Do you know the way to San Jose?

Sorry about the distasteful title, every time  I hear about the Chilean Miners, I think of the Dionne Warwick song. In all seriousness being trapped underground for two months is not easy (understatement), the enormity of the 33 men and the experiences that they faced down there, will probably never truly be realised by any of us. The despair, confusion and extreme stress they must have faced I cannot even imagine. After watching a Panorama (BBC program) documentary I had a slight insight into one of the miners mental states. Edison, as coping mechanism took to running around underground to try and deal with being trapped underground.

I would love to know how these remarkable men will cope on the outside after such a harrowing ordeal.
Good luck to them for the future, and I hope they learn to live with their ordeal.

The curse of the 2:2...

So it seems that these days people going to University are just expected magically to get a 2:1, as if waking up and turning up to 50% of lectures is a divine right for any one to be able to achieve such a grade. The gold standard now is the 2:1, its like a get out of jail free card in monopoly. In the olden days, ( ok i mean like the 60s and 70s) when less people went to university and there were less universities, getting a 2:2 was seen as something of a great achievement, now however, daring to apply for a graduate job with such a grade will be looked upon as if you were committing a crime worse than death or time wasting.

The reason why I am so incensed, is because I am speaking from experience, when I received my 2:2, I was absolutely "devoed" not because I was ashamed of the grade, because I knew the perception of this grade would hinder me in what I wanted to achieve. It meant that in anticipation I applied to about five masters degrees in occupational psychology and low and behold three told me to run away, as they didn't want to be tarred with the 2:2 brush.

Recently, when at an interview for a  job, despite having had a masters degree they asked me why I got a 2:2. I had to rack my brain, as I had done nothing wrong, I wasn't out till all hours, I went to 99% of my lectures on time, I handed in all assignments on time and enjoyed the course overall. So why the question?

The 2:2 degree in recent years is seen by some as a failure, but not all degree classifications are created equal. A 2:2 from Cambridge is NOT the same as a 2:2 from London South Bank University. EVEN within Universities, different courses criteria of classification is not the same, some courses have 100% course work and no final formal written examinations in the whole three years, some universities allow you to take 20/ 30 credit modules from second year courses which count towards your final degree. Some poor souls will have five three hour exams and six essays throughout the year and another, one hour exam and three 2000 word essays; and they are all judged the same.

 The new obsession with a 2:1-the apparent gold standard of degrees is unhealthy, especially considering that in 2003/4 50% of graduates were achieving 2:1s, means that there maybe something wrong with the system. The mean average grade in any educational establishment should be a bell curve, that is the majority of people falling in the middle, ie 2:2s.

So for those of you who have just achieved your degree classifications, do not despair, life still goes on with a 2:2 you can  get post graduate funding ( you just have to try very very hard) and you can get your dream job, just be creative in your experience. Its nothing to be ashamed of, well done!

So you want to be a psychologist?

The popularity of psychology has increased massively in the twentieth century. From the defining works of Dr Freud, Albert Bandura and whoever created Big Brother, the study of human behaviour has captured many individuals imaginations. A- Level Psychology is one of the top 5 A-levels taken in the UK, and over 10,000 students start undergraduate degrees in it every year. However, the majority of  graduates do not go on to be professional psychologists. So here is some information about the area. There are five main areas which psychologists train for:

• Occupational Psychology - the psychology of work and organisations, how people make organisational decisions.
• Educational Psychology - the psychology of how people learn in educational settings, psychology of teaching and interventions to aid learning.
• Forensic Psychology - refer to investigative and criminological psychology: applying psychological theory to criminal investigation, understanding psychological problems associated with criminal behaviour, and the treatment of criminals.
• Clinical Psychology -reduce psychological distress and to enhance and promote psychological well-being.Working on anxiety, depression and eating disorders
• Sport and exercise psychology- help athletes prepare psychologically for competition and to deal with the psychological demands of both competition and training. Examples of the work they carry out include counselling referees to deal with the stressful and demanding aspects of their role.So its not all about learning how to read minds, many courses include modules from each of these areas. 

The British Psychological society ( http://www.bps.org.uk/ ) is the governing body for all psychologists in the  UK and has information about careers in psychology. To begin a career in psychology, you will first need to choose an undergraduate degree which is accredited by the British psychological society, both of which can be found on the website, this will give you graduate basis for registration or GBR. You don't need to have an a level in psychology to be able to be accepted onto an undergraduate course. Most psychology courses will require you to have at least a C in GCSE maths.

If you have not completed a psychology degree at undergraduate level you can study a conversion postgraduate diploma at many universities, which give you required entry. All postgraduate psychology courses will require an individual to have GBR. For example clinical psychology requires you to have experience working with mental health patients in order for you to acquire an assistant psychology post, then you may be able to apply for a clinical doctorate which are very competitive sponsored by the NHS.

Many psychology undergraduates do not pursue careers in psychology. According to the prospects website around 4% of psychology undergraduate go on to go further study in the subject. Therefore if you are determined to go down this route, the work is varied and interesting but it is a long process. So if you think you have the stamina for it, and interest, grab a career mentor preferably a psychologist, or talk to a careers advisor (me!!) about it.

How to write an effective CV

Ok people, I am no expert, but I just wanted to let you know what I have observed when looking at other peoples CVs and the small stint I did working in a recruitment consultancy. There are many different types of CV but there are some guidelines to follow to make sure people don't throw yours in the bin.

• Do not lie on your CV, these things will always find you out.
• Unless you are an executive or a medical doctor, don't make your CV more than two pages long, no one wants to know what you did on the weekend. Play around with the margins of the document for it to fit on two pages if you need to. 
• Do not waster your time using thick paper, card, or coloured paper, save your money, as if the content is poor, its all going to the same place... (the bin)
• Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar, at risk of sounding like a school teacher never underestimate how excited people get when its done well,  and how upset and or offended people get when you can't even spell your name right.
• Instead of listing what you did within each role, write down what specific projects or roles that you did which made your role different from the average "administrator" " solicitor" " customer service operative". What were you key accountables? What difference did you make in the role?
• Make sure your spacing and layout is consistent