Author: Paul Hettich and R. Eric Landrum
Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc.
Copyright year: 2014
ISBN: 978-1412999311
I was once in your shoes. As a psychology major getting ready to graduate, I wondered what my future career would look like. I knew I wanted to help people, but that was the extent of my plans. The age-old myth that “there was nothing that you could do with a bachelor’s degree in psychology” echoed in my head. I decided that my best course of action in order to get a good job and figure it all out would be to go to graduate school. Perhaps graduate school was my moratorium.
Even though graduate school is an admirable path, it is not for everyone. It is also not a requirement in order to get a job with a psychology degree. In Hettich and Landrum’s book “Your Undergraduate Degree in Psychology: From College to Career,” the authors give step by step guidance on how to transition from the classroom to the workforce.
The book moves chronologically from how to begin career exploration, find a job, and then how to succeed in that job. It is important for students to understand that graduating from college with any degree does not guarantee a good job or in reality, any job. Finding your path takes time, effort and research. There are more college graduates today than ever before and quite a few of them have psychology degrees just like you. What makes you stand out from the rest of them? This book aims to help you uncover just that.
Hettich and Landrum are well versed in the field of career exploration and workplace development. The book is chock-full of current research and statistics to support their best practical advice. They act as self-proclaimed “paperback mentors” throughout the book and coach you through the process of finding your career path. I wish I had them along to support me through my journey as an undergraduate student. Many of the lessons that they share, I learned the hard way through trial and error. Instead, you can learn these lessons through the book’s many self-assessments, questions for self-reflection, exercises and examples.
This book would be helpful to an undergraduate student at any point in their education. It is also relevant to those who have just graduated or have been looking for a job for some time. The avid psychology scholar will also appreciate the psychological theory that is threaded throughout the chapters. As an instructor of lifespan development, I appreciated the time the text devoted to psychosocial development, identity status theory and emerging adulthood. You will see these as well as other theories that you learned in your classes come alive and used in practice as it relates to career development.
Ideally, psychology professors would be able to share this invaluable information with their students throughout the semester. Every now and then I like to share with my students “sound bites” of career advice. However, they are few and far in between. There are so many learning objectives to cover in a course that this lofty goal is difficult to achieve. Perhaps you are lucky enough to have an instructor in one of your courses assign this book as your primary text. Sometimes it takes this type of initiative to motivate you to jump-start your career development. If such a capstone course does not exist in your program, consider taking yourself on this journey with Hettich and Landrum as your guides.
It is possible to achieve your dreams with an undergraduate degree in psychology. This text reaffirmed my belief in this. However, that perfect job is not going to be waiting for you as you cross the stage at graduation. Learning and hard work does not stop after college. Your psychology degree prepared you to be a critical thinker in the modern world. Take that knowledge and the other skills that you learned as a student and apply them to the next phase of your life. Maybe you already have a mentor to guide you on your path from psychology student to an employee extraordinaire, nonetheless, Hettich and Landrum are waiting and ready to join your coaching team. You will be glad that you added them on.
About the reviewer
Julie Lazzara is a professor of psychology at Paradise Valley Community College, where she has taught since 2009. She teaches primarily Introduction to Psychology and Lifespan Development in face to face, honors and online formats. She is currently the chair of STP’s Early Career Psychologists Committee. She participates in professional development whenever she has the opportunity, including attending and presenting at numerous teaching and psychology conferences. She also appreciated the experiences of being on the ACT steering committee in 2018 and serving as a psychology AP reader for three consecutive years. She has co-authored, reviewed and edited several articles, texts and ancillary materials. Her research interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning, open educational resources and emerging adulthood. She enjoys introducing students to the field of psychology and helping them make the connection of how they can use it in their own lives no matter what their major is.