Industrial/organizational psychologist: As the name suggests, industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologists are employed by firms, industrial set-ups, etc to help their employees cope with work-related stress or problems. “Apart from working with employee-related issues, I/O psychologists are often a part of recruitment, training, mentoring and work with the HR team,” explains renowned career counselor Jayanti Ghose. Professionals also work on strategies and techniques that help improve productivity and maintain a healthy work environ. These psychologists analyze the personality of candidates to ensure that are able to gel with the work culture.  

Teaching/research: Teaching and research are other lucrative options for those interested in psychology. As mentioned earlier, this is a booming field and more and more students are opting for this subject, thus increasing the demand for qualified teachers. Based on which grade you are interested in teaching, the eligibility criterion will vary. As a teacher, one can find employment with various universities that may also facilitate research. As a researcher, you investigate the cognitive, emotional, physical or social aspects of behavioral traits. Researcher are employed by both private and government research agencies.  

Emerging fields:  According to Ghose sports psychology and cognitive psychology are two emerging field that have immense potential. She says, “Sports psychologists work with sports participants and athletes to help them prepare psychologically for competition and to deal with the psychological demands of both competition and training. This is one of the fields with strong potential. Cognitive psychology, on the other hand, is concerned with all mental processes including memory, language, reasoning, problem solving, and thinking and this is a strong area for research.” Ghose also predicts that media psychology, health psychology and various other applications of psychology would become important as complexities arise with the growth of these and other sectors.