North Thames Graduate Psychologists' Group

Guidelines for Employment as an Assistant Psychologist [link]

'For the benefit of our members we recommend that you refer to the BPS Guidelines for the Employment of Assistant Psychologists when applying for AP jobs, which include:

• "It is a requirement that assistant psychologists receive supervision from a qualified applied psychologist." (p. 6)
• "At least a minimum of two hours per week quality supervision should be provided" (p. 7) and
• "An assistant psychologist should not be employed to:
• Substitute for qualified applied psychologists.
• Undertake solely administrative or clerical duties for which a clerical assistant should be employed.
• Undertake tasks in areas where there is not a highly competent supervisor.
• Carry out the duties of a care assistant." (p. 4)'

Finding a job

 

Which jobs should I apply for?

Assistant Psychologist posts are often thought of as the preferred route into training. However all the courses state that they consider candidates from a variety of backgrounds. Becoming an Assistant Psychologist is exceptionally difficult. Recently the Primary Care Trusts have further reduced the number of Assistant Psychologist posts because of their financial troubles.

Research Assistants and Nursing Assistants roles seem to be well regarded by the courses. The type of experience you gain is much more important than the job title.

The University College London Clinical Psychology course states that they look for candidates who:

•  know about the service context they're going to be working in. Do they have some experience of structured/statutory services (this could be in the NHS, or in a voluntary setting such as a MIND day care centre, or in a social services unit), and do they show some awareness of how psychologists function within the NHS? Candidates who have only worked with individuals, or only worked in non-clinical settings, may not appreciate how the service context impacts on the way psychologists work.

•  have a realistic sense of the sort of clients they'll be working with. Have they come across the sort of clients Clinical Psychologists see, and the challenges such clients present? It may be helpful to point out that candidates who have worked in service contexts where they only see patients with very focal and/or very minor psychological problems (perhaps in a research role) would strengthen their applications by showing their familiarity of the more usual ways in which patients present.

•  know what Clinical Psychologists actually do, and what they don't do. We're not asking for everyone to have worked as an Assistant Psychologist - there are and should be many routes into training. However, we do think that there should have been some point of contact/observation of Clinical Psychologists, or evidence from the form that candidates really do understand the type of profession they are entering.

Where can I search for relevant jobs?

The BPS' Psychologist Appointments lists some graduate positions (you'll need to be a BPS member to use the site). There are also a number of job websites such as NHS jobs that can be useful. Due to the number of applications that they receive the NHS Trusts may only advertise the jobs on their websites. The list of links to the right of this text should be helpful.

 

GOOD LUCK !