Biosciences: a Pathway to Employability

Using your Biosciences Degree

Bruce Woodcock

You can download the slides for this presentation at

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm

GSK: skills looked for when recruiting researchers:

• Ability to make presentations. Able to present ideas and arguments in presentations and seminars, and informal discussions

• Teamworking. Able to work with others in groups (e.g. group projects)

• People skills. Able to communicate with others in a clear and articulate manner

• Time management and organising skills. Able to work independently on projects and ultimately to manage project groups.

• Report writing and clear documentation of experimental work

• Problem solving. Able to gather and analyse information from a wide variety of sources and to identify and propose solutions to problems.

• Technical skills. Laboratory experience is the most important thing here. A vacation placement or sandwich year in a laboratory will greatly enhance your chances of entry. List relevant modules and projects (plus marks if good!) on your science CV.

• Computing Skills

View, Master, Slide Master to change this text to the title of your presentationPage 2

What can I do with a

Kent Bioscience

Degree?

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/bioscience.htm

Science Jobswww.kent.ac.uk/careers/ScienceJobs.htm

• Research and Development

• Clinical Biochemists And Microbiologists

• Biomedical Scientists

• Science Teacher

• Production And Quality Assurance

• Regulatory Affairs Officer

• Clinical Research Associate/Monitor

• Bioinformatics

• Medical Sales

• Patent Examiner

• Patent Agent

• Medical Communications

• Doctor

• Scientific Recruitment Consultant

• Science Administration

The University of Kent Science Careers Employability Award on Moodle

What does the Careers Employability Award contain?

About the Award

• You complete a number of quizzes and three short assignments;

• It can all be done on line: students have done it in their year abroad (e.g. in Spain and Sweden) and during their industrial placement year;

•Satisfaction rating: 98.8 %• 70.5 % of students found it very useful• 28.3 % found it useful

14 Quizzes: need 75% to pass

• Employability skills quiz• Employability skills quiz - drag and drop questions• How can I develop the skills employers want?• Test your spelling and grammar!• What makes you happy at work?• How commercially aware are you?• Special interests topic lesson• Interview preparation• Practice interview• What are the most common interview questions?• Aptitude tests and assessment centres• CV quiz• CVs and covering letters - drag and drop quiz• Career planning drag and drop quiz

View, Master, Slide Master to change this text to the title of your presentationPage 9

Page 10

Assignments: complete at least 3 of these

• Analyse your skills and learn how to make top quality applications

• Do you want to live to work or work to live?

• Researching careers

• Choosing a science career

• Submit a science CV

• Social media (new for 2013/14)

• Action Planning (new for 2013/14)

View, Master, Slide Master to change this text to the title of your presentationPage 11

The Careers Employability Award

On successful completion you receive the University of Kent Careers Employability Award.

You can also add the following to your CV:

"On my own initiative I successfully completed the University of Kent Careers Employability Award which covered identification and development of employability skills, self-awareness, identification of relevant career options, researching opportunities, CV preparation and interview skills."

Comments from students who have completed the award

You get a really nice certificate!

It was so easy, quick and I learned a lot.

Without realising, you have finished the course and have already put together a very

good CV and covering letter.

It really blew my mind with some ideas I’ve never known before, such

as portfolio working and working from home. I never thought about obtaining happiness from my work

before.

It would be mad to apply for a job or attend an interview

without doing it! Before the course I had only a vague idea of my career path and opportunities. Now I am applying for summer internships and know

how to effectively sell my skills to a prospective employer and have a much more

focused plan for my future.

The module is very, very useful! I really love how it makes you to think

about your personality and helps you to identify your strengths and

weaknesses.I found the module to be highly thought-provoking as it really encouraged me to consider how my degree will benefit my future and what I can be doing now to

improve my graduate employment prospects.

I enjoyed the depth of the module. It went far beyond some general tips on how to write a

good CV and prepare for an interview. Rather it went in to detail about the whole process of graduate job search from the beginning to the

end. It was very instructive .

The amount of time put into this is astounding! I actually spoke to

friends from other universities who said they wished they had

something like this.

It has made me feel a lot more confident when it comes to

applications and interviews and has also made me think about skills that

I didn't think I had before.

I recently had a very successful interview largely because I put the advice on

the module into practice.

How to enrol on the Award

• Go to https://moodle.kent.ac.uk/moodle and enter your Kent login and password

• Via the search box, search for “Science Careers”.

• Or go direct to:https://moodle.kent.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=3654

• Enrol by clicking on "Enrol me in this Module"

• If you have a problem, email bw@kent.ac.uk and I will enrol you.

Further Information

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm

Biosciences: a Pathway to Employability

Using your Biosciences Degree

Bruce Woodcock

You can download the slides for this presentation at

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm