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GraduateCareers
The pleasure of finding things out
The ability to research a problem
is one of many “soft skills” that
serve physics graduates well
in the job market, as
Nadya Anscombe describes
Many students choose to do a physics
degree because they like learning about
how the world around us works. Fortunately
for those about to enter the job market as
new graduates, the natural curiosity that is
a prerequisite for studying physics is also
a prerequisite for many professions, even
those that appear to have little connection
with science. Finding information, sifting
through it and extracting the important
bits are all skills that are needed in finance,
market research, politics, police work and
journalism – to name just a few.
It is widely accepted that physics graduates
tend to be numerate, bright and well
informed about some pretty esoteric subjects.
In many workplaces, though, it is their
critical thinking skills that are in demand,
says Peter Barham, a physicist and senior
tutor at the University of Bristol who has
seen hundreds of students enter the job
market over the years. “Many jobs, such
as patent examiner or business consultant,
require someone to collate a large amount
of information and act on it,” he explains.
“That’s basically what physics is all about”.
Considering the source
One aspect of finding information is, of
course, having good formal research skills.
During your degree, you were probably
taught how to carry out simple open-ended
experiments, use the library and mine various
databases for information. However,
many of the research skills you will find
most useful in your future career are those
you picked up almost without realizing it.
One of these, Barham suggests, is simply
being able to find the right person to talk to.
“When setting assignments, we try and set
questions that cannot be answered by doing
a Google search,” he says. “We encourage
students to knock on doors and ask for
68
advice. We also encourage them to talk
to students in higher years as part of our
‘parenting’ system”.
Being able to glean information from
people is a particularly important skill for
journalists. Valerie Jamieson, who is now
features editor at New Scientist magazine,
chose to study physics at the University
of Glasgow because she felt it would give
her skills in many areas. Today, she uses
research skills she learned during her
undergraduate degree and her PhD to
help her find out the “very human stories”
behind scientific results.
Another important – and related – skill,
Jamieson says, is being able to analyse the
information once she uncovers it. “In my
job, I see a lot of press releases, and sometimes
press releases can overblow the significance
of results, which can go on to get
reported,” she explains. “Understanding
the scientific method, how results get presented
and what uncertainties mean really
helps me to decide whether a story really
is as significant as it is cracked up to be. It
makes you better informed.”
Research skills of this type are valued in
the commercial world, too. For example,
companies looking to hire new employees
Many of the skills you will find most useful
you picked up almost without realizing it
physicsworld.com
may look favourably on applicants with
strong research skills – even if research
as such is not part of the job description –
because they tend to require less time and
money to train, and will use their own initiative
to start providing new ideas quickly.
Graduates who have good research skills
are also likely to be able to improve products
and services quickly. For example,
project-based work may require research
skills to get a project off the ground.
Know your strengths
In the finance industry, skills such as analytical
thinking and problem solving are
always useful. When William Van De Pette
graduated from the University of Oxford,
he knew he did not want to work in physics,
but he wanted a job where he could apply
the skills he had learned during his physics
degree. Today he is a portfolio manager at
investment management group Henderson
Global Investors in London. “During my
degree I gained skills in research, analytical
thinking and problem solving, and these
are now skills I use every day in my job,”
Van De Pette told Physics World. “I often
have to take maths problems and translate
them into real-world solutions. For this I
use problem solving strategies I learned
during my undergraduate years. I also frequently
have to find information by talking
to people, by e-mail and by reading reports,
and then make investment decisions based
on what I find out.”
A generalized “ability to find things out”
Physics World March 2013
iStockphoto/David H Lewis