Jobs for young scientists in turbulent times

When Kaley Davis began graduate school in clinical psychology in 2021, she knew she wanted to pursue an academic career where she could study her passion: how to foster resilience and thriving after trauma.

But with the current upheaval surrounding funding for research and academia, Davis, now in her 5th year at Marquette University, is no longer sure that path is even a remote possibility.

“There is this state of uncertainty and almost a feeling that things aren’t real,” said Davis, who chairs the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) Science Committee and is graduate student liaison to the APA Board of Scientific Affairs (BSA). “Every day there’s a new headline, and it creates a state of anxiety where you feel like you can’t really do anything to generate change. The whole situation is disheartening, and that is putting it lightly. It is actually devastating.”

Davis is far from alone. While opportunities for practitioners are slated to expand, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsopens in new window, prospects for students interested in academic research careers are expected to be much more limited, with the current political reality adding exponentially to this scenario.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty in terms of where we can go and what options are available if academia is not one of them,” said Brendan Lam, a 4th-year student at Yale University and a graduate student member of BSA.

Sue M. Orsillo, PhD, head of education at APA, said there are some potential silver linings of the current state of research and academia, however, including the opportunity to use one’s degree in expanded, interesting, and creative ways, whether for the short term or the long term. And, she added, what’s happening with federal funding today is simply an acceleration of the ongoing trend toward declining opportunities in academia. For example, APA’s PsycCareers, the number one job site for psychologists, shows a sharp decline in the percentage of academic jobs held relative to all psychology jobs, from 68% of the psychology job market in 2020 to just 27% in 2024, though this drop could be attributed to factors other than actual job openings.

“For students who are only considering faculty positions or jobs at NIH [National Institutes of Health], it’s important to think flexibly and to start to learn about other career paths—to think about the skills you have and the additional training you might need to help you succeed in the marketplace,” said Orsillo.

Here are some specific ways students can do that.

Identify and describe your skills

Many sectors of the job market focus on hiring people as much for their skills as their credentials. That’s a big plus for psychology students targeting research careers, because they have a wide range of marketable skills, said Wendy Wood, PhD, a Washington, D.C.-based behavioral scientist and researcher and provost professor emerita of psychology at the University of Southern California.

“Psychology graduate students are trained in a broad set of analytic skills that are useful very generally,” said Wood, also a former president of the Association for Psychological Science. These include skills in research, communication, complex problem-solving, project management, collaboration, leadership, and innovative thinking. “So, although students might feel invested in one specific area of study, it’s important for them to recognize that their broad skill set is useful in many other contexts.”

However, translating these research and science skills for the job market requires knowledge and effort, said Karen Stamm, PhD, senior director of APA’s Center for Workforce Studies. “There is often a language gap between how we’re trained as psychologists and what employers are looking for in their job applications,” she said.

She recommends that students start to fill this gap by developing an individual development plan, or IDP. For example, APA offers a five-part tool that helps students pinpoint their interests, skills, abilities, knowledge, motivations, and values and reflect on their career interests and goals. Another free tool is Imagine PhDopens in new window, which helps doctoral students and postdoc researchers in the humanities and social sciences assess skills, explore career paths, create goals, and map out next steps for career and professional development success.

“Once you have developed this kind of self-understanding, you can start creating a plan and implementing it,” Stamm said.

Assess the job market

After the self-assessment, it’s time to assess the job market, Stamm and others say.

For starters, a number of online resources provide comprehensive information about job types and trends. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsopens in new window is a fount of information on job types, requirements, and trends. A related website, O*NETopens in new window, lets people search occupational profiles for hundreds of jobs, job activities, and wages across the job market. Students can explore this site in various ways, including searching for jobs that tap different aspects of their expertise, for example, psychology knowledge, research expertise, or a particular kind of computer coding. An O*NET search category called Bright Outlook also singles out job types that are expected to grow rapidly in the next few years, have large numbers of openings, and/or are new and emerging occupations.

Students can also get a good sense of job possibilities by searching and building a profile on LinkedIn, around their 4th year of graduate school, said Dennis P. Stolle, JD, PhD, head of applied psychology at APA.

“Students can look at how other people characterize themselves so they can emulate what they like and at the same time create their own profile to fit their personality and skill set,” he said. This activity “can give students real-world, real-time insight into how people in the business world are selling themselves to one another.” Once a student is ready to begin the job search, they can post that information on their profile page, as well, he recommended.

In terms of broad areas of growth for psychology students in general, health care remains a solid and growing arena for clinical jobs, said Stamm. Meanwhile, there is a huge opportunity for psychologists to apply their expertise to the exploding world of artificial intelligence (AI), Stamm added. “Psychologists have the foundations to help artificial intelligence be much safer and better than it is right now,” she said.

There are numerous opportunities for psychologists to work in settings that are adopting AI, added social psychologist David Evans, PhD, director of market research at Microsoft. These include research and design jobs in user experience (UX), customer experience (CX), and patient experience (PX); jobs in privacy and security research; and opportunities to join regulation and policy initiatives related to the use of AI in the classroom and/or the clinic, to name a few.

“Psychologists are essential to ensure that AI implementations are human-centered, responsible, and truly of value to everyday people,” he said. “We can help artificial intelligence promote authentic humanity.”

Get your feet wet

Students also need to open themselves up to real-world connections—to rubbing elbows with people who can help them gain savvy in applied settings. For example, Jason Cantone, JD, PhD, a senior research associate at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C., landed his job 14 years ago thanks to networking with another legal psychologist who sent him the job listing.

“On sites like LinkedIn, there are not only people looking for work but also people regularly posting job ads and offering free advice on how to get jobs.” Meanwhile, job boards like Altac Jobsopens in new window, LLC “often include a wide range of applied careers that most people don’t think about.”

He and others also recommend reaching out to potential workplaces that intrigue you—say a nongovernmental organization that focuses on a particular human need, a tech company conducting interesting research on human factors, or a policy center that supports a mission you believe in. Connect with specific people in those settings through LinkedIn or an organization’s website, not for the purposes of applying for a job, per se, but to find out more about what they are looking for and to describe your skills and interests as they fit with the organization’s mission and aims. You can even ask them to vet a draft resume if they’re open to it, which can sharpen your practical knowledge about different potential employers and your application skills.

When it comes to actually applying for jobs, frame your experiences in the language of the potential employer, not in academic speak. For instance, most nonacademic employers don’t care much about academic publications; they’d rather hear about your experience and expertise in the skills that matter to them. If you’re applying for jobs in UX research, for example, make sure that you are up to speed on issues such as what AI is and is not capable of doing in this arena, the latest iterations of tools such as Figma and Sketch and how you can use them in the job, and how UX skills relate to relevant departments such as product development, sales, marketing, and strategy, said Ian Tingen, who heads Tingen Industries, a company that uses psychological and behavioral design expertise to carry out a diverse range of projects.

“Look for ways that your work can support the goals of those units and be smart and proactive in demonstrating it,” Tingen suggested.

Another way for students to connect with people and systems outside academia is to share their expertise in the community, said Orsillo. Examples are joining in public comment periods on issues you know something about, such as Medicaid cuts, organizing workshops on specific topics, or joining in advocacy work headed by APAGS or other relevant groups.

“Now more than ever, students can be ambassadors for educating the public about what psychology is and does,” Orsillo said.

Cantone, who is also an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, brings in psychology professors to show how their research applies in real-world settings, as well as people with applied careers to show how crime analysts and research organizations use some of the same tools they are learning about.

Students can also take electives in departments like business and management and lobby faculty to make applied internships available, Stolle added. Ask yourself, “If I take this class, will it help me gain skills that can actually be used and will be marketable?”

Even recent graduates and those in postdoc programs can expand their opportunities and take advantage of the growth in practice through re-specialization programs. Designed for psychologists who have obtained a PhD in another area of psychology, these programs offer a shorter course of study to get a license.

Be creative

If you have an entrepreneurial bent, consider out-of-the-box ways to use your training, Tingen said.

While studying social and personality psychology in graduate school, he knew that academia was not for him. So instead of pursuing that path, he took his first postgraduate job at an environmental consulting firm. There, he was assigned to a client who charged him with getting people to put more trash into trash cans and less into recycling bins—they were essentially using the recycling bins as trash cans—and to save consumers money in the process.

Using his psychology training, Tingen first challenged the client’s assumption that the customers weren’t thinking through how to do things properly. Next, he analyzed what might be causing the problem and tested potential solutions. He discovered that people couldn’t read the script on the recycling bins, making it difficult for them to decide what was or wasn’t recyclable. He also found that their trash cans were generally too small to contain most of their trash. Both problems, he said, were relatively easy fixes.

That experience made Tingen realize that he loved getting quick results and that psychological principles could be successfully applied almost anywhere. He’s adopted that philosophy at Tingen Industries, where a diverse range of projects have included helping the video-streaming service Twitch create real-world communities from digital ones. He is also developing psychology-informed products such as his iOS-based Decision Deck app, which walks people through ­evidence-informed ways of making the best decisions.

Tingen encourages students to explore and keep an open mind. “Devote 10% to 20% of your week just taking in new things, new ideas, new places,” he recommended. “I guarantee you’ll be able to apply a lot of your psychological expertise in interesting and useful ways.”

Stay in touch with peers

Now is not the time to isolate, so make efforts to stay connected with colleagues, said Orsillo. Depending on where you are in your program, consider joining APAGS or the Committee on Early Career Psychologists (CECP), both of which offer a wealth of relevant resources and opportunities for networking, getting involved in advocacy work for the profession, and more.

For those strongly considering a nonacademic path, Tingen has received excellent support and mentorship from a group called Recovering Academics Group, run by social psychologist Gabrielle Filip-Crawford, PhD. It includes a Slack channel for group chats and other helpful resources.

“A lot goes into changing an identity,” he said. “So don’t be shy about seeking out community and help, especially while you’re going through a transition like the one from academia to another kind of career path.”

Know that your first job isn’t your last

No matter what job you take out of graduate school, it will provide valuable experience and help you figure out who you want to be professionally, said Cantone. In his work at the Federal Judicial Center, he has learned how to conduct research that is pivotal in helping judges better manage their courts—work that he loves. “You won’t fully know what you love and how you can best use your talents until you start getting some real-world experience,” he said.

Adopting a growth mindset can help you build a rich career over time, more than if you locked yourself into a singular path, Stamm added.

She noted that in her own case, she earned her doctorate during the Great Recession of 2008, another time of job uncertainty. Many of her peers at the time were scrambling for jobs, as they are now.

However, “these political and economic trends tend to be cyclical,” she said. “So, take the long view and look at your career as not just one step but as many. Our research shows that there are a lot of career options in psychology, even in an uncertain time like right now.”