Overview
All Psychologists and Psychotherapists
-
$1,857 Weekly Pay
-
Very strong Future Growth
-
26,800 workers Employment Size
-
Very high skill Skill level rating
-
52% Full-Time Full-Time Share
-
43 hours Average full-time
-
44 years Average age
-
80% female Gender Share
Psychologists and Psychotherapists investigate, assess and provide treatment and counselling to foster optimal personal, social, educational and occupational adjustment and development.
A postgraduate degree in psychology and a period of supervised practice is needed to work as a Psychologist. While Psychotherapist generally need a bachelor degree in psychotherapy.
Tasks
- collecting data about clients and assessing their cognitive, behavioural and emotional disorders
- administering and interpreting diagnostic tests and formulating plans for treatment
- developing, administering and evaluating individual and group treatment programs
- consulting with other professionals on details of cases and treatment plans
- conducting research studies of motivation in learning, group performance and individual differences in mental abilities and educational performance
- collecting data and analysing characteristics of students and recommending educational programs
- formulating achievement, diagnostic and predictive tests for use by teachers in planning methods and content of instruction
- developing interview techniques, psychological tests and other aids in workplace selection, placement, appraisal and promotion
- conducting surveys and research studies on job design, work groups, morale, motivation, supervision and management
- performing job analyses and establishing job requirements by observing and interviewing employees and managers
Prospects
The number of people working as Psychologists and Psychotherapists (in their main job) grew very strongly over 5 years:
from 22,600 in 2014 to 26,800 in 2019.
Caution: The Australian jobs market is changing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These estimates do not take account of the impact of COVID-19. They may not reflect the current jobs market and should be used and interpreted with extreme caution.
- Size: This is a large occupation.
- Location: Psychologists and Psychotherapists work in many regions of Australia.
- Industries: Most work in Health Care and Social Assistance; Education and Training; and Public Administration and Safety.
- Earnings: Full-time workers on an adult wage earn around $1,857 per week (higher than the average of $1,460). Earnings tend to be lower when starting out and higher as experience grows.
- Full-time: Around half work full-time (52%, less than the average of 66%), showing there are many opportunities to work part-time.
- Hours: Full-time workers spend around 43 hours per week at work (compared to the average of 44 hours).
- Age: The average age is 44 years (compared to the average of 40 years).
- Gender: 80% of workers are female (compared to the average of 48%).
Employment Outlook
Caution: The 2019 employment projections do not take account of any impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and are therefore no longer reflective of current labour market conditions. As such, they should be used, and interpreted, with extreme caution. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, National Skills Commission trend data to May 2019 and projections to 2024.
Weekly Earnings
Source: Based on ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours (cat. no. 6306.0), May 2018, Customised Report. Median weekly total cash earnings for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate. Earnings are before tax and include amounts salary sacrificed. Earnings can vary greatly depending on the skills and experience of the worker and the demands of the role. These figures should be used as a guide only, not to determine a wage rate.
Main Industries
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Industries are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC 06).
States and Territories
NSW
VIC
QLD
SA
WA
TAS
NT
ACT
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Share of workers across Australian States and Territories, in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Profile
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Education Level
Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.
Pathways
A postgraduate degree in psychology and a period of supervised practice is needed to work as a Psychologist. While Psychotherapist generally need a bachelor degree in psychotherapy.
Registration with the Psychology Board of Australia is required.
Before starting a course, check it will provide you with the skills and qualifications you need. Visit
- Course Seeker to search and compare higher education courses.
- ComparED to compare undergraduate and postgraduate student experiences and outcomes.
Skills & Knowledge
Employers look for Psychologists who are caring, compassionate, empathetic and work well in a team.
Filter Skills & Knowledge
Knowledge
These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.
-
Therapy and counselling
Diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and career counselling and guidance.
-
Psychology
Human behaviour; differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; research methods; assessing and treating disorders.
-
Customer and personal service
Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.
-
English language
English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
-
Education and training
Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
-
Personnel and human resources
Recruiting and training people, managing pay and other entitlements (like sick leave), and negotiating pay and conditions.
-
Sociology and anthropology
Group behaviour and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
-
Philosophy and theology
Philosophical systems and religions, including their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and impact on society.
-
Computers and electronics
Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
-
Law and government
How our laws and courts work. Government rules and regulations, and the political system.
-
Mathematics
Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.
-
Administration and management
Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.
-
Public safety and security
Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.
-
Medicine and dentistry
Diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities, including preventive health-care measures.
-
Clerical
Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.
-
Communications and media
Media production, communication, and dissemination. Includes written, spoken, and visual media.
-
Biology
Plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, how they rely on and work with each other and the environment.
-
Chemistry
Chemical composition, structure, and properties. How chemicals are made, used, mixed, and can change.
-
History and archeology
Events of the past, their causes, how we learn about them, and how they influence the way we live today.
-
Telecommunications
Transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Skills
Skills can be improved through training or experience.
-
Social perceptiveness
Understanding why people react the way they do.
-
Active listening
Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
-
Reading comprehension
Reading work related information.
-
Speaking
Talking to others.
-
Active learning
Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.
-
Serving others
Looking for ways to help people.
-
Writing
Writing things for co-workers or customers.
-
Complex problem solving
Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
-
Critical thinking
Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
-
Monitoring
Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.
-
Persuasion
Talking people into changing their minds or their behaviour.
-
Judgment and decision making
Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.
-
Learning strategies
Figuring out the best way to teach or learn something new.
-
Science
Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
-
Instructing
Teaching people how to do something.
-
Time management
Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.
-
Coordination with others
Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.
-
Negotiation
Bringing people together and trying to sort out their differences.
-
Management of personnel resources
Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, and choosing the best people for the job.
-
Systems analysis
Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect it.
Abilities
Workers use these physical and mental abilities.
-
Problem spotting
Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.
-
Oral expression
Communicate by speaking.
-
Deductive reasoning
Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.
-
Inductive reasoning
Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.
-
Written comprehension
Read and understand written information.
-
Oral comprehension
Listen to and understand what people say.
-
Written expression
Write in a way that people can understand.
-
Speech clarity
Speak clearly so others can understand you.
-
Originality
Come up with unusual or clever ideas, or creative ways to solve a problem.
-
Brainstorming
Come up with a number of ideas about a topic, even if the ideas aren't very good.
-
Speech recognition
Identify and understand the speech of another person.
-
Categorising
Come up with different ways of grouping things.
-
Near vision
See details that are up-close (within a few feet).
-
Flexibility of closure
See a pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) hidden in other distracting material.
-
Sorting or ordering
Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
-
Selective attention
Pay attention to something without being distracted.
-
Speed of recognition
Quickly make sense of and organize things you can see like letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
-
Far vision
See details that are far away.
-
Memorization
Remember things like words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
-
Multitasking
Do two or more things at the same time.
Activities
These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.
-
Helping and caring for others
Providing personal assistance, medical attention, or emotional support.
-
Assessing and evaluating things
Working out the value, importance, or quality of things, services or people.
-
Building good relationships
Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.
-
Researching and investigating
Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.
-
Keeping your knowledge up-to-date
Keeping up-to-date with technology and new ideas.
-
Looking for changes over time
Comparing objects, actions, or events. Looking for differences between them or changes over time.
-
Monitoring people, processes and things
Checking objects, actions, or events, and keeping an eye out for problems.
-
Making decisions and solving problems
Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.
-
Negotiating and resolving conflicts
Handling complaints and disagreements, and negotiating with people.
-
Coaching and developing others
Working out the needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or helping them to improve.
-
Collecting and organising information
Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or checking information or data.
-
Explaining things to people
Helping people to understand and use information.
-
Documenting or recording information
Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
-
Checking compliance with standards
Deciding whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
-
Thinking creatively
Using your own ideas for developing, designing, or creating something new.
-
Making sense of information and ideas
Looking at, working with, and understanding data or information.
-
Coming up with systems and processes
Deciding on goals and figuring out what you need to do to achieve them.
-
Working with the public
Greeting or serving customers, clients or guests, and public speaking or performing.
-
Training and teaching others
Understanding the needs of others, developing training programs, and teaching or instructing.
-
Working with computers
Using computers to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.

O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 19-3031.02 - Clinical Psychologists.
Work Environment
Learn about the daily activities, and physical and social demands faced by workers. Explore the values and work styles that workers rate as most important.
Filter Work Environment
Demands
The physical and social demands workers face most often are shown below.
-
Face-to-face discussions
Talk with people face-to-face.
-
Indoors, heat controlled
Work indoors with access to heating or cooling.
-
Telephone
Talk on the telephone.
-
Freedom to make decisions
Have freedom to make decision on your own.
-
Unstructured work
Have freedom to decide on tasks, priorities, and goals.
-
Spend time sitting
Spend time sitting at work.
-
Frequent decision making
Frequently make decisions that impact other people.
-
Contact with people
Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.
-
Impact of decisions
Make decisions that have a large impact on other people.
-
Letters and memos
Write letters and memos.
-
Electronic mail
Use electronic mail.
-
Contact with the public
Work with customers or the public.
-
Being exact or accurate
Be very exact or highly accurate.
-
Consequence of error
Work where mistakes have serious consequences.
-
Time pressure
Work to strict deadlines.
-
Physically close to people
Work physically close to other people.
-
Conflict situations
Deal with conflict or disagreements.
-
Disease or infection
Be exposed to disease or infections.
-
Teamwork
Work with people in a group or team.
-
Angry or unpleasant people
Deal with unpleasant, angry, or rude people.
Values
Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.
-
Relationships
Serve and work with others. Workers usually get along well with each other, do things to help other people, and are rarely pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.
-
Independence
Work alone and make decisions. Workers are able to try out their own ideas, make decisions on their own, and work with little or no supervision.
-
Achievement
Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.
-
Working conditions
Job security and good working conditions. There is usually a steady flow of interesting work, and the pay and conditions are generally good.
-
Recognition
Advancement and the potential to lead. Workers are recognised for the work that they do, they may give directions and instructions to others, and they are looked up to in their company and their community.
-
Support
Supportive management that stands behind employees. Workers are treated fairly by their company, they are supported by management, and have supervisors who train them well.
Interests
Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.
-
Analytical
Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.
-
Helping
Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.
-
Creative
Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.
-
Enterprising
Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.
-
Administrative
Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.
-
Practical
Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.

O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 19-3031.02 - Clinical Psychologists.
All Psychologists and Psychotherapists
-
$1,857 Weekly Pay
-
Very strong Future Growth
-
26,800 workers Employment Size
-
Very high skill Skill level rating
-
52% Full-Time Full-Time Share
-
43 hours Average full-time
-
44 years Average age
-
80% female Gender Share
Psychologists and Psychotherapists investigate, assess and provide treatment and counselling to foster optimal personal, social, educational and occupational adjustment and development.
A postgraduate degree in psychology and a period of supervised practice is needed to work as a Psychologist. While Psychotherapist generally need a bachelor degree in psychotherapy.
Tasks
- collecting data about clients and assessing their cognitive, behavioural and emotional disorders
- administering and interpreting diagnostic tests and formulating plans for treatment
- developing, administering and evaluating individual and group treatment programs
- consulting with other professionals on details of cases and treatment plans
- conducting research studies of motivation in learning, group performance and individual differences in mental abilities and educational performance
- collecting data and analysing characteristics of students and recommending educational programs
- formulating achievement, diagnostic and predictive tests for use by teachers in planning methods and content of instruction
- developing interview techniques, psychological tests and other aids in workplace selection, placement, appraisal and promotion
- conducting surveys and research studies on job design, work groups, morale, motivation, supervision and management
- performing job analyses and establishing job requirements by observing and interviewing employees and managers
The number of people working as Psychologists and Psychotherapists (in their main job) grew very strongly over 5 years:
from 22,600 in 2014 to 26,800 in 2019.
Caution: The Australian jobs market is changing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These estimates do not take account of the impact of COVID-19. They may not reflect the current jobs market and should be used and interpreted with extreme caution.
- Size: This is a large occupation.
- Location: Psychologists and Psychotherapists work in many regions of Australia.
- Industries: Most work in Health Care and Social Assistance; Education and Training; and Public Administration and Safety.
- Earnings: Full-time workers on an adult wage earn around $1,857 per week (higher than the average of $1,460). Earnings tend to be lower when starting out and higher as experience grows.
- Full-time: Around half work full-time (52%, less than the average of 66%), showing there are many opportunities to work part-time.
- Hours: Full-time workers spend around 43 hours per week at work (compared to the average of 44 hours).
- Age: The average age is 44 years (compared to the average of 40 years).
- Gender: 80% of workers are female (compared to the average of 48%).
Employment Outlook
Caution: The 2019 employment projections do not take account of any impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and are therefore no longer reflective of current labour market conditions. As such, they should be used, and interpreted, with extreme caution. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, National Skills Commission trend data to May 2019 and projections to 2024.
Weekly Earnings
Source: Based on ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours (cat. no. 6306.0), May 2018, Customised Report. Median weekly total cash earnings for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate. Earnings are before tax and include amounts salary sacrificed. Earnings can vary greatly depending on the skills and experience of the worker and the demands of the role. These figures should be used as a guide only, not to determine a wage rate.
Main Industries
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Industries are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC 06).
States and Territories
NSW
VIC
QLD
SA
WA
TAS
NT
ACT
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Share of workers across Australian States and Territories, in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Profile
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Education Level
Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.
A postgraduate degree in psychology and a period of supervised practice is needed to work as a Psychologist. While Psychotherapist generally need a bachelor degree in psychotherapy.
Registration with the Psychology Board of Australia is required.
Before starting a course, check it will provide you with the skills and qualifications you need. Visit
- Course Seeker to search and compare higher education courses.
- ComparED to compare undergraduate and postgraduate student experiences and outcomes.
Employers look for Psychologists who are caring, compassionate, empathetic and work well in a team.
Filter Skills & Knowledge
Knowledge
These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.
-
Therapy and counselling
Diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and career counselling and guidance.
-
Psychology
Human behaviour; differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; research methods; assessing and treating disorders.
-
Customer and personal service
Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.
-
English language
English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
-
Education and training
Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
-
Personnel and human resources
Recruiting and training people, managing pay and other entitlements (like sick leave), and negotiating pay and conditions.
-
Sociology and anthropology
Group behaviour and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
-
Philosophy and theology
Philosophical systems and religions, including their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and impact on society.
-
Computers and electronics
Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
-
Law and government
How our laws and courts work. Government rules and regulations, and the political system.
-
Mathematics
Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.
-
Administration and management
Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.
-
Public safety and security
Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.
-
Medicine and dentistry
Diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities, including preventive health-care measures.
-
Clerical
Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.
-
Communications and media
Media production, communication, and dissemination. Includes written, spoken, and visual media.
-
Biology
Plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, how they rely on and work with each other and the environment.
-
Chemistry
Chemical composition, structure, and properties. How chemicals are made, used, mixed, and can change.
-
History and archeology
Events of the past, their causes, how we learn about them, and how they influence the way we live today.
-
Telecommunications
Transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Skills
Skills can be improved through training or experience.
-
Social perceptiveness
Understanding why people react the way they do.
-
Active listening
Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
-
Reading comprehension
Reading work related information.
-
Speaking
Talking to others.
-
Active learning
Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.
-
Serving others
Looking for ways to help people.
-
Writing
Writing things for co-workers or customers.
-
Complex problem solving
Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
-
Critical thinking
Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
-
Monitoring
Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.
-
Persuasion
Talking people into changing their minds or their behaviour.
-
Judgment and decision making
Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.
-
Learning strategies
Figuring out the best way to teach or learn something new.
-
Science
Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
-
Instructing
Teaching people how to do something.
-
Time management
Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.
-
Coordination with others
Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.
-
Negotiation
Bringing people together and trying to sort out their differences.
-
Management of personnel resources
Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, and choosing the best people for the job.
-
Systems analysis
Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect it.
Abilities
Workers use these physical and mental abilities.
-
Problem spotting
Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.
-
Oral expression
Communicate by speaking.
-
Deductive reasoning
Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.
-
Inductive reasoning
Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.
-
Written comprehension
Read and understand written information.
-
Oral comprehension
Listen to and understand what people say.
-
Written expression
Write in a way that people can understand.
-
Speech clarity
Speak clearly so others can understand you.
-
Originality
Come up with unusual or clever ideas, or creative ways to solve a problem.
-
Brainstorming
Come up with a number of ideas about a topic, even if the ideas aren't very good.
-
Speech recognition
Identify and understand the speech of another person.
-
Categorising
Come up with different ways of grouping things.
-
Near vision
See details that are up-close (within a few feet).
-
Flexibility of closure
See a pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) hidden in other distracting material.
-
Sorting or ordering
Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
-
Selective attention
Pay attention to something without being distracted.
-
Speed of recognition
Quickly make sense of and organize things you can see like letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
-
Far vision
See details that are far away.
-
Memorization
Remember things like words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
-
Multitasking
Do two or more things at the same time.
Activities
These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.
-
Helping and caring for others
Providing personal assistance, medical attention, or emotional support.
-
Assessing and evaluating things
Working out the value, importance, or quality of things, services or people.
-
Building good relationships
Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.
-
Researching and investigating
Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.
-
Keeping your knowledge up-to-date
Keeping up-to-date with technology and new ideas.
-
Looking for changes over time
Comparing objects, actions, or events. Looking for differences between them or changes over time.
-
Monitoring people, processes and things
Checking objects, actions, or events, and keeping an eye out for problems.
-
Making decisions and solving problems
Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.
-
Negotiating and resolving conflicts
Handling complaints and disagreements, and negotiating with people.
-
Coaching and developing others
Working out the needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or helping them to improve.
-
Collecting and organising information
Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or checking information or data.
-
Explaining things to people
Helping people to understand and use information.
-
Documenting or recording information
Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
-
Checking compliance with standards
Deciding whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
-
Thinking creatively
Using your own ideas for developing, designing, or creating something new.
-
Making sense of information and ideas
Looking at, working with, and understanding data or information.
-
Coming up with systems and processes
Deciding on goals and figuring out what you need to do to achieve them.
-
Working with the public
Greeting or serving customers, clients or guests, and public speaking or performing.
-
Training and teaching others
Understanding the needs of others, developing training programs, and teaching or instructing.
-
Working with computers
Using computers to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.

O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 19-3031.02 - Clinical Psychologists.
Learn about the daily activities, and physical and social demands faced by workers. Explore the values and work styles that workers rate as most important.
Filter Work Environment
Demands
The physical and social demands workers face most often are shown below.
-
Face-to-face discussions
Talk with people face-to-face.
-
Indoors, heat controlled
Work indoors with access to heating or cooling.
-
Telephone
Talk on the telephone.
-
Freedom to make decisions
Have freedom to make decision on your own.
-
Unstructured work
Have freedom to decide on tasks, priorities, and goals.
-
Spend time sitting
Spend time sitting at work.
-
Frequent decision making
Frequently make decisions that impact other people.
-
Contact with people
Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.
-
Impact of decisions
Make decisions that have a large impact on other people.
-
Letters and memos
Write letters and memos.
-
Electronic mail
Use electronic mail.
-
Contact with the public
Work with customers or the public.
-
Being exact or accurate
Be very exact or highly accurate.
-
Consequence of error
Work where mistakes have serious consequences.
-
Time pressure
Work to strict deadlines.
-
Physically close to people
Work physically close to other people.
-
Conflict situations
Deal with conflict or disagreements.
-
Disease or infection
Be exposed to disease or infections.
-
Teamwork
Work with people in a group or team.
-
Angry or unpleasant people
Deal with unpleasant, angry, or rude people.
Values
Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.
-
Relationships
Serve and work with others. Workers usually get along well with each other, do things to help other people, and are rarely pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.
-
Independence
Work alone and make decisions. Workers are able to try out their own ideas, make decisions on their own, and work with little or no supervision.
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Achievement
Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.
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Working conditions
Job security and good working conditions. There is usually a steady flow of interesting work, and the pay and conditions are generally good.
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Recognition
Advancement and the potential to lead. Workers are recognised for the work that they do, they may give directions and instructions to others, and they are looked up to in their company and their community.
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Support
Supportive management that stands behind employees. Workers are treated fairly by their company, they are supported by management, and have supervisors who train them well.
Interests
Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.
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Analytical
Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.
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Helping
Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.
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Creative
Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.
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Enterprising
Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.
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Administrative
Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.
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Practical
Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.

O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 19-3031.02 - Clinical Psychologists.