how your career goals could potentially contribute to Walden’s mission of positive social change.
Objectives
Students will:
- Assess career options with a B.S. in psychology degree
- Evaluate skills, knowledge, and competencies related to career options in psychology
- Create a plan for seeking employment
- Compose a resume and cover letter
- Explain how career goals can contribute to positive social change
- Assess how this week’s learning applies to career and academic goals
Please proceed to this Week’s Learning Resources.
This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of this week’s assigned Learning Resources.
Required ResourcesReadings
- Landrum, R. E., & Davis, S. F. (2014).The psychology major: Career options and strategies for success(5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
- Chapter 3, “Careers with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology”
- Chapter 4, “Pursuing Bachelor’s-Level Options”
- Chapter 5, “Career Options with a Master’s Degree or Doctoral Degree”
- Callahan, D., Wilson, E., Birdsall, I., Estabrook-Fishinghawk, B., Carson, G., Ford, S., & Yob, I. (2012).Expanding our understanding of social change: A report from the definition task force of the HLC special emphasis project.Minneapolis, MN: Walden University.
- American Psychological Association. (2016a).Online career-exploration resource for psychology majors. Retrieved fromhttp://apa.org/ed/precollege/psn/2015/09/psychology-majors.aspx
- Landrum, R. E. (2015a).Careers in psychology[PowerPoint file]. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education.Focus on the career opportunities with a B.S. in psychology as well as the job searching skills topics.
Websites
- Learn Psychology. (2016).The college student’s guide to pre-professional psychology opportunities.Retrieved fromhttp://www.learnpsychology.org/pre-professional-experience/
- American Psychological Association. (2015).PsycCareers: APA’s online career center.Retrieved fromhttp://www.psyccareers.com/
- U.S. Department of Labor. (n.d.).O*net Online. Retrieved fromhttp://www.onetonline.org/
- Psychology Degree Guide. (n.d.).Psychology job resources mega-list. Retrieved fromhttp://psychologydegreeguide.org/job-resources/
- Dr. Kit. (2011).Psychology. Retrieved fromhttp://www.drkit.org/psychology/
- Walden University. (2015).Career Services Center. Retrieved fromhttp://www.waldenu.edu/experience/support-services/career-services
- Self-knowledge(includes self-assessment instruments students can use to identify their interests, skills, and strengths): http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/careerservices/selfknowledge
- Social and behavioral sciences: Psychology:http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/careerservices/socialandbehavioralscience/psychology
- Optimal Resume(includes five modules and over 100 resume and cover letter samples by career field):https://waldenu.optimalresume.com/
- Career opportunities in psychologywebinar (located inside theArchived webinars—Career opportunities by programpage): http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/careerservices/careerwebinars/byprogram
Please proceed to this Week’s Discussion.
Assessing Job Opportunities
When you were a child, people probably asked you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Most likely, you answered with an occupation: lawyer, doctor, fireman, etc. You probably didn’t say, “Democrat,” “Republican,” or “a happy person.” As adults, people find out about others by asking them who they are (e.g., “What do you do?”).
This should help illustrate the point that occupations can contribute to self-image and the image others have of you. There is research that indicates that occupation and self-esteem are intertwined. As such, it’s important to find a job that meets your needs, so that the self-image you have is the self-image you would like it to be. In addition to contributing to self-image, your occupation also determines:
- What you do everyday
- Work environment (e.g., indoor or outdoor)
- How much money you make
- How long you work each day
- The clothes you wear
- When you take vacations
Therefore, for this week’s Discussion assignment, you will focus on finding a place (an occupation) that fits both your skill-set and your personal desires and requirements for a job. In particular, you will search for a current job opening that can be obtained with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. To begin, narrow your focus on a particular job area that you are interested in by reviewing all of the assigned Learning Resources this week. Pay particular attention to the article, “Online career-exploration resource for psychology majors” and the discussion about O*NET in the Landrum and Davis (2014) textbook. Next, it is suggested that you start your search by accessing the various job boards onhttp://psychologydegreeguide.org/job-resources/.
With these thoughts in mind, post by Day 3 a response to the following:
- Provide a brief overview of the job description and the requirements, including previous work experience(s) (if needed) and/or any particular skills (e.g., research) and other preferences (e.g., bilingual). Also give the salary range if provided. Share the resource where you found the job.
- Identify which of the job requirements you presently possess. Other than obtaining a bachelor’s degree in psychology, which of the other requirements would you need to obtain? Briefly list a few initial steps for obtaining the skills or competencies required for the job.
- Analyze and discuss the pros and cons of this job as they relate to your lifestyle. Consider variables such as salary, geographic location, work hours, etc. Explain why you envision yourself in this position.
- Discuss how this employment opportunity could potentially lead you to contribute to Walden’s mission of positive social change.
Note: Be sure to support the responses within your initial Discussion assignment post (and in your colleague reply) with information obtained from the assigned Learning Resources, including a Reference list for sources used. For information regarding how your Discussion assignment will be evaluated, please review the Grading Rubric located in the Course Information area of the course.
Respond by Day 5 to at least one of your colleagues’ initial Discussion assignment postings in one or more of the following ways:
- Ask a probing question and provide insight into how you would answer your question and why.
- Ask a probing question and provide the foundation, or rationale, for the question.
- Expand on your colleague’s posting by offering a new perspective or insight.
- Agree with a colleague and offer additional (new) supporting information for consideration.
- Disagree with a colleague by respectfully discussing and supporting a different perspective.
