89

The Impact of Practicum Training on Career and Job Search

Attitudes of Postgraduate Psychology Students
Sally A. Carless and Olivia Prodan
Monash University, Australia

This quasi-experimental study examined the impact of practicum training on clarity of vocational preference,
career commitment, self-efficacy and job attainment confidence. The sample consisted of fifth and sixth
year Australian psychology students who were enrolled in either a master's, DPsych, or PhD degree. Based
on their practicum training two groups were formed: those with no practicum experience (n = 61) and those
with extensive training experience (n = 68). ANCOVA was used to analyse the data. The findings indicated
that those who had extensive practicum training experience had greater clarity of vocational preference
compared to those with no practicum training. No significant differences between the two groups were
found for career commitment, self-efficacy and job attainment confidence. The implications and limitations
of the study are discussed.

Practicum training or internship forms an important part
of psychology training in many degree programs. In Aust-
ralia, it is a compulsory component of postgraduate psychol-
ogy training. Practicum training exemplifies commitment
to the scientist-practitioner model. As such, it provides recogni-
tion that academic learning needs to be supplemented with
applied learning. Despite the widespread agreement about the
value of practicum training, there is scant knowledge about its
impact on individual attitudes and behaviours (Brooks, Cornelius,
Greenfield, & Joseph, 1995; O'Donovan, Dyck, & Bain, 2001).
According to career development theory, postgraduate
psychology students are in the career exploration stage (Super,
1957, 1990). In his classic paper, Jordaan (1963, p. 59) defined
vocational exploratory behaviour as those:
... activities, mental, or physical, undertaken with the more or less
conscious purpose or hope of eliciting information about oneself
or one's environment, or of verifying or arriving at a basis for a
conclusion or hypothesis which will aid one in choosing, preparing
for, entering, adjusting to, or progressing in, an occupation.
Thus, exploratory behaviour plays a "crucial role in shaping the
way in which a person thinks about himself [sic] and about the
world of work" (Jordaan, p. 60). Although postgraduate
psychology students have identified their vocational preference
(e.g., clinical psychology), they are exploring their specific area
of specialisation (e.g., anxiety disorders). Practicum training
provides students with a range of opportunities to explore
occupations and their own suitability for their chosen profession.
The aim of this research was to explore the impact of pract-
icum training on clarity of vocational preference, career
commitment, self-efficacy and job attainment confidence.
Beginning postgraduate psychology students who had not yet
undertaken practicum were compared with experienced
postgraduate psychology students who had undertaken exten-
sive practicum training. The reasoning associated with these
variables is explained in the following sections.
Clarity of Vocational Preference
Practicum training can assist students in the crystallisation
of their vocational preferences by facilitating the identification
of vocationally relevant abilities, interests, and values (Hall,
1976). The term crystallisation refers to the "relative degree of
clarity and certainty of various vocationally related perceptions"
(Barrett & Tinsley, 1977a, p. 302). Performance of the job tasks
relevant to their chosen field of psychology can enable students
to develop a clearer and better differentiated self-concept
(Jordaan, 1963; Super, 1990). Several studies have examined the
impact of internships on career decidedness or vocational
crystallisation. The results are, however, inconclusive. Taylor
(1988) compared undergraduate students who had completed
an internship (n = 32) with those who had no internship experi-
ence (n = 35). The students were from a variety of academic
departments (e.g., business and interior design). Comparison
of the two groups revealed that those with intern experience
had a higher crystallisation of vocational self-concept. That is,
those who completed an intern reported greater clarity and
certainty about their vocational preferences compared to those
with no intern experience.
On the other hand, two studies have reported no significant
difference in career decidedness for students with internship
experience compared to no internship experience (Arnold,
Auburn, & Ley, 1995; Brooks et al., 1995). Arnold et al. comp-
ared undergraduate psychology students with supervised work
experience (n = 63) with those who had no supervised work
experience (n = 155). Certainty of career decision was the same
for the two groups. Brooks and her colleagues compared four
groups of students: internship experience, work experience, both
work and internship experience, and neither experience. Most of
the students were undergraduates, a small proportion were
undertaking postgraduate study (22%) and were completing, or
had completed a variety of majors, (e.g., business and industrial
relations). The results indicated no significant difference
between the groups for career decidedness. Given the inclusive
findings it is important that research is undertaken on the impact
of practicum training on clarity of vocational preference. Hence,
the following hypothesis was posed:
Hypothesis 1. Students with extensive practicum experience
would report greater levels of clarity of vocational preference
compared to students with no practicum experience.
Career Commitment
Jordaan (1963) identified 20 changes or outcomes that result
from exploratory behaviour, one of which was increased
commitment to career goals. When career commitment is
conceptualised as the strength of motivation to work in a chosen

Address for correspondence: Sally A. Carless, Psychology Department, Monash University, PO Box 197, Caulfield East, VIC 3145, Australia.
Email: Sally.Carless@med.monash.edu.au

Australian Journal of Psychology Vol. 55, No. 2, 2003 pp. 89-94

90 Sally A. Carless and Olivia Prodan
career role (Hall, 1971), London (1983) and London and
Mone's (1987) theory of career motivation could serve as basis
for understanding the changes that take place due to practicum
training. London and Mone viewed career commitment as a
multidimensional concept defined by three related constructs:
career resilience, career insight and career identity. Career
resilience is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances,
even when the circumstances are discouraging or disruptive.
Career insight is the extent to which self and goal perception is
realistic. Career identity refers to the extent to which people
define themselves in terms of their field of work. To the best
of our knowledge there have been no studies that have
examined the effects of internship or practicum experience
on career commitment. Most of the research on career commit-
ment has used samples of employed individuals (e.g., Aryee
& Tan, 1992; Blau, 1988; Blau & Lunz, 1998; Carson
& Bedeian, 1994; Colarelli & Bishop, 1990; Goulet & Singh,
2002; Noe, Noe, & Bachhuber, 1990). Despite the lack
of research based on career development theory (e.g., Super,
1957, 1990) it is expected that practicum experience will lead to
enhanced career commitment. Specifically, it was expected that:
Hypothesis 2. Students with extensive practicum experience
would report higher levels of career resilience, career in-
sight and career identity compared to students with no
practicum experience.
Self-Efficacy
A key to the willingness to commit a specific vocational
choice, is belief in the capacity to mobilise the physical, intel-
lectual, and emotional resources needed to succeed in the
occupation of choice, that is, self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986).
Efficacy expectations are hypothesised as helping to determine
whether behaviour will be initiated, how much effort will
be expended, and how long it will be maintained in the face
of obstacles or adverse experiences. The four major sources
of efficacy information - performance accomplishments,
vicarious learning or modelling, verbal persuasion
(e.g., encouragement and support from others), and lower
levels of emotional arousal (i.e., lack of anxiety) - all provide
means whereby realistic efficacy beliefs can be developed or
modified. During practicum experience, it is likely that students
would have the opportunity to practise and develop their work-
related knowledge, skills and abilities. They are under the
supervision of an experienced psychologist, so it is likely that
they would have the opportunity to watch others (modelling)
and receive feedback on their work performance. According to
career development theories, an outcome of exploratory
vocational behaviour is an enhanced sense of self-confidence
and self-efficacy (Jordaan, 1963; Super, 1957, 1990).
Although, there has been some debate about malleability of
self-efficacy (e.g., Gist & Mitchell, 1992), there is a strong body
of evidence that self-efficacy beliefs can change over time, in
particular as a result of training (Eden & Kinnar, 1991; Gist,
1989; Gist, Schwoerer, & Rosen, 1989; Karl, O'Leary-Kelly, &
Marocchio, 1993; Torkzadeh & van Dyke, 2002). Gist and
Mitchell suggested that training directly improves an individ-
ual's abilities and understanding of the task, thus increasing his
or her confidence in performing the task. The increased confi-
dence leads to an increase in self-efficacy beliefs.
Research on the impact of practicum experience on self-
efficacy is extremely limited and inconclusive. Using a quasi-
experimental design, Pedro (1984) examined the impact
of internship on self-efficacy expectations with a sample
of college students completing a major in retailing (N = 90).
Her results showed a positive change in self-efficacy expecta-
tions in one of the two predicted quasi-experimental groups.
Australian Journal of Psychology - August 2003
Studies on the related concepts of career self-efficacy and self-
esteem reported no significant change due to practicum experi-
ence or internship (Arnold et al., 1995; Brooks et al., 1995).
Thus, there is a need for research that clarifies the impact of
practicum experience on self-efficacy. Hence, the following
hypothesis was posed:
Hypothesis 3. Students with extensive practicum experience
will report higher levels of self-efficacy compared to students
with no practicum experience.
Job Attainment Confidence
Intuitively, it seems reasonable to expect that practicum train-
ing leads to enhanced confidence in ability to gain employ-
ment in the chosen field. This is based on the assumption that
practicum experience leads to greater access to informal job
sources and students acquire work experience in the profes-
sion. In addition, potential employers have the opportunity to
observe and evaluate the qualities of potential employees.
Thus, from the employer's perspective, practicum training
functions as a highly reliable and valid work sample test.
Several American studies have examined the effects
of internships on employment outcomes. These have shown
that interns compared to those without intern experience took
less time to attain their first positions (Henry, 1979), accepted
higher paid positions (Taylor, 1988), were perceived as more
employable by recruiters and applicants (Eyler, 1995; Taylor,
1988) and were more likely to be employed (Knouse, Tanner,
& Harris, 1999). Survey results of American graduates
employed in business and industry showed that the majority
found their first job as applied psychologists through informal
networking techniques (Shaw & Benedict, 1988) and that one
of the most significant benefits of internships was the recruit-
ment edge it gave students (Eyler, 1995). Similar results were
found with a sample of allied human service workers
(N = 156): the majority of respondents found their first job
through their field experience or informal networking
techniques (McClam & Kessler, 1982). Australian research
with a sample of ex-organisational postgraduate psychology
students (n = 58) found that the majority of respondents (62%)
indicated that their practicum experience directly led to
employment opportunities (Carless et al., 2003). Based on the
aforementioned studies the following hypothesis was posed:
Hypothesis 4. Students with extensive practicum experience
would report greater confidence in their ability to attain a job
in their chosen profession compared to students with no
practicum experience.
The Current Study
All of the research on the impact of practicum experience or
internships on clarity of vocational preference, career commit-
ment and self-efficacy has been with samples of undergradu-
ates. It is unknown whether changes occur in these variables
when practicum experience is undertaken at a more advanced
stage of career decision making, that is, postgraduate or fifth
and sixth year of study. Yet it is important to know and under-
stand the impact of practicum experience on postgraduate
students given its compulsory status. Hence, the sample for the
current study was fifth and sixth year psychology students
studying at an Australian university.
Control variable. Individuals often undertake postgraduate
psychology training several years after completing their fourth
year in psychology. Thus, there is considerable variability in
the age of entry into postgraduate psychology training. As age
may influence the variables under study (viz., vocational prefer-
ence, career commitment, self-efficacy and job attainment

confidence). This was controlled in analyses. This is consistent
with the approach taken by Barrett and Tinsley (1977b).
METHOD
Sample and Procedure
The sample was obtained from nine Australian universities.
The students were enrolled in postgraduate psychology courses
(organisational, clinical or other) in master's, doctor of
psychology (DPsych) or PhD programs. Program coordinators
who offered postgraduate courses in organisational and clinical
psychology were invited to participate in the study. Upon
acceptance of the invitation, questionnaires were sent to each
university for distribution to students. Each student received a
questionnaire, an explanatory letter and a reply-paid envelope.
Students who had completed less than 4 days of practicum
training or more than 60 days were invited to complete the
questionnaire.
Questionnaires were returned by 129 postgraduate psychology
students. Accurate response rates cannot be reported because
individual universities conducted the distribution of the question-
naires on behalf of the researchers. It is estimated that approxi-
mately 180-200 questionnaires were distributed. Of those
returned, 90 were organisational psychology students, 31 were
clinical psychology students and 8 were enrolled in other
postgraduate psychology courses (forensic and neuropsychology).
The mean age of the participants was 26.94 (SD = 6.93), 104
were female (80.6 %) and 25 were male (19.4 %).
Participants were placed in two categories: those that had
completed 0-4 days of placement (no placement, Category 1)
and those that had completed more than 60 placement days
(extensive placement experience, Category 2). There were a
similar proportion of master's and doctoral students in each
category (Category 1: 51% master's, 44% DPsych or doctoral
and 5% combined master's/PhD; category 2: 57% master's,
31% DPsych or doctoral and 12% combined master's/PhD)
and a similar proportion of coursework degrees in each
category (Category 1: 62% organisational psychology, 28%
clinical psychology and 10% other; category 2: 77% organisa-
tional psychology, 21% clinical psychology and 3% other).
Measures
Clarity of Vocational Preference. This was measured with the
Career Decision Making scale which was based on Holland
and Holland's (1977) Vocational Decision-Making Difficulty
Scale (VDMDS). The VDMDS is a 13-item scale with a True/
False response format. Since the participants were students
who were enrolled in postgraduate courses, the scale was
modified to be more specific to individuals who were at such
an advanced level in their career decision-making. Therefore,
five items that were deemed irrelevant to the sample were
discarded. These items included ones such as "I don't have
to make a decision right now" and "I doubt if I have the ability
to make a good vocational decision right now".
The scale was also modified to reflect the student's field of
specialisation in psychology. For instance, the item "I am not
sure that my present occupational choice or job is right for me"
was modified as follows; "I am not sure that my present
occupational choice as an organisational psychologist is right
for me". The items were also changed depending on the course
that participants were enrolled in. For instance, "organisational
psychology" was interchanged with "clinical psychology",
"forensic psychology" or "neuropsychology". Furthermore, the
response format was also modified to a 5-point Likert scale
(1 = strongly disagree, 3 = neither agree nor disagree,
5 = strongly agree). This type of format allows for greater
interpretation of the results. The items were all negatively
Australian Journal of Psychology - August 2003
Practicum Training and Career and Job Search Attitudes 9I
scored, so for the purpose of analysis, they were re-coded to be
positively scored. The alpha coefficient was .83.
Job attainment confidence. This was measured using a slight-
ly revised version of the scale developed by Sanchez, Truxillo
and Bauer (2000) which measured the likelihood of job attain-
ment. On a hundred-point scale, the subjects in their study
were given the prompt "I estimate the likelihood of getting this
job is X%". In the questionnaire used in this study, "likeli-
hood of getting this job" was replaced with "likelihood of
getting a job".
Self-efficacy. This was assessed by a 6-item scale developed
by George-Falvy (personal communication, February 2002).
The items were anchored on a 5-point Likert scale ( = strongly
disagree, 3 = neither agree nor disagree, 5 = strongly agree).
A sample item is "No matter how difficult the job at work is,
I can tackle it". Other researchers, such as Judge, Bono, and
Locke (2000) and Chen, Gully and Eden (2001) have adopted
a similar approach to the assessment of self-efficacy. Principal
component factor analysis was used to assess the factor struc-
ture of the items. The scree plot and Eigenvalues greater than
one, indicated one underlying construct that explained 45%
of the variance. The average factor loading was .66. The alpha
coefficient was .74.
Careercommitment. This was measured by the 12-item
Career Commitment Measure (CCM) developed by Carson
and Bedeian (1994). This scale measures three factors of
career commitment: career identity, career planning and career
resilience. The items were anchored on a 5-point Likert scale
(1= strongly disagree, 3 = moderately agree and 5 = strongly
agree). The items in the scale were developed to include the
option of "line of work" or "career field". "Career field" was
chosen for this questionnaire such that the items read as
follows: "My line of career field is an important part of who
I am". The authors report coefficient alpha reliabilities for the
three factors of career identity, career planning and career
resilience were found to be .79, .79, and .85 respectively.
Correlation with Blau's (1985) measure of career commitment
(convergent validity) was reported as .75 (Carson & Bedeian).
The alpha coefficients were as follows career identity
.85, career planning .75, and career resilience .82.
Data Analysis
One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to
compare the mean scores of students with no practicum
experience with those with extensive practicum experience.
on the variables of interest. Consistent with the recommenda-
tions of Tabachnick and Fidell (2001) ANCOVA was chosen
as the method of data analysis instead of multivariate analysis
of covariance (MANCOVA). These authors argue that when
the dependent variables are moderately correlated
MANCOVA is less powerful than ANCOVA and the effects
of the independent variable on any dependent variable can be
ambiguous to interpret.
RESULTS
ANCOVA was used to compare the mean scores of students
with no practicum experience (n = 61) with those with exten-
sive practicum experience (n = 68) on the following variables:
clarity of vocational preference, career commitment (career
resilience, career insight and career identity), self-efficacy and
job attainment confidence; age was a covariate. The results
of the ANCOVA analyses are presented in Table 1.
It can be seen in Table 1 that students with extensive
practicum experience had greater clarity of vocational prefer-
ence (M = 28.87) compared to students with no practicum
92 Sally A. Carless and Olivia Prodan
Table I
Group Means and Standard Deviations for Clarity of Vocational Preference, Career Commitment,
Self-Efficacy and Job Attainment Confidence
No practicum experience
(n = 61) Mean (SD)
Clarity of vocational preference 26.44 (5.97)
Career identity 15.62 (2.77)
Career planning 15.23 (2.85)
Career resilience 14.69 (3.22)
Self-efficacy 23.87 (3.56)
Job attainment confidence 82.20 (15.19)
Note: * p < .05
experience (M = 26.44; F = 4.39, p < .05). There was no
significant difference between the two groups for the variables
career resilience, career insight, career identity, self-efficacy
and job attainment confidence. It is worth noting that there was
a trend in the expected direction for job attainment confidence.
As age had no significant effect on any of the variables
examined; these results are not reported in Table 1.
DISCUSSION
It was hypothesised that students with extensive practicum
experience compared to those with no experience would have
greater clarity of vocational preference, career commitment,
self-efficacy and job attainment confidence. The findings
indicated that students with extensive practicum experience had
greater clarity of vocational preference compared with those
with no practicum training; however, no changes were observed
in career commitment (career resilience, career insight and
career identity), self-efficacy and job attainment confidence.
The majority of research on practicum training has been with
samples of undergraduate students. An important feature of this
study was the use of a sample of postgraduate students.
The findings supported the hypothesis that undertaking
practicum experience facilitated the development of clarity and
certainty about the students' chosen field of psychology.
By choosing to complete postgraduate study in a specialised
field of psychology, students have begun to implement their
vocational choice. The actual experience of working as a
probationary psychologist further confirms the initial choice of
specialisation the student has already made. Certainty and
clarity about vocational choice are important developmental
tasks that assist transition into the next vocational phase of
working in the chosen profession (Super & Bohn, 1971).
Previous research on changes in clarity of vocational prefer-
ence due to practicum training have been mixed. These
findings replicate the work of Taylor (1988) and tentatively
extend the generalisability to postgraduate students. It should
be noted that there needs to be some caution when interpreting
the current results. The significance level was less than .05
which can be interpreted as a modest effect. The eta value also
indicated a modest proportion of variance (18%) was
explained by clarity of vocational preference.
In the following section, the findings of nonsignificant effects
for career commitment, self-efficacy and job attainment confi-
dence are each discussed. This is followed by a general discus-
sion of methodological issues of the nonsignificant findings.
Theoretically, it was expected that there would be a change in
the strength of career commitment because of practicum training.
No change was observed, however, in career resilience, career
insight and career identity. It is possible that a moderately stable
Australian Journal of Psychology - August 2003
Extensive practicum
experience (n = 68) Fvalue
Mean (SD)
28.87 (5.98) 4.39 *
15.02 (3.15) 1.37 ns
14.65 (2.95) 1.50 ns
14.38 (3.61) 0.18 ns
23.91 (2.57) 0 ns
84.46 (15.13) 0.41 ns
level of commitment to chosen occupation has formed prior
to postgraduate study (Barbour, 1985; Cavenagh, Dewberry,
& Jones, 2000; Eli, 1984; Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993;
Mortimer & Lorence, 1979). Part of the selection criteria for
postgraduate entry is demonstrated interest and commitment to
the profession. Inspection of the means scores on career
resilience, career insight and career identity support the view that
on entry to postgraduate training, students have high levels
of commitment to their chosen field of employment. The idea
of a stable level of commitment prior to postgraduate study is
supported by two studies of undergraduate students. A longitudi-
nal study of dental and medical students (n = 40 and 90 respec-
tively) showed that student work values remained unchanged
despite their extensive clinical experience (Eli, 1984). Research
with first year medical and legal students (n = 195 and 162
respectively) has shown that there is a high level of commit-
ment to working in the profession even at this early stage of
training (Cavenagh et al., 2000). The conclusion drawn from
the findings of the current study is that career commitment
remains relatively stable and strong throughout postgraduate
training of psychology students.
Contrary to expectations, undertaking practicum training did
not influence self-efficacy. Confidence in one's ability
to successfully perform work-related tasks was unaffected by
practicum training. Measurement issues may partly explain the
nonsignificant findings. There has been considerable debate
about the measurement of self-efficacy (e.g., Chen et al., 2001:
Lee & Bobko, 1994). A more specific measure of self-efficacy
that assessed particular work-related skills and abilities, as
well as self-efficacy strength and self-efficacy magnitude, may
have been a better measure (Chen et al., 2001; Lee & Bobko,
1994; Locke & Latham, 1990). According to Eden (2001) it is
important to match the specificity of self-efficacy with the
domain of interest. Indirect evidence for this proposition
comes from the work of Arnold et al. (1995). They reported
that there is some evidence to indicate that supervised work
experience enhanced self-rated abilities. Self-rated abilities
were assessed using a scale that described and listed actual
work-related behaviours. Examination of the mean scores for
self-efficacy show that prior to practicum training students
reported a high level of self-efficacy. This is similar to career
commitment. It seems that at postgraduate entry level, students
reported strong self-efficacy and this remained relatively high
after completing extensive practicum training.
A somewhat surprising finding was that job attainment
confidence does not change after extensive practicum training.
There has been a considerable body of research that showed a
range of positive employment outcomes associated with
completion of practicum training. An obvious explanation of
-

the current finding is the very high levels of confidence
reported by both groups of students. Job attainment confidence
was measured as a percentage score. The mean score for
students with no practicum experience was 82% (SD = 15) and
for those with practicum experience it was 84% (SD = 15).
The standard deviations suggest that scores on job attainment
confidence suffered from a ceiling effect and thus a restriction
of range. Future researchers should investigate this area using
an alternative measure of job attainment confidence. Of inter-
est is the finding that the mean scores show that there
is a slight trend for students with practicum experience
to report higher levels of job attainment confidence compared
to those with no experience. In summary, these findings show
that postgraduate psychology students reported very strong
confidence in the likelihood that they will be able to secure
employment in their preferred area of speciality of psychology.
The magnitude of their confidence was unchanged after
practicum experience.
There are a number of methodological issues that may explain
the nonsignificant findings. First, the time frame of completion
of more than 60 practicum days for the experienced practicum
training group may have been insufficient for changes to occur.
Sixty days is approximately half the normal coursework require-
ments for a master's degree in psychology. More time may have
been needed for observable changes to occur in career commit-
ment, self-efficacy and job attainment confidence. On the other
hand, the average number of days completed by the experienced
groups was 105 days, which indicates that most, were close to
completing the required number of days. Participants in other
studies on the effects of practicum training have completed a
similar number of days. For example, Brooks and her colleagues
(1995) studied those with internship experience who had
completed an average of 70 days and Taylor's (1988) sample
of interns had completed approximately 25 days.
Second, it is feasible that students may have had limited
opportunities to practise the role of specialist psychologist and,
more generally, to gain first-hand experience. Some students
may only have completed more mundane tasks during
practicum and their experience may have been limited because
of their in-training status. A recent survey of clinical students
reported that students received less applied work experience
during practicum training than they wanted (Gonsalvez,
Oades, & Freestone, 2002). In some states of Australia
because of limited numbers of specialist, practising psycholo-
gists, students are supervised by academic staff. In general,
academics have little or no practitioner experience (O'Dono-
van et al., 2001) and are less able to give constructive, useful
feedback on the development of professional skills. It is also
possible that students may not have received the supervision
they needed (O'Donovan et al., 2001).
The quasi-experimental design of our study may have lacked
sufficient sensitivity to identify individual changes that occur.
This has been the dominant approach to studying the effects
of practicum training. A longitudinal design that tracks
individuals prior to, and on completion of, practicum training
is a stronger, and more rigorous design. The inclusion of pre-
practicum baseline measures would provide a stronger test
of changes that occur due to practicum training compared
to the current design. Finally, alternative methodologies, such
as qualitative, may be a more suitable technique to identify
changes that occur due to practicum training. It has been noted
that interviews may uncover some of the more subtle changes
that occur that are difficult to capture in a quasi-experimental
design (Arnold et al., 1995) or questionnaires (O'Donovan
et al., 2001).
Australian Journal of Psychology - August 2003
Practicum Training and Career and Job Search Attitudes 93
Limitations and Future Research
A limitation of the current study was the homogeneous
sample; thus the generalisability of the findings are limited
to postgraduate psychology. Although age was controlled for,
it may have been more appropriate to control for career-related
work experience. A common selection criterion for entry into
postgraduate psychology training is relevant work experience.
Although there is lack of empirical data on students' prior
work experience, anecdotal evidence from course coordinators
supports this view. Thus, some of the tasks that students
performed during their practicum training may have been
similar to those performed in their previous employment.
Thus, practicum training may not extend the professional skills
and knowledge beyond that which has already been acquired.
A possible confounding variable in this study was coursework
studies. Students with greater practicum experience compared
to those with no experience had also completed more course-
work. Coursework and practicum are usually undertaken
concurrently, so it is difficult to separate out the effects
because of each of these. Perhaps it would be more realistic
to focus on changes that occur due to specialised psychological
training (i.e., fifth and sixth years).
Theoretically, practicum training performs the function of
a realistic job preview (RJP; Wanous, 1977, 1980, 1992). The
problem with typical RJPs used by organisations is that they
provide limited information about the job and organisation.
On the other hand, practicum training exposes students to many
aspects of the job over a period of time and allows them to inter-
act and exchange ideas with experienced practitioners (Knouse
et al., 1999). Hence, the student is provided with an excellent
opportunity to observe first-hand what the job of a specialist
psychologist entails (Breaugh, 1992). Furthermore, practicum
training enables individuals to evaluate the degree of match
between their own characteristics, needs and values and those
of the job and organisation. Successful matching is more likely
to occur if individuals develop a realistic appraisal of their
individual characteristics (Breaugh, 1992; Schein, 1978).
Thus, this raises the following potential research question:
does specialised psychological training lead to greater under-
standing of organisational cultural preferences and ability
to assess person-job fit and person-organisation fit?
In summary, the findings of this study show that practicum
training enhanced clarity of vocational preferences. Students
became clearer about the suitability of their chosen profession
after extensive practicum training. On the other hand,
practicum training did not change levels of career commitment
(career resilience, career insight and career identity), self-
efficacy and job attainment confidence. The former variables
remained relatively stable and high, prior to, and after,
practicum training. The picture of today's postgraduate
psychology student that emerged was one who is self-assured
about her or his specialist psychology skills, one who is confi-
dent of getting employment in her or his chosen area of
speciality and one who is committed to their chosen vocation
of psychology.
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