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Archive for June, 2014
One of the most common questions I am asked is: 'what can I do with my degree?'. I'm afraid my answer is very boring and I tend to answer it with a question: 'What would you like to do?' I don't do this to be awkward or to avoid the question but because the number of roles where a chemistry degree can open the door is vast. Let me show you what I mean.

There is an annual survey carried out which shows the destination of students six months after they graduate called What Do Graduates Do?. The research shows that in 2011/12 half of all chemistry graduates were women and 34.1% went into further study with 63.7% studying for a doctorate. Many graduates from scientific disciplines are employed in the UK as professional, associate professional and technicans which includes: researchers, laboratory technicians and environmental conservationists with 19.2% chemistry graduates working in scientific professions.

Six months after graduation 38.3% of chemistry graduates were in full time work and 34.1% in further research. Only 9.2% were actually unemployed - possibly less than you were thinking? Anyway, back to those who were employed. What kind of work were they doing? Here is a list of sectors:

  1. Science professionals
  2. Other professionals, associate professionals and technicians
  3. Retail, catering, waiting and bar staff
  4. Business, HR and finance professionals
  5. Other occupations
  6. Clerical, secretarial and numerical clerk occupations
  7. Marketing, PR and sales professionals
  8. Education professionals
  9. Managers
  10. Engineering and building professionals
  11. Childcare, health and education occupations
  12. Information technology (IT) professionals
  13. Legal, social and welfare professionals
  14. Health professionals
  15. Arts, design and media professional
How can this work? Besides up-to-date knowledge and technical ability, a chemistry degree will help you develop analytical ,teamworking, communication, research, crititcal-thinking and problem solving skills. All of which are used across sectors.

You will notice I haven't given you job titles. This is because scientist=senior scientist = scientist II = analytical scientist = analytical chemist = research chemist. Job titles only mean something to the person who wrote them. However, if you want to get a flavour of the the different job titles out there, have a look at the list of graduate jobs on Prospects. There is also an overview of the science sector.

I hope this gives you an indication on why sometimes careers advice can be a little vague. The important thing to focus on is what you enjoy and what interests you. Chemistry can take you almost anywhere you want to go.

Posted by Charlotte Ashley-Roberts on Jun 26, 2014 10:00 AM BST
Are you a chemistry student at the University of Cardiff? The Royal Society of Chemistry Roadshow will be with you tomorrow (26th June). i'll be there to give a talk at 10.00 am on getting your career off to a flying start. Come and have a listen and a chat with me over lunch.
Posted by Julie Franklin on Jun 25, 2014 11:15 AM BST
When you are looking for a new role it's common to feel that everyone else is more employable than you. You might also feel that you are employable but you're not sure how to communicate this to an employer. Most people will start with their CV. One of the most important aspects of a successful CV is to treat it like a marketing document, it is of course there to sell you.

However, I know that this is something that people struggle with, so how do you turn your CV into a marketing document from a life story? It's easy to get bogged down in your own history, focusing on the things you have done which are important to you, rather than being essential reading for an employer.

By knowing your strengths you are able to:

- demonstrate genuine experience
- reveal to an employer how you might operate in the new role
- make yourself memorable by using a language that an employer finds easy to understand

How do you identify your strengths?

You can start simply with asking yourself 'What do I do well?' You can also ask other people the same question to give yourself a different perspective.

John Lees has a useful Seven Step guide to identifying your skills:

1. Recall times when you have used skills in information, imagination, organisation, growth and enterprise, influencing people and developing people.

2. Think about a day at work when you were entirely absorbed in what you were doing, time passed quickly and you felt a 'buzz'. Think about what you were doing, what skills did you use?

3. Think about interesting roles or projects you have done. What was the best job you have ever had?

4. Think about the skills which come easily to you.

5. Imagine it's Sunday night and you are looking forward to particular activities and projects in the week ahead, what are the skills you are looking forward to using?

6. Think about a time when you surprised yourself by doing something you didn't know you were capable of doing. What were the skills you used?

7. Write down any other skills you are good at AND that you like doing.

Look at all the skills you have written down, which skill energises you most and which would you like to improve? These skills can be turned into strengths by embedding them into an example which is not about the skill, but about you. These are either short and punchy - perfect for a CV or more detailed which is perfect for an interview.
Posted by Charlotte Ashley-Roberts on Jun 18, 2014 10:30 AM BST
Never wanting to miss out on an opportunity to develop myself I attended a training day on career coaching with David Clutterbuck. I found it really thought provoking both for my work at the RSC and also for myself outside of my role.

Following on from my discussion the other week in LinkedIn regarding what makes you feel valued at work, I thought I might share an exercise (copyright David Clutterbuck) you can do to discover or perhaps rediscover your values. It's called the Values Triangle.

Why are they important might you ask? Well, if your values aren't being met, either in or out of work, you may find that you are feeling unbalanced in your work-life balance or feeling like there is something not quite right but that you can't put your finger on it. Let me tell you, this is not a quick thing, it took me about 6 hours. I did have breaks, go away and think or do something completely different in between but over two and a half days it came to about 6 hours in total. However, I found it very beneficial and it has already started to make a difference and challenged me to make some changes.

more...
Posted by Charlotte Ashley-Roberts on Jun 13, 2014 9:00 AM BST
Want to work for a major force in the international Science Publishing world? Our Graduate Publishing Editor scheme is a great way to kick-start your career. The scheme's open now for those of you who would love a career in science publishing and want to work for a great organisation. Find out more here.

Good luck from the Careers Team if you apply!

Posted by Julie Franklin on Jun 12, 2014 9:29 AM BST