Engineering
The engineering sector covers a range of manufacturing and technology-based jobs and traditionally suffers from a shortage of qualified graduates.
It may be particularly attractive to physics graduates who are keen to apply their knowledge practically in the improvement and development of tangible products and processes. Many companies are happy to recruit physics graduates into engineering specialisms, and they provide extensive training.The engineering sector is huge, so there are many different jobs and types of company to choose from. There are a number of professional engineering bodies, like the Institute of Physics, each representing a different area of engineering, and each with a website offering their own careers information these include:
- Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining
- Institution of Chemical Engineers
- Institution of Mechanical Engineers
- Institution of Civil Engineers
- the Institute of Engineering and Technology
- the Engineering Council regulates the industry by providing standards of assessment for engineers
Each institution carries relevant vacancies on its websites.
Another potentially useful website is www.theengineer.co.uk - a fortnightly magazine providing a range of career opportunities.
The University of Kent's website has details about working in manufacturing, production and quality control.
Typical employers
Engineering opportunities can be found within many of the other career areas within this section of the website:
- Armed forces and defence
- Medicine
- Oil and gas
- Renewable energy
- Space exploration industries
- Telecommunications
We can only give a broad overview of other opportunities within engineering, but the main sectors are:
Aerospace
In addition to those companies mentioned in the space exploration and defence sections, other key employers include Airbus.
Civil Engineering
In this sector, one of the largest UK organisations is Network Rail, which owns and operates Britain's rail infrastructure.
The automotive sector in the UK is particularly vulnerable to economic conditions, but manufacturers recruiting in 2009 are likely to advertise on Prospects.
Chemicals and materials
Engineers are employed across a range of industry sectors, including food and drink, household, steel, and agrochemicals. Potential employers include:
Fancy turning your talents to a career in Engineering? If so, why not get the inside scoop on the industry and its opportunities?
last edited: May 15, 2012
