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Asked by Rukia to Angela, Claire, Ian, Robert, Sarah on 7 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by 624chea35.
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Ian Cade answered on 7 Nov 2014:
Much like many other area of human activity, to be good at chemistry (and presumably therefore employable) requires a lot of training. Simply to have a basic grounding in the fundamental aspects of chemistry requires 3-4 years of undergrad study.
This would leave you sufficiently well trained for doing jobs related to chemistry, science journalist, salesperson for scientific glassware etc, and jobs requiring simple tasks in chemistry, such as encountered by a lab technician, department safety officer etc.
To be able to use this understanding of the basic concepts of the subject in a chemically meaningful way requires a further 3-4 years of PhD project (during which students develop their practical skills and (can) gain a fairly deep understanding of their area of chemistry).
After successfully completing a PhD you would be in a good position to get a career in the chemical industry (where your primary function is ‘doing chemistry’) and I expect there would be some level of on-going training.
Alternatively, you can stay on at university as a postdoctoral researcher (each contract usually less than 3 years and focussed on a particular project, where you will be ‘doing chemistry’ for most of your time, and perhaps some teaching/tutoring). This allows you to develop your skills and knowledge, and become a world expert in your particular area.
At this point the ideal is to land a permanent university job (for example a lecturer, with your time split between teaching undergrads and doing research)… This is somewhat tricky as at the moment there are about 6-7 times as many postdocs as lecturing jobs!
The key features of postdocs getting permanent jobs are as follows: (NB this is not a comprehensive list)
-The ‘quality’ of their research
-Whether they have successfully applied for research grants (funding)
-The quality of their research proposals (what they want to research)
-The quality of their teaching.
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Angela Stokes answered on 8 Nov 2014:
Hi 228chea38
I think you need to think about what you want to do in science as this determines how to go about it.My own experience is as follows: I currently work in Regulatory Affairs in the pharmaceutical industry where I write licencing documents to allow my company to carry out clinical trials or sell their products in a particular country. My career path was to do science A levels and then do a BSc in Chemistry and Mathematical Sciences. I then started to work in a chemical company before moving to the analytical chemistry department of a pharmaceutical company and then moving into Regulatory Affairs in the same company. I have had three or four jobs in Regulatory Affairs since then and moved up the career ladder each time, taking more qualifications such as an MSc in Pharmacology and Toxicology and learning management techniques along the way. There is now a choice of MSc’s in Regulatory Affairs but these are not a requisite for a career in Regulatory Affairs.
In the last six to eight months I have helped four other people find careers in Regulatory Affairs. Their backgrounds were varied; two had PhD qualifications in Chemistry, one had a BSc in biology and the other had trained as a pharmacist. All had experience in their initial chosen field which was transferable to another science field and I guess that is part of my message to you – science describes a group of subjects that generally overlap and so it is possible to change your mind along the way.
So my advice to you is have an idea of what you want to do, find out what the qualifications are to get an entry job in your chosen field (this could be an apprenticeship, not all jobs require degrees or PhDs), always have a fall back position in case there is a lack of jobs available and remember that many science subjects overlap so you can always change your mind.
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Robert Bowles answered on 10 Nov 2014:
Getting a good educational qualification in science is only the start really. Find a subject you’re really interested in and study it as much as you can. If you enjoy it you’ll find studying easier. If you’re not sure what area to study or work in, try and research areas you think you might be interested in and find out more about them.
Once you start applying for jobs you need to make yourself as employable as you can by showing that you’ve got more to offer than just a qualification. If you’re going to do a degree try and find one which offers an industrial placement year during it so you can show you have work experience when you graduate. If you can’t do this try to get involved in clubs and societies or volunteering. -
Sarah Harris answered on 11 Nov 2014:
Great answers from everyone else.
One tip I really wish I was given as a student was to get as much work experience as possible. If you decide to do an apprenticeship you’re working and studying, so that solves the problem, but if you do a degree they sometimes don’t have enough practical work in. So you should try and do an industrial placement year or work in the laboratories during holidays if you can afford it – it’ll mean you stand out more when applying for science careers.
And one other thing to consider is that university is not your only option – you can always do an apprenticeship, or take on an assistant role to see if a job in that field is what you really want to do and study later. There’s no rush!
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