Mary Fernandes, Melanie Arenson, Elyse Mowle

The number of PhD graduates that pursue traditional tenure-track faculty career paths is declining yearly (Horn, 1999). Many graduate students choose to pursue “alternative” careers in business, industry, policy, education, practice, and more. Unfortunately, while most PhD training programs adequately train students for research-based careers, few are able to support the needs of students with alternative goals. As a result, graduate students are left to supplement their training with experiences aligned with their career goals. But how? Well, if you’re interested in pursuing a career that integrates science and policy, you’re in luck! Below, we have listed some helpful educational and training resources to help you build your policy-related skill-set, as well as some tips to help you balance your research responsibilities with such opportunities. 

Resources/tips for students interested in policy 

1. Look for policy trainings locally and/or at the conferences that you attend (e.g., SPSSI’s 2019 Policy Workshop). 
2. Get involved in policy-making or policy-influencing bodies at your university (e.g., Graduate Association of Student Psychologists, University Executive Committees, etc.). 
3. Get involved in your local Psychological Association and/or other mental health organizations that include a strong advocacy or policy component. Ask to get involved in these roles. 
4. Seek advice from psychologists in your area of study who currently hold policy positions of interest to you. Ask them what their path to their position was and try to emulate it. 
5. Align your research and practice work with your career goals as much as possible. In your research, think about the policy implications of your work (see this blog post for more information). Stay updated on policies relevant to your clients. 
6. Apply for training grants that might allow you to pursue a more full-time educational experience while in graduate school (e.g., the Predoctoral Fellowship in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services). 

Tips for balancing policy interests with research and clinical work

1. For most students, the ability to pursue opportunities outside of graduate school will likely require the approval of a mentor or department head. Be prepared to justify the experiences that you wish to pursue and how they align with your career goals. Consider ways to gain buy-in from your mentor. 
2. Prioritize your interests. If you have a clear picture of your ideal career endpoint, that might help you prioritize. If you do not have a clear endpoint, do not panic! Consider prioritizing experiences that might help you explore potential careers of interest. 
3. Practice saying no in an assertive and kind manner. In order to make room for the experiences that you wish to gain, you will need to say no to ones that are less aligned with your goals.
4. Budget your time. As a graduate student, you’re probably already well-versed in this skill. However, adding additional responsibilities might require more skills. Consider blocking out chunks of time or days for different responsibilities (i.e. research: Friday-Monday, practicum: Tuesday, clinical work: Wednesday, policy work: Friday). Make a plan, and stick to it. Try to arrange your policy-related educational experiences around times when you can truly gain the most out of them. This might be during the summer, during a semester when your course load is lower, or during a “gap” year. 
5. Consider ways in which your policy interests can be integrated with your research interests. This might serve the dual role of 1) having your research inform your policy, and vice versa, and 2) gaining buy-in from your advisor in the form of publications, conference presentations, etc.
6. Self-care! Adding more to your plate means expanding your mental, physical, and emotional resources. Family time, sufficient sleep, healthy eating, and exercise are important. The more you stretch your limits, the more important these will become. 

Benefits of pursuing policy-related experiences in graduate school

1. Skills you learn (writing and presenting information for a variety of audiences, speaking to stakeholders and policymakers) are applicable across many fields, whether you go into research, a clinical career, industry, or policy full time.
2. Sharing your passion about a particular area of interest (eg. specific population, pathology, social-justice issue, etc.) could help you stand out during internship and postdoc interviews.
3. Networking! Getting involved at the university, local, state, and national levels means meeting and developing professional relationships with more psychologists in your field and area of interest.
4. Exploring and narrowing down career interests. You might find novel ways to use your skills and pursue an interest that you hadn’t thought about before delving into a policy opportunity. 
5. Gain a different perspective. Engaging in policy work might allow you to form a more macro-level perspective than is typically afforded when primarily working with individuals in clinical or research settings. A more systems-based perspective, might, in turn, inform your research and clinical practice.