Careers with a degree in psychology 

Welcome to the UNSW Psychology Alumni Gateway. First up, well done for starting to think about what you might like to do after you finish your degree. It is never too early to explore possibilities. Lots of students come into the UNSW Psychology program wanting to be a clinical psychologist.

Of course, now that you are part way into your degree, you know that psychology is MUCH broader than that. But it is hard to think about the breadth of what you might do after you graduate, when most psychology relevant jobs don’t have the word “psychologist” in the title.

Our graduates end up in all kinds of professions. Some go on to do honours and then professional masters programs in clinical or forensic psychology and end up working in clinical settings. Others do honours and then a PhD and work in research settings. But the vast majority of our graduates end up applying what they have learned about experimental design, data analysis and communication to careers in business, consulting, program evaluation, behavioural analysis and more.

Psychology graduates (yes, you!) are highly valued by employers for their ability to take a wicked problem, break it down, look at the data, draw solid inferences and communicate conclusions to a wide range of people.

So I encourage you to think broadly. What skills do you have under your belt now that you didn’t have when you started at uni? What areas of psychology do you like the best? Put those two things together and look for a career that allows you to apply your skills in a context that you find interesting.

We are super proud of what our Alumni achieve and hope that exploring their stories might be a good way to start thinking about what you might like to do with your degree. If you have feedback or suggestions for career stories we could add to this resource, definitely get in touch.

A/Prof Jenny Richmond
Director of Academic Programs
School of Psychology
University of New South Wales

Alumni interview series

Dr Ashneeta Prasad

"Dr Ashneeta Prasad has just finished her Clinical Masters/PhD and is working as a Clinical psychology registrar. Watch her video to learn about the responsibility that she feels looking after clients during the most..."

Dr Ashneeta Prasad

PhD/Master Clin Psych
Clinical Registrar

Dr Belinda Xie

"Dr Belinda Xie says her ability to read critically and synthesise lots of information is the skill she is finding most valuable in her new job as a Behavioural Economics Advisor in the Department of the Prime Minister and..."

Dr Belinda Xie

Phd
Behavioural Economics Advisor

Bronte Morgan

"Bronte Morgan started her Research Officer job at the University of Sydney because she was interested in questions about development and wanted to take a year off after honours before making big decisions..."

Bronte Morgan

BPsych (Hons)
Research and Project Officer

Doron Lavan

"Doron Lavan is living proof that careers in Psychology are seldom linear. He has a Masters of Clinical Psychology but after working as a clinician for a few years, he decided that his calling was in social enterprise and then..."

Doron Lavan

BScience, Hons, MClin Director/Consultant

Gabrielle Kaplan

"Gabrielle Kaplan works as a UX researcher at Atlassian, helping to make sure that tools like Jira and Trello are as easy for users as possible. Watch her video to learn about how she is combining her Psychology..."

Gabrielle Kaplan

BPsych (Hons)
UX Researcher

Jarrod Calabria

"Jarrod Calabria suggests you should think about what you love about Psychology and find opportunities to do more of that in your career. Watch his video to learn about how he has done just that working as..."

Jarrod Calabria

BPsych (Hons)
Senior Behavioural Strategy Consultant

Kieran Toohey

"Kieran Toohey came back to study Psychology after 13 years in the army. He had set his sights on a Masters of Clinical Psychology and was disappointed when he didn't gain entry to honours. But that hasn't..."

Kieren Toohey

BScience
Case Manager

Leigh Dunlop

"Leigh Dunlop heads up the HR function at FutureSuper, overseeing recruitment, succession planning, engagement, leadership, and training and development. Watch Leigh's video to learn about Psychology prepared..."

Leigh Dunlop

BPsych (Hons)
Chief People Officer

Leyla Nalbantoglu

"Leyla Nalbantoglu loves data and numbers and has found her niche working as a People and Culture Operations Advisor at the Garvan Medical Research Institute. Watch her video to learn about all the different facets..."

Leyla Nalbantoglu

BPsychSci
People and Culture Operations Advisor

Dr Matthew Castino

"Dr Matthew Castino did his PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience and is now using his super stats skills in his role as a Data Scientist at Canva. Watch Matthew talk about how the gap between hypothesis testing..."

Dr Matthew Castino

PhD
Data Scientist

Natasha van der Eyk

"Natasha van der Eyk loves the varied work that she finds herself doing as a Mental Health Support Worker at Skyee. Her job is to help people suffering from complex mental health disorders navigate..."

Natasha van der Eyk

BPsychSci (Hons)
Mental Health Support Worker

Nita Roschanzamir

"Nita Roschanzamir was sure she wanted to be a Clinical Psychologist and was really disappointed when she applied and didn't get in. Watch Nita's video to learn about how she has turned her disappointments into..."

Nita Roschanzamir

BPsych (Hons)
Case Manager

Roanna Chan

"Roanna Chan always wanted to be a clinical psychologist, well... in fact that was the only career she knew that Psychology graduates could do. Now that she has reached her goal, she is passionate about helping those..."

Roanna Chan

BPsych(Hons), MClinPsych
Clinical Psychology Registrar

Dr Ruth Elijah

"Dr Ruth Elijah is a Clinical Psychologist working in suicide prevention. Watch her video to learn about what it is like to work with people during the darkest time of their life and what it is like to hold onto to the hope..."

Dr Ruth Elijah

PhD/Master Clin Psych
Clinical Psychologist

Sophia Garlick-Bock

"Sophia Garlick-Bock is passionate about youth mental health. Since graduating she has had several research roles, working up to her current position at ReachOut as their Research and Evaluation..."

Sophia Garlick-Bock

BAdvSci(Hons), BArts
Research and Evaluation Coordinator

Stephan Chan

"During undergrad, Stephan felt totally lost and didn't know what he wanted to do with his Psychology degree. But a chance conversation with a friend led him to an internship and eventually
a graduate position with EY..."

Stephan Chan

BPsych (Hons)
Reward Consultant

Dr Tony Wang

"Dr Tony Wang did his PhD in Cognitive Psychology and is now applying what he knows about learning and human behaviour in his work as a Data Scientist at Cluey Learning. Watch his video to learn..."

Dr Tony Wang

PhD
Senior Data Scientist

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