Completing your tertiary studies and launching into the world as a provisional psychologist can be an exciting and daunting experience. At the College of Professional Psychology (COPP), we’ve worked with and supported psychology graduates for over thirty years. Here are the five most common career mistakes that we see provisional psychologists make each year.

1. Working in an unsupported environment

In the rush to finally gain employment, many new graduates fall into the trap of working in unsupportive environments. While it can be difficult to detect an unsupportive environment before you begin, the tell-tale signs of these workplaces will quickly appear. As a new employee or intern, it is important to stay on the lookout for some tell-tale signs:

• Feeling as though you hold all the responsibility for your role.
• The leaders in your workplace are ‘too busy’ to help you.
• You are the only psychologist on the team.
• Your manager doesn’t understand the registration requirements.
• You are asked to make important decisions (such as mandatory reports or writing assessments) without the opportunity to discuss them with a senior.
• You feel alone and there are no resources available for you.

2. Forgetting to network with peers and industry experts

Getting used to a new internship and work environment can be exhausting. Many graduates feel that outside of work, they have little time or energy for networking with peers and industry experts. Yet, as daunting as this may seem, your career will benefit from expanding your professional network during your internship.

When choosing where to undertake your internship, be sure to ask whether your potential provider can help you build your professional network. As the saying goes, it’s often ‘not what you know, but who you know’ that can make a difference to your career.

3. Not acquiring workplace skills

For many recent graduates, their internship is the first place where they really get to acquire skills that are relevant to the professional workplace. Workplace skills cannot be adequately taught in university settings. They include things such as workplace communication, teamwork, problem-solving, strategic planning, time management, and initiative-taking.

Another mistake here involves assuming that the on-the-job skills you learnt in your last job are enough to last you for your whole career. Most provisional psychologists are not working in their ‘forever jobs’, so if your current internship provider does not help you acquire some of these essential workplace skills, it is time to look around for a better opportunity.

4. Focusing on the ‘job’ and not the career

After the years of study that you have put into your university degree, finally landing a job is a joyous occasion, and you should pat yourself on the back. Taking time to appreciate your sense of accomplishment is an important marker in your journey, and we encourage you to enjoy that sense of achievement to its fullest.  Of course, there is a difference between a job and a career, and once the routines of work settle in, we recommend thinking more broadly about what you want from your career.

Focusing on the bigger picture of your career helps you to contextualise what you are currently doing and where you want to be in the future. It’s common for psychologists to move through multiple workplaces throughout their working lives, and you are probably no exception to this trend.

We recommend setting aside some thinking time to consider where you want your qualifications to take you. Ask yourself what steps you need to take to get there and what you will need to get out of your current and future workplaces to achieve your goals. A great place to start is to ask yourself why you wanted to be a psychologist in the first place. Having a career-long perspective will help you get through the stressful periods of the internship.

5. Forgetting that ‘feeling like you belong’ is a success driver.

Starting a new role can feel awkward and difficult; however, after a few weeks, it is important that you begin to feel like you belong in your current workplace. Many new graduates can feel so overwhelmed by their desire to ‘fit in’ to their new workplace that they forget that their employer has an obligation to help them feel safe, supported and part of the team.

If you feel that you don’t really belong in your current workplace, you probably are not getting the most out of your time there. Feeling that you belong is an important driver for future success because it can be very difficult to grow and expand professionally when much of your attention is focused on fitting in. Be sure to take the time to assess whether you feel like you belong in your current role, and if it’s not quite the right fit, be honest with yourself about it and look for a new opportunity. This is especially the case in workplaces where the intern is the only psychologist on the team.

What’s next?

If any or all of these issues resonate with you, or if you would like more information about how the College of Professional Psychologists can help you in your career, take a look at our current 5+1 and 4+2 Psychology Registration Programs. They are specially designed to help you get the most out of your early career years.

One mistake here may be assuming that the on-the-job skills learnt in your first professional role will cover everything you need to carry you into the future. It is very rare that provisional psychologists are working in their “forever jobs”.

In our experience, it is important to remember why you wanted to be a psychologist in the first place – to help you get through the stressful periods of internship years. For most of us, psychology is a lifelong profession, and it is helpful to consider life beyond your first job placement.

This is especially true in workplaces where the intern is the only psychologist on the team.