Unemployment: Why Psychologists are Struggling to Find Work

Before it discussed why fresher psychologists struggle getting jobs, let's look at the history of unemployment among MBAs and engineering students of India. A report indicated that in the year 2017, approximately 60% of engineering graduates were unemployed (0.8 million).

To understand it a little better, let's look at some cases:

Case 1

Almost two decades ago, Indians witnessed the flood of "engineers."

According to AICTE (2021), engineering colleges were reduced from 6474 to 5917 between 2016 and 2021 (555 colleges closed in less than 5 years), likely due to fewer admissions than engineering seats, a lack of job opportunities, or poor college education. "80% of engineers were unemployed in 2019." (India Today, November 2021). "Employability among engineering graduates was about 57%, an increase from 46% in 2021." (Statistica, July 2023)

Case 2

MBA followed a similar trajectory. MBAs from Tier-III/IV cities and universities below NAAK rank A lack skills and have trouble finding a job in their major field, so they turn to teaching after completing B.Ed. or D.El.Ed.

• "93% of MBA graduates are unemployable." (India Today, July 2016, updated Feb. 2018).

Psychology Job Scarcity

The article has a few examples of why a number of psychology graduates won't get an ideal job and how corruption and weak policies result in unlawful hiring, where jobs are given to the close relatives of professors, Deans, VCs, and politicians, and deserving candidates are deprived of a healthy competition:

• Poorly implemented education and training: The majority of master's degree holders in psychology did not initially choose psychology as their career path, instead earning their first degrees in other fields such as B. Tech, BDS, BBA, nursing, BPT, law, and languages. Later, when they fail to secure employment in their original field or experience job erosion, they transition to the field of psychology, with India lacking strict regulations to prevent such career abuse.
• IGNOU (distance education): produces an unlimited number of psychologists. Because of job scarcity, IGNOU graduates can work at any institute, with some even agreeing to work at lower wages, thereby creating fewer opportunities for regular psychology students.
• A LinkedIn "keyword" search for "psychologist" yields 36,000 results, including 9,000 profiles of "non-RIC self-declared clinical psychologists," 1,100 profiles of "RCI psychologists," 956 profiles of "RCI clinical psychologists," and 777 profiles displaying "RCI registered." Furthermore, the professional conduct and training of the self-declared (9K) clinical psychologists without RCI or PHD is unknown.
• Faulty Recruitment: Corporate recruiters began selecting only M.Phil. (RCI) psychologists for appointments. This is a kind of recruiting error and a failure of psychology leaders in industrial and organizational setup as they have not yet come up with a separate organization for the same, to provide and oversee training and career opportunities for corporate psychologists.
• In the drug rehabilitation field, numerous "Drug abuse rehabs" in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and other states employ untrained non-RCI psychologists, hire one person for the work of four to five psychologists, paying them between Rs. 10K to 20K per month ($110-$240). The government doesn't control such rehab owners, who are fraudulent and bribe authorities and health ministers. Such practice reduces the fair job opportunity in the field of drug rehabilitation centers.
• The Statista website's: According to data from the Statista website, there were 25,778 government hospitals in India in 2019, but not all of them employed psychologists, and Tier-IV cities rarely have clinical psychologists.
• According to data from NITI-Ayog, millions of Indians are unemployed and hope that the #Modi will open jobs. But the MODI government has ended millions of jobs in government companies and focuses to privatization. Although privatization is not a problem, what should people do when private sector hires them on a contract basis, without providing them with the benefits of full-time employment, and assign one person to perform the work of two??

Case 3: The exploitation of RCI psychologists from the top institutes

In 2019, MindP*** in Ludhiana interviewed me. The doctor at this psychiatry center wanted to hire only someone with an RCI clinical psychologist license from IHBAS (Delhi), NIMHANS (Bangalore), and RINPAS (Ranchi). He believes RCI psychologists from other institutes are untrained and unreliable.

When he said that just a few RCI Institute psychologists are well-trained, it astonished me. Later, I discovered that I was earning more on a five-day-a-week job than he was paying a NIMHANS-trained psychologist working six days a week with two hours more every day.

I then told myself three things:

1. If the doctor feels this way, he may be biased, or certain institutions may have inadequate training.

2. If an RCI-licensed clinical psychologist makes less than me, a Ph.D. student, then the job market must be tough and competitive.

3. Because I didn't have an M.Phil. in clinical psychology, Metro Hospital Noida and others didn't hire me, indicating that securing a job for a non-RCI is not easy.

What will be your reaction after giving an interview at such a psychology center? Comment below.

Case 4:

• One of my college friends who earned her M.Phil. in clinical psychology from "Gautam Budha University" is often unemployed. In the previous two years, I've seen her post multiple LinkedIn posts seeking career help.
• Research indicates that recruiters in Tier-I cities tend to reject applicants from non-top universities, while those in small cities typically offer a salary of no more than Rs. 15,000. Some private psychiatrists in Amritsar City offer top applicants a salary ranging from Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 15,000, but many local women psychologists start at a lower salary due to their reluctance to leave the city. As a result, these doctors often abuse the standard pay scale and underpay postgraduate psychologists.

Psychology students may find it challenging to understand, but the primary reason for low-paying positions in the field is the surplus of psychologists compared to the demand. Still, genuine psychologists, attending national and international trainings, and resources willing to relocate will find work.

Corruption in the Recruitment of Psychology Jobs

• An old psychology professor from #GNDU recruited a fresh PhD graduate, a thief who had stolen the bike of another postdoctoral student on campus and sold it, to the psychology department of SGT University, despite rejecting numerous applications from deserving candidates.
• In one recruitment effort, the above professor and his wife helped three PhDs get employment at DRDO. Imagine DRDO selecting four students from one department for scientific positions without a written test—don't you think it is a pure scam? Please refrain from arguing that #DRDO isn't corrupt, especially considering that this year a top DRDO officer was caught sending sensitive information to India's enemy Pakistan.
• The professors mentioned above have strong roots in central and state government and have helped several of his favorite PhDs get employment at Chandigarh University (private), DAV UNIVERSITY, JALANDHAR , and others. If I'm mistaken, please conduct an online survey to determine the number of senior applicants who were rejected, while the institutions were able to recruit a few young PhDs due to their persuasive approach.
• Dr. Sunita Gupta (GNDU) ordered me to show her my startup passbook and bank statement in the name of VC Dr. Jaspal Singh Sandhu (ex-UGC secretary). After my MindGlass conference, they had no legal authority to check a small organisation's bank statement without a court order. Dissatisfied and mentally upset Dr. Gupta rejected my PhD thesis.
• As per the words of my professor's mother at her home "Dr Gupta told me that your thesis is thin, you must make it thick." It was already of 200 pages. In the past, all her scholars submitted a thesis above 350 pages. She even stopped calling me from her number, so I couldn't record her abuse over a phone call. In the last week before the PhD deadline, she severely abused me. As a senator, she persuaded the VC to block me on WhatsApp. The Vice Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar blocked my request for a PhD extension, while Jammu university and JNU had given another 90 days.
• In an informal talk, one of my Delhi University college psychology professors said that only favorite people and students get government or private university jobs because they are more likely to respect and repay favors than students and candidates with higher ethics who don't bend down.
• When you're outspoken, ask questions, and don't appease corrupt professors, you face such treatment at GNDU and other government universities. The tale is long. I recommend every PhD aspirant avoid GNDU and other Punjabi universities at all costs for a PhD or master's because they are biased towards Hindi speakers.

Conclusion

This article discusses the shortage of "well-trained psychologists," rising unemployment among psychologists, and how corruption undermine fair hiring at government institutions and universities. RCI-certified psychologists are in demand, yet recruiters dismiss candidates from lesser-known universities. The article also exposed thousands of unaccredited "clinical psychologists" wrongdoing.

The author of this article, psychologist A. Tiwari, he is reachable for information and contacts to back up the claims he made in this article.