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Psychology instructor skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted experts
Roderick McIntosh Ph.D.,
Lisa Rosen Ph.D.
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical psychology instructor skills. We ranked the top skills for psychology instructors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 11.8% of psychology instructor resumes contained semester as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a psychology instructor needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 psychology instructor skills for your resume and career

1. Semester

A semester is a calendar that divides an academic year into sections of fifteen to eighteen weeks. The time system adopted by schools and countries differ. While the half system divides the academic year into two sessions, the quarter system divides the academic year into four sessions.

Here's how psychology instructors use semester:
  • Instructed two semesters of Psychology of Adjustment to developmentally challenged young adults.
  • Instruct several sections of Introduction to Psychology (PSY101) each semester to undergraduates (both lecture and online courses).

2. Student Learning

Here's how psychology instructors use student learning:
  • Assessed student learning by designing application activities that required the use of theory and concepts relevant to the class.
  • Design, deliver, and assess student learning activities using technology and traditional class lecture to diverse student populations.

3. Research Methods

Research methods are tools, strategies, processes, or techniques that are used to collect and analyze data to discover new information or better understand a topic. Developing a research method is an integral part of research design. There are different types of research methods that use different data collection tools. These can be qualitative, quantitative, or mixed.

Here's how psychology instructors use research methods:
  • Graduate Courses Advanced Research Methods Advanced Statistics Qualitative Research
  • Prepared and organized curriculum for graduate and undergraduate level courses in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Advance Research Methods.

4. Syllabus

Here's how psychology instructors use syllabus:
  • Develop and implement course syllabus, following established institutional guidelines.
  • Used structured syllabus with visuals, organized notes, and provided learning lessons for students with interactive tasks to apply learning.

5. Social Work

Here's how psychology instructors use social work:
  • Assisted hospital social workers with complex cases.
  • Designed course curriculums for several new courses in psychological sciences, social work, and criminal justices.

6. Sociology

Sociology is the study of human behavior through societies, groups, and larger developments. Sociology encompasses virtually every aspect of human interaction, from crime to religion to marriage rituals. This study also looks at how humans divide one another, including race, political, and wealth classes.

Here's how psychology instructors use sociology:
  • Served as Tutoring Center Supervisor, training tutors in specialized areas, such as sociology, psychology and life sciences curriculum.
  • Experience as a High School teacher and Counselor: Taught Spanish and grammar Literature, Citizenship Education, General Sociology.

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7. Professional Development

Professional development means to have the essential training certification or education with the purpose of earning and having a successful career. Every job requires a different set of skills. However, new skills may be needed in the future. Professional development, in this regard, helps people to develop and polish the skills and become efficient workers.

Here's how psychology instructors use professional development:
  • Establish and maintain positive working relationships by assisting faculty in professional development activities, working to maintain departmental reaffirmation.
  • Develop curriculum and participating in College service and professional development activities.

8. Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology is the study concerning the changes and growth of a person throughout their life, usually from infancy to adolescence.

Here's how psychology instructors use developmental psychology:
  • Instructed students in Psychology Courses including General Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Industrial Psychology.
  • Provided a comprehensive background in developmental psychology with a specific focus on child development.

9. Criminal Justice

Here's how psychology instructors use criminal justice:
  • Close interaction with nursing, criminal justice, and technical programs to insure appropriateness and quality of instruction and materials.
  • Lead faculty for the Criminal Justice Program.

10. Course Curriculum

Here's how psychology instructors use course curriculum:
  • Developed course curriculum for online courses in Human Sexuality and Social Psychology.
  • Developed course curriculum and lectured on material Assessed student progress and examined grade distributions

11. Colleges

A college is a learning environment, an academic institution primarily for degree acquisition. It is targeted at running advanced programs and educational classes for professional degrees. Vocational education is also part of the syllabus in some colleges.

Here's how psychology instructors use colleges:
  • Ordered textbooks for the psychology department was as a Community Colleges Representative.

12. Course Content

Here's how psychology instructors use course content:
  • Plan course instruction based upon approved syllabus/outline provided to assure course content and objectives are met.
  • Course content included handouts, research assignments, discussions, quizzes, exams, etc.

13. Social Psychology

Here's how psychology instructors use social psychology:
  • Complete responsibility for managing and teaching Social Psychology, Applied Psychology and Introductory Psychology in a classroom capacity of 40 students
  • Facilitated class discussion and encourage critical thinking on topics relating to social cognition and social psychology.

14. Instructional Materials

Here's how psychology instructors use instructional materials:
  • Required knowledge of instructional material and creation of lesson plans.
  • Prepare instructional materials to teach the college success class.

15. Canvas

Here's how psychology instructors use canvas:
  • Mentor adjunct instructors in Angel, Blackboard, Canvas, and Banner Web.
  • Used Canvas LMS the past two years for distance learning courses.
top-skills

What skills help Psychology Instructors find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on psychology instructor resumes?

Roderick McIntosh Ph.D.

Professor of Anthropology, Yale University

There is no substitute for as much field experience as possible, and at least one analytical laboratory skill is critical. I do not see many pure archaeometry positions opening up (as opposed to the traditional region-focus anthropological archaeology trend), but science-based archaeology is on the rise.

What soft skills should all psychology instructors possess?

Lisa Rosen Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Director, Undergraduate Psychology Program, Southwest Region Vice President, Psi Chi, Texas Woman's University

Psychology majors have the opportunity to develop soft skills through coursework. Common courses in the major include Psychology of Adjustment, Psychology of Stress, and Introduction to Counseling Psychology. Through these courses, students develop skills for success at work, including identifying and employing effective time management and coping strategies, which foster adaptability, self-awareness, and resilience. Coursework may also focus on listening and other helping skills that can foster empathy and service orientation. These soft skills will be a benefit almost any career.

What hard/technical skills are most important for psychology instructors?

Lisa Rosen Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Director, Undergraduate Psychology Program, Southwest Region Vice President, Psi Chi, Texas Woman's University

Undergraduate psychology coursework centers largely on developing research and analytical skills. Psychology majors can review the literature, identify relevant information, and evaluate research conducted by others. However, psychology majors also develop the skills to conduct their own research. Many majors can complete a research project from start to finish, which allows them to hone data analysis and interpretation skills and other skills critical to project management. Psychology majors also develop their communication skills as written papers and oral presentations are quite common. Through research and writing, psychology majors develop various computer skills, including word processing and statistical software.

What psychology instructor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Kathryn Grow AllenKathryn Grow Allen LinkedIn profile

PRODiG Fellow, SUNY Potsdam

For students who want to go to graduate school, taking a gap year is not necessarily a bad thing (I took two)! That year can be a time to reflect and make sure you want to go to graduate school (rather than just enrolling because you're not sure what to do next). It also gives you time to ensure you've found the right graduate program for you. During a gap year (or years), build skills that will make you more successful in graduate school. These can be simple, such as solidifying time management techniques that work for your personality type so you can successfully juggle difficult course work, involvement in research, teaching, article and grant writing...the many different areas you need to be involved in during graduate school. Likewise, networking should be a high priority during a gap year and is truly a skill that gets easier the more you do it. Reaching out to people who are in your desired career field can be intimidating but a coffee with a senior member of the field can lead to a mentoring relationship or, at least, great insight into opportunities and practical advice from lived experience. Anthropology is a close community, connecting and building collaboration skills is incredibly important. This is true for students combining anthropology with another field (business, medicine, conservation) as well. Some other skills worth developing including ANY communication skills (writing, verbal, public speaking) and creating online content. Students should build a professional webpage or train in creating video and interactive medias. These technical skills will be extremely helpful in marketing oneself and one's work outputs.

What type of skills will young psychology instructors need?

Ye Chen Ph.D.Ye Chen Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Assistant Professor, University of West Georgia

Graduates with educational technology (Ed Tech) degrees commonly work as instructional designers, technology/media specialists, trainers, e-learning developers in k12 school, university, military, company, or government. The skills employers usually want in Ed Tech graduates include:
- Instructional design skills for analyzing instructional needs and designing & developing effective instructional solutions.
- Technical skills in utilizing technology to develop and implement instruction. At the same time, they are expected to understand how to integrate technology into instructional settings in a pedagogically meaningful way.
- Communication skills are essential as their work roles heavily rely on effective communication with content experts, clients, trainees/students, etc. throughout the instructional design process

What technical skills for a psychology instructor stand out to employers?

Dr. Rhonda Dass Ph.D.Dr. Rhonda Dass Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Director - American Indigenous Studies/Museum Studies, Chair/Professor - Anthropology Department, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Employers need people who can analyze data, create practical solutions to everyday problems, and apply their skills to situations.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about psychology instructor

List of psychology instructor skills to add to your resume

Psychology instructor skills

The most important skills for a psychology instructor resume and required skills for a psychology instructor to have include:

  • Semester
  • Student Learning
  • Research Methods
  • Syllabus
  • Social Work
  • Sociology
  • Professional Development
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Criminal Justice
  • Course Curriculum
  • Colleges
  • Course Content
  • Social Psychology
  • Instructional Materials
  • Canvas
  • General Psychology
  • Blackboard
  • Course Materials
  • Class Discussions
  • Curriculum Development
  • Introductory Psychology
  • Student Performance
  • Human Behavior
  • Undergraduate Psychology Courses
  • Abnormal Psychology
  • Social Science
  • Teaching Methodologies
  • Course Objectives
  • Human Development
  • Distance Learning
  • Learning Styles
  • Child Psychology
  • Advisory Committee
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Social Justice
  • Organizational Psychology
  • Courses Taught
  • Student Evaluations
  • Educational Psychology
  • Psychopharmacology
  • Ethics
  • PowerPoint
  • APA
  • Lifespan Development
  • Human Growth
  • Research Paper

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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