Hilary O’Leary – My path post MWOP

I graduated from the Master’s in Work and Organisational Psychology in 2023. The path I have since taken is not the one I envisaged when starting out on the course!

Having worked in the Irish advertising industry for over 15 years, various life experiences (becoming a parent and Covid) made me evaluate what I wanted out of the next stage of my career. I had obtained a psychology degree part-time whilst working full-time in the years before I had children, but I hadn’t pursued any other psychology studies post degree. Having heard of the Master’s in Work and Organisational Psychology many years ago, I researched it again and realised it was how I wanted to further my psychology knowledge. I quit my job, became a part-time master’s student whilst caring for my young children. I fully anticipated returning to work post master’s but pivoting to a more HR role – combining both my education and work experience to be able to make this transition.

However when my master’s was coming to an end, I realised I didn’t want it to finish. I really enjoyed what I was learning, but particularly what I was researching for my dissertation – mid-career transitions. I realised I wanted my professional life to focus on supporting people’s careers and work lives. I could do this by either returning to the corporate work either as a consultant or working for an organisation. Or I could pursue a PhD and support careers through researching people’s lived experiences of career transitions and provide knowledge and support from my research.

So I applied for a PhD part-time with DCU Business School and found two great supervisors to work with. As my PhD is part-time, this has allowed me to avail of some temporary work in the university as a research assistant and lecturer, giving me great work experience to further my career in academia, whilst also bringing my work experience and skills to these roles. Currently I am in my second year of my PhD and I’m fully immersed in data collection for my own research, which is looking at how people adjust to new career transitions at mid-career. Whilst I’m only coming up to the halfway point of my PhD, I can say I’m glad I made the decision to pursue this path. While making a career transition has its challenges, for example in my case adjusting to a whole new sector, culture and starting out again as an early career professional….I’ve learned to embrace the challenges (as much as I can!) and keep on learning and taking on new opportunities.

Deciding to enrol in the Master’s in Work and Organisational Psychology was a transformative career pivot moment for me. I would highly recommend the programme for anyone interested in improving organisations and careers, whilst also furthering your own career development.