More psychologists find they can make a broader impact by working in their communities.
New psychologists may want to seek alternative jobs in the understaffed fields of community psychology or nonprofit advocacy work at a time when traditional positions are harder to find, suggests Henry Tomes, PhD, executive director of APA's Public Interest Directorate. It's not a matter of being drafted for service, but an issue of economics. People offering services to patients are finding it's not as easy as it used to be, either. They must find other things. In the past, he observes, so many jobs have been available for private clinicians or for scientists researching at colleges that psychologists did not have to seek work elsewhere.