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Industrial-Organizational Psychologists

Also called: Industrial Psychologist, Industrial/Organizational Psychologist (I/O Psychologist), Organizational Psychologist, Research Scientist

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What they do:
Apply principles of psychology to human resources, administration, management, sales, and marketing problems. Activities may include policy planning; employee testing and selection, training, and development; and organizational development and analysis. May work with management to organize the work setting to improve worker productivity.
On the job, you would:
  • Formulate and implement training programs, applying principles of learning and individual differences.
  • Conduct research studies of physical work environments, organizational structures, communication systems, group interactions, morale, or motivation to assess organizational functioning.
  • Conduct presentations on research findings for clients or at research meetings.

Knowledge

Math and Science
  • psychology
  • arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics
Business
  • human resources (HR)
  • management
Arts and Humanities
  • English language
Education and Training
  • teaching and course design

Skills

Basic Skills
  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • reading work related information
Problem Solving
  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
People and Technology Systems
  • thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Abilities

Verbal
  • communicate by speaking
  • communicate by writing
Ideas and Logic
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
  • notice when problems happen
Math
  • choose the right type of math to solve a problem
  • add, subtract, multiply, or divide

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Analytical Thinking
  • Initiative
  • Integrity
  • Dependability
  • Achievement/Effort
  • Leadership

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Analytical or scientific software
  • IBM SPSS Statistics Hot Technology
  • SAS Hot Technology
Computer based training software
  • Learning management system LMS In Demand
  • Padlet
Spreadsheet software
  • Google Sheets Hot Technology
  • Microsoft Excel Hot Technology In Demand

Education

Education: (rated 5 of 5)
doctoral degree or
master's degree
usually needed

Get started on your career:

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Job Outlook

Average Outlook
New job opportunities are likely in the future.
Salary
$105,310
$63,750
$168,300
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See more details at O*NET OnLine about industrial-organizational psychologists.