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Are any of you psychology majors/graduates?

Poll - Total Votes: 4
Yes
No
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Was the degree helpful with getting a job?
Success · 26-30, F
No degree, but I make major $ in applied psychology. I rather doubt you would be interested.
xIdentity · 31-35, M
Yes, and I work in mental health. I love my job.
@xIdentity do you have a bachelor's or higher? What do you do
xIdentity · 31-35, M
@RebornPhoenix I have a bachelor's degree, and my company is paying my tuition to get my master's degree. I work for the state, and I'm over an outpatient facility.
swirlie · 31-35, F
[c=#008099]
Keep in mind that almost everything offered from a university in terms of Degrees acquired, will NOT actually qualify you to do anything whatsoever in the working-world. There is no Degree offered in any university below the level of PhD, that specifically trains you for anything tangible in the commercial working-world after you graduate.

The only real exception that I have found so far, is that a PhD in Psychology would qualify you to become a University Professor of Psychology. This is because that teaching job qualification AT a university, requires that a person hold their PhD before being considered qualified as a candidate to become a university Professor.

Any university Degree that is less than a Masters Degree is actually considered to be on-par with that of a high school graduation diploma, such as a Bachelors Degree.

I say this in terms of using the credential of a university Degree as an education qualification by a job applicant for any job doing anything non-specific in the working-world.

In the absence of actual job experience, a group of job applicants will now be scored on education ratings, rather than experience ratings. Those with Masters Degrees are then considered to be more qualified for any job than those who only hold a Bachelors Degree.

Truth is, applicants from both mentioned educational groups would require full training for any job they applied for, because their university Degree would not have trained them for anything specific, nor trained them for anything in general either!

Masters Degrees are a dime a dozen among applicants for any job offering out there and therefore, the Degree itself only shows a potential employer of your ability to 'learn', but does not show a potential employer your ability to 'do the job'!

Just because a person holds a Masters Degree, does not guarantee an employer that the applicant knows how to thread a nut onto a bolt, even after extensive training!

This is because a Masters Degree, not unlike a PhD, does not mean you are qualified to do anything in particular when you graduate from university, nor is any type of university Degree indicative of your inherent skill level... other than one's skill to 'learn' university-related subjects.

Therefore, holding a PhD in Agriculture, Science or Psychology to name but a few, will only directly qualify you to become a Professor of Agriculture, Science or Psychology at a university, but the PhD itself does not qualify you for anything specific in the commercial working-world.

Employment as a university Professor is not considered as being employed in the commercial working-world. It is employment within an educational institution which is funded solely by tuition fees and donations alone, but does not gain commercial profit from the manufacture of a specific product or service, for example.

That is why more and more students are turning to college diploma courses instead of university Degrees today, because college teaches you something very specific you can use in the commercial working-world, whereas university does not, nor was university ever intended to.

If you want to become a Physician for example, you will have to attend university first, but then you'll have to attend Med School afterwards. Keep in mind that one cannot apply for Med School with only a high school graduation diploma, which means they're trapped by the commercialization of the university education system if they want to become a Doctor. [/c]
Success · 26-30, F
@swirlie Excellent overview and advice. And this is why I skipped formal education and went directly into specialized training. I can't believe the money I'm making, and I have no school debt.
swirlie · 31-35, F
@Success
And this is why I skipped formal education and went directly into specialized training. I can't believe the money I'm making, and I have no school debt.
[c=#008099]
Thank you! Oddly enough, specialized training is what most university grads end up doing anyway if they find a job they like, because most university grads have absolutely zero previous employment experience anyway. So like you say, they probably could have done it all without the university Degree and associated debt that goes along with a Degree.

Having said that, they needed to score the job in the first place before even considering specialized training for the job in question, in which case the university Degree they offered an employer gave them an education credential they would use to compete with against other university grads whom also held that same or similar Degree. And like I mentioned, this is especially the case in situations of a total absence of any previous employment experience.

Although you did specialized training without a formal education behind you, the most important thing was, you were able to score a job in the first place which then presumably offered you specialized training in your field of interest after-the-fact.

A popular misconception that is out there is that a university Degree is absolutely required to even compete for a job, let alone be qualified in some obscure way to win that job.

Where this misconception got started of course, was with the commercialization of institutionalized advanced education (university). Unfortunately, when everyone now holds a Masters Degree or even a PhD, one of two things will happen... either everyone else being interviewed for a job will also hold a Masters or PhD, ...or those who do hold a Masters or PhD will be considered 'over-qualified' for the job they are applying for and won't be hired anyway.

The reason they won't be hired to do a job that does not require a Masters or PhD is because the employer knows that the person will be constantly seeking opportunities in the job market which match the job candidate's university credential, which then leaves the employer back where he started at the beginning, of having to now re-recruit to fill a vacancy being left by the university grad he just hired who wanted much more than a low paying job the employer was offering.

After being burned a few times, the employer then chooses to cut his losses from the start and often chooses NOT to hire someone in the first place who is over-qualified for the job he is offering, but chooses someone instead who is under-qualified for a hirer paying job elsewhere and is therefore less-likely to leave.

This issue of 'over-qualification' of job applicants has been happening around the world for many years now and what job applicants are now finding, is that it is better to not admit how highly educated they are on a job resumé. This is because to do otherwise and thus lay their Masters or PhD on the table during a job interview, will actually disqualify them from being considered for a low-paying job they may be applying for, for the reason described in the previous paragraph.

Bottom line is, if McDonald's is the only game in town, whatever you do, don't tell any job recruiter with McDonalds that you have a PhD when you're applying for a job flipping burgers![/c]

 
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