What jobs will actually support my career development?
I am stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment, and I suppose need to vent with the hope that I might have a little bit of advice.
TLDR (well not really)- I am 24 and about to get my masters in forensic psychology, I want to continue with research work for at least another 5 years, and like the idea of working in something like prison reform, providing support for offenders and doing research within criminal justice and offending fields. Potentially further in the future I want to go into clinical, but I wanted to strengthen my confidence in what and why before going into a system that is under a lot of strain... I have around 1.5 years research assistant experience, 1 year as a wellbeing practitioner.
Also I live in London (it is expensive and unfortunately has a sway on what I could practically choose)
The problem is this. I have been offered 2 jobs, one as a research assistant (RA) and one that is a step up as a researcher.
the RA role is for a charity and would let me work in a vein that looks directly at offending behaviour; I would be doing an evaluation and assist in delivering services to reduce offending. Given it is a charity, the role is contingent on funding. it balances research with practice (I think that is job speak for taking on more responsibilities than what your role would typically be)... It pays ok (charity work never really pays better than private), but with travel and everything, would leave me with very little wiggle room and I would likely not be in a position to save. It is a 3month position which will likely turn permanent as another permanent RA is leaving the charity giving way to an opening.
The researcher role is for a consultancy practice that works exclusively at improving public services; ranging from children's services, social services to criminal justice systems. I would be carrying out multiple evaluations across different veins, and it would likely take into account a lot of finances (as it is consultancy approach). It is permanent, and the pay is obviously stronger as it is a more senior role, and I would be able to have the time and money to save. there is encouragement towards an EDI approach in their evaluations, but if I am honest I think they struggle to carry that out in practice
I am ready for a senior role, but I really want to start working more directly in a field that I want to do, rather than potentially a very mixed bag. Having more job responsibilities will definitely strengthen any applications that I will go on to apply for job wise but I am wondering it the RA role will translate better for more tailored roles, and may strengthen my experience if I want to go into say academia research on offenders?
My heart wants to go to the charity. I would feel more impassioned in that role, but with pay and travel, I would worry that I could burn out. But I am worried the consultancy job will end up with me doing work that doesn't actually fit with my degree.
What would actually strengthen my career development?
I feel the researcher role feels like on paper it has clear advantages - it’s an upward move whereas the charity one is more of a sideways move, perhaps? But then I could potentially be getting really nice specialised experience as the RA.
So... my heart is definitely with the charity, my head is kinda with the consultancy