Empathy and compassion are two traits that most psychology graduates and justice graduates share. Both career paths are built upon helping others in more similar ways than some may think. After all, forensic psychologists and victim advocates highlight the similarities between psychology and justice.
However, much of what defines a great psychologist or police officer has little to do with college curriculum. Sure, the curriculum is essential, but a strong academic background without soft skills isn’t enough to be career-ready.
Luckily, college gives you plenty of time to develop soft skills that are equally useful in psychology and criminal justice. Follow along as we highlight some essential soft skills that can lay the foundation for a great career in psychology and justice.
Soft Skills Are Building Blocks for Your Career
If you’ve ever asked yourself, “What can I do with my psychology degree?”, you’re not alone. Psychology students and criminal justice students alike can explore many avenues within their respective fields. These fields cross over more than many think, as victim advocates and forensic psychologists utilise both disciplines.
Whether you graduate with a justice degree or a psychology degree, you’ll leave the experience with more than a certificate. The soft skills you pick up along the way will ultimately lay the groundwork for your career. Psychology graduates and criminal justice graduates share many career-defining soft skills, such as:
Empathy and Understanding are intertwined soft skills that are essential in any justice or psychology career. If you can’t understand and feel what someone else is feeling, how can you help them? In many ways, you must share someone else’s feelings without losing sight of the task at hand.
Not only must you empathise with those you interact with, but you must be able to compartmentalise these feelings. While pursuing a criminal justice major, you’ll likely hear about many cases and possibly even engage in some hypothetical roleplay. This can help build a strong foundation, which you’ll later fortify in the field.
Genuine empathy and understanding can help you build a rapport with those you’re speaking to. This is just as important when handling alleged perpetrators as it is when talking to victims. These skills are essential, whether you’re a victim advocate, forensic psychologist, or detective.
2. Adaptability
Many skills overlap between psychology and criminal justice, including adaptability. Whether you’re a police officer or a forensic psychologist, you must regularly work with a diverse range of people. They will differ in their experiences, backgrounds, and conditions, and you must consider these factors.
This adaptability is just as important for you as it is for those you work with. For example, psychologists and criminal justice professionals are susceptible to the darkness they’re often exposed to. You must be able to adapt, compartmentalise, and give yourself room to process these truths.
Your journey toward adaptability often starts in college, where you’re thrown into unfamiliar situations and learning experiences. You can’t force yourself to adapt, but it should come easily when you’re open-minded and passionate.
3. Taking Nonverbal Cues
Nonverbal communication is essential in any psychology or justice-related career. You must communicate with people who are shaken up and going through stressful situations. Verbal communication may not be an option, but their body language can speak volumes.
How someone holds themselves, enunciates certain words, and gestures toward you can paint a vivid picture. This is equally important for therapists, police officers, victim advocates, and detectives alike. Like all soft skills, interpreting body language and nonverbal cues comes from experience.
You can get a strong foundation for this in college, but you’ll learn much more in the field. Even still, interacting with your fellow students should highlight the importance of body language. It’s what you do with this soft skill that will determine your professional performance.
4. Active Listening
Actively listening to individuals is just as important as taking nonverbal cues. For example, victim advocates often speak to people who have just gone through the worst experiences of their lives. As such, they must show the victim that they not only care and empathise, but that they feel what they feel.
This also applies to therapists, as their clients will only open up if they feel heard. Psychologists and criminal justice professionals must give others their full attention. People can tell when their words fall on deaf ears, and it’s not a good feeling.
Luckily, psychology and criminal justice students can naturally adopt this soft skill throughout their college careers. This comes from years of listening to your professors and peers, and then you must apply it to the curriculum. By the time you enter the field, it will come as second nature.
Use Soft Skills to Maximise Your Potential
Sure, you can probably get a job in criminal justice or psychology based on your degree alone. However, that doesn’t mean that you’ll excel and do the best job possible. You must use the soft skills that you learned in college and apply them to your career.
Soon enough, you’ll strengthen these skills in the field and become as adaptable as possible. Active listening and empathy can take you far and help you give those you encounter the best possible experience.
These traits can eventually translate to leadership skills, and it won’t take long for others to notice such qualities. Each interaction is critical when you work in psychology or criminal justice, so you must make them count.