Graduate careers: your future in physics
Free to download, your sample copy of the Physics World Graduate Careers section from the October 2022 edition of Physics World. Useful advice plus a selection of the best graduate jobs, studentships and courses.
At any stage of your degree, it's always a good idea to be thinking of ways to grow beyond the classroom, and develop the hard and soft skills that future employers are looking for.
As Carol Davenport – associate professor at Northumbria University, UK, and director of NUSTEM – explains, it’s often much easier to list academic achievements than it is to accurately build and describe soft skills, such as time management and public speaking, that are as essential as your technical prowess when it comes to the workplace. In her article “16 key skills and attributes for a successful career in physics” she focuses on which skills you may need, and how to highlight them to a potential employer.
A good way of developing such skills is to take on work placements and internships throughout the course of your studies. Not only is this a good way of seeing if a particular field of study is really to your liking, finding a placement in a big lab may open your eyes to career routes you didn’t know were even available to you, as Annabelle Gill describes in her article “A school student’s week at CERN”.
Making decisions about your career can be an exciting process, but for most people it’s also a tricky one. It can be hard enough to find out what jobs actually exist, let alone whether they would be a good match for your skills and interests, but you can always look to the Physics World Careers pages, to explore the breadth of careers open to you with a background in physics.
Also, don’t forget that our free-to-read Physics World Careers yearbook is always available, offering you even more careers advice, insightful case studies showcasing possible career options, plus a comprehensive employer directory.
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