Demonstrating psychology program value

The challenge: Many prospective students and their families question the career relevance and return on investment of a psychology degree. Institutions need effective strategies to communicate the versatile skills and diverse career pathways that a psychology education provides.

1. The Skillful Psychology Studentopens in new window
   Why it’s valuable: This concise document identifies specific transferable skills that psychology students develop, providing language you can incorporate into recruitment materials, websites, and advising conversations. Use it to help students articulate the practical value of their psychology education to employers.
2. The Market-Ready Psychology Majoropens in new window
   Why it’s valuable: Contains ready-to-use syllabi inserts, slides, and templates that instructors can immediately incorporate into courses to emphasize career skills. Instead of creating new materials, adapt these tested resources to help students connect course content to workplace competencies.
3. CWS Data Tool: Careers in Psychology
   Why it’s valuable: This interactive tool provides concrete data on career outcomes for psychology graduates across level of degree and various sectors. Use these statistics in departmental presentations to administrators, on program websites, and during student recruitment events to demonstrate the versatility of the degree. A helpful complement to this resource that students can use to learn about the job outlook for psychologists and other careers is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbookopens in new window.
4. Video Series: How Did You Get That Job?
   Why it’s valuable: This on-demand series showcases how psychologists apply their knowledge, skills, and experience in the real world across a wide array of sectors. Incorporate them into intro courses or departmental events to expose students a diversity of career pathways available to psychology students.
5. Becoming a Psychological Scientistopens in new window
   Why it’s valuable: Offers graduate students insight into career paths in academia, business and industry, nonprofit organizations, and government. Includes a self-assessment to help students identify a satisfying career path and a summary of the characteristics (including typical job responsibilities, salary and resources, writing expectation, work environment, and advancement and performance evaluation) of current jobs that psychological scientists hold across various settings.
6. Individual Development Plan
   Why it’s valuable: Provides a five-step process that students can use to engage in self-assessment, explore careers, set goals, and implement a plan for career success. Although this tool was developed for graduate students, with modification it could be used by anyone at any educational/career stage.
7. Workforce Projections for Health Service Profession Psychologists Through 2037opens in new window
   Why it’s valuable: Underscores the value of doctoral psychology programs by showing the projected need for additional HSP psychologists This tool can be used by programs to estimate the projected supply and demand of health care workers (including HSP psychologists) at the state and national levels and to analyze the impact of potential changes to the health care landscape.

1. Curriculum mapping: Identify 1–2 courses at each level of your program where you can integrate specific career-focused assignments from the Market-Ready Psychology Major resources.
2. Website enhancement: Create a “Why Psychology?” section on your department website featuring data from the CWS Data Tool and embedded videos from the How Did You Get That Job? series.
3. Early career exploration: Integrate structured, developmentally appropriate career exploration activities throughout the academic curriculum, beginning early and progressing in depth over time.
4. Handouts and posters: Share materials throughout the department that teach students about the subfields of psychologyopens in new window and psychology’s integrative themesopens in new window.