When considering the future of your psychology career, one's thoughts may quickly turn to a fulltime academic position, a research job with a university or private research center or a nonacademic job with a nonprofit/nongovernmental organization. Yet these options may grow more scarce as the ever changing economy forces many of these entities to reduce their operating budgets and impose hiring freezes. Bearing in mind these circumstances, the opportunities found in post-doctoral training or fellowships may need to be considered for the first couple of years out of graduate school.
Granted, a training or fellowship position will not pay as much as a professional position in an academic or research site but there are a few advantages of post-doctoral training that might not be readily apparent when you investigate the proposal. Every graduate student has spent the last few years accumulating as much knowledge as possible about theory and praxis in their specific area of practice. Those lessons have included understanding the intricacies of research design, complexities of teaching, as well as the nuances of therapy. Graduate education serves as a foundation for our future work. Yet there is always more to learn about these as well as other areas of psychological research, theory and practice.
Post-doctoral work allows us to further our understanding and refine our practice in the particular methods (qualitative or quantitative) or directions in research. Oftentimes, the training facilities have a very specific focus on the psychological aspects of some of the medical or social problems of our times. Some examples include HIV/AIDS, breast or prostate cancer, violence against women, heart disease. Through supplementary building of one's skills, we continue our development as psychologists in specialized areas of research that can directly contribute to the improvement of therapeutic treatment or greater understanding of those psychological issues such as those that can have some bearing on medical treatment or lack of access to it.
Furthermore, post-doctoral training sites are in governmental, medical or university centers, which can provide access to research populations that we may not normally have elsewhere. These facilities sometimes are conducting international research or trials which would provide other opportunities to travel to other countries and work with a populace that is being directly impacted by the outcomes of your investigations.
Finally, post-doctoral training in areas of public service such as psychological perspectives of physical health disparities or mental health disorders may qualify for federal loan repayment plans (LRP). Such programs which are usually two years in length, will forgive a percentage of your federal student loans in exchange for each year of public service work up to a specific number of years. The NIH program will forgive $35,000 of loan debt per year of service (up to $70,000).You may compete for additional loan repayments after your initial service period is completed. This benefit may help alleviate some of the financial burden that graduate school can impose.
If you decide to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship or traing program, a great place to start is an internet search using the keyword - postdoctoral fellowships - then start to sort through the various programs that are listed. Once you have found some programs that match your interests, their websites can provide more information about their participation in the federal loan repayment program as well as other details about their programs.
When considering that first job after graduate school, salary and benefits may not be the only things to mull over as you evaluate an employment opportunity.
