Increasingly, "alternative careers," those outside psychology's traditional realms, are becoming less alternative and more common. How do you prepare for these jobs?
Here's some advice:
Learn to manage projects
As we progress in our careers, higher level jobs require substantial project management skills. Jobs in industry are all about project management. If you think about your dissertation, that is a great place to start to develop your project, management skills. For my project I was managing six undergraduate research assistants collecting data in two elementary schools. I had lists of all the steps for training, data collection (interviews with young children), data entry and analysis. Take advantage of your dissertation or other projects to learn how to organize data, information and processes. Try out new technology apps to make it easier for you (I like Trello, but there are plenty out there for you to research).
Learn to manage people
Many jobs require supervising people and working with teams. Most of us do not get this type of training in graduate school, but we all have experiences that can help us build these skills, such as giving constructive feedback to colleagues, receiving constructive/critical feedback in a nondefensive way, and running an effective meeting. Working with difficult people is also an important skill. Seek out opportunities to work in teams and then ask for the opportunity to run a meeting or lead an aspect of the project.
Start marketing yourself early
Most people start thinking about marketing themselves right before they go on the job market. However, I'd suggest that you start marketing yourself earlier. Start your LinkedIn profile and connect with people you meet at conferences. Develop a website or blog that includes your vita, publications, teaching experience and other professional experiences. (I didn't start soon enough when I was marketing myself — I had decided early on that DrNabil would be my online handle but didn't secure drnabil.com as a website early enough — so I have doctornabil.com instead.) Have a resume as well as a vita since most companies don't want to look at an entire vita to consider you for a job (see "Make your resume stand out").
Become an effective communicator
If you want to work outside of academia, time is money, so your pitches need to be fast and effective. Practice your elevator pitch to become comfortable with describing yourself in 15 and 30 seconds. A more important skill is being able to translate science into understandable language — think about the best TED talks and how people outside the topic are able to understand the presentation. You want to think about communication broadly, so this applies to both written and oral presentations. If you blog, practice writing concisely as well as making video blogs to hone your speaking skills.
Step outside the psychology department
Most alternative career jobs will not say that they are looking for a psychologist — and will likely be outside traditional psychology workplaces. That's why it's smart to take classes and seek experiences outside of your department. When I was in grad school, I took Spanish to strengthen my communication skills (which were useful in getting my first job). If I were in school now, I would probably take classes in the business department (leadership, management) or public health (epidemiology). Also, seek out internships at local businesses, or volunteer to serve on the board of a local nonprofit. Such experiences give you a taste of life outside the ivory tower and position you well for those types of jobs.
Keeping your options open is always a good idea, even if you don't pursue them and take a more traditional route.