Physics and astronomy careers 2011

Physics and Astronomy Careers

Paul Brown

Director and Careers AdviserCareers Centre

Who’s here today?

• Graduating when?• Intentions at this point– Further study?– Physics related posts?– Interested in other employment options?

Employment for Physicists

• Areas of work which require Physics or another physical science degree - loads of options

• Looking at wider range of options, Physicists are prized for:

Problem solving Analytical skills Computational skills IT and technology capabilities Research skills

Research/knowledge based Careers

• Will require postgraduate study

• Many industry areas: energy, nanotechnology, defence, instrumentation, materials science, medical science, IT

• Obviously talk to your tutors about study options in St Andrews, Scotland, UK, beyond

• Lots of information available on funding eg IOP website and Careers Centre

Jobs directly drawing on Physics

Medical PhysicistEmployed in NHS and elsewhere. Training necessary!

Scientist training Programme in England and Wales, should be approx 200 training posts

Equivalent pre-Registration Training Programme in Scotland

More directly related options

Geophysicist– Masters or PhD may be

necessary– Oil companies – Consultancies

And teaching!

Still shortages

– Not so easy in Scotland

– New funding regime in England

– TeachFirst

Options which favour Physicists

Meteorologist Patent Attorney

Other options for Physicists

• Scientist in the Civil Service

• Operational Researcher

• Product development

• Software engineer

• Technical author

Actuaries, Bankers, Management Consultants and Accountants

Well paid jobs with many opportunities drawing on:

Analytical skills Problem solving abilities Numerical/mathematical skills Modelling capabilities Computational skills

All the other graduate jobs

Examples:Armed ServicesBroadcastingCivil Service Fast StreamJournalismLegal (especially Intellectual Property)LogisticsMarket ResearchPoliceRetailSales and marketingThink tanks, lobbyists, politics

Employability of Physicists

Rolls Royce

Babcock

Air Products

Jordan Valley Semiconductors

CentricaHyder Consulting

Dstl

De La Rue

IBM

BAE Systems

E.ON

MBDAOxford Instruments

Nuclear Medical Centre

Sharp Laboratories of Europe

SciSys UK LimitedSeaChange International

Selex

TTPAreva

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST)

Tracerco

Traffic Directorate

Amec

Ultra Electronics, Xerox Ltd

Fraser Nash

A bit about the Careers Centre

• Where we are • Advisers• Website• CC Events• Employer events• Law Fair 11th October• Management and Finance Fair

14th October• Science and Technology Fair

21st October

The most useful urls for Physicists

• http://www.iop.org/careers/index.html• http://

careers.guardian.co.uk/careers-blog/physics-degree-careers

• http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/careers/wiki/Physics_and_Astronomy_-_using_your_degree

• http://www.prospects.ac.uk/options_physics_your_skills.htm

Questions??