My original reason for studying psychology (apart from a fascination with the human mind) was to get the qualifications for becoming an Occupational Psychologist. I could use all my experience of working in both the corporate and not for profit sectors to go back into all those broken, dysfunctional parts of organisations and change them, fix them. Ta da!
It wasn't entirely my own plan but it was the sole sensible suggestion I'd been given out of all the suggestions I'd sought from various career 'experts', friends, colleagues and family.
All was going swimmingly until we reached the point in the course where professionals from various branches of psychology started to present their areas of expertise as job paths. The Occupational Psychology one was a revelation. It reminded me of everything I loathed about corporate life - the poor leadership, the skewed values, the over-worked and under-valued staff. Because these are the organisations that are broken, that need help.
Oh. Now what? So I've parked the occupational pysch path for now.
I know I still have an underlying interest in leadership, mentoring, training, coaching etc but am not sure which route to take. Change and facilitating change are still a big draw and it is what I always ended up doing in each of my previous jobs.
Finally, thanks to the wise words of a recent houseguest and my cousin, I've come to realise that the reason I'm always butting heads is that I expect things to be difficult and that I tend to pick the most knotty challenges.
How's this for an idea? Why not work with people I like, delivering what is needed to a receptive and willing audience who share my values?
It might even be fun.
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