 On gaining her first degree in 1960 in Hungarian Folklore, Museology, and Secondary School Teaching from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), she joined the curatorial staff of the in Szolnok.Between 1965 and 1968 Pócs worked as a graduate researcher (aspirantúra) in the Department of Folklore at ELTE.Following her studies at ELTE, Pócs joined the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA Néprajzi Kutatóintézete), where she was a fellow between 1968 and 1989, and then as Head of Department for the Institute of Ethnography from 1990 until she took partial retirement in 2001.