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Top 5 Psychology Courses to help your Career Development

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by Elena Albright @ August 17th, 2010 RSS Link Tweet

Question:
Dear Psychologist,

I’d like to take some psychology courses because I am interested in this subject, but am not sure I want to be a psychologist. What other things can I do with a bachelor’s degree in psychology? Will it be useful? Where do I start? Best, Janet

Answer:
Dear Janet,

Psychology is a wonderful subject to study because many careers involve some kind of understanding of people, groups, or organizations. A bachelor’s degree in psychology can be a good base for different kinds of jobs ranging from teaching to business. Even taking some psychology courses separate from a degree can enhance your understanding to build your skills.

1) Developmental Psychology—This course gives an understanding of how a human being develops cognitively, emotionally, physically, and interpersonally over the life span. Often there is a focus on child development, although adult development can be covered, too.

Developmental psychology is an excellent course for anyone who will be working with children, including preschool teachers, elementary school teachers, guidance counselors, and program leaders. Understanding adult development helps teachers and trainers who work with adult learners.

2) Psychopathology, Abnormal Psychology: These classes are, of course, important to therapists and counselors working with people who have serious problems and disorders. However, understanding these areas can be useful for someone who works in the criminal justice system, special education, ministry, and even human resources. Typically these classes have a high interest level for students.

3) Organizational Psychology: This class is a great match for someone who works with organizations, is a leader of an organization or is in the business world. In fact, in a Master’s of Business Administration, MBA, organizational psychology is often a required class.

4) Human Motivation: Understanding human motivation can be a great background for people who enter marketing, public relations and sales. It is also helpful in many business contexts.

5) Listening Skills: This class is a hands-on one that is often taught in counseling programs, although the content can be found in psychology courses as well. Being a good listener is a skill that can help you in almost any profession. For instance, managers in business will do better to motivate their teams if they have good listening skills. Being able to listen effectively is particularly useful in service careers like counseling and nursing, customer service jobs, and communication-based jobs like journalism.

Do you think you would like to understand more about people and groups? These psychology classes are a great base for further education in almost any field. You might want to take some at your local community college, or local campus school, even if you don’t choose to get a degree in psychology.

Online psychology courses are another way to learn some fascinating new material. There are many programs available and you can explore to find the one that would be a good fit for your profession. Make sure that you find an accredited program before your enroll.

Finally, the American Psychological Association is a rich source of information on many psychological topics, including depression, anxiety, and bullying. If you want to get more information about the field of psychology, this site is a good place to start.

IBM SHIFT SETS HIGH STANDARD FOR FIRMS FREEZING PENSIONS.(International Business Machines Corp. freezes defined-benefit plan and enhances 401(k) plan)

Workforce Management January 16, 2006 | Marquez, Jessica Byline: Jessica Marquez IBM’s announcement this month that it is freezing its defined-benefit plan and enhancing its 401(k) may up the ante for other companies considering similar moves.

It’s common for employers to enhance their 401(k)s when they freeze their pension plans. It’s a way to give employees something back for what the company is taking away, observers say. But in recent months, companies seem to be trying to outdo each other in their enhancements, all as a way of remaining competitive in recruiting and retaining workers. go to web site defined benefit plan

In July, Hewlett-Packard announced it was freezing its defined-benefit plan and increasing the match on its 401(k) plan from 4 percent to 6 percent. In December, Verizon Communications announced it was freezing its cash-balance plan and upping its match from 5 percent to 6 percent. On top of that, the New York telecommunications provider announced that it would raise its match to $1.50 per dollar if the company reaches certain financial targets.

IBM’s enhancements to its 401(k) plan, which take effect in January 2008, include an automatic contribution of 1 percent to 4 percent of an employee’s salary annually by the company and a dollar-for-dollar match of up to 5 percent or 6 percent, depending on the tenure and status of the employee. An average 401(k) match is 50 cents for every dollar up to 6 percent.

The move puts IBM’s 401(k) plan among the “top 1 percent” in competitiveness, says Dallas Salisbury, president of the Employee Benefit Research Institute. “This is going to put pressure on other companies to enhance their 401(k)s,” particularly those that are planning on terminating their pension plans, he says. see here defined benefit plan

IBM’s new 401(k) is designed to give richer compensation to longer-tenured employees, says Fred McNeese, a company spokesman. For example, participants in the pension plan will receive 10 percent automatic contributions from the company, while new hires will receive 1 percent. The match for hires after January 2004 is increasing to dollar for dollar up to 5 percent, while the match for older hires will be dollar for dollar up to 6 percent. The changes will affect 120,000 employees.

But it’s not just a matter of being competitive from a recruiting and retention standpoint, says Lori Lucas, director of participant research at Hewitt Associates. IBM and other companies are also responding to the pressure of making sure that their 401(k) plans can act as the sole source of retirement for employees, she says.

For IBM, there is also a publicity issue. Its cash-balance plan was the focus of a class-action lawsuit just a year ago. In the suit, which the company partially settled for $320 million last year, employees claimed that the plan discriminated against older workers. Given what happened with its cash-balance plan, IBM has extra incentive to do something right for its employees, says Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Although IBM’s new 401(k) plan may be much more competitive, it doesn’t make up for what employees who were in the pension plan are losing, she says.

And then there is the question about how long the automatic contribution will last. There is nothing stopping IBM from taking away the contribution if the market takes a dive, Munnell says.

“It would be lovely if I was wrong,” she says. “But let’s see where this is in five years.” CAPTION(S):

RAISING THE STAKES: IBM’s 401(k) enhancements put the plan in the “top 1 percent” in competitiveness, says Dallas Salisbury of the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Marquez, Jessica

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