Careers in Psychology PDF

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Running head: FINAL INTERVIEW PROJECT

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Careers in Psychology Danielle Soto Florida International University

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For the Final Interview Project I chose to interview Danielle Webb who is the current Director of Operations at The Delray Center in Delray Beach, Florida. I chose to interview a person from this particular place for a few different reasons: (1) Danielle is someone I know personally and have known for over ten years. (2) The Delray Center is a mental health treatment center whose services I used when I was battling the toughest times in my life. (3) I’m not 100% positive on the type of career I want to pursue with a degree in Psychology, but I do know that (4) I would be honored to receive any job opportunity with the company. I had more confidence in myself asking Danielle to participate in the interview compared to a few of my professors because I knew she would be honest with me and wouldn’t beat around the bush. “Does your career require graduate school? What programs would be acceptable?” Danielle responded, “Yes, my career requires a Master’s Degree in Business or Healthcare Administration. I currently have a Master’s in Business with a specialization Healthcare Administration.” Since I don’t have a positive answer for what graduate program I want to do it was helpful to hear about Healthcare Administration because it gives me another career path to think about when the time comes for me to graduate. “What are some obstacles you faced upon graduating from college?” Her response, “finding a job that I felt would suite my drive and determination. The only thing available to recent grads are really entry level positions because you don’t have any experience in the field, except for what you did on your internship or externship.” After she answered this question it did make me realize that I need to find any type of job that’s within the field while obtaining my degrees, even if it’s just a receptionist because not only would I have my foot in the door with a company, but I would have an easier transition learning just new responsibilities rather than learning how the company operates and the role’s duties.

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“What made you choose this career path?” Danielle’s response was, “I originally wanted to do nursing. Once I completed a year and a half of nursing school I fell out of love with the clinical side. It doesn’t help that they have you do rotations in the nursing home and geriatrics first. I knew I wanted to be in Healthcare because it’s always evolving and changing and I ended up switching from the clinical side of things to the business side.” For me, I feel like it’s important to figure out before I go into graduate school if I want to do the clinical side of the field so I don’t end up in a situation like Danielle where she essentially wasted a year and a half in a program that didn’t work out for her. Also makes me realize that I should consider all types of internships instead of one specific kind. “What advice do you have for those hoping to enter this career path?” Her response is a response I would expect anyone to give me. Danielle said, “try to take an internship or even voluntary work so you can get the experience and exposure to the things you will be experiencing in the field. The more experience the better. Make sure you love what you’re getting into and if you don’t, don’t be afraid to switch career paths. You will be doing this for the rest of your life, choose wisely.” Before I asked this question I quickly wrote down my feelings or thoughts and after I asked it was more of a reassurance to my thoughts after the previous question. “Is it difficult to find a job in this area?” Danielle responded, “it isn’t difficult to find a job in this area, but it is difficult to find a higher level job in this field. Once I started to gain more experience and have more years under my belt, options started opening up.” I think because Danielle’s college experience included her doing internships as part of her degree requirements it made it easier to find a job in the area. I on the other hand am getting my degree

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fully online which doesn’t require completing an internship, so I feel like it would be a little more harder for me than it was for her. After interviewing Danielle, overall it made me realize that before going to graduate school I need to do at least two different internships just to see what would be a better fit for me career wise. Psychology is a very large field and there’s so many different career opportunities it could lead someone to. Disney has internships for Psychology students working in the Disney Weddings division, there’s a bunch of clinical internships to apply for, and then there’s the administration side like Danielle took. I still want to pursue a career in Psychology and I don’t think that’s going to change, but what would change is the area in the field and that’s something I need to fully figure out before applying to graduate school.

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Reference: Danielle Webb, MHA Director of Operations at The Delray Center (561) 266-8866...