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HUGE mistake in career choice
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dimyona




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 01 2014, 5:37 pm
Fox wrote:
I don't think it's obvious that you made a mistake at all. No matter the field, the first professional job out of school is usually . . . lousy. Almost every successful professional I've known in health sciences, financial services, education, or IT spent 2-5 years working like a dog under difficult conditions for a comparative pittance.

Yes, I know. Your parents' neighbor's niece graduated from [fill-in-the-blank] school and waltzed into a job earning $150,000 a year while working only 20 hours a week and gets full benefits plus a doggie day care allowance. Sorry if I'm skeptical. Even when such stories are factually true, there is often some extenuating factor that gave the individual an unusual advantage, such as the ability to speak Croatian or construct origami swans or whatever.

It sounds to me like you're following a pretty standard career path in mental health, and as you get more experience as well as whatever licensure you need, more opportunities will open up -- and those opportunities will come with better hours and better pay.

First, start by managing your own and your DH's expectations. Your job now is analogous to a physician's residency. Had you attended medical school, no one would expect you to walk directly into a private practice or impressive hospital job. In fact, you wouldn't even be allowed to do so! This is the same thing. Even though you officially graduated, the first few years of work are really still part of your education.

Second, keep your eyes open, your resume ready, and network, network, network. Stay active on professional forums; attend workshops; reach out to people who seem to have interesting jobs . . . that is how you will find opportunities. Don't be afraid to job-hop a bit during the first few years -- this can actually be an advantage as long as you do it in a mentchlikeit way.

Ultimately, spending a few years to build a career that you actually find interesting generally leads to a much more fulfilling and lucrative lifestyle than entering a field simply because the pay happens to be good at the time you entered school.


Very wise words. OP, I think you're at a point in your career where you're still working through the drag. Definitely stick it out at least until you get your license. Once you have all your credentials under your belt, you may want to take a break and reevaluate how you can further build on what you've worked for, but stopping now will only lead to future disappointment later in life. Good luck!
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miami85




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 01 2014, 9:36 pm
amother wrote:
OP here. I wish. Those jobs are very hard to find. Can't work for the Board of Ed until I'm licensed and private schools have so few openings...


Regarding school psychology jobs are hard to find, especially if you are monolingual. However, if you are a school psychologist not MHC, you don't have to be licesnsed, just certified, but it's more schooling and internship.

I'm a school psych intern now and I KNOW it's hard, I'm in my internship and I feel like I barely see my family as well, but I know that this is temporary.
Finish getting your hours. Get licensed and then go private. You'll be glad you did, and you'll look back and realize that you made an investment so that you can enjoy your family.

Don't regret your career choice at this point, just make the most of it, and do your best. It may not be the field with a plethora of jobs, but they do exist, and you'll find one.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Oct 01 2014, 9:48 pm
debsey wrote:
Board of Ed is slowly removing these positions. As testing is becoming increasingly more electronic, there will come a point where it will no longer require a psychology degree at all.
Also, if OP has a degree in a different mental health field, she'd have to start from scratch to get a school psych degree - it's a specialty. And again, not a smart one to go into. It's a dying field.


COMPLETELY NOT TRUE. I am a school psychologist. I just got hired a year ago. and I love my job. and its in the board of ed. and there has been NO cutbacks, my district hired 8 new people this year!
Computerized testing will never replace school psychologists. Can computer based tests comment on informal testing observations? noticing a child has processing problems? Auditory processing problems? Low overall comprehension?
How can I computer generate classroom observations, IEP's, testing accommodations? Can computers chair IEP meetings?
Or conduct counseling? Or advise teachers on how to handle a tough kid? Develop individual behavior plans?
This is crazy. Im not sure where you got this from
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debsey




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 01 2014, 11:04 pm
amother wrote:
COMPLETELY NOT TRUE. I am a school psychologist. I just got hired a year ago. and I love my job. and its in the board of ed. and there has been NO cutbacks, my district hired 8 new people this year!
Computerized testing will never replace school psychologists. Can computer based tests comment on informal testing observations? noticing a child has processing problems? Auditory processing problems? Low overall comprehension?
How can I computer generate classroom observations, IEP's, testing accommodations? Can computers chair IEP meetings?
Or conduct counseling? Or advise teachers on how to handle a tough kid? Develop individual behavior plans?
This is crazy. Im not sure where you got this from


A professor of school psychology. He predicted the field will be dead in 10 years.

A computer can do all of the things you mentioned, with a BA +a few courses level person to do it. If you think districts care about QUALITY, they don't. They care about MONEY and that's it. If they can dummy down the job by getting computers to do most of it, and hire technicians to do the rest, they will. It's coming down the pike. I would never advise anyone to go into school psych.
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Dolly Welsh




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 01 2014, 11:27 pm
OP, it wasn't a "choice," it was a long-term tapestry of ongoing, continuous decision-making. It represented your very best ideas and thoughts about yourself, and what your brain can do, and would feel good about doing, feel meaningful about doing.

Now, it may not easily yield the precise desired job.

OP, it wasn't vocational training. It was an education that became part of your notions and self.

Never, ever second-guess your own decisions, if they were the best decision that could be made at that time, given what was known at that time. They represented your judgment, and therefore, you.

Do that is to tear at your own self. Do not do that. Do not second-guess yourself. It is self-destructive behavior.

You now have a skill set, concerning statistics, and a background as an analytic thinker who can handle ideas. And can write. And speak to people effectively. Your task is to do your life, and see if this degree can serve you in various ways, longterm.

Your husband paid for it, I get it. He will get an insightful wife with depth in return for that money. You will also work. But not necessarily always in a cookie-cutter way, as a school psychologist.

If for the moment it doesn't seem time to be out of the house a lot, because the kids are little, then take care of your kids. It does not sound as if you need to work to survive. It is just that you don't want to have "wasted" his money spent on your education.

Here is the situation: 1) in this economy, 2) as a woman with small children, and 3) a non-science, liberal arts degree, it is not amazing you can't sail into the job of your dreams.

Now concentrate on:

1) your own mental health. You are ripping yourself into weight gain and depression. Alarm bell!!

2) taking good care of your kids, husband and home

3) keeping your mind sharp with reading and networking. Some good ideas have been mentioned on this thread, re-read them.

4) Address G-d, and thank him for providing you with a husband who is a nice guy, and who can pay for you and your kids, without your having to sweat and bleed in the workforce as hard as many other women. Gratitude is in order!

5) I am a little leery of the effect that advanced technical examination of the mind has had on you. It might be time to forget some of it. It's a bit gloomy as a subject. Psychology is not the happy department.

Hugs.
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Chayalle




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 02 2014, 9:36 am
Fox welcome back! I am once again loving your posts!

Reading this thread, I couldn't help thinking how all of this is true in so many fields. You go to school, get your degree, and then they tell you that your field is flooded and you will never make it.

Years ago my father was in a Masters program for engineering at Columbia....people told him the field was flooded and he would never get a job. Then the world of computers exploded - the first PC's began to appear on the market - and there was a big market for engineers with strong mathematical backgrounds. He took actuarial courses, and worked in that field to retirement.

When I was in school, I took lots of mainframe programming courses, and people told me I'll never get a job, the field is obsolete, everything is front-end now. However, companies stil have their back-ends to maintain, and I've been working for close to 20 years now in my field. I get calls here and there from other companies who need what I do and there aren't enough young people who do that.

OP, the world is a changing place. You never know what opens up. Computers may take over a certain area, but another window can open up.

Your education will not be wasted. You need to just finish the course - get your experience and license, and look for opportunities.

Hatzlacha.
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princessleah




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 02 2014, 11:24 am
OP, I'm going to give you some straight talk. Correct me if I'm wrong on any assumptions I'm making.
It seems that you got a Master's degree. That takes about 2-3 years. That's not a crazy amount of time or money to spend on an advanced degree. In fact, it's probably the minimum you have to do to be successful in any field if you want to be promotable and hireable.

This whole process between school and licensing hours should take max 5 years. I don't think that is such a crazy amount of time. Put in the effort, and you'll see the rewards. Remember if you're planning on going into private practice that is also not going to be instantaneous success or money. You're going to need to lay out $$ for an office, etc. Everything -- the education, the internships, the money-- is an investment in the future. It will pay off.

Also working full-time is what most people reasonably trying to start their careers do. I know it is hard with young kids at home, but that is the reality of life for most people in the U.S. today.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Oct 02 2014, 2:47 pm
OP, I'm in the same boat as you, also in the mental health field. It's a hard field, it's a very hard field, I think that it's not acknolweged how hard it is until we really get into it and then we see. I'm working at a dead end job, in a clinic with very small caseload and no room to move up. I'm also working on getting licensed in my discipline, I'm so close but so far. Hang in there, once you are licensed then you can decide what to do. Defeinitley push through till you get licensed. It's invaluable. Then eventually you willb e able to find some sort of job that you like and somehow utizlies the degree.

Please hang in there. I'm in the same boat. I always second guess and question my decisiion. But definitley pursue the licensure.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Oct 02 2014, 8:11 pm
debsey wrote:
A professor of school psychology. He predicted the field will be dead in 10 years.

A computer can do all of the things you mentioned, with a BA +a few courses level person to do it. If you think districts care about QUALITY, they don't. They care about MONEY and that's it. If they can dummy down the job by getting computers to do most of it, and hire technicians to do the rest, they will. It's coming down the pike. I would never advise anyone to go into school psych.


Because one professor said so? Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes

This is ridiculous. True, it is not easy to find jobs. But I love mine! And the idea of the field dying out doesn't even make sense

Let's put your one professor against the 20 plus I had in graduate school who noted that once you find a job it is one of the most rewarding jobs. Any field can potentially die out. What your saying makes no sense

Also, once your tenured, your paid for life through retirement whether or not they have an actual job for you. Very Happy Very Happy

I truly am sorry I am posting under amother but I don't want to expose my job with my name as there aren't so many of us...
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amother


 

Post Thu, Oct 02 2014, 9:09 pm
My son is nearly done with his BA in Psych and English what the heck should he do now????
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Dolly Welsh




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 02 2014, 9:18 pm
Start networking his head off and taking courses about computers: both how to use applications and also some programming - I promise he will find this fascinating, given his majors - whether in his school or outside of his school.

That's what.

It won't hurt no matter what he ends up.

If he can squeeze in accounting before graduating, there would be no harm in that at all one little bit. Basic accounting. I promise that once he gets the philosophy of accounting, he will respect it's icy beauty. It is the music of integrity.

If you can't get him interested, start learning these things YOURSELF and gushily share how interesting it is, as his mommy. This will start him off a bit.

He already has had statistics, as part of psych. Make sure that is true.

If he can write, start him sending little pieces to the Jewish publications. His musings, his travels, his troubles as a confused young dude. People eat that stuff up. Everybody wants to hear from the slightly troubled but cheerful young.

He sounds smart. Don't worry.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Oct 02 2014, 11:32 pm
As an MHC I just want to say this whole thread is irritating me. Counseling is an art. It is a skill. It is complex and rich and amazingly wonderful when a session goes well. Yes I spent years working my tush off as a nobody for nothing to learn the art.
But if you are fulfilled by what you do you have the opportunity to be successful. Mental Health is not a dying field. There are so many people who have issues and struggles and need support. No computer will ever be able to look into sad eyes, feel out a broken heart, and guide a human being out of despair.


If you are looking to get rich quick this is not wall street. But it can definitely be a practical, stable, and rewarding career.
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groisamomma




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 02 2014, 11:41 pm
I don't know that it's a dying field. I still see job postings for school psychologists in my school district. I also work with them and participate in CST meetings. I have a very, very hard time believing what debsey said. Maybe that particular professor is burned out.
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Mama Bear




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 03 2014, 12:00 am
Can you join a clinic like Pesach Tikvah, Jewish Board, Interboro, Tikvah at Ohel, etc? maybe you can have flexible hours there - theyre Jewish and understanding of the lifestyle - and it will help you get a license and experience.
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debsey




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 03 2014, 12:16 am
Mama Bear wrote:
Can you join a clinic like Pesach Tikvah, Jewish Board, Interboro, Tikvah at Ohel, etc? maybe you can have flexible hours there - theyre Jewish and understanding of the lifestyle - and it will help you get a license and experience.


And about 15.00 an hour.....you can make that salary as a secretary.
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mirror




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 03 2014, 12:57 am
Mama Bear wrote:
Can you join a clinic like Pesach Tikvah, Jewish Board, Interboro, Tikvah at Ohel, etc? maybe you can have flexible hours there - theyre Jewish and understanding of the lifestyle - and it will help you get a license and experience.


Btw, Ohel is not hiring a social worker or mental health counselor.

http://www.ohelfamily.org/?q=careers
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mirror




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 03 2014, 12:59 am
Chayalle wrote:

When I was in school, I took lots of mainframe programming courses, and people told me I'll never get a job, the field is obsolete, everything is front-end now. However, companies stil have their back-ends to maintain, and I've been working for close to 20 years now in my field. I get calls here and there from other companies who need what I do and there aren't enough young people who do that.


Off topic, but Chayalle, do you recommend computers now? What specific areas of computers are good right now?
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 03 2014, 10:40 am
amother wrote:
As an MHC I just want to say this whole thread is irritating me. Counseling is an art. It is a skill. It is complex and rich and amazingly wonderful when a session goes well. Yes I spent years working my tush off as a nobody for nothing to learn the art.
But if you are fulfilled by what you do you have the opportunity to be successful. Mental Health is not a dying field. There are so many people who have issues and struggles and need support. No computer will ever be able to look into sad eyes, feel out a broken heart, and guide a human being out of despair.


If you are looking to get rich quick this is not wall street. But it can definitely be a practical, stable, and rewarding career.

This is what I keep trying to explain when people say special ed is a dying field... huh? Well put.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 03 2014, 10:46 am
OPINIONATED wrote:
Btw, Ohel is not hiring a social worker or mental health counselor.

http://www.ohelfamily.org/?q=careers

Pesach Tikvah and Tikvah at Ohel are under the same organization sort of but I believe they are run as independent operations. And you never know when job openings happen and don't get posted online. If you ask for a job when none is available they might call you back when they do need someone. I think this would be a great first job for someone looking to gain experience, reputation, and licensure. The supervision is built in and there's a lot of direct patient work - you'll have paperwork too but you're also getting that "helping people" experience you were always looking for. They tend to be friendly environments because everyone there is focused on helping people. Even if it pays less I think that is just one of those things people starting a career have to deal with. Many careers involve unpaid internships, which often consist mostly of busywork. It may be worth it for your own peace of mind.

And when I say "pays less" I mean less than the $150+/hour private practitioners charge. I am HIGHLY skeptical of the $15 figure debsey threw in. Why not try to talk to someone who works in such a setup and find out for real before making any decisions.
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amother


 

Post Fri, Oct 03 2014, 11:12 am
OP here. I am very familiar with the clinics as I applied to all of them. Actually got a job offer at Tikvah at OHEL but they only wanted me evenings and Sundays....and my husband owns his own business so cannot be available those hours. Clinics around her pay between $28-32 PER SESSION only, not including paperwork or supervision, and if the client is a no-show it's too bad. Obviously no benefits. I am better off where I am now.

To the amother who's son is going for Psych, it is easier for males to find a job in this field I believe. My grad school program was 80% female, and where I did my internship there were only females as well and they were desperate for male couselors. So he may be ok. Depending on whether or not he is married and has kids, he may also be able to do evenings and weekends as a starting therapist. Good luck to him.

I agree with those who said this is rewarding, that's why I did it in the first place. But I have a family to take care of, and they need to come first, before all those others that I want to help. That is part of my problem, and part of my husband's issue with my choice. I'm feeling like I should have chosen a career that allows me to put my family first, instead of choosing one purely based off of interest. My husband doesn't like working the hours that he does but he does it because he wants to give us a good life! Makes me feel kind of selfish (the facts, not him.)
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