Benefits, Barriers, and Support for Board Certification as Early Career Psychologists

Board certification may not be the top priority for many early career psychologists (ECPs). After transitions from graduate school, internship, and possibly postdoctoral fellowships, ECPs often need time to settle into their new jobs and begin charting a career path. How would board certification be helpful? Board certification is a crucial way of establishing credibility in a particular specialty. ECPs may sometimes be questioned or doubted because they are recent graduates. Nevertheless, ECPs may instead be more updated and well-trained in recent evidence-based assessment and treatment approaches than senior colleagues. Board certification also provides access to a wide network of established, competent psychologists in their specialty. This broader network allows for professional connections that may open up additional opportunities, such as research collaboration, presentation opportunities, or clinical practice. Further, ABPP provides ongoing development through continuing education and consultation with the ABPP Ethics Committee. Webinars and presentations become an important way for ECP specialists to continue learning and obtaining consultation after they complete graduate training. Lastly, board certification helps with career mobility and advancement, which can be especially helpful as ECPs consider different careers with the possibility of geographical relocations. Instead of having to reestablish themselves completely, the ABPP status gives ECPs recognition of their skills and competence. In some settings, board certification increases salary or is required for career promotion. 

Although board certification is beneficial to ECPs, there are multiple perceived barriers to the process. ECPs are especially susceptible to imposter syndrome (Muradoglu et al., 2022). There is a myth that a specialist needs to be an expert. Instead, ECPs can become certified as long as they demonstrate competence in a given specialty (Bordes Edgar, Holder, Cox, & Suris, 2019). The board certification process is collegial, with the goal of applicants to learn and reflect on their competence and areas for improvement.  The work sample and videos do not need to be perfect. Another barrier is time constraint. As ECPs try to juggle a new career, life, or family, they may find the board certification process time-consuming. Although board certification involves work samples and exams, applicants may take a bite-sized approach and view it as a multi-step process, similar to a graduate course with multiple assignments and exams. This bite-sized perspective can make the process less daunting. ECPs may also be deterred by the financial cost of the board certification process. As they are starting out a career with lower starting salaries, they may still have student loans or home or moving expenses that need to be prioritized over the cost of pursuing board certification. 

To help ECPs and students learn about board certification, ABPP co-sponsored an Early Career Psychologist Coffee Break at the APA convention in Washington, DC, on August 4, 2023. Both interested individuals and current ABPP specialists attended. This created an informal, yet supportive environment for potential applicants to ask questions and learn from specialists’ experiences. Informal networking events have shown to be effective at decreasing imposter syndrome and encouraging people to consider opportunities (Wolff & Moser, 2009). After outreach, attendees were matched with the relevant specialty boards’ ECP liaison so that they can further get one-on-one support regarding board certification. A lucky attendee, Dr. Rana Tanios, won the raffle prize for an ABPP ECP application fee waiver. Interested individuals are encouraged to attend our next ECP outreach event in the future!