Psychology conversion career prospects

Hello,

My question is in regards to the assistant psychologist job. Am I as eligible as bachelor's graduates are to work as one even when employers ask for a bachelor's qualification? Does the conversion equal the bachelor in terms of academic experience? And in general, can I apply for any job normally aimed at bachelor's graduates?

Also does it make a difference whether the award title is MSc or MEd? I was thinking MEd would be a better option for two reasons: 1) I want to progress onto the Doctorate in Educational Psychology and thought this would prep me better and 2) that it will probably increase my chances of landing jobs in the education sector. Would the MEd title actually hurt my changes of landing a job or does it not matter as long as it's BPS accredited?

Thank you for reading

Hi there,

Generally a conversion course is seen as the equivalent to a bachelor's when it comes to further study and looking for work as they tend to cover the same topics and academic content. The main thing that anyone will look for in the field of psychology is that your course is BPS accredited and if you're applying for things like assistant psychologist roles, employers probably won't worry about whether it's an MSc or MEd. So if the MEd suits your long-term career goals then that's probably the better choice.

When applying for work, like I say, they'll mostly just want to know it's BPS accredited and, beyond that they'll look at you as a candidate based on the experience and skills you've gained from other areas of your life - this can be the deciding factor between two candidates who are equally academically qualified. With that in mind, you might find it useful to do some volunteering, for example, with a mental health or social care charity. You can find volunteering vacancies on the Do It website https://do-it.org/ and you can find local charities in your area to contact directly on the Charity Choice website https://www.charitychoice.co.uk/

Hope this helps, best of luck with it all - Mark