Considering a Career in Psychology? Hillel Asked Experts for Their Advice to Aspiring Professionals!
This year, the Jewish Career Network, powered by Hillel, launched its Industry Series — virtual sessions that bring in speakers from across sectors to help college students and early career professionals learn more about Jewish professionals’ experiences in those fields.
The most recent installment, “Practicing Psychology,” brought together six professionals and graduate students to talk about choosing a path in the field, what a day in the life can look like, and how Jewish values can add another layer of meaning to their work.
As we recognize Mental Health Awareness Month this May, here are three top takeaways for college students and new graduates considering a career in psychology:
1. This field is so much bigger and broader than you might think.
When people think of psychology as a career, they often tend to imagine one of two paths: clinical or counseling work in an office setting, or academic research. But there are so many more ways to use a degree in psychology than just those options.
“A lot of people know about therapy,” said Dr. Jenna Shapiro, a pediatric psychologist at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “But I also was interested in doing consultation in a hospital setting, which is what I ended up doing. That means more sort of short-term, brief sessions with people that might be in the hospital or in a medical clinic.”
“I’ve worked in consulting for the last 10 years, primarily with pharmaceutical companies, but also with patient advocacy groups,” said Dr. Jessica Markowitz, who also works part-time at Northeastern University Hillel as a therapist. “When I was getting my degree, I couldn’t have imagined going into that field.”
Dr. Cheryl Fulton, who serves as the director of community care and wellbeing at Texas Hillel, had a similar experience. “I offer a lot of support for students, but I don’t do clinical work,” she said. “I do a lot more programmatically, and that’s not something I envisioned when I first entered this field, but I really love it. It’s really fun.”
Jewish communal work, including working as a campus Hillel’s wellness professional, is a great avenue to explore. For example, Dr. Sasha Soykin co-founded the Jewish Community Mental Health Initiative, which supports mental health and resilience through culturally informed support, research, and education amid rising global antisemitism.
“We just see the importance of building community, helping people feel not alone,” Soykin said.
2. When it comes to grad school, think beyond the degree.
There are a number of different degree paths into the field of psychology. That means when you’re considering which degree to pursue, it’s important to think beyond just the type of job you’d like to have, but what you care about in a program — in the classroom and out of it.
“If someone is not interested in research, doing a doctorate program is a very, very long amount of time to do something that you might not want to do,” Shapiro said.
Our panel also recommended taking a program’s philosophical approach into account. “I went to do a counseling PhD because it’s a little bit more holistic, social justice-oriented, strengths-based, community-based… than a clinical psych PhD,” said psychologist Dr. Rebecca Semel.
There are so many ways to care for others, and the variety of training programs in the field reflects that reality.
3. Make sure to find ways to take care of yourself.
According to a 2023 study by the American Psychological Association, more than half of early-career psychologists report feeling burned out. While grad school can mean long study sessions and heavy workloads, all of our panelists agreed that it’s important to start building a foundation of self-care before you get into the field, when it will be much harder to start new habits.
Figuring out a work-life balance is easier with your school’s support. Dr. Shapiro recalled the faculty director of her program modeling work-life balance by attending concerts once a week and regularly taking the cohort on outings. Other programs are set up to make the time constraints of a degree more flexible.
“My program had a lot of second-career students and a lot of people with children,” said Dr. Soykin. “So my program really did try to help people navigate balancing all of it. For some people, that meant they took an extra year to finish, and that’s absolutely okay.”
Looking for more answers or advice? Check out the full webinar recording, and connect with psychology professionals for mentoring and guidance on the Jewish Career Network!