Private practice, research and teaching--those are the traditional career paths for most psychologists. But a growing number of recent graduates are forging ahead in new, less traveled directions. They're finding that employers increasingly recognize--and crave--the skills psychologists have, from critical-thinking, to an understanding of human behavior and a grounding in statistics.
In this special section, we meet 21 recent graduates who have chosen off-the-beaten-path careers. Some went to graduate school thinking they'd be practitioners but revamped their expectations in the face of a changing health-care market. Others discovered they had a desire to serve the public in government posts. Others were lured by private enterprise and the excitement of the high-tech industry. Some are pursuing careers that aren't all that new, but are giving those jobs a new twist.
All of these psychologists have one thing in common: a love of psychology and a desire to do more with it.
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MOVE OVER, AGENT SCULLY
Kristen Ralph Beyer, PhD, 29
Violent crime resource specialist,
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Salary range: $43,000–$79,000 |
Kristen Ralph Beyer, PhD, describes her first six months researching violent crime for the FBI in one word: amazing.
Beyer--whose official title is violent crime resource specialist at the FBI's Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resource Center near Washington, D.C.--works with specially trained agents to conduct a new research project on child abductors who murder and serial murders.
The project involves interviewing 150 child abductors and 150 serial murderers to glean demographic and epidemiological information, such as a murderer's education, marital history, employment history and sexual deviancy. Her job is to not only help agents conduct team interviews of prisoners and corroborate their stories, but to also manage the study's protocols and data. In her first six months, she's helped to hone the 700-item questionnaire used in interviews as well as an additional one for those who can't be interviewed in person for legal reasons.
She's also using her psychological training to boost the center's research methodology. Beyer makes sure the study uses sound research strategies, such as taking into account inter-rater reliability, so that the FBI produces academically credible research.
"The goal is to be able to say, 'Look, we've talked with 300 inmates and 75 percent of them experienced this,' or maybe 'Only 20 percent experienced this.' And then to provide that information to law enforcement officers throughout the United States," Beyer explains. The research, she says, will assist in developing investigative strategies that can cut criminal careers short and ultimately save lives.
While she spends most of her time on research, Beyer wears a few other hats at the FBI. She's in charge of continuing education for her center and is a volunteer counselor for the FBI's employee-assistance program. She's also beginning to learn the ropes of providing on-site consultations, where she and her colleagues look for behavioral aspects of a case and provide input based on their observations.
In her first six months, she's also attended a half-dozen conferences, traveled to prisons to speak with officials about inmates joining her study and helped set up a live satellite interview with a serial murderer.
Beyer, who earned her PhD at the University of Detroit in 1997, came to the FBI after spending three years as a neuropsychologist at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, where she became frustrated with managed care. "Having to defend my treatment and fight for money for services rendered was disheartening," she explains. "I wanted to expand my options."
An internship she'd had at the FBI's behavioral science unit lit the way for that new career path. Remembering how interesting she had found the work, Beyer watched for job openings at the bureau and jumped when one appeared.
"It's important for psychologists to not think very rigidly and expand into nontraditional roles," she advises. "The variety and the exposure the FBI affords has just really been an amazing experience."
--D. SMITH
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TO BOLDLY GO
Laura Helmuth, PhD, 31
Science writer, Science
Annual salary: $40,000 |
"What is this spongy thing inside my skull?" Laura Helmuth, PhD, mused as a child.
That longing to understand her own mind propelled Helmuth's career path. After extensive study and self-reflection, she now inspires wonder and understanding in others as a writer for Science magazine, based in Washington, D.C.
At Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., Helmuth majored in biological psychology. She recalls performing a study that did not fulfill her predictions and learning "that things don't always turn out as expected." A telling lesson indeed, as Helmuth later opted not to pursue a tenure track after she finished her PhD at Berkeley and instead became a science writer.
Midway through graduate school, Helmuth suspected that she would enjoy writing something other than the "stilted language of science." She tested her hypothesis, finding a summer job as a travel writer in Eastern Europe. Trekking from mountain to museum, Helmuth realized that writing "was a lot of fun and a great way to see the world." Her job at Science is her current passport--"a great way to keep up with what's going on in science."
Helmuth has worked at Science, dividing her time between writing for the magazine's news department and editing Science Now online, since she completed the University of CaliforniaSanta Cruz science writing program and an internship at Science News in 1999. Helmuth also worked as a general assignment reporter for a local newspaper, the Salinas Californian, covering an environmental beat.
She calls her career fun and flexible, and enjoys not having to worry about obtaining tenure and grants. When she reports on academic conferences, Helmuth feels "like I have been out in the real world" and appreciates thinking about a variety of topics, compared with "people who are stuck in the lab for a lot of their lives."
She finds freedom in writing, partly because the time commitment for each project is so brief. Actually, her greatest frustration is "there are just so many more cool things you'd like to write about without having space."
Stories that "inform and entertain" is Helmuth's standard. "You have to make the story fun enough and explain the concepts in an accessible, entertaining way so that even somebody from a different field will keep reading," she explains. She also makes a point of writing about psychology as much as possible, noting that behavioral and social sciences are often "drowned out by the sound of all the genetics that's happening." She finds many story ideas at APA's Annual Convention, which she regularly covers for Science.
To PhD candidates searching for leads to their own stories, Helmuth says, "it is important to know there are so many options out there. You're in grad school. You're smart enough and people will be impressed enough that they'll hire you."
As for her own future, she remains "really happy with this job" and predicts that climbing the writing and editing ranks will keep her "constantly entertained"--as will be the readers of Science.
--E. O'CONNOR
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A USER FRIENDLY CAREER
Paul ElRif, PhD, 32
Usability engineer, Microsoft Corp.
Annual salary: Very competitive |
Paul ElRif's love of computers dates back to 1978, when at age 10 he got his first computer, an Apple 2 Plus that didn't even have a disk drive--it used a cassette player to store and run programs.
Although he always enjoyed working with computers, ElRif never considered making a career of his software hobby. That changed while he was working toward his master's degree in experimental psychology at the University of Dayton, where he was planning to work on display technology for airplane cockpits. His roommate "came back really jazzed" from an internship at Microsoft Corp., he says, and convinced ElRif to try out the company himself.
To his surprise, ElRif found his internship work on product design to be both engaging and challenging.
"The Microsoft internship program is great," he says. "Interns get a lot of opportunities to work on software as if they were full-time employees."
What started out as a summer internship became ElRif's career.
After a stint in Hewlett Packard's human factors department during graduate school at Tufts University, ElRif returned to Microsoft in 1998 as one of more than 100 usability engineers who apply user feedback to help software developers create products that are easier to use. He focuses on Windows Server networking and storage components and the Microsoft Management Console--components that help computers talk to each other and share files.
"In a nutshell," ElRif explains, "I'm responsible for making Windows Server easier to use." To do this, he works on a technical level with the product development teams, providing them with, and helping them to understand, empirical data about users' behaviors and needs.
ElRif gathers that data by observing real users working with the software to complete tasks, both in the laboratory and in the field at customers' workplaces. And while ElRif spends a lot of time in the lab, he says field research is just as valuable. He and other usability engineers often bring along program managers and software developers to draw on their expertise when collecting information. The visits not only help his colleagues to develop their site-visit and interviewing skills, but show them how real users work with their products.
"On site visits, they learn a lot about how users work," explains ElRif. "So when I bring them usability data, they're a lot more likely to understand what I'm talking about."
ElRif and his colleagues also conduct focus groups and customer roundtables. As they collect their data, the product team makes alterations to the program. When the program team thinks they've got another prototype, it goes back to the lab for more testing.
While ElRif works on a daily basis with nonpsychologist software developers, testers and writers, many of his fellow usability engineers have a psychology background.
"Having the whole psychology experience--that makes a difference," he says.
--D. SMITH
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THE ASSOCIATION WORLD
Steve Williams, PhD
Director of industry and market research,
American Society of Association Executives
Annual salary: $110,000 |
What do a director of industry and market research at the American Society of Association Executives in Washington, D.C., an adjunct instructor at Trinity College and a clinical psychologist at Johns Hopkins University have in common?
One man juggles all of these positions and still maintains a 50-hour workweek and a social life.
Instead of pursuing a psychology career in one setting, Steve Williams, PhD, decided to spread his expertise around. "It is extremely important for me to get a mix of what I do," he says. By combining these positions, he is satisfying his love of clinical work, research and administration.
His position at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) appears to be nontraditional from the outside, but a closer look shows that he is using many skills he learned through his psychology training. Williams directs and plans all of the association's industry and marketing research operations.
His department helps executives make concrete decisions at the individual level--such as compensation--and at the organizational level--including guidance about decisions within the organization--based on empirical data. The research establishes benchmarks for organizational management, such as financial operations, policies and procedures, or an organization's use of technology (i.e., e-commerce).
He also interacts with top-level executives to discuss compensation, benefits and perks.
Williams decided to pursue a career in administration after seeing the data on salary for psychologists working in traditional settings when he worked at APA's Research Office as assistant director from 1997 to 1999. Employers with traditional psychology settings often view recent psychology doctorates at the beginning of their careers. But, says Williams, "If you're a new doctorate in a nontraditional setting, employers often count from the time you get your bachelor's to the time you receive your doctorate as experience and you get compensated accordingly for those years." Also, as the only psychologist--and the only person to have a PhD--in the organization, Williams finds that he's no longer just one of the crowd.
Taking a nontraditional path has also allowed Williams to build his knowledge and skill base--in areas such as salary and contract negotiations--that can be applied to many other job settings. In the future, Williams says he would like to get more involved in consulting about management issues. Williams says he still wants clinical work to be a part of his career.
"In years to come, I don't think many psychologists will have a choice about pursuing nontraditional careers, especially with the way managed care is making changes to the health-service provider fields," says Williams. "Psychologists should start to think outside the box, whether they do it by choice or they're forced to."
--M. WATERS
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SERVICE THAT'S NOT SECRET
Marisa Reddy, PhD
Co-director, Safe School Initiative,
National Threat Assessment Center, U.S. Secret Service
Salary range: $50,000-$100,000 |
Marisa Reddy, PhD, wants to tell you a few things about school shootings: First and foremost, this isn't a new phenomenon; school shootings have been happening since the 1970s. Second, you can't believe everything you see on the news. And third, school shooters almost never "just snap"; they plan, sometimes for months ahead of time.
Reddy is co-director of the Secret Service's Safe Schools Initiative, an operational study of school shootings in the United States. Along with forensic psychologist Robert Fine, PhD, and Secret Service Agent Bryan Vossekuil, Reddy is analyzing 37 shooting cases that span 25 years. Some of the incidents are familiar--Pearl, Miss.; West Paducah, Ky.; Littleton, Colo.--but many are not. For example, in 1985 a 14-year-old in Goddard, Kan., shot and killed his principal and injured three others.
For each case, Reddy and her colleagues thoroughly research the incident to answer hundreds of questions about what happened. They review investigative, court, school and mental health records and talk with police, sheriffs, school officials, prosecutors and, in some cases, the shooters. The team's goal is to find what was known or knowable before an attack and how to apply that knowledge to prevent future attacks.
Reddy spends about 65 percent of her time on the road researching cases and explaining the Secret Service's findings at training sessions for principals, teachers, mental health professionals and law enforcement officials.
"I used to hate public speaking," she laughs. "And now I'm giving three and four hour talks."
She became interested in psychology and the law as an undergraduate at Williams College, and
garnered experience from internships at the Federal Judicial Center, APA's Public Policy Office and the Rand Corp. While president of Div. 41's (American Psychology-Law Society) student section, Reddy met Margaret Coggins, PhD, who headed up research at the Secret Service. Coggins helped her land an internship at the Secret Service that she says was "unpaid but well worth the investment."
"I highly recommend seeking out internships, even if there's no formal program, because I have more connections and have had more opportunities as a result," Reddy advises.
And she says her internships and education provided a solid foundation for conducting behavioral research. Her social psychology background in recognizing what influences behavior has particularly helped her better understand violencerisk assessment and violent behavior.
Reddy's research is now coming to fruition, with the release of the initiative's interim report last fall. Some of the report's other findings include:
• There is no "one" profile of a school shooter; they have diverse
backgrounds, behaviors and family situations.
• Frequently the attackers were influenced or encouraged by peers.
• In a vast majority of cases, the attacker told a peer or sibling about his plan before attacking.
--D. SMITH
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TRIALS AND TECHNOLOGY
Meghan Dunn, PhD, 27
Research associate,
Federal Judicial Center
Annual salary: Competitive |
When it comes to career planning, it's easier for some of us to know what we don't want. That was true for Meghan Dunn, PhD, who had no interest in following in her professors' footsteps.
"I knew I wanted to look outside of academia and more into applied research," she explains.
With the help of her adviser, Dunn found a 1999 summer internship at the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) in Washington, D.C., a post that showed her one of the off-the-beaten-track careers that existed outside of academia. Eventually, that internship turned into a permanent job as a research associate.
Dunn performs social science research for the federal court system in the research division of FJC, where empirical and exploratory research on federal judicial processes and court management is conducted. The research division is comprised of 15 lawyers and 15 social scientists. Most have social psychology PhDs, and several have joint PhD/JD degrees.
"I enjoy working in a place where I can share my interests with people who also study law and social psychology," she says.
Dunn helps identify problems and issues relevant to the federal courts, develops research designs to study them and analyzes the data once the study is complete. She also writes the final reports of the data analyses. One of the division projects examines the impact of electronic and digital evidence in the courtroom--a perfect fit for Dunn, since her graduate dissertation at Yale University studied the effects of computer-animated reconstructions, such as car accidents, plane crashes, etc., on juror decision-making.
To gather data for the FJC project, Dunn speaks with judges and courtroom clerks and staff to get a sense of the technology used in court, whether attorneys like using it and the problems they have encountered. The research division also talks with judges about ways in which the technology can enhance or impede the different stages of a trial, from pretrial conferences to the attorneys' closing arguments. Because FJC works at the federal court level, it focuses more on judges and less on attorneys. According to Dunn, the research division is more interested in the legal issues raised by courtroom technology, such as whether the side with more technology has more of an advantage during a trial.
"Eventually, we'd like to do a series of empirical studies to examine how certain types of courtroom technology affect trial participants, judges, attorneys, witnesses and the jury," says Dunn.
She says she thoroughly enjoys doing research that will benefit judges and the legal profession. "It's interesting to see the research in action and to know that it won't be buried in a journal," she says. "It will be distributed to judges and lawyers and can help improve the trial structure and the way things run in a courtroom."
As a research associate, Dunn finds that the skills she learned as a student--such as designing valid and reliable questionnaires, analyzing data and writing reports--are valuable to her job.
"All the steps I followed in graduate school are being put to good use," she says.
--M. WATERS
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A CREATIVE BUG
James C. Kaufman, PhD, 26
Associate research scientist,
Educational Testing Service
Annual salary: "Generous for someone with my experience." |
James C. Kaufman, PhD, has always wanted to make a difference in the world. As a researcher who ferrets out possible bias in educational testing--as well as a part-time playwright and lyricist--he has paved a gratifying road for himself doing just that.
Kaufman is an associate research scientist for the Center for New Constructs at the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the world's largest testing service, administering 12 million tests in 181 countries per year.
He works with other researchers to investigate noncognitive constructs and how these constructs affect testing. "At ETS, I feel like I can really make an impact and help people in a practical way, while still doing research on topics I love," he says.
While earning his psychology degree at Yale, he figured he'd pursue an academic career but wasn't completely wedded to the idea. Things changed when his adviser forwarded an e-mail announcing an opening at ETS.
"The Center for New Constructs seemed to be a really good match with my pet interests in creativity, thinking styles and motivation," he notes.
One research proposal he's working on looks at how thinking styles "might mediate racial or ethnic differences on the SAT," he says. Another will explore creativity and how it affects scoring on writing tests, such as the GRE writing assessment.
The proposals, Kaufman notes, aren't much different from grant proposals, except the audience is much more targeted. He says, "I have to show that the work will have real-world importance. Will it make testing more fair? Will it help people perform better?"
Kaufman finds the teamwork aspect of his job appealing. He works with eight other psychologists at the Center for New Constructs, as well as "an exceptionally talented" support staff.
"In academia, there is almost implicit competition. Here, we work together and root for each other. It's much more akin to what graduate school is like," he says.
And if he ever decides he'd like to go back to academia, it's a route that's wide open. Many researchers at ETS "go back and forth between academia and ETS," he says.
When he's not researching the possible links between creativity and test-taking, he's moonlighting as a successful playwright and lyricist. Kaufman has written about a dozen short plays, several full-length plays and two musicals. His works have been performed in small theaters, festivals and schools all over the United States, Canada and Australia. "My Very Elegant Mother," a one-act play, received great reviews during its 1999 run at The Fritz Theater in San Diego, Calif. The play takes a comic, yet truthful, look at family relationships through dialogue between a teen-ager and her newly single uncle. Several of his plays were performed off-Broadway last year.
"It's a fun side thing, but it doesn't really pay," he says.
At 26, Kaufman has certainly learned how to harness his own creativity. He's chosen a career with "lots of freedom," he's enjoyed success as a playwright and he's making a difference.
--J. DAW
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AIMING HIGH
Karen A. Orts, PhD, 33
Chief of mental health services,
Maxwell Air Force Base
Salary range: $30,000-$40,000 |
Calling an Air Force recruiter isn't the obvious first step for a psychology student in search of an internship. But that's just what Karen A. Orts, PhD, did.
Orts had never considered a career as a military psychologist until a flier promoting opportunities in the Air Force landed in her graduate school mailbox at Ohio State University. When she got an internship at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, she was almost as surprised as her friends and family. By 1999, she was chief of mental health services at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and a captain in the U.S. Air Force.
"The Air Force offers so many opportunities for psychologists," says Orts.
As one of two psychologists on the base, Orts spends about half her time providing traditional outpatient psychotherapy. Although most clients come in with the same sorts of problems civilians have, there are key differences between military and civilian psychology. For one thing, civilian psychologists' training doesn't include tents, helicopters and simulated gas attacks. And civilian psychologists typically don't have to learn how to handle combat stress in their clients.
"What you do for combat stress is almost a 180-degree turn from what you would do in traditional psychotherapy," explains Orts. "In a traditional mental health clinic, you might think of difficulty sleeping or concentrating as symptoms of depression. In combat situations, these are perfectly normal reactions to abnormal environments."
Confidentiality is another issue. Since Orts may be treating people with highly sensitive jobs, she must help them work with their commanders to ensure that they can do their jobs without jeopardizing the safety of others.
Because Maxwell is home to Air University, Orts also has a chance to teach officers and enlisted members. As an adjunct instructor at the university's Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, Orts teaches students how to prevent suicide, handle alcohol-related incidents and identify other potential problems among the men and women they lead. Orts also teaches at the university's academy for first sergeants, who are responsible for the welfare of the troops in their units. Orts teaches them how to recognize when troop members are having problems and how to tap into the resources available on the base.
"In the Air Force, we take care of our own people," she explains. "Preventing mental health and substance abuse problems is very much a communal effort."
Orts is also standing by for disaster. Thanks to training she received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for example, she is ready to serve as part of the base's hostage negotiation team. She is part of the critical incident debriefing team. And she could be deployed along with the troops should war break out.
"When you stand up to take the oath to support and defend our Constitution, you know that's part of what could be expected of you," she says. "For me personally, I'd love to have that opportunity."
--R. CLAY
See more profiles in part 2 >>
