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The Post School Panic

© Michael Decaire

I am currently a few weeks away from finishing my master thesis. Within a month of that I suspect I will be doing my defense of that project and will find myself graduated with my masters degree. I will be taking a year off of school to evaluate my different PhD options. However, I also hope that it will be a year of experience, continued learning, and the further construction of a balanced practical knowledge foundation in the areas of psychology, and perhaps forensic psychology.

This leaves me with a question of where I will go from here. I am definitely going to be looking for full time work in a masters level psychology position. An examination of online job listings alone leads me to believe that I will be able to find a viable and productive position. Since it is currently on my mind, I have decided to devote this months editorial to a brief brainstorming session of prospective areas of employment opportunity for individuals looking for work in forensic related areas for the first time.

Before one sets out one must first determine what general areas a masters graduate could contribute towards forensic psychology. I can currently think of three basic areas: (1) education, (2) research, and (3) clinical.

Within the educational system opportunities may seem limited. An individual cannot expect that with very little practical experience under their belt that they will be able to obtain a position teaching at a university to either graduate or undergraduate students. Opportunities may exist, however, to act as a guest lecturer within these or related environments. As a graduate student I already guest lectured in multiple classes across multiple programs. Will these be paying positions? Unlikely, but it is possible. However, the experience is definitely of benefit to an individual who one day intends to teach. I would also suggest looking at community colleges. These institutions often provide psychology related courses. If your research has given you comparable institution based experience one may actually be able to obtain a lecturing position.

The research domain could often provide a number of viable work opportunities for the recently graduated masters student. One thing you do have when you leave your masters is research experience, your thesis in hand is evidence of this. Most of us have also done honors theses or worked as research assistants within our graduate institutions. I believe a lot of individuals falsely believe that all research is carried out at educational institutions. This is not the case. Many (if not most) psychiatric and general hospitals will have an office of educational and research services. Often these departments will be run by psychologist with a staff of masters level psychology graduates below them. If the hospital has a forensics department they may very well be completing forensic based research (I worked in one such department during my thesis). Also, one should not excluded the possibility of acting as a research assistant for an academic institution. Some university's do not have graduate programs to provide low cost assistants for their professors research interests. Such programs may offer research positions to individuals outside of the institution.