General Questions
SIOP is the only Society that tailors its membership and offerings to the study and practice of Industrial-Organizational Psychology. APA has over 100,000 members from all psychology fields, therefore not all content and members are specifically focused on workplaces. SHRM caters to Human Resources professionals, thus it is not specifically focused on psychologists and psychological sciences.
There is information on the website, under the membership drop-down. In May, the leadership of SIOP turns over annually - following that transition, the committees recruit members to serve a one-year volunteer term.
Under the Career Center sub-tab under Resources and Publications.
Membership directory - interest areas (make sure you are logged in). You can also search the SIOP program - this is on the SIOP conference website.
Annual Conference
Look over the program in advance and identify what sessions to prioritize for attendance. Also, download the WHOVA app, which is used during the conference
The Conference Committee hosts a program called the Ambassador Program. It pairs a newcomer with someone who has attended the conference a few times. It can turn into a mentoring relationship beyond the actual conference. Recommend anyone wanting an Ambassador to sign up early. You can sign up on the SIOP conference registration form. This is available for in-person or virtual attendees.
Students (only) can sign up to volunteer on the registration form. Several people are chosen every year to help during the conference.
Yes! The SIOP Conference Career Center (formally known as the Placement Center) allows employers and job seekers to connect via an online job board and dedicated space for prearranged interviews. Employers can post job openings, job seekers can upload their resumes, and both groups can search the online job board database to find matches that fit their desired criteria.
Additionally, the SIOP Conference Career Center offers job seekers the opportunity to engage in mock interviews with experienced I-O professionals and receive interview feedback. Opportunities are limited so job seekers should register early!
Student Membership
SIOP offers a plethora of information about how to apply to graduate school, how to find an internship, and how to start a career in this fascinating field. For more information, visit the Students page.
Student members are welcome at SIOP. There is a sign-up process to volunteer on committees that happens in the spring of every year. The most important thing is a determination to provide service to others. It’s helpful to fill out your profile on your SIOP account and include your interests, which is important when chairs choose committee members.
Please have a look at the Member Benefits page online to find out all of the benefits open to members. One of the benefits you might not be aware of is discounts on books through Routledge Publishing, which may include textbooks.
As long as you are enrolled as a student, you can be a SIOP Student member. Additionally, you can remain a SIOP Student for 1 full year after your graduation date.
Yes, you may apply to be a Student member if you will start your classes within the next six months.
If you have already received your master’s level degree, you are eligible to apply for professional membership in SIOP as an Associate. Students still in a PhD program may apply for Associate as long as two years of the program are completed but are not yet eligible to apply for full voting Member.
Once you have graduated with a master’s or doctoral level degree, SIOP allows a 12-month grace period before our system requires you to upgrade to a professional membership. Professional memberships allow you to participate in SIOP elections, offer more presenter options at our annual conference, and more. Please see the full list here.
Professional Membership
Any membership other than Student. Those include:
- Associate
- Member
- Fellow
- Retired Associate
- Retired Member
- Retired Fellow
There are real benefits that most folks may not know about job search, networking, local chapters, the annual meeting, opportunities to publish, and many more. Please see the SIOP benefits webpage
Technically, yes. You will need to contact the SIOP office to make the change for you.
Affiliate Membership
SIOP Affiliation provides networking opportunities, allows you to keep up with the latest trends in workplace science, research, and practice, and provides professional development opportunities.
- Networking opportunities, inducing Affiliate Open Houses
- Direct access to SIOP Publication content (TIP, IOP, etc.)
- Discounts to SIOP events and conferences
- Discounts to Routledge Publishing & access to SIOP Books
No, Affiliates are unable to submit or chair a session for the SIOP Annual Conference. An Affiliate can participate in any other capacity (panelist, discussant, etc.) for all session types.
No, Affiliates can not serve on a SIOP Committee.
No, only full Members are able to vote in SIOP elections.
Membership Application Process
Student Members are approved immediately after their dues are paid. Professional members (Member and Associate) go through a Membership Committee review process and can take up to 3-6 weeks (depending on the time of year) for a decision to be reached.
SIOP does not offer corporate memberships. All SIOP memberships are individually based and are not to be shared or transferred. Applicants must be qualified to become a member based on the membership criteria. As long as you keep your membership current, it will follow you wherever you work.
New Member applicants or Associates trying to upgrade to Member must upload certain required documents. All applications require a resume/CV that illustrates your education and your current and previous work history doing I-O-related work. Additionally, Member applicants whose PhD was not specifically in I-O, must also upload two separate documents chosen from the following:
- Abstract of an article published in an I-O-related journal; o Letter of recommendation written by current Society Fellow or Member (not Associate or Student Affiliate)
- List of I-O related courses taught
- Copy of unpublished research or evaluation report in an I-O area. These documents are uploaded in the same part of the application right below the resume/CV.
Dues and Payment
Yes, the application requires the dues payment upfront. Please read more about the dues schedule here.
SIOP has an extra security measure for credit card payments. “AVS Mismatch” is an error that occurs when the address on the account doesn’t match the billing address of the credit card. The address shown in the billing section of our form must match exactly the address shown on that credit card statement.
Here are a couple of examples of why this error occurred:
- If your dues are being paid by your employer’s credit card, but your home address is showing because that is the address in your SIOP account, then the payment won’t be accepted. You would need to put in the company’s address instead.
- If you have recently moved and updated your SIOP address, but have not notified your credit card company of the new address yet.
- If you are changing the address in the billing section to match the credit card - be sure to match the street address exactly. It is the main component the system is looking at for a match.
- If switching from an employer address to a home address be sure to delete the company name from the billing section.
- Note: For future transactions, it may be helpful for you to add multiple addresses to your SIOP User Account to make payments more convenient. Your user account can include up to three addresses, so you can include a home address, and an employment address, as well as a third option (perhaps for a corporate Accounts Payable department.)
SIOP gives applicants the immediate benefit of being able to submit a proposal to the conference.
SIOP gives applicants the immediate benefit of being able to receive the member rate for events.
SIOP does not offer the option of lifetime dues. If you need to budget for dues and are interested in pre-payment, please contact the SIOP office for assistance.
The system runs the eligibility check to determine if you may be eligible to upgrade to full Member status.
When SIOP removed the International Affiliate category your membership category automatically changed to Associate. All Associates receive the exact same benefits that International Affiliates have. You may proceed to renew your dues as an Associate, or if eligible, upgrade to Member, which was not possible as an International Affiliate. Members are eligible to vote in SIOP elections and serve as Chairs of SIOP committees and on the Executive Board.
Of course, we’d be happy to do this for you. Everyone must have first created an account, and if not already a member, filled out the online membership application completely, up to the Shopping Cart (so we get all required information needed for membership.) Then please send an email to siop@siop.org to request a form to fill out that will provide us with the information we need to create the group invoice.
Please let SIOPSA know that you are interested in a SIOP membership and ask them to send an email to siop@siop.org confirming your membership in SIOPSA. We will get in contact with you after that.
Membership dues are nonrefundable and the membership itself is nontransferable.
I-O Career Questions
Check out O*Net: https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/19-3032.00
Begin early and often! It may take a little longer to find an opportunity, but it will be a great experience and may even set you apart when you are applying to Master’s programs. Research can be a great way to get some experience when you are starting out.
SIOP has a job board - this is a good resource on the website. The conference career center is another great resource when you are ready to look for a full-time job.
Internships or networking with other IOs. Starting in other parts of the business, finding the way to HR, and through HR, learning about IO. HR can often be a great intro to IO topics, and a way to begin getting experience. You might try looking at internal/external, nonprofit vs for-profit, general vs specialist, etc.
Yes, YM Career Center is the premier resource for connecting employers and job seekers in the field of Industrial-Organizational psychology! You can visit https://jobs.siop.org/ to view available jobs in the field of IO. For internship seekers, type "internship" in the Keyword search box and click Search. Additionally, you can post your CV/resume for potential employers to access.
For many I-O jobs, the job openings are listed as “master’s required.” Some jobs are PhD preferred.
It can be difficult to find a job in the I-O field without an educational degree to complement your experience. There may be some commercial schools or universities that offer a type of I-O certification program, but SIOP is not an accrediting board and cannot screen or endorse various programs and determine their worth. Take a look at the list of programs that offer I-O graduate programs
I-O programs that are not on the list do not mean SIOP is discouraging people from attending them. Another website, www.neoacademic.com, is not affiliated with SIOP but offers ratings, Q&A, and lots of comments, particularly about online schools.
You may also visit https://jobs.siop[2] .org/ to view available jobs in the field of I-O to learn what degree and experience level is required for different jobs to help you decide on a direction.
Take a look at the I-O webinars recorded by SIOP that introduce potential I-Os to the field of I-O and the available opportunities. Some potentially helpful webinars include Making the Most of SIOP as a Student, Everything You Want to Know About Graduate School in I-O Psychology but Are Too Afraid to Ask, and A Day in the Life of an I-O Psychologist. Other helpful videos include Five Minute Career Preview: I-O Psychology, Ask Two I/O Psychologists Anything, and Network Yourself Into Your Dream I/O Career,
Other certificate programs exist that provide individuals with elements of an I-O degree/education. For example, the Society for Human Resource Management has several HR-related certificates that are tied to I-O psychology and the work that IO psychologists do.
However, most positions in the field of I-O require at least a master’s degree from a reputable institution.
You are highly encouraged to become a SIOP Student Affiliate for the valuable resources available for members, including publications, conference discounts, and networking opportunities.
The 2011 SIOP Graduate Program Benchmarking Survey reports that many internships occur during the summer (39%). For master’s degree students, internships tend to happen at the end of the first year and into the second. For doctoral students, the internship is typically in or beyond the third year. The majority of internships are with private sector businesses (53%) and local organizations provide the majority of the internships (52%). The duration of internships varies substantially.
Pay & Benefits
As a graduate student, most internships are paid, but pay can differ greatly. The 2011 SIOP Graduate Program Benchmarking Survey reports significant variability in pay, ranging from $10 per hour to $29 per hour, with a midpoint of $18 per hour.
Contracts
Contracts are common in many internship opportunities. It iis possible to be asked to enter into a non-disclosure agreement. Interns are typically temporary employees, so organizations may put in place measures to protect sensitive information.
Hours
Similar to pay, the hours expected or contractually required can differ substantially depending on the situation.
Work Ethic
Interns are universally expected to have a strong work ethic. Organizations invest in interns by allowing them to learn and gain experience, and in return, interns are expected to show professionalism and exceptional performance.
- Treat internship interviews like a job interview.
- Have examples of any relatable experience that show value. Often, college students have examples of project work from school that can be used to demonstrate knowledge in a particular area or understanding of a particular topic.
- Keep notes of your experiences to better prepare for the next interview.
- Answer questions honestly and focus on strengths.
Resumes should be modified to fit the position for which you are applying. In many cases, less is more and multiple pages may not be appropriate. Try the ‘Resume Review’ tool on the SIOP Career Center.
Recommendations are not always guaranteed from internship opportunities but are a reasonable request. An employer’s willingness to write a recommendation hinges on the intern’s performance during the internship.
Additionally, ask about using deliverables for a professional portfolio. Having work samples to show to a future employer can be a tangible take away from your internship experience.
During the Internship
During the internship, make sure you are professional at all times. As with any job, it is important to:
- Show up on time
- Conform to the dress code of the organization
- Follow through on all projects and requests
- Provide high-quality work
- Ask questions and for clarification
- Be respectful of employees
- Be respectful of the organization’s culture
- Do not be overly aggressive about a full time opportunity or recommendation
- Work on establishing a positive reputation
Non-Financial Benefits
- Experience with I-O responsibilities that courses and books cannot provide
- Recommendations to other employers
- Experience with a recognizable company that another employer may respect
- Experience and understanding office politics
- Confidence in future job interviews
- Understanding passions to pursue after graduation
- Establishing a professional network
It can be hard to get back into the field. Here are some things you might try: SIOP Job Board; volunteer opportunities with SIOP or in the community doing I-O work; take an internship; LinkedIn; follow SIOP on social media.
If you’re able to attend the SIOP Annual Conference, there is a conference career center. This is a physical place where employers meet prospective employees. There is an open house as well as a job posting online. You can sign up for it when you sign up for the conference. This does sometimes include paid internships.
- When attending the SIOP conference, check out the conference career center. This offers an opportunity to meet with employers who are hiring.
- In between conferences, check out the jobs posted on the SIOP website. Even if you aren’t looking, you can browse posted jobs to get a sense of what employers are looking for.
- #psychtalent newsletter on Linkedin, and IO psychology career hub
- Large groups on Linkedin - search groups for IO - most are open to the public, and have a lot of great general I-O and career-focused information
- career center/job board
One thing you might do is with assessments. Some people do assessment development, validation and to evaluate the effectiveness of the assessment.
There are a lot of different types of analytics. A lot is done with surveys.
If you’re looking for a language to become proficient in, most people are moving to R because it is open source. There is a free source that is I-O based: https://datascience.tntlab.org/
Licensing is always considered a bit of a tricky issue for I-O. You can contact your state licensure board to obtain more information about licensure eligibility. Most SIOP members are not licensed. I-O psychology professionals tend to go by the job titles for the company they work at such as VP of Talent Management or Director of Training. Independent I-O psychologists may call themselves I-O consultants or Organizational Development consultants, for example.
Check out the link on the SIOP’s website about licensing: https://0-www-siop-org.library.alliant.edu/education/for-professionals/licensure-for-i-o-psychologists/
Check out the latest SIOP Income and Employment Survey (Salary Surveys) here for guidance and comparative data. Additionally, check out this panel put together by SIOP Women’s Inclusion Network on techniques for negotiating your next salary offer here.
SIOP has a database of locally formed IO groups - most members are SIOP members, they host events, discussions, and activities.
Most local groups don't charge dues, if they do, this is separate from your SIOP dues.