There
is more to a Psychology Career than being a Shrink!
Debra
Pamula, Consultant Psychologist
On the World Wide Day of Science, Debra was special
guest speaker to the Psychology
Student’s Society at UNSW where she shared
her career experiences;
A career in Psychology caters for developing interests.
Debra contemplated a career in Clinical Psychology but felt
she did not have the aptitude for it; especially its emotional
demands. She was also initially interested in Environmental
Psychology but her interests shifted to the field of Organisational
Psychology. She never felt she was “boxed” in her field but
was enthusiastic with all the opportunities Psychology opened
up for her. Now passionate about youth development, she is
able to pursue this interest in her PhD which she is currently
completing on a part-time basis. Her
study seeks to evaluate youth development
programs in minimising antisocial behaviour.
In High School Debra was unsure of what she
wanted out of her career. However, she fell in love with Psychology
at University. She majored in Psychology at the University
of Adelaide, completed her studies to Honours year, then completed
her Masters of Organisational Psychology at the University
of Western Australia.
Upon entering into the workforce, Debra first worked
as a Human Resource Manager for a company which had
higher than wanted staff turn-over, resulting in added costs
in recruitment, selection, training, and retention on short-term
employees. In a three year project she reduced the staff turn-over
from 35% to just 15% through her research and investigative
skills gained from her Psychology studies. She facilitated
focus groups and conducted surveys to find the issues that
were affecting employee job satisfaction. Through her analysis,
she discovered that communication was poor, employees were
not properly trained and that problems could often be traced
to issues relating to organisational structure and direction.
She then developed programs to implement change so that the
company would operate more efficiently and achieve its goals.
“I don’t regret choosing Psychology -it has always
kept me interested as there is always something new to learn.”
Written by Narelle Brito
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