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Psychology Majors' Skill Set

The following information was adapted from James Madison University's Department of Psychology web page Applying for Jobs with a Bachelor's Degree.

Psychology majors may not recognize the career-related skills that they have, or find it difficult to describe these skills. Yet to secure a job, it is vital to clearly describe your strengths within your resume and during job interviews. This list of skills was adapted from: Hayes, N. (1996). The distinctive skills of a psychology graduate: Securing a good job requires knowing what skills you have to offer. European Psychologist, 130-134.

The list identifies 13 different types of skills or knowledge that a psychology major is likely to acquire by graduation. Consider this list as you think about the skills you can bring to a potential employer.

• Literacy. Psychology graduates are highly literate and, moreover, have been trained to write in more than one format. Psychology majors are familiar with the techniques of concise writing within a pre-set format.

• Numeracy. Psychology graduates are highly numerate. They are trained to interpret data summaries and to understand probability statements, and they become familiar with a wide range of statistical procedures and processes.

• Computer Literacy. Psychology graduates are generally computer literate. They are familiar with using computers, and can select and learn relevant software packages.

• Information Seeking Skills. It is sometimes more useful to know where information can be found than to have memorized that information, particularly in areas that are developing and rapidly changing. Psychology Majors are frequently quite skilled in information retrieval.

• Research Skills. Psychology students are explicitly trained in research methods, and this training spans a range of different techniques.

• Measurement Skills. Psychology students can operationalize the measurement of complex processes.

• Environmental Awareness. Knowing how someone's environment can influence their behavior helps us to understand people at work, at home, in education and at leisure.

• Interpersonal Awareness. Psychology Majors also learn about the mechanisms of social communication and the potential sources of interpersonal conflict. Such awareness can make a considerable difference to someone dealing with everyday interpersonal problems. Being aware of sources of conflict or misunderstanding can sometimes result in the ability to perceive ways through difficulties that would not be readily apparent without such knowledge. These skills can contribute to the Psychology Major’s ability to work collaboratively.

• Problem-Solving Skills. Psychology graduates are systematically trained in problem solving. Students learn how to apply different strategies and approaches to understanding problems, and how to identify the practical steps to implement a solution.

• Critical Evaluation. Psychology Majors are explicitly trained in critical evaluation. Students are expected to appraise whether evidence for a phenomenon is really what it appears to be; to evaluate, critically, the quality of an argument; to identify the shortcomings and pitfalls of a particular line of action; and to anticipate problems or difficulties.

• Perspectives. Psychology Majors practice examining issues from multiple points of view and explore phenomena using different schools of thought. The ability to identify different ideologies or paradigms can clarify social issues and give a better awareness of the implications of particular arguments or positions.

• Higher Order Analysis. Psychology graduates are skilled at spotting recurrent patterns in human activity, or noticing similarities between situations that seem, on the surface, to be quite different. This type of higher-order analysis involves being able to extract general principles rather than becoming bogged down with the details of the immediate situation.

• Pragmatism. The Psychology graduate has a pragmatic approach to work and problem solving. For example, it does not take much exposure to psychological methodology for Psychology students to realize they are never going to achieve the perfect experiment, and that they will simply have to do the best they can with what is practical.