At the biennial, we held a roundtable session on this topic and discussed some of the academic and non-academic job options for emerging community psychologists. Early career CPists shared their experiences in finding a job and offered some ideas for establishing a career in the field. If you were a part of this session, or have some thoughts or questions on this topic, use this discussion area to share with other SCRA membes. If you have resources to share, you can post in this forum or upload to the session folder here: http://www.scra27.org/biennialme/sessionfol/sunday/207

I'll post a bit of what I recall - please add to it and edit...there were many good things said:

QUESTION 1: What kinds of jobs are out there, how do you decide what jobs to apply for and to take?

ANSWERS TO QUESTION 1: There are actually quite a lot of different types of jobs out there, and the best distinction to make between jobs is not "tenure track" vs. "non tenure track" Different jobs come with their own set of challenges, whether it be publishing, teaching, getting grants, working with clients, or service (departmental or community service). Academic vs. non-Academic is also not a good distinction between jobs. Need to ask a lot of questions and think about what is the best fit for you.

Also talked about organizational factors... leadership, mentorship, fairness, etc. all affect job quality / job fit.

Seems to be a certain mindset (putting yourself out thee and opening yourself up to whatever opportunities happen to come your way) that goes along with applying for all kinds of jobs or at least several similar sounding jobs, that helps people get jobs.

Your priorities of what you do in a job and how you spend your time may change over time. For example, as you get into examining your research questions and doing your work, you may find publishing more interesting and rewarding compared to those first one-two years of graduate school.

Know that no decision is ever permanent. You can make a change if something is not working out; don't be afraid to make a change.

QUESTION 2: How did you find your job? Where do I look for a job?

Postings online (Chronicle, AEA, listserv), standard application and interview process.

Mentor helped link with potential opportunities.

Self-directed networking: attending different types of community meetings, use internet to learn about key organizations and set up informational interviews, be willing to work for a reduced rate to get something started...people can learn about you and trust you and understand the quality of your work products.

Learn/understand/follow the culture of the location in which you are looking for a job...

Look for skills in the job description, match on skills not on title. There are no "community psychologist wanted" adds.

Universities and nonprofit or government are all potential settings or employers.

Between undergrad and graduate school - could work in an applied setting or a research setting. If you work in an applied setting and then go back to get your phd, you will have to be able to demonstrate the value-added of research, that you are thinking critically about program and context processes. Very intense applied work after undergrad, before grand school will scare away a few graduate programs, but those are probably not the ones you would want to go to.

ADDITIONAL QUESTION NOT DISCUSSED AT SESSION: How do you know when to say "no" in terms of adding a new project or responsibility onto your plate an early career person?

Hi everyone. We also discussed tips for preparing for the academic job interview: do research on the school and the area, know a little bit about each of the faculty members in the department (at least know what type of psychologist they are: clinician, community, social, I/O, etc.). Also I think we talked about how research and teaching expectations vary across the various institutions.

We briefly discussed "where to go from here?" however, I don't think we made a final decision. I'm open to ideas. I'm on SPSSI's Early Scholars Committee and if we wanted to collaborate with them or do something similar for SCRA I would be happy to get involved in such an effort.

We also discussed the different kinds of jobs out there and the intrinsic rewards of each. For example - a job that has a teaching requirement for tenure may be very satisfying for someone who enjoys teaching and prefers that kind of job versus a "publish or perish" kind of environment which may be attractive to others. The idea being that there are different ways to get what you want. If you want a tenure-track position, but don't want to focus on publishing, you can find a job that requires a different focus as part of the tenure process.