And, more importantly, how much do they pay? As in every career field, some psychology jobs pay better than others. But questions of money aside, the catalogue of jobs you can get with your psychology degree is very long indeed. Here, we list 10 careers, their benefits and salary range, and required training.
| 🥼Job title | 💰Median annual salary | ⌚Primary duties | 📜Required training |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forensic psychologist | $71 277 | Assist with criminal investigations. Profile criminal behaviours. Give expert testimony in court. | Earn a Masters' or Doctorate's degree in Psychology. Gain practical skills. Apply for endorsement. |
| Child psychologist | $72 351 | Assess patients' social, emotional, and behavioural condition. Formulate and implement treatments. Make recommendations to caregivers. | Bachelor of Psychology (minimum) Master of Clinical Psychology or related degree. Psychology Board of Australia registration. Continue professional development. Attain practice endorsement. |
| Behavioural therapist | $76 070 | Consult with patients. Evaluate patient behaviour. Develop treatment plans. Keep accurate notes. Report potentially dangerous issues. | Earn a Masters degree in Psychology Gain practical experience. Register with the Psychology Board of Australia |
| Career counsellor | $81 022 | Assess clients for job suitability based on a number of psychological and actual factors. Assist with practical aspects of job searches. | Complete Masters or Doctorate degree. Get a Diploma of Counselling. Gain experience. Join a a professional counselling body. |
| Psychotherapist | $88 563 | Generally work with adults. Help patients recognise and overcome emotional and behavioural challenges. Help patients develop coping mechanisms. | Complete Masters or Doctorate degree. Undergo supervised practice. Apply for registration. |
| Community psychologist | $90 000 | Work with remote populations and communities. Conduct research into social, political, and environmental factors that impact mental wellbeing. Create programs to resolve issues. | Earn a Masters in Psychology. Earn a certificate of Community Service. Submit to government checks. Gain experience. |
| Military psychologist | $91 945 | Assess and diagnose members of the military. Provide psychological support as needed. Consult military commanders about patient status. May deploy around the globe. | Complete Masters or Doctorate degree. Undergo supervised practice. Apply for registration. (May be required to join the military!) |
| Sports psychologist | $94 371 | Help athletes, manage and improve their mental wellbeing. Help develop pregame routines and coping strategies for dealing with losses. | Earn a Masters degree in Psychology. Register as a psychologist. Apply for sports specialisation. Gain experience. |
| Neuropsychologist | $95 458 | Find and treat the disease or injury that causes patients' cognitive and behavioural conditions. Formulate patient's therapy and intervention plans. Monitor and record progress. | Earn a Masters' or Doctorate's degree in Psychology. Complete clinical placement and supervised practice. |
| Family Therapist | $100 520 | Consult with an counsel families. Devise ways to improve family relations. Monitor progress. | Earn a Masters or Doctorate in Psychology. Complete supervised clinicals. Gain accreditation. Apply for registration. |
Forensic Psychology
True crime fans, take notice: one of the most engaging jobs in psychology is also one of the most accessible.
Forensic psychologists work with criminal justice and legal experts to help make sense of crimes. They interview offenders to help determine motive and work with police investigators to put their cases together.
They also apply their skills to build criminal profiles based on crime scene staging.
Top professionals can estimate the perpetrator's age, psychological makeup and needs, and what drives their behaviour from the clues criminals leave behind.
Unfortunately, forensic psychology work is among the lowest-paid psychology jobs. With an average base salary of just over $71 000/year, you might think twice about investing six to eight years in higher education.
On the flipside, it's one of the easiest fields of study to get into, with an ATAR range typically not going over 85. Besides, consulting fees and experience will add to your total salary; you're not limited to earning just that bit.
Child Psychology
Working as a child psychologist can be the most rewarding or the most heartbreaking. Or both, at the same time.
Rewards
- help neurodivergent patients cope with everyday life
- counsel students through school anxieties
- provide relief for struggling families
Heartbreak
- discover the depths of patients' trauma
- patients' tragedies impact your own mental wellness
- realise the limits of psychology
As your young patients achieve their breakthroughs, you realise your choice of psychology careers was, indeed, the right one. All the studying - at least six years, and the exacting certification processes were all worth it.
Frankly, the relatively low salary (around $72 000/year) doesn't make the heartbreaking aspects any easier to take. That's one reason why this career field suffers from a chronic lack of professionals.
Public versus Private Practice
Social work and school counselling are examples of public child psychology practice. For these careers, your certifications might be more demanding, and your pay will be more regulated.
On the other hand, should you decide on private practice, you may set your hourly rates in line with the market. Currently, the going rate in Australia is around $56/hour. You might increase your earnings by making housecalls, hosting group therapy sessions, or promoting therapeutic toys and devices.
Behavioural Therapy
In this career field, you're less subject to heartbreak and more prone to triumphs. Behavioural therapists don't do deep dives into patients' histories. They help patients overcome harmful behaviours and unhealthy tendencies. Among the conditions behavioural therapists treat, we find:
- obsessive-compulsive disorders
- autism spectrum disorders
- eating disorders
- hyperactivity disorders
- anxiety disorders
- phobias
- addictions
- neurological disorders (Tourette's, e.g.)
(Cognitive) Behavioural therapists need to understand the condition(s) at the root of the undesirable behaviour(s). So, you'll do a bit of talking and analysing. However, the bulk of your work will revolve around redirecting your patients' thought processes. For that, you may prescribe activities like journaling and taking exercise and medications, as needed.
Career Counsellor
This is a very targeted type of therapy, one that doesn't directly address psychological development or trauma. However, you'll take the same psychology degree courses other psychologists do and engage in some of the same practices.
Successful career counsellors need to know about their patients' motivations for seeking specific work.
They then help patients tailor their cognitive and psychological advantages to the field in question. Often, while helping them build self-confidence and assertiveness.
Job-searching comes with a certain level of anxiety, much greater for some than others. As a career counsellor, you'll encourage your patients towards behaviours and thought processes that help reduce anxiety.
The Other Side of Career Counselling
Some career counsellors work with firms to devise tests and employment questionnaires. These help employers pre-qualify job candidates' mental qualities as valuable additions to their enterprise.
Returning to job seekers, career counsellors apply similar questionnaires to their patients, and for the same reasons. Once they interpret those surveys' results, the counsellor will help the job seeker prepare. That includes everything from mental strategies to keep anxiety at bay to helping fill out job applications.
Psychotherapist
This is probably the type of psychology discipline that most students have in mind when they search for the best psychology university programs.
Typically, psychotherapists work with adult patients, uncovering sources of emotional scarring. Once recognised and dealt with, the therapist will create a treatment plan to help move their patients into wellness.
These therapists use a number of techniques to help their patients heal.
Those include behavioural therapy, interventions, journaling and educating patients about their conditions and how to cope with them.
The most critical aspect of this type of therapy is teaching patients to see themselves as a whole being, not an existence apart from - and afflicted by, their trauma.
Community Counsellor
Typically, psychology careers involve working with patients, to some degree. However, psychology research is equally rewarding, especially if you'd rather limit your exposure to patients' trauma.
A community psychologist's career revolves around research. They work with distinct populations to understand their communities' issues, challenges, and struggles. Such may be environmental, political, social, and/or economic. These professionals don't treat individual patients.
Rather, they design strategies to benefit the entire group. They may present their research in Parliament and testify to the need for remedial action.
These counsellors' research helps to form a record of the human condition across societies.
Military Psychologist
We are now creeping into the high-range salary jobs; with them comes more responsibility. They also demand more training, so count on going beyond a masters' degree to land one of these jobs.
To shorten your time in school, you could do your undergraduate and graduate work on campus, and take psychology courses online for your doctorate work. That's an ideal solution if you're a military psychologist, as you may be stationed abroad.
In general terms, military psychologists are commissioned officers in the Australian Army Psychology Corps.
Our military has a program that encourages university students to pursue graduate studies. Students earn between $45 172 and $51 195 per year as they study, plus an additional 16.4%. Once you complete your degree requirements, you'll join the military, potentially earning $100 579/year.
Sports Psychologist
Put me in, Coach, I'm ready to play, today!
John Fogerty, from Centerfield
Elite athletic performance isn't achieved through talent alone. Athletes require physical training, mental fortitude, and techniques to manage pre-competition anxiety. While coaches excel at maintaining discipline and structure, sports psychologists specialise in enhancing athletic performance through mental preparation.
Working as a sports psychologist, you prepare athletes mentally for competitive challenges. You support their recovery from the emotional impact of defeats or physical injuries, teach pressure management techniques, and create structured pre-game protocols that foster reliable victories.
Neuropsychologist
If you enjoy playing detective and have more than a passing interest in medicine, this is the psychology career field for you.
Neurological disorders such as Parkinson's, autism, and epilepsy have substantial psychological impacts. Neuropsychologists conduct tests to determine the exact cause of the patient's distress. They then devise coping strategies to deal with the mental stress of their condition.
They create a treatment plan that they guide their patients through, with their treating physicians' help.
This British neurologist made his name treating patients suffering from the 1920 encephalitis lethargica epidemic 40 years on. His book, Awakenings, describes his and his patients' experiences.
Oliver Sacks mainly dealt with the medical side of neuro-psychological phenomena. However, he couldn't help but stray into the neuropsychology field, as they're so closely related. As you progress through your career as a neuropsychologist, you might discover the same will happen to you.
Family Therapist
Our last entry of top jobs in this field returns us to a greater risk of heartbreak, but it's among the highest for a psychology salary in Australia.
Family counselling typically involves families in distress. You're likely to hear a lot of pain and acrimony, grief and conflict. A subset of family therapy helps parents build their parenting skills, particularly if their relationship with their children is troubled.
But, it doesn't have to be all bad. You might, for instance, help a blended family build closer ties. Or you could help estranged family members reestablish bonds. At the very least, you can teach families how to cope with the stresses of their relationship.
According to Indeed, these 10 psychology careers are the most popular and sought-after across Australia. Which is the best psychology career for you? Only a complete guide to psychology studies can help you answer that question and others.
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