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Asked by anon-283699 on 8 Mar 2021.
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Alex Baxendale answered on 8 Mar 2021:
Hello! I found it pretty challenging but I had a very specific idea about what I wanted to do – when I finished my Masters degree I wanted to go straight in to doing a PhD, so I met with my supervisor and we worked out a research plan and proposed it for funding. We weren’t able to get any funding, which meant that we couldn’t do the work – so I had to look around for jobs in other universities that were funded. The vast majority of PhD funding at the time came from European Union research groups, so Brexit put a big stop to my plans. Eventually the government announced student loans for PhDs which I was able to get, and from there it was the challenge of getting a supervisor, and doing interviews at Universities to see if they thought I was good enough to do my work there.
This was definitely a difficult way to go about it, and there are definitely much easier and better ways to do it!
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Myrto Efstathiou answered on 8 Mar 2021:
Hi! It depends the type of post that you want to find (e.g. assistant Psychologists, in the business sector). I found that the competition for an assistant Psychologist was quite fierce and, so while applying for those posts I stayed in the post that I worked during my undergrad which was as a support worker for people with autism and learning disability. I completed my Masters while still working as a support worker and then I entered the PhD, which was funded through a scholarship.
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Ellen Smith answered on 8 Mar 2021:
I haven’t really left university yet! I went straight from studying my undergraduate degree into my masters and then onto my PhD without any break. Although that was just that I was the right person there at the right time, as my supervisor was approached by a company to fund a PhD when I was finishing off my master’s degree. But I do think I’ll have a hard time finding a job once I’ve finished my PhD, particularly because of Covid there isn’t many research positions available in my area.
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Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 8 Mar 2021:
Hi SummerM! When it comes to career, my path is rather messy and very ‘unpsychology’; I worked on different jobs, in different countries. If you have the time, I invite you to go over my profile where you’ll see the jobs I did; some of those jobs I did not particularly enjoy but they honed my skills.
Anyhow, to go back to your question, I did my undergraduate degree (in the Philippines) part-time, because I had to work to pay for my fees and pay my mortgage (house loan). A year before I completed my undergraduate degree, I was already working but it’s not related to psychology – I was working at a call centre and I was also a travel blogger. I kept doing those while I was doing my first master’s degree. Before I completed my first master’s degree, I became a lecturer at two universities in the Philippines. That’s the only time I had a job which is related to psychology.
I actually spent more time being a blogger than working on a job related to psychology – I’ve been blogging close to 15 years now; that shows my age. 😊
And then in 2013, I came here in the UK to do my second master’s degree. Before completing my second master’s degree, I set up my psychology website which later on became a small company. Right now, I’m doing a PhD. I also have a weekly column at a newspaper in Malaysia, where I write psychology articles. After I finished my PhD, I will still be doing the same things.
Good luck with your studies, SummerM! 😊
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Lisa Orchard answered on 8 Mar 2021:
I was really lucky in that my career path was relatively easy. I was unsure what I wanted to do after university. I applied for lots of psychology jobs, and had 3 or 4 unsuccessful interviews. However, I managed to get a job as a psychology teaching assistant in university within three months of leaving university. I managed to get a full-time funded PhD scholarship a year later (in the same university), and found a part-time lecturing job whilst finishing up, which was perfect for me to gain experience! I’m so lucky that I haven’t had any long periods of unemployment. It does depend on the field you are interested in though. I know that clinical psychology is incredibly hard to break into for instance. If you want it, it is worth the fight!
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David McGonigle answered on 9 Mar 2021:
Hi Summer! I guess it depends if you want to use your degree and apply it outside of what we call ‘academia’: working research labs or clinics that are part of universities or colleges. I wanted to do a PhD, and I applied to a lot of different places. I found the whole process pretty stressful: I went to Glasgow University for my degree, and I was often applying for PhD places against students from Oxford, Cambridge, and London, who all seemed to be a lot more confident and clever than I was! If I had to go through the process now, where there are fewer PhD places and more competition (I have to be honest!), I’m not sure how I’d do. However, if you have a passion for what you want to do, and you’re getting decent grades at uni, you’re already halfway there! Lots of luck for the future!
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Harry Piper answered on 9 Mar 2021:
Universities haven’t been able to get rid of me! I’m still there! I did my undergrad degree 2016-2019 before doing my maser’s degree, 2019-2020. While I did this I applied for my PhD funding (which is like being paid so this is my job, even though I am still in education)! This was really hard to get but also really worthwhile! It also depends on your field, but I imagine getting a job will be difficult when I do leave (although there are always options beyond academia)
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Anon answered on 9 Mar 2021:
With educational psychology, the most difficult step is getting onto the doctoral training course. Applications open once a year, and it can take several years to get accepted, so it’s a good idea to have another job lined up as a back-up plan. Once you have trained though it’s relatively easy to find a job, as there are not enough of us to go around.
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anon answered on 25 Mar 2021:
Hi SummerM,
I am still at university 9 years and going! I’m not sure if I will ever leave – I would really like to become a professor one day!
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