Prefacing a live Q&A hosted at The Guardian's careers blog this week, Alison White says that while nearly a quarter of biosciences graduates opt to pursue PhDs, "there are apparently a wealth of [career] options you could consider" straight out of a bachelor's program. "Biosciences graduates are found in a variety of sectors, including the food industry, local and central government, environmental health, sports science, the pharmaceutical industry, and academia," she says.
Guardian panelist Chris Rawlings says:
With a good science degree you should be much more employable than other graduates (e.g. from the arts and humanities) because you should have the numeracy, literacym and critical thinking skills that employers from many sectors will be looking for.And panelist Jeremy Pritchard echoes these sentiments:
A science degree give you two for the price of one, you get the academic stuff and the skills, these include: practical laboratory and/or field techniques, experimental design, critical and analytical thinking, Science literacy (utilizing scientific literature for research), maths/numeracy, in-depth scientific knowledge & understanding, communication skills, ethical awareness, interpersonal skills (working collaboratively in a team), time management and organization, [and] creativity and independent thought. The trick is to flag up in a CV that you have them and give the evidence that you do.Panelist Guy Poppy adds that a major "advantage of training in biological sciences is that it is of relevance and importance across the world."
