University of Leicester

1
Career Planning For 2nd Year Physics Astronomy
Students

• Martin Pennington
• Careers Service
• Career choice
• A Physics degree what next?
• What employers look for
• Focus on work experience

2
Career Choice

• Does this involve
• sticking a pin in a careers directory?
• doing what someone else tells you?
• taking the first job that comes along?
• or is it
• a strategic process involving planning and
  decision making?

3
Elements in Career Choice

• Self-awareness
• - understanding yourself
• Opportunity awareness
• - understanding the job market
• Decision making
• - being able to make realistic choices
• Transition skills
• - being able to put decisions into effect

4
Career Planning Strategy
Self Awareness
Occupational Awareness
Decision Making
Transition Skills
Career Choice
5
Self-Awareness

• What do I want out of a job?
• What motivates me?
• What do I find interesting?
• What have I got to offer employers?
• What am I like as a person?

6
Opportunity Awareness

• What can I do with my degree?
• What careers are open to me?
• What entry requirements are there?
• What do these jobs involve?
• Do I need to do a postgraduate course?
• Where are vacancies advertised?

7
Decision Making

• How do I choose between options?
• What are my chances of getting in?
• What are the pros and cons of different choices?
• Who should I consult about this?

8
Transition Skills

• How do I apply for vacancies?
• How do I put a CV together?
• What should I write on an application form?
• What will they ask me at interview?
• What happens at an assessment centre?

9
What Can I Do With An Physics Degree?

• Research and development
• Electronic development engineering
• Medical physics
• Radiation protection
• Materials technology
• Meteorology
• Geophysics
• Teaching/lecturing
• but what about?

10
Physics a wide range of careers

• System analysis/ programming
• Forensic science
• Operational research
• Technical writing
• Patent work
• Technical sales

• Civil Service
• Local govt.
• Sales/Marketing
• Finance
• Commerce
• Law
• Management
• Logistics

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Careers Open To All Graduates

• Accountancy
• Banking
• Distribution
• Insurance
• Journalism
• Marketing
• Public relations
• Purchasing
• Sales

• Administration
• IT
• Financial management
• Leisure/tourism
• Human resources
• Retail
• Transport
• Social work

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Transferable Skills

• Researching
• Discussing ideas
• Proposing opinions
• Developing theories
• Flexibility
• Decision making
• .and others

• Interpreting and evaluating data
• Logical thinking
• Attention to detail
• Team working
• Meeting deadlines
• Report writing
• IT skills

13
Your Final Year

• Large companies start recruitment early
  (September onwards)
• Closing dates can be before Christmas
• Some postgraduate courses start recruiting early
  e.g. PGCE
• Application forms are challenging
• plus..
• You have to get a degree as well!

14
The Questions They Ask!

• Give an example of when you had to sell an
  idea, plan or suggestion to a group of people.
  (Unigate)
• Describe a situation where you worked as part of
  a team. What was the goal and how did you
  personally contribute? (Research
  International)
• Describe an unexpected difficulty you have come
  across. What was your reaction and how did you
  overcome it? (Courtaulds Textiles)
• Describe a particularly difficult decision you
  have had to make and how you went about making
  it. What was the outcome? (Coats)

15
What Employers Look For

• Sound academic background
• Evidence of transferable skills
• Evidence that you have taken advantage of your
  time at university
• Evidence of work experience
• Knowledge of and interest in the job and their
  organisation

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What An Employer Says About Work Experience

• Work experience is important in exposing
  students to the way businesses operate and in
  helping them develop the skills we need.
• It can also help give them a taste of different
  business sectors and help them decide whether
  they feel at home in a particular business
  environment.
• Chairman, MM Group

17
What Graduates Say About Work Experience

• .very difficult finding any kind of job without
  experience particularly difficult with a
  non-vocational degree.
• Degree is only a door-opener experience is the
  key to progression.
• Apply for as much work experience as you can get
  the end of the first year/start of the second
  year is not too early!
• Very difficult to find full-time permanent work
  due to lack of work experience.

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What Counts As Work Experience

• Any of the following
• Vacation jobs
• Work placements (Internships/Stages)
• Sandwich year
• Voluntary work
• Part-time jobs in term-time
• Work shadowing
• Open Days

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Benefits of Work Experience

• Develops employability skills
• Develops ideas about your career
• Provides contacts networking
• May lead to job offer
• Helps academic performance
• Improves self-confidence
• Provides opportunity to earn money

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Work Experience Programmes

• Large (and smaller) employers
• - e.g. Accenture, BNFL, British Energy, Central
  Research Labs., Dell, Esso Exxon, Ford, Hewlett
  Packard, Intel, KPMG, LabStaff, Logica, Nissan,
  Oracle, PwC, Rolls-Royce, Schlumberger, Sun,
  Unilever
• STEP (Shell Technology Enterprise Programme)
• - 8 week summer placements with small companies
• Internships and stages
• - placements with companies and international
  organisations abroad in a wide variety of fields

21
Applications

• Closing dates between now and March for many
  large company programmes
• STEP competitive so early application
  recommended
• International may take several months to
  organise so apply soon

22
Sources of Information

• Careers Service work experience files
• Student Employment Centre part-time work
  during term-time
• Student Contact voluntary work

23
Useful Websites - UK

• Careers Service
• www.le.ac.uk/careers/workexperience.html
• National Centre for Work Experience
• www.ncwe.com
• Prospects Web
• www.prospects.ac.uk/workbank
• UK Placements
• www.ukplacements.com
• Shell Technology Enterprise Programme
• www.step.org.uk
• University of London Virtual Careers Library
• www.careers.lon.ac.uk/links/l050200

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Useful Websites - international

• AIESEC student exchange programmes in over 87
  countries
• www.aiesec.org
• CIEE teaching and internships in Japan, China,
  USA, France, Germany and Canada
• www.ciee.org
• BUNAC schemes to help students find work
  placements
• www.bunac.org.uk
• European Commission stages five month
  placements
• www.europa.eu.int
• i-to-i International conservation, internships
  and TEFLs
• www.i-to-i.com
• Association for International Practical Training
  US internships
• www.aipt.org

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Last but not least.

• Why not organise your own work experience?
• Try contacting smaller local companies yourself
• Send them a CV and covering letter
• - or better still, ring them or visit
• Particularly useful if you are interested in a
  very competitive area

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Remember..

• Career choice is too important to be left up to
  chance start thinking about it now!
• You have a wide range of options after your
  degree what are you going to do?
• Employers want a good degree and a great deal
  more besides
• Work experience is high on their list what
  have you done?