Datapoint: A psychology major opens doors

A psychology major opens doors

Undergraduate psychology studies build skills valuable in the job market

By Jessica Conroy, Luona Lin, and Karen Stamm, PhD Date created: July 1, 2021 1 min read

Vol. 52 No. 5
Print version: Page 21

The skills students develop in undergraduate psychology programs are valuable to employers across many sectors. Psychology majors hold jobs in 88 of a broad set of 129 U.S. occupational categories.¹
Students develop and hone many types of skills in psychology programs, including social, communication, and technological.² Specifically, the skills most often possessed by psychology majors are customer service (57%), leadership (49%), Microsoft Office (49%), management (48%), and sales (41%).³
Recognizing these skills and talking about them in language that employers understand is key to postgraduate success in the job market. Faculty who are aware of these skills can better advise their students about their full range of career options and how to market their skills to potential employers.⁴

Top 20 skills of psychology majors

Want more information? See CWS’s interactive data tools or contact CWS.

See the next Monitor on Psychology for the top workplace skills of graduates with advanced psychology degrees.