My Journey Through Psychology After Graduating

3 Action Points To Help You Through Yours

It’s been nearly 2 years since I graduated from university. I was so thrilled to have finally achieved my dream of obtaining my psychology degree. I knew what the goal was now — I knew how to get there — and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy… or did I?

Completing university and putting that grad hat on was a crazy moment. I went from nearly getting kicked out of high school at 15 to achieving a first-class honours degree in psychology.

I thought to myself — I am going to be able to go out there, apply to a bunch of jobs and get the one I wanted.

I did not know it was going to be a lot harder than I thought. Nor did I realise that it was going to take me a year and a half to get the job I wanted — and even then, it’s still not the overall goal.

So — what happened during this year and a half?

The Highs and Lows

I was filled with enthusiasm and was ready to work and start saving money! I started applying to jobs before I even graduated.

Then came the first low— rejection, after rejection, after rejection.

Should I have expected this?

Of course!

But nothing prepared me for actually receiving those rejection emails.

I was hearing some people on my course getting jobs and was just thinking howwwww!? What are they doing that I’m not? I then started to doubt myself, my ability and began to overthink — What if I don’t get a job?

Luckily, I pulled myself back together and thought — I need to keep applying but change up my approach.

I started making my application statements more specific to the companies, I researched the people and the company to get some brownie points and I was chasing up the people who were rejecting me to find out why — which was probably one of the best things I did.

Then, I received something that made me feel like all the work I had been putting in was worth it — a phone call interview for a psychology research post.

The call was very relaxed and the first high came — I got the job! BUT… there’s always a but… it was unpaid. This wasn’t the end of the world as I was still going to obtain valuable experience which would set me up for a well-paid job later, but getting some money would’ve been nice.

It turned out that my experience as a psychology researcher was one of the best experiences I have had so far. I was going into prisons (for research), meeting people from different professions, travelling all over the UK and getting my name authored on internal publications.

Of course — with all the positives happening, another dip had to occur. I was coming up to the end of my time as a researcher and started the dreaded application process again.

I said before — I was getting rejection, after rejection, after rejection. Well — this time around it was even worse! I had applied to 17 jobs at one point and I did not get an interview for one of them. I wasn’t even getting a rejection email from some of them!

This was one of the lowest points I have had so far. I had just built up months of experience yet I felt with the applications I was doing worse than before.

What kept me going was my desire to become a clinical psychologist and doing some form of exercise. I would go to the gym with a low mood, get my frustration out and come out feeling relaxed and optimistic.

The only problem was that I would wake up in the morning, sit down to apply to jobs and become downbeat because of no progress. This was a repeated cycle for a while.

Although I was going through this cycle, I couldn’t give up. I had come too far to quit now. I just had to think — I went from not caring about my studies, not being able to do well in exams, my parents worrying about my future, failing all my mock exams to being disciplined, focused, motivated and achieving the highest possible grade at university.

If I quit now, that would all be for nothing.

The persistence paid off and the second high came — a job at the mental health charity Mind. I finally secured my first paid job out of university! But I was still facing this mental challenge of thinking ‘Is this the right job for me, to reach my goal?’.

My mind was playing tricks but I had to go for it.

Six months in, I decided to apply to assistant psychologist jobs to get closer to my goal. It was during this period I had one of the lowest points on this journey so far — an encounter with a psychologist.

As I said before — I need to chase up the people who were rejecting me to find out why. That’s exactly what I did — I called the lead psychologist to ask what I was doing wrong and it ended up being a one-way conversation that felt like someone was crushing my goal and then burning it.

I literally got told I didn’t have a chance with getting an assistant psychologist job with what I am doing right now. It was brutal!

This was tough to hear but I still only saw one option — DON’T STOP.

10 months into the job at Mind led to the greatest high point on this journey.

A job as an assistant psychologist in the NHS.

I finally grabbed my goal which I had set out after graduating and took a step closer to my bigger goal.

I now look back at the phone call with that psychologist and realised — that moment — the biggest low point on this journey was what gave me the chance to have the biggest high point on this journey so far.

This has definitely been a rollercoaster ride for me and I know there is more to come.

My 3 Action Points

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and looking back on these experiences has helped me learn a lot. Here are my 3 action points if you are experiencing anything similar in any situation.

1. Find out why

If you’re not getting that job, getting into that sports team, getting those freelancing clients, getting onto that course — take a step back and see why that is. Reflect.

I contacted those employers separately to find out why I wasn’t getting those jobs. When I didn't make the football team in my first year in high school, I went to the head coach to find out why.

These are the moments that will help you learn, help you adapt and help you reach that target.

It’s equally as important to find out why you got that job, why you made the basketball team, why you got the grades or why you beat your personal best running time.

You can look into those behaviours or attitudes that you were showing when you achieved those goals and replicate them for other scenarios to push you through your journey.

2. Do something that helps you relax

Having these lows can be mentally draining and can create avoidance.

Something that I found helpful during my low points was to keep engaging with things that I loved.

I love fitness. Whether it’s being in the gym, playing football or swimming, it helps take my mind off things. As well as having excellent mental health benefits, keeping engaged with exercise was one thing that certainly helped me through the low points.

Doing something that helps you relax is so important as you need that timeout.

So — whether it’s exercising, reading a book, playing an instrument, listening to music, seeing your friends or whatever else it is that keeps you relaxed, don’t let go of it. Make time to start or continue with that activity.

3. Embrace the low points

This may sound weird but you have to embrace these low points that you’re going to go through.

You don’t get that joy, excitement or enthusiasm until you go through these difficult moments. These difficulties will happen — but when they come, know that it’s that moment that is going to push you and make you excel and make you feel that excitement when you reach that target.

When you reach those high points, it gives you time to look back and you start to realise that those low points were key to you achieving those grades, or making the team or whatever it is that you want.

For me — embracing those low points made me realise that I can get to where I want to be. It gave me the chance to be so ecstatic when I got that job. This has then given me the drive to keep going.

I encourage you to look at these moments and use them as your driving force.

Final Comments

That’s my story and the action points that I recommend to help you. They certainly helped me through these challenging times and still do today.

If there is one thing I want you to take away from this post, it is to use your journey to help you grow.

Outline the positives and negatives you have been through or are currently going through.

Look at the times when you had these highs but also look at the difficulties, troubles or worries because they are both vital to keep pushing you.

It has without a doubt helped me massively and I hope my story and take-home points can help you too!