Psychologists are responsible for evaluating, diagnosing, and treating people for mental, emotional, behavioral, educational, and developmental disorders.
Psychologists in the areas of psychology, therapy, and research typically require a Ph.D. (PhD. or PsyD) from a recognized program in psychology. Additionally, they need a license in their state of practice. While licensure requirements vary by state and system, most require a doctoral degree in psychology, completion of an internship, a minimum number of years of supervised experience, and passing of an exam. The best psychologists have excellent interpersonal skills and are very trustworthy. And in the majority of cases, the best psychologists are licensed.
According to the most current Occupational Outlook Handbook from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median national annual salary for licensed psychologists is $70,580. Actual salaries may vary greatly based on specialization within the field, location, years of experience, and a variety of other factors.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a licensed psychologist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $37.54 an hour? That's $78,085 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 14% and produce 26,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many licensed psychologists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, communication skills and integrity.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a licensed psychologist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 19.1% of licensed psychologists included group therapy, while 13.6% of resumes included psychological services, and 12.7% of resumes included crisis intervention. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the licensed psychologist job title. But what industry to start with? Most licensed psychologists actually find jobs in the health care and non profits industries.
If you're interested in becoming a licensed psychologist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 4.7% of licensed psychologists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 18.4% of licensed psychologists have master's degrees. Even though most licensed psychologists have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a licensed psychologist. When we researched the most common majors for a licensed psychologist, we found that they most commonly earn doctoral degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on licensed psychologist resumes include bachelor's degree degrees or license degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a licensed psychologist. In fact, many licensed psychologist jobs require experience in a role such as internship. Meanwhile, many licensed psychologists also have previous career experience in roles such as clinical psychology internship or psychologist.