Careers

 

Careers

Graduating in Physics with a 2.2 or 3rd?

Taking stock

If you have worked hard but failed to get the result that you had hoped for, what are your options? You need to take some time to consider where you want to go from here.

  • Had you planned to get a job in research?
  • Were you hoping to go on to postgraduate study?
  • Did you intend to take a career move in a different direction but need a 2.1 or better to see off the competition?

To achieve your goals you may need to consider an alternative route. There are a considerable number of resources available to help you develop a career plan that is both realistic and achievable. Let's consider the options in more detail.

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Employment

Universities collect information on the first destination of their graduates every year (www.prospects.ac.uk/links/wdgd). The statistics show that about half of all UK graduates in physics go directly into employment, in areas such as scientific research, engineering and IT. Another quarter go on to further study for a higher degree. Most of the rest enter business, finance or management. Perhaps surprisingly, less than 3% go on to teacher training despite the considerable demand for physics graduates in this area.

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Opportunities in industrial research

Most recruiters of science graduates purely for research have a preference for graduates with a 2.1 or better or indeed with postgraduate qualifications. This could mean you may have to apply for a job at a lower level, say technician grade, and hope to work your way up. A different approach is to look at what strengths you may have to offer. Many of the openings for physics graduates in industry are in multi-disciplinary teams employing engineers and mathematicians. It is because physics degrees often cover topics that are not mainstream in engineering courses or not covered in much depth, that physicists can make a real contribution. Did your degree course offer particular specialisms such as acoustics, semiconductor physics, geophysics etc? Your knowledge of these topics could give you an edge when applying for jobs in building services engineering, telecommunications or the oil and gas industry.

It can also be worthwhile considering areas other than research that would make use of your physics and that provide a real intellectual challenge. Areas like:

 

Graduates with good communication skills can consider areas such as technical authorship and there is always a steady demand for science graduates in technical sales. For more suggestions you can use Prospects Planner (www.prospects.ac.uk/links/pplanner), a computer career-matching programme that has been developed specifically for university graduates in the UK and is available fee of charge.

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Opportunities in Business, Finance and Management

Having studied physics you are perceived to be a highly numerate graduate with well-developed problem solving skills. Many employers value these abilities and you need to make sure that your CV reflects this. If you have a good grade in A-level mathematics, that would be worth including on a CV for a job in finance. The larger accountancy firms often ask for A-level grades or UCAS points because they receive so many CV's that they use these to reduce the number of candidates. However here are many medium sized firms who offer good training and because they do not have a high profile, are not swamped with CV's.

You will almost certainly have developed your IT skills during your physics studies and you should provide evidence of this on your CV e.g. knowledge of statistical packages and techniques, computer languages such as Fortran or C++. If your degree course included a major research project it can be a good idea to write a paragraph setting out in simple terms your approach to the problem, so a prospective employer can discuss it with you in interview. Working with your fellow students on group assignments will also have provided you with the opportunity to develop your teamwork skills.

If you do decide to pursue a career in business or finance, don't make the basic mistake of applying for a position without having first done your homework on the job and the employer. Yes, you have the skills they want but do you have the motivation to succeed? Can you talk knowledgeably about the job and explain what you have to offer? To find out about types of work you may wish to apply for and the key words to use, go to (www.prospects.ac.uk/links/occupations).

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Postgraduate study

You may try to improve your qualifications by further study for a masters degree. Masters/diploma courses can be divided into those that are really an extension of undergraduate study and those that can be thought of as "conversion" courses e.g. some masters programmes in Computer Science assume no previous knowledge of IT, although a physics graduate is likely to be at least computer literate. Many university engineering departments are short of postgraduate students and would consider physics graduates for places on their postgraduate courses.

It is worthwhile inquiring whether a masters course that interests you is taught at diploma level, as institutional entry requirements are usually lower. Ask whether they permit students on their diploma course to progress to the masters degree if their examination results are satisfactory. Return to top

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Funding further study

The main sources of postgraduate funding are the research councils. Most require a minimum of a 2.2 for Masters courses and a 2.1 for PhD studentships. For popular courses a 2.2 is unlikely to be enough. There are other sources of funding you can use. You will find information from the Institute here and further information at http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/fundstudy. Your nearest university careers service will have a range of publications on funding for postgraduate study and you should also make use of your local library.

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Teacher Training

The great exception to government frugality with grants is teacher training. In an effort to encourage more graduates in Science to enter the teaching profession they are currently offering quite an attractive package of incentives e.g.

  • Fees are paid
  • £6000 annual bursary for primary and secondary
  • £4000 extra for science subjects, paid in the second year of teaching.
  • Your student loan can be paid off

For more information on teacher training go to (http://www.gttr.ac.uk)

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Other sources of help

Your university careers service will normally continue to provide support and guidance for the first year or two after you graduate. To locate them, go to www.prospects.ac.uk/links/CareersServices. Most university careers services also produce vacancy lists which you can access on their website or they will post out to you and they may be able to provide you with lists of local employers. A national graduate advice service is available to anyone who has graduated within the last five years from www.prospects.ac.uk/links/gradadvice. If you have been claiming Job Seekers Allowance for six months, you may be eligible for assistance under the governments New Deal Programme (www.newdeal.gov.uk) which can offer advice, training and work experience.

Written by John Copelton, Career Consultant at Queen's College Belfast. August 2003

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Artwork | Image by Fred Swist