Where are all the science jobs University of Manchester Careers Blog

Where are all the science jobs If youre a science student who loves science, it can sometimes feel like all the jobs are for business students, engineers or computer scientists. This is to reassure you that there are ways of finding science jobs if you know where to look. Two alternatives are: a) Look for science jobs which are being advertised The pros you know there is a job to be filled The cons so do lot of other people, so the competition will be high b) Look for scientific employers and see if they have any jobs The pros they may have jobs to be filled, but if a job isnt available now, they may keep you on file; this means that when a vacancy does occur, they may contact you before even considering advertising, so there is less competition The cons they may not be recruiting when you need a job Where to look for science job adverts some starting points The Careers Service, specifically, CareersLink (for University of Manchester students and recent graduates, login required) . Graduate JobSearch over 200 tailored mobile-friendly searches for graduate level jobs, including scientific work, energy and environment jobs, using recruitment sites such as Gradcracker, Target, Reed, jobs.ac.uk and many more . General science jobs websites such as New Scientist Nature Science ResearchGate (includes some non-science jobs) Wiley Science Jobs . Specialist science jobs websites The Prospects website has suggested vacancy sites for different types of scientific work (in the Employers and vacancies section for each type of work). Here are just a few examples of targeted or niche scientific jobs sites: Brightrecruits (from the Institute of Physics) Chemistry World Jobs (from the RSC) Environment Jobs Royal Society of Biology Jobs . Use targeted search criteria in sites which pull in vacancies from other sources Careerjet Indeed Simply Hired CV Library . Science recruitment agencies SRG CK Science Network Scientific Lab Support Vector Recruitment Search Scientific . How to look for potential scientific employers If you want to do cutting edge science, dont just think of the big household names think small! Why? Because science which emerges from fundamental academic research is often based in start-up and spin-out companies, often located around universities, in incubation centres (ie. very small emerging companies may not be too many roles for new scientists here) and science parks (companies which are starting to grow might be a better bet for science jobs for recent graduates). How can you find these companies which youve never heard of? Try these approaches: University of Manchester Careers Service CareersLink Look under Organisation Directory this is our employer database of organisations who want to target University of Manchester students. Using Advanced search, you can filter by Organisation Sector which lists over 400 science employers. Our Which Career Scientific Work web pages include sources of scientific employers . Look in science and innovation parks Find a science park and search its members UK Science Park Association International Association of Science Parks . . Research institutes, centres and companies interested in researchers www.jobs.ac.uk/employers browse employers by type, including those outside academia UK Research Councils UK government funded research centres and institutes. Check each Research Council for lists of its funded institutes AIRTO a membership organisation for a number of commercial and government funded research organisations and institutes . Networks of scientists Trade associations often have lists of members, for example: Pharma/bioscience: ABPI (national), BioNow (North West/North East), OneNucleus (Cambridge/London), OBN (Oxford/South) . Professional bodies get involved with a relevant scientific professional body to meet scientists in your field (you might get to know your future interviewer!) . LinkedIn join groups for your field to link to other scientists; search companies, groups or people by keyword, including technical terms. . Your contacts Tell everyone you know what youre looking for, social and online contacts included. You never know who a friend or a distant cousin might know What to do once youve found a suitable scientific employer The most obvious approach simply type Employer-name jobs into a search engine! . Check the employers website regularly to see if they are advertising any suitable jobs. . See if the employer is attending a recruitment event in the near future. . Send a targeted speculative application. If they say they will keep you on file, dont give up hope. When a vacancy arises, that file of recent applications is the first place many employers look before advertising, particularly for specialist posts (I know its what I did when I was recruiting in the polymer industry). . Try to talk to someone from the employer you want to target. If theyre a recruiting manager, ask how they recruit new scientists, are there any plans for expansion, where would they advertise? If they dont recruit personally, you can still get a feel for the type of scientific work they do the sort of employer they are, and whether this would suit you. Either way, you get inside information, you should now know whether to look out for job ads and how to target your applications. . See if someone from the employer you want to target is going to be on campus and not necessarily at a recruitment event. If they target researchers, they may be part of university collaborations. Are they giving a seminar or talk on campus? Could you ask the academics involved in the collaboration to introduce you? Further information for scientists See our recent post: Do you want to work in or out of the lab? Things you need to know with a bio/life science degree â€"  FAQs All Careers advice Graduate Postgrad-highlighted Postgraduate Undergraduate job hunting jobs Life sciences LinkedIn networking Where are all the science jobs Written by Elizabeth Wilkinson, Postgraduate Careers Consultant at The Careers Service If you are a science researcher, masters or undergrad, its not always easy to find the jobs to apply to amongst all the engineering, IT and finance/business roles on offer. However, by using your research skills, you can uncover lots of scientific jobs and employers heres how. 1. Look for science jobs which are being advertised: The pros â€" you know there is a job to be filled. The cons â€" so do lots of other people, so the competition will be high. 2. Look for scientific employers and see if they have any jobs: The pros â€" they may have jobs to be filled, but if a job isn’t available now, they may keep you on file; this means that when a vacancy does occur, they may contact you before even considering advertising, so there is less competition. The cons â€" may not be recruiting when you need a job. Expand your tactics for finding science jobs Here are some resources to get you started searching for scientific jobs. Scientific recruitment agencies SRG www.srgtalent.com CK Science http://ckscience.co.uk Network Scientific www.networkscientificrecruitment.com Vector Recruitment www.vrl.co.uk Find more agencies ( employers) currently recruiting www.reed.co.uk/recruiterdirectory Online profile â€" make it work harder for you Join professional networks eg LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), update your profile (include scientific skills/technologies so they appear in searches), join specialist groups for jobs in your field, follow employers represented in those groups others you know â€" become findable! Specialist job ads are becoming more common on LinkedIn â€" search for jobs in your field and set up job alerts. Online search for job adverts â€" use specialist sites General science jobs websites such as New Scientist http://jobs.newscientist.com Nature www.nature.com/naturejobs Science http://jobs.sciencecareers.org Research Gate www.researchgate.net/jobs (mainly science jobs) Graduate (and postgraduate) job sites â€" can filter for science jobs Employers targeting University of Manchester www.manchester.ac.uk/careerslink login required UoM Careers Service “Which career?” â€" includes job sites for over 20 sectors including science, environment etc www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/whichcareer Example sites include: Brightrecruits (from the Institute of Physics) http://brightrecruits.com Chemistry World Jobs (from the RSC) https://jobs.chemistryworld.com Environment Jobs www.environmentjob.co.uk Royal Society of Biology Jobs https://jobs.rsb.org.uk Gradcracker www.gradcracker.com/search/sciences-maths/graduate-jobs Find scientific employers and engage with them University of Manchester Careers Service Employer database www.manchester.ac.uk/careerslink see Organisation Search. Which Career? â€" Scientific Work, include sources of scientific employers www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/whichcareer/science Look in science and innovation parks â€" search members UK Science Park Association www.ukspa.org.uk/members/our-members International Association of Science Parks www.iasp.ws/Our-members/Directory Explore research institutes, centres and companies interested in researchers www.jobs.ac.uk/employers browse employers by type (not just universities!) UK Research Councils www.ukri.org/about-us/our-council â€" government funded research centres and institutes. AIRTO is a membership organisation for a number of commercial and government funded research organisations and institutes www.airto.co.uk/about/members Find networks of scientists get involved Professional bodies get involved with a relevant scientific professional body to meet scientists in your field. Trade associations www.taforum.org/trade-associations often have lists of members. For example Pharma/bioscience: ABPI (national http://careers.abpi.org.uk), BioNow (North West/North East www.bionow.co.uk), One Nucleus (Cambridge/London www.onenucleus.com), OBN (Oxford/South www.obn.org.uk) Let others know you’re looking â€" they might lead to a useful contact Tell everyone you know what you’re looking for, social and online contacts included. You never know who a friend or distant cousin might know… Attend recruitment events, talk to employers, link with them on LinkedIn Update your social media and professional online profiles (eg. LinkedIn) Send speculative CVs to specialist employers, especially smaller scientific employers. Include a link to your online professional profile â€" this allows you to keep your details up to date and offers the chance for them to connect online with you, for future reference. All Graduate Graduate jobs Postgraduate Undergraduate Where are all the science jobs by Elizabeth This post has been updated, find it here If youre a science student who loves science, it can sometimes feel like all the jobs are for business students, engineers or computer scientists. This is to reassure you that there are ways of finding science jobs if you know where to look. Two alternatives are: a) Look for science jobs which are being advertised The pros you know there is a job to be filled The cons so do lot of other people, so the competition will be high b) Look for scientific employers and see if they have any jobs The pros they may have jobs to be filled, but if a job isnt available now, they may keep you on file; this means that when a vacancy does occur, they may contact you before even considering advertising, so there is less competition The cons they may not be recruiting when you need a job Where to look for science job adverts some starting points The Careers Service, specifically, CareersLink (for University of Manchester students and recent graduates, login required)  . Graduate JobSearch over 200 tailored mobile-friendly searches for graduate level jobs, including scientific work, energy and environment jobs, using recruitment sites such as Gradcracker, Target, Reed, jobs.ac.uk and many more . General science jobs websites such as New Scientist Nature Science ResearchGate (includes some non-science jobs) Wiley Science Jobs . Specialist science jobs websites The Prospects website has suggested vacancy sites for different types of scientific work (in the Employers and vacancies section for each type of work). Here are just a few examples of targeted or niche scientific jobs sites: Brightrecruits (from the Institute of Physics) Chemistry World Jobs (from the RSC) Environment Jobs Royal Society of Biology Jobs . Use targeted search criteria in sites which pull in vacancies from other sources Careerjet Indeed Simply Hired CV Library . Science recruitment agencies SRG CK Science Network Scientific Lab Support Vector Recruitment Search Scientific . How to look for potential scientific employers If you want to do cutting edge science, dont just think of the big household names think small! Why? Because science which emerges from fundamental academic research is often based in start-up and spin-out companies, often located around universities, in incubation centres (ie. very small emerging companies may not be too many roles for new scientists here) and science parks (companies which are starting to grow might be a better bet for science jobs for recent graduates). How can you find these companies which youve never heard of? Try these approaches: University of Manchester Careers Service CareersLink Look under Organisation Directory this is our employer database of organisations who want to target University of Manchester students. Using Advanced search, you can filter by Organisation Sector which lists over 400 science employers. Our Which Career Scientific Work web pages include sources of scientific employers . Look in science and innovation parks Find a science park and search its members UK Science Park Association International Association of Science Parks . . Research institutes, centres and companies interested in researchers www.jobs.ac.uk/employers browse employers by type, including those outside academia UK Research Councils UK government funded research centres and institutes. Check each Research Council for lists of its funded institutes AIRTO a membership organisation for a number of commercial and government funded research organisations and institutes . Networks of scientists Trade associations often have lists of members, for example: Pharma/bioscience: ABPI (national), BioNow (North West/North East), OneNucleus (Cambridge/London), OBN (Oxford/South) . Professional bodies get involved with a relevant scientific professional body to meet scientists in your field (you might get to know your future interviewer!) . LinkedIn join groups for your field to link to other scientists; search companies, groups or people by keyword, including technical terms. . Your contacts Tell everyone you know what youre looking for, social and online contacts included. You never know who a friend or a distant cousin might know What to do once youve found a suitable scientific employer The most obvious approach simply type Employer-name jobs into a search engine! . Check the employers website regularly to see if they are advertising any suitable jobs. . See if the employer is attending a recruitment event in the near future. . Send a targeted speculative application. If they say they will keep you on file, dont give up hope. When a vacancy arises, that file of recent applications is the first place many employers look before advertising, particularly for specialist posts (I know its what I did when I was recruiting in the polymer industry). . Try to talk to someone from the employer you want to target. If theyre a recruiting manager, ask how they recruit new scientists, are there any plans for expansion, where would they advertise? If they dont recruit personally, you can still get a feel for the type of scientific work they do the sort of employer they are, and whether this would suit you. Either way, you get inside information, you should now know whether to look out for job ads and how to target your applications. . See if someone from the employer you want to target is going to be on campus and not necessarily at a recruitment event. If they target researchers, they may be part of university collaborations. Are they giving a seminar or talk on campus? Could you ask the academics involved in the collaboration to introduce you? Further information for scientists See our recent post: Do you want to work in or out of the lab? Things you need to know with a bio/life science degree â€"  FAQs All Careers advice Graduate Postgrad-highlighted Postgraduate Undergraduate job hunting jobs LinkedIn networking Where are all the science jobs This blog post has now been updated. Please see: https://manunicareersblog.com/2016/10/18/where-are-all-the-science-jobs-3/ If youre a science student who loves science, it can sometimes feel like all the jobs are for business students, engineers or computer scientists. This is to reassure you that there are ways of finding science jobs if you know where to look. Two alternatives are: a) Look for science jobs which are being advertised The pros you know there is a job to be filled The cons so do lot of other people, so the competition will be high b) Look for scientific employers and see if they have any jobs The pros they may have jobs to be filled, but if a job isnt available now, they may keep you on file; this means that when a vacancy does occur, they may contact you before even considering advertising, so there is less competition The cons they may not be recruiting when you need a job Where to look for science job adverts some starting points The Careers Service, specifically, CareersLink (for University of Manchester students and recent graduates, login required)  . Graduate JobSearch over 200 tailored mobile-friendly searches for graduate level jobs, including scientific work, energy and environment jobs, using recruitment sites such as Gradcracker, Target, Reed, jobs.ac.uk and many more . General science jobs websites such as New Scientist Nature Science ResearchGate (includes some non-science jobs) Wiley Science Jobs Specialist science jobs websites The Prospects website has suggested vacancy sites for different types of scientific work (in the Employers and vacancies section for each type of work). Here are just a few examples of targeted or niche scientific jobs sites: Brightrecruits (from the Institute of Physics) Chemistry World Jobs (from the RSC) Environment Jobs Use targeted search criteria in sites which pull in vacancies from other sources Careerjet Indeed Simply Hired CV Library Science recruitment agencies SRG CK Science Network Scientific Lab Support Vector Recruitment Search Scientific . How to look for potential scientific employers University of Manchester Careers Service CareersLink Look under Organisation Directory this is our employer database of organisations who want to target University of Manchester students. Using Advanced search, you can filter by Organisation Sector which lists over 400 science employers. Our Which Career Scientific Work web pages include sources of scientific employers . Look in science and innovation parks Find a science park and search its members UK Science Park Association International Association of Science Parks . . Research institutes, centres and companies interested in researchers www.jobs.ac.uk/employers browse employers by type, including those outside academia UK Research Councils UK government funded research centres and institutes. Check each Research Council for lists of its funded institutes AIRTO a membership organisation for a number of commercial and government funded research organisations and institutes . Networks of scientists Trade associations often have lists of members, for example: Pharma/bioscience: ABPI (national), BioNow (North West/North East), OneNucleus (Cambridge/London), OBN (Oxford/South) . Professional bodies get involved with a relevant scientific professional body to meet scientists in your field (you might get to know your future interviewer!) . InnovateUK UK Government funded technology network, with over 100,000 members and hundreds of special interest groups. Search groups, members and news for your field. (This is one of my favourite sites when presented with someone who wants to work in cutting edge science, especially in industry.) . LinkedIn join groups for your field to link to other scientists; search companies, groups or people by keyword, including technical terms. . Your contacts Tell everyone you know what youre looking for, social and online contacts included. You never know who a friend or a distant cousin might know What to do once youve found a suitable scientific employer The most obvious approach simply type Employer-name jobs into a search engine! . Check the employers website regularly to see if they are advertising any suitable jobs. . See if the employer is attending a recruitment event in the near future. . Send a targeted speculative application. If they say they will keep you on file, dont give up hope. When a vacancy arises, that file of recent applications is the first place many employers look before advertising, particularly for specialist posts (I know its what I did when I was recruiting in the polymer industry). . Try to talk to someone from the employer you want to target. If theyre a recruiting manager, ask how they recruit new scientists, are there any plans for expansion, where would they advertise? If they dont recruit personally, you can still get a feel for the type of scientific work they do the sort of employer they are, and whether this would suit you. Either way, you get inside information, you should now know whether to look out for job ads and how to target your applications. . See if someone from the employer you want to target is going to be on campus and not necessarily at a recruitment event. If they target researchers, they may be part of university collaborations. Are they giving a seminar or talk on campus? Could you ask the academics involved in the collaboration to introduce you? Save All job hunting jobs LinkedIn networking Where are all the science jobs by Elizabeth NB. This is an old blog post and likely to be out of date. For a more recent version see: Where are all the science jobs? October 2016 Old version: Recruitment fairs can often look as if theyre just about engineering, IT, finance and business jobs. If youre after a science job, where are they all? Well, theyre sometimes tucked away within those companies which look like theyre just about engineering. At our upcoming Engineering, Science and Technology Fair this week (Wednesday 17th October), well highlight which stands you should visit if you want to talk science. UPDATE 16/10/12: Heres a link to the excel spreadsheet showing which companies (coming to the fairs), are looking for science graduates/postgraduates. This includes those specifically looking for science grads (shown by discipline), plus those who say any degree welcome. There are two tabs in the spreadsheet, showing employers at either the Engineering, Science and Technology Fair, or the Finance, Business and Management Fair (yes, really!) who are specifically advertising for science grads. However, not all scientific employers come to the big fairs. That may be because they dont need to publicise themselves because you know who they are already. This is particularly true of pharmaceutical companies, who normally only attend life science specific fairs, such as the Society of Biologys Life Science Careers Conferences. A more common reason is that many scientific employers only recruit a small number of new graduates or postgraduates each year. Its not a good use of their time or money to come along to a fair for one new recruit. So, how do you find those science jobs? Ive put together a handout which will be available the fair this week, which you can access here (pdf). Alternatively, heres the text with clickable links: Where Are All The Science Jobs? If you’re looking for a job in science, two alternatives are: a) Look for science jobs which are being advertised The pros â€" you know there is a job to be filled The cons â€" so do lots of other people, so the competition will be high b) Look for scientific employers and see if they have any jobs The pros â€" they may have jobs to be filled, but if a job isn’t available now, they may keep you on file; this means that when a vacancy does occur, they may contact you before even considering advertising, so there is less competition (and the job may never get advertised if your CV on file fits the bill) The cons â€" may not be recruiting when you need a job To give yourself the best chance, you could try a combination of both of these strategies. Where to look for science job adverts â€" some examples Your university careers service For employers who want to target students from your university (www.manchester.ac.uk/careerslink for University of Manchester students and graduates) General science jobs websites such as New Scientist (http://jobs.newscientist.com) Nature (http://www.nature.com/naturejobs) Science (http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org) Research Gate (www.researchgate.net â€" covers all disciplines but mainly science jobs) Wiley Science Jobs (http://www.wileysciencejobs.com) Specialist science jobs websites Here are just a few examples of targeted or niche scientific jobs sites: Brightrecruits (from the Institute of Physics http://brightrecruits.com) Chemistry World Jobs (from the RSC http://jobs.rsc.org) VRS-UK (analytical chemistry www.vrs-uk.net) Environment Jobs (www.environmentjob.co.uk) Bioinformatics Jobs (www.bioinformatics.org/jobs) The Prospects website has suggested vacancy sites for different types of science jobs. Find the profile of the type of work you’re interested in (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/types_of_jobs_scientific_services.htm) then look at the “Employers and vacancies” section. Use targeted search criteria in general graduate recruitment sites such as Prospects (www.prospects.ac.uk) Monster (http://graduate.monster.co.uk) Target (targetjobs.co.uk) Milkround (www.milkround.com) Or jobs.ac.uk (www.jobs.ac.uk) for academic and other research jobs Use targeted search criteria in sites which pull in vacancies from many other sources on the internet, such as Careerjet (www.careerjet.co.uk) Indeed (www.indeed.co.uk) Simply Hired (www.simplyhired.co.uk) CV Library (www.cv-library.co.uk) Science recruitment agencies SRG (www.srg.co.uk) Lab Support (www.labsupport.co.uk) SCI (www.sci-search.com) Kelly Scientific (www.kellyservices.co.uk/UK/Careers/Careers-in-Science) Network Scientific (www.networkscientificrecruitment.com) Vector Recruitment (www.vrl.co.uk) Search (www.searchconsultancy.co.uk/job-sectors/scientific.aspx) How to look for potential scientific employers Your university careers service The University of Manchester Careers Service has an online directory of organisations who want to promote themselves to their students (www.manchester.ac.uk/careerslink see Organisation Search, login required). Check with your own institution to see if they have details of employers who want to target their students (eg promotional information or visits). Look in science and innovation parks Find a science park and search its members â€" UK Science Park Association (www.ukspa.org.uk), International Association of Science Parks (www.iasp.ws) Innovation Park Search (www.innovationparksearch.info) â€" can search UK Science Parks by technology/keyword Research institutes, centres and companies interested in those with research experience Jobs.ac.uk allows you to browse employers by type, including non-academic employers who advertise on their recruitment site (www.jobs.ac.uk/employers) Government research centres and institutes are normally funded (at least in part) by one of the UK Research Councils (www.rcuk.ac.uk). Check each Research Council for lists of its funded institutes. AIRTO is a membership organisation for a number of commercial and government funded research organisations and institutes (www.airto.co.uk/our-members.html). Trade associations Often have lists of members â€" find a relevant trade association with the Trade Association Forum Directory (www.taforum.org/Members) For example, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry has its own careers website with lists of employers (http://careers.abpi.org.uk) Professional bodies If you get involved with a relevant scientific professional body, attend meetings or conferences, or see who is on their committees, you may be able to find out where other members work. There are lots of scientific professional bodies www.totalprofessions.com/profession-finder LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) If you are a member of LinkedIn, you can join groups which are relevant to your scientific interests. This will let you see where other group members work. You can also search companies by keyword. For example, a search for “Proteomics” results in 223 companies worldwide. You can then filter by location etc. Your contacts Don’t underestimate the power of contacts â€" tell everyone you know, even socially, what you’re looking for. You never know when a distant cousin might live next door to a laser physics expert. What to do once you’ve found a suitable scientific employer Don’t ignore the most obvious approach â€" simply type “Employer-name jobs” into a search engine! Check the employer’s website regularly to see if they are advertising any suitable jobs. Type the employer’s name into some of the sites which pull in vacancies from lots of source. Careerjet, Indeed and SimplyHired) allow you to set up alerts by e-mail or RSS feed when a new job is See if the employer is attending a recruitment event in the near future. Send them a targeted speculative application. If they say they will “keep you on file”, don’t give up hope. When they have a suitable vacancy, that file of recent applications is the first place many employers look before they think about advertising, particularly for specialist technical posts. Try to talk to someone from the employer you want to target, to ask about the sort of scientific work they do; how they recruit new scientists; if there are any plans for expansion. If the person you talk to isn’t a recruiting manager, they may not be able to help you with details of jobs coming up, but you can get a feel for the type of work they do and the sort of employer they are, and whether this would suit you. Then you know whether to look out for job ads, and how to target your applications. See if someone from the employer you want to target is going to be on campus. If they target researchers, they may be part of university collaborations. Are they giving any seminars or talks on campus? Could you ask the academics involved in the collaboration to introduce you? Save All Postgrad-highlighted Postgraduate Careers fair jobs