Finding a Job in Behavioural Science Using Behavioural Science
Your ultimate behavioural science job & careers resource
Whether you're beginning your career or transitioning to a new field, finding a job in behavioural science is easier said than done.
An obvious starting point is just to do it (apply for a behavioural science job, duh). But what does a job in behavioural science even mean? How do you create more opportunities to get that job if you have little relevant experience? And then there's the job hunt itself. You might have good intentions to apply to several jobs every week, but how do you stick to that goal?
I decided to take a meta approach. This article helps you 'find a job' as if you're designing a behaviour change intervention for it. Using the popular behavioural model known as COM-B, you'll learn how to consider the relevant Capability, Opportunities, and Motivation you need to overcome barriers you encounter in your job searching journey.
I am also synthesising essential resources and top tips from field experts you can use to build a successful career in behavioural science. Hopefully, you'll learn many things you can improve, no matter your level of expertise (Capability) or Motivation!
First thing's first.
To design for behaviour change, we need to determine:
- the behaviour to change
- the barriers to changing it
- how to best facilitate it
Enter the COM-B framework. The COM-B model helps us 'diagnose' why a specific behaviour is or isn't occurring. You can use it to categorise behavioural barriers into whether they relate to our Capability, Opportunity, or Motivation. Determining these features allows us to create specific targets for change.
A COM-B diagnosis works best when it addresses a specific behaviour. This article focuses on achieving the broader outcome of ‘finding a job in behavioural science.’ Take these ideas and adapt them to your specific situation.
All COM-B components interact, and a good intervention must target one or more of them to achieve behaviour change. Even if you have excellent behavioural science Capabilities and ample job Opportunities, it will not happen if you lack Motivation! Equally, with tremendous Motivation and a great CV showcasing your Capabilities, it will be harder to achieve your goal with zero job Opportunities.
CONTENTS
---------------------Capability
∘ What is a job in behavioural science?
∘ What to search for when looking for a job?
∘ Where can you find a job?
∘ What to learn?
∘ How to put together a behavioural science portfolio?Opportunity
∘ Opportunities for applying behavioural science in your work
∘ Create some social opportunitiesMotivation
∘ Motivating yourself to achieve your job finding goals
∘ Motivating yourself after getting a rejection
∘ Sticking to good (job finding) habits
∘ Limiting your distractions
Capability
Capability refers to whether we have the knowledge and skills required to engage in a specific behaviour. It can relate to our psychological capacity, like if we know what a job in behavioural science even means or know where to look for one. It can also represent our physical Capability, like if we are physically capable of carrying out a specific job role.
What is a job in behavioural science?
Behavioural science' involves applying an understanding of human behaviour to achieve a particular goal. The goal can be anything from creating a survey that people will actually fill in to designing an intervention to stop young people from smoking. Behavioural science is a cross-cutting field with many diverse applications.
- A job in behavioural science will depend on whether you decide to enter the field of academia, consulting, or work in-house at a behavioural insights team. Elspeth Kirkman wrote a helpful Twitter thread on this (with a lovely diagram exploring these three avenues).
- Zarak Khan, a senior behavioural researcher at Duke University's Centre for Advanced hindsight, curated this website that introduces you to the different career paths in behavioural science. He provides many behavioural science resources and information, whether you want to 'dabble' in it or apply it meaningfully.
What to search for when looking for a job?
As a result of the many aliases of behavioural science, jobs advertised might not use the words' behavioural scientist.' Some keywords to look out for are ‘behavioural researcher’, ‘behavioural designer’, ‘behavioural economist’, 'UX designer,' 'UX researcher,' 'design analyst,' or 'behaviour analyst.'
- Natasha Oulisis wrote this great article, 'How to find a behavioural design job (during a pandemic)'. She explores the four things she learned in her job search including how to navigate job searching.
- This article, by Cait Lepla, highlights a list of UX sub-areas that can highlight what to look for during your job search (should you look to enter design adjacent roles).
Where can you find a job?
You need to know where to look for a job to find a job. Luckily, many specially curated job boards, job searching platforms, and articles can help. Remember: don't just search for 'behavioural science' jobs.
Job boards:
More resources:
- Aline Holzwarth wrote this article that lists places to start looking for jobs in applied behavioural science.
- Habit Weekly lists jobs in their newsletter every week (you can sign up for the newsletter here).
- Use LinkedIn. This article provides a step-by-step checklist to guide you through the process of using LinkedIn more effectively.
- Check out other platforms like 'Indeed.' ('Indeed' actually uses a lot of behavioural science!). Listen to this podcast to find out more.
- This helpful article lists several UX job boards to find a job in user experience design.
What to learn?
Investing time to learn more about behavioural science is essential for building your career. Learning enables you to identify what interests you the most, which helps you decide what type of job you want. However, it can be overwhelming to know where to focus your efforts if you're new to the field.
There are so many resources out there, so where should you start? An excellent example of an interacting COM-B component: if you feel like there is too much to learn, your Motivation can wane.
Ask yourself some key questions:
- Why do you need behavioural science knowledge? Are you applying for a job within a specific field? Are you looking to apply for a master's that is more theoretical? Focus on the immediate need first to help concentrate your efforts.
- How much time do you have? Is this a short amount of prep for an interview, or are you getting immersed in the field?
- What interests you the most? Are you into UX design or health behaviour change interventions? If you don't know yet, find out.
Once you have answered these questions, dive into these resources with a more transparent lens:
- Habit Weekly has curated a list of the top 100 books, organised into different categories. Level 1 highlights books to help ensure you learn the basics. Level 2 explores more profound principles and theories, level 3 focuses on applying behavioural science, and level 4 goes deep and wide into the related fields and applications.
- The Behaviour Institute provides an extensive collection of behavioural science information, including a list of models, tactics, and products that change behaviour.
- The Behavioural Evidence Hub has collated many strategies drawn from insights about human behaviour proven to solve real-world problems. You can filter each project by location, topic, field of work, or behavioural tool.
- The Behavioural Insights Team has put together 40 nudges to spark sustainable behaviour on campus. It is a rich resource that also introduces you to the EAST framework.
How to put together a behavioural science portfolio?
Jobs that ask for the application of behavioural insights or a behavioural lens may require examples of your work. Whether or not you're currently working in the field, practice framing your current job or projects to help you get a leg up in the application process.
This article, by Madison Ochs, provides an overview of what constitutes a portfolio, how to organise your projects, and other top tips. Developing a portfolio and emphasising the behavioural aspects of your experiences is a process, but hopefully, this guide can help.
Opportunity
Opportunity refers to external factors that make a behaviour possible. Its two components are physical Opportunity and social Opportunity. Physical Opportunity is the Opportunity provided by the environment. For example, do jobs exist in behavioural science? Do you have the time to devote to them? Social Opportunity is the Opportunity afforded as a result of social factors. For example, are the people around you working in behavioural science? Would transitioning to behavioural science be supported by friends and family?
Creating opportunities for applying behavioural science in your current work
Depending on how much effort you want to put in, there is a lot you can do to build your CV and find experience along the way. You can talk about these created opportunities in an interview.
Low effort:
- Have you ever sent an email asking for people's availability for a meeting but got no reply? Use this as an opportunity to test out different ways of framing and writing an email to get that response.
For example, begin the follow-up email with 'Thanks to everyone who has responded so far.' This email will tap into our desire to behave as others around us are behaving and might result in some more replies!
Medium effort:
- There are endless opportunities to apply behavioural science all around you! Volunteer at work and put a behavioural science spin on it.
For example, if you're involved with selling cakes at a work charity cake sale, you could use some behavioural insights to help. Have decoy cakes sell at an exorbitant price — $15 perhaps — to encourage people to buy the cakes priced at $7 rather than $4. - Create projects that demonstrate your passion for behavioural science. Start a blog (or a YouTube series) and explore the different parts of behavioural science you enjoy. Many people have done this, such as Merle van den Akker, Pete Judo, and Alex Moog. You can reflect on an article you read or even a list of your favourite resources. Document your process of learning more if you are new to the field.
- Carry out your own case study or product breakdown. Identify something trendy and explore why that might be. For example, “The Gamification of Duolingo”, 'How IKEA used psychology to become the world's largest furniture retailer' or “Can Apple beat Peloton?”.
High effort:
- Can you create a 'nudge' unit or a space where you can meet with interested others and discuss how you could apply behavioural science to your work? Perhaps there are current processes that are slow and can improve? Warwick University and University College London have created their nudge units. Could you do the same at your university or place of work?
Create some social opportunities:
One of the biggest influences on ourselves is what other people are doing around us. Harness this and make an effort to surround yourself with people doing the same thing you want to do. These efforts create more social opportunities for finding a job. They also inspire you to push more than if you're alone.
- Start a networking habit via LinkedIn. Connect with people within the field and try to book at least one virtual coffee a week. Come prepared with questions you want to ask. This article about what executive leaders at the best behavioural science firms say about how they got to where they are today might inspire you.
- Surround yourself with BeSci lovers! Join communities like Habit Weekly and the Behavior Slack 😊.
- Sign up for a behavioural science newsletter. Each week, you will learn what's happening in the behavioural science world, like the 'Behavioural scientist' newsletter, UserWeekly, the Behavioural insights team newsletter, Frontline BeSci newsletter, and (of course) Habit Weekly.
- Create a group (at your workplace) to discuss articles or applied behavioural projects that you enjoy. It might motivate you to read more.
Motivation
Motivation is a critical component of COM-B, as you can't carry out any behaviour without it. Motivation refers to the internal processes inside us that influence decision-making. It can involve your reflective Motivation (which includes deliberative processes like making the plan to apply for a job or evaluating why it didn't happen) and your automatic motivations (such as impulses and emotions that can distract you from writing a job application).
It would help if you had a lot of Motivation on your job searching journey — even more so when external factors like rejection get in the way. There are many great resources, so this serves as a starting point. Here, we have drawn out a few of our favourite 'top tips' and highlighted several resources that can help you along the way.
Motivating yourself to achieve your job finding goals:
You may need to create goals to help you find a job in behavioural science, like reading a book that has been recommended or investing time in expanding your network. Two key things that can help achieve your goals are commitment devices and temptation bundling.
1 . Commitment devices can help us achieve our goals by locking us into a plan of action that we might not want to do but know is good for us. For example, you could set yourself a goal of writing three job applications a week and tell your housemate that if you don't achieve this goal, you owe them £50. There are a lot of fun examples out there of ways to lock yourself into a desired outcome. Samuel Salzer has explored what a commitment device is in more detail here. You can also find a database of commitment devices that can help you on your way.
2. Temptation bundling. Katy Milkman introduces the term 'temptation bundling' in her book 'How to Change.' Temptation bundling is when you combine a short-term, less motivating task with something more enjoyable. For example, you could only let yourself eat a sweet treat while writing a job application. Or you could allow yourself to eat lunch at your favourite café down the road while reading 20 pages of the book you need to finish for your application. What temptations can you bundle on your job-finding journey?
Motivating yourself after getting a rejection:
There is nothing more demotivating than job rejection. Articles and motivational videos might not automatically make you feel better as it is — and should be — a process. But here are some I like, and hey, it's worth trying.
- As Ayelet Fischbach highlights, 'discomfort is expected when taking on new challenges.' She says seeing discomfort as a sign of progress 'can boost your motivation in these situations.' Reframe your feelings of disappointment as an example of progress and an opportunity for growth, which is easier said than done but necessary to remember. Try and use that feeling to fuel your Motivation to keep going.
- Katy Milkman discusses the importance of failure in her book 'How to Change'. She writes, 'When we're pursuing a big goal, disappointment is inevitable. And when we get discouraged, it can be tempting to give up. So it's critical to allow for mistakes and prevent them from sullying a strong performance streak. By preparing to recover from the occasional failure and focusing on past successes, we can conquer self-doubt, build resilience, and make it easier to change for years to come — not just until we hit the first bump in the road'.
- Like a more practical approach to overcoming job rejection? This detailed article from 'Indeed' outlines some helpful steps you can take when dealing with job rejection.
Sticking to good (job finding) habits
Finding a job requires a lot of good habits. It might require waking up an hour earlier every day to find time to work on a job application before work. Or listening to behavioural design podcasts every time you are on your commute. It can be very tiring to keep these good habits up, but luckily, there are many resources out there that can help.
Articles:
- Begin Again. What helps us start good habits and break bad ones?
- Building a Habit. 5 research-backed steps to help set you on the path from where you are to where you want to be.
- Keeping Your Resolutions. Science-backed tips to help with your good intentions this year.
Books:
These three books provide a different perspective on habit formation and what it takes to create a (good) habit that lasts:
- Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood
- Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
Can't decide where to start? Pete Judo has created a video to help.
Apps:
- Streaks: Every day you complete a task, your streak is extended (if you break the chain, it resets to 0). Why do we care so much about streaks? Read more here.
- Stickk: Put money on the line to help you stick to your commitments
Podcasts:
Some of our favourites!
- Habits 101 — a curated PodCourse created by a habit expert. Learn about building and breaking habits.
- Out With the Old and In With the New. A conversation between Adam Grant and leading habit researcher Wendy Wood.
- How to Change Your Habits. Katy Milkman shares her top strategies for getting habits to stick.
- Dare to Habit. Brené Brown chats with James Clear about how we can become the architects of our habits.
Limiting your distractions
Distractions interfere with your good intentions to write a job application or read a book that will help in the interview. It's essential to identify what distracts you and find ways to manage them.
A key distractor for many of us is our phones. Put your phone on airplane mode in another room or use apps like forest to help you stay focused. To stop yourself being distracted while online, block off certain websites on your computer by using apps like self-control and Freedom.
Focusing on practising 'deep work' can help direct attention on the task at hand and ensure you structure your day around when you are most likely to be productive and less likely to be distracted. This article summarises some of the most valuable points from Cal Newport's book Deep Work.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article has inspired you to increase your Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation to find a job in behavioural science.
With your increased knowledge of COM-B, you might also want to conduct a specific behavioural diagnosis on yourself. What barriers are most in your way? What opportunities for experience do you need to create to help support your job application?
Tailoring behaviour change interventions for the specific target population in their given context is vital for increasing its chances of success! Behaviour doesn't occur in a vacuum; our context influences it. So tailor your approach to what is most feasible for you. You definitely won't have the inspiration you need to embark on the job searching journey if you haven't looked after yourself along the way.
And finally…one of my favourite lessons in Cal Newport's book, Deep Work, is that good quality downtime is essential for improving our thinking and replenishing our ability to do high-quality work. Don't forget to find space for that, too.
Please let us know how you get on and feel free to reach out if you have more job searching tips and resources for this COM-B framework!
Ella Howes is currently working as a research assistant on the Human Behaviour-Change project at UCL and loves discussing all things behaviour science. Feel free to connect and reach out here.
