Oxford

OTHER CAREERS
Beyond the industry sectors listed on the previous pages, there
are many more opportunities – some of them are quite niche,
and some are in rapidly expanding fields at the edge of current
knowledge and practice. Don’t feel restricted by the range of
graduate jobs that normally get promoted, and think creatively
about what would best suit you.
Each year substantial numbers of graduates enter these
alternative career fields or specialised roles, and others pursue
their own personal vision in areas they are passionate about, for
example, in the Creative and Performing Arts; the Armed Forces;
Libraries; Religion; Tourism and Leisure; and Translation.
In addition, there are new and emerging
sectors that are growing rapidly and
looking for graduates with diverse talents
and interests. For example, in 2012 the
UK Government identified ‘Eight Great
Technologies’ as drivers of technological
growth including:
‘BIG DATA‘: the creation, storage,
management and analysis of datasets
which are so large and complex that
it is beyond the ability of typical
database software tools to manage the
information. Big data tools are well
established in some fields of research
and now data on individuals and society
are being applied widely to help us
understand and interpret our society
and the world around us. This sector
offers great potential for social scientists,
statisticians, mathematics, computer
scientists and engineers.
MORE INFORMATION
If you want to find out more about this
sector, visit:
www.careers.ox.ac.uk/other
www.careers.ox.ac.uk/LOGISTICS
www.careers.ox.ac.uk/armed-forces
www.careers.ox.ac.uk/translatinginterpreting
www.careers.ox.ac.uk/creative-arts
www.careers.ox.ac.uk/HUMAN-
RESOURCES
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‘SATELLITES’: Launching space stations,
orbital telescopes and planetary probes
are just a tiny fraction of the space industry
- these industries touch our lives daily,
when we use our mobiles, get into a car, or
turn on the TV. Already employing 30,000
in the UK – many on the Harwell campus
near to Oxford – the number of jobs is
expected to rocket by a further 100,000 by
2020! This sector is a great destination for
programmers, mathematicians, physicists,
environment specialists, earth scientists,
geographers as well as engineers and
entrepreneurs (see Paul Dare’s profile on
page 163 and John Elliott’s profile on page
57).
There are also vast economic sectors
that are not particularly visible within
the graduate market but offer fantastic
opportunities and career prospects for the
graduates who find them: for example, the
insurance and re-insurance market and real
estate.
‘REAL ESTATE’ is a huge worldwide
industry that spans many sectors,
including residential, retail, office,
industrial and hotels, as well as the
growing social infrastructure sector. There
are opportunities from planning and
development in both the commercial and
social sectors (eg, social and affordable
housing), through engineering and
consultancy, to high finance - real estate
is approximately 50% of the world’s assets
by value and a vital component of the
pension fund, insurance and endowment
investment industries. There are myriad
opportunities for graduates from all
disciplines and many graduate entry
schemes in the larger finance and advisory
firms as well as property companies.
FINDING OUT MORE
If you are interested in a career that doesn’t
get much exposure around Oxford, The
Careers Service can still help and Careers
Advisers will be happy to work with you
and to provide support and ideas to help
you move forwards. In the last year we have
been asked about careers as diverse as
animal handler; costume designer; events
planner; landscape designer; politician;
theatre director & producer; speech
therapist; and sports coach.
The selection of career profiles included
here gives you a taster, covering the
Armed Forces; Big Data; HR leadership;
Interpreter; Performing Arts; and Real
Estate Investment.
There are a number of strategies you can
follow to find out more about a role:
]]
Is there a professional body or society
for your field of interest? Their website
is likely to offer useful information,
advice, listings of relevant events, and
even job vacancies.
]]
Look for vacancies to help you
understand the key criteria required.
Remember that on CareerConnect (p.5)
you can search archived vacancies to
find organisations that have advertised
similar roles in the past, giving you
a starting point for organisations
to research and perhaps approach
speculatively.
]]
Niche websites for your industry of
interest, eg:
• SpIN (Space Internships Network)
and from UKSEDS (UK Students for
the Exploration and Development of
Space)
• The Working for an MP website:
www.w4mp.org
]]
Specialist recruitment agencies
can be another route to finding out
information about particular sectors
and sourcing vacancies.
]]
Brainstorm ideas of other types of
organisation that might need the skill
set you wish to use, and use those
ideas to start an online search.
]]
Manage a creative self-led search,
using networking and social media to
find information and people, including
finding relevant blogs, Twitter feeds
and individuals, organisations and
groups on LinkedIn and Facebook.