How To Become A Staff Psychiatrist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a staff psychiatrist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Staff psychiatrists are licensed medical professionals working in hospitals, mental institutions, clinics, schools, assisted living facilities for veterans or socially marginalized people with mental and emotional problems. They provide psychiatric services for people working or living in these institutions.

Working in this position, you will report to a higher-level psychiatrist or physician. You will assess the condition of your patients, diagnose their diseases, and plan and implement their psychiatric treatment. You will provide therapy and administer medication as you see fit.

A degree in psychology will be necessary to fill this role. You will need to be licensed to practice psychiatry, and experience in this field is also often a requirement. Carrying and assisting with other people's emotional burdens is a job not suitable for everyone. Empathy and an ability to listen and understand are just as important features of successful psychiatrists as in-depth knowledge in the theory and contemporary methods of psychiatric therapy. If you have the right combination of skills and insight, you will be able to make $222,000 on average per year.

ScoreStaff PsychiatristUS Average

Salary

10.0

Avg. Salary $254,265

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.11%

Asian 18.13%

Black or African American 5.17%

Hispanic or Latino 9.16%

Unknown 2.76%

White 64.67%

Gender

female 35.02%

male 64.98%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.5

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a staff psychiatrist

Explore staff psychiatrist education requirements

Most common staff psychiatrist degrees

Doctorate

34.5 %

Certificate

28.8 %

Bachelor's

25.7 %

Start to develop specific staff psychiatrist skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	45.45%
Patient Care	10.53%
Veterans	10.09%
Psychiatric Evaluations	6.01%
Primary Care	5.38%

Complete relevant staff psychiatrist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New staff psychiatrists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a staff psychiatrist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real staff psychiatrist resumes.

Research staff psychiatrist duties and responsibilities

Implement individualized care plans, using a variety of treatments to stabilize patients during their hospitalization.
Conduct full neurological evaluation, including lab, MRI & /or EEG.

Prepare your staff psychiatrist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your staff psychiatrist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a staff psychiatrist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable staff psychiatrist resume templates

Build a professional staff psychiatrist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your staff psychiatrist resume.