Defining a Professional Development Opportunity
As a full-time working professional, acquiring the experience to fulfill the MAPP internship requirement will require you to be creative if you wish to stay in your current position. Many MAPP students have successfully found opportunities within the organization where they are currently employed.
There are benefits to your employer in keeping you as an employee while enabling you to pursue new cross-training opportunities. Speaking with your manager and the organization’s human resource representative starts the conversation about fulfilling this requirement for your graduate degree.
You can structure these conversations to ask about the possibility of a short-term assignment in another department, or a new and different project in your current department. Alternatively, you may inquire about the possibility of a short-term leave of absence, reduced hours, or flex time to accommodate your current responsibilities and new opportunities.
How to find an opportunity to do something different in your own company
- Identify other people in the company that you would like to learn from and ask for an informational interview. Learning more about their job will help you decide if this is an area in which you can cross-train.
- Identify a project that will allow you to apply MAPP principles and that no one is doing. Get permission to contribute to that project.
- Identify a department or position in the company that would allow you to apply MAPP principles and reach out to the department head to ask for an informational interview. Learning more about the department will help you.
- Speak with HR about any existing mentorship programs offered by the company. Some organizations have cross-training programs already running.
- Speak with your manager and others in the company to brainstorm possible opportunities.
“Vowing, even intense vowing, is often useless. The next day comes and the next day goes. What works is making a vivid, concrete plan.”
– Carol Dweck, Mindset
How are You Going to Apply Psychology?
Your interest in applied psychology has already led you to the MAPP program. However, your current job may not be your ultimate destination for using your MAPP degree. When choosing your new professional development opportunity, remember to incorporate the MAPP program emphasis on employees, consumers, or data tools. You will want to explore positions where either Consumer Psychology or Organizational Psychology can be applied.
Deciding which area you want to focus on will help you narrow down your internship search.
Consumer Psychology
Focuses on motivations and activities of external constituents who consume an organization’s services or products in a global marketplace.
Example Keywords Search:
- Consumer Insight
- Marketing
- Market Research
- Research Analytics
- Social Media Communications
- Advertising
- Public relations
Organizational Psychology
Focuses on motivations and activities of internal stakeholders (employees, teams, leaders) who produce an organization’s services or products in a global work place.
Example Keywords Search:
- Talent Management
- Training & Development
- Recruitment
- Employee Relations
- Human Resources
- People Analytics
- People Operations
- Culture Management
6 Things to Consider When Searching For a Professional Development Opportunity
- Is the opportunity at a challenging level of work and clearly related to MAPP career areas?
- Is there a defined outcome (plan, project, product, or report) that you will be contributing to in this opportunity?
- Does the organization acknowledge and support your learning goals and recognize your desire to develop new skills?
- Will supervision be given by a professional in the organization who is not your current supervisor?
- Is your current supervisor willing to give you job relief (time off) to spend time in the opportunity you are developing?
- Are expectations clear about your need to devote 240 hours to meet the MAPP requirement?
What Have Other Students Done
Some of the best advice you can get about finding a great internship is given by students and alumni who have gone through the process already. Connect with your peers through LinkedIn to discuss advice and ideas around finding and acquiring your internship.
“As part of the internship requirement I found my current position with a local start-up, and the skills I needed to take classes online have been transferable to working for a start-up. You need to be a self-starter and willing to take responsibility for all of the work you do. There is no one checking in on you when you go to class every week.”
– Tara McGuire | Spring 2015 Cohort