Tim035
Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2005
- Messages
- 857
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2006
I've had a number of PM's about the post I made regarding career options for science grads, which now seems to be unaccessible since BOS got hacked. Thus I thought I'd make a new thread, updated to now include some new directions I've become aware of as I've moved in recent months from uni into the workforce myself.
Note that most of these jobs more relate to the medical sciences, although some are obviously open to any science disipline.
In summary the options most available to a well performing sci student include:
- lab assistant (50-60k, little in terms of career progression though and almost always only a 1 year contract position)
- Phd (4 years, most students pursuing a PhD are on the australian postgraduate scholarship, which is ~$25'000 pa).
- Academic (requires a Phd and typically a number of years working as a post-doc, there's a lot of detail in this, if it's what you're thinking about let me know and I'll expand on it).
- Hospital scientist / public health researcher (you can find these jobs on http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/ entry positions typically pay ~$50'000 pa. and senior scientist / managerial positions in a pathology lab can be around the $80-90k mark).
- Clinical trials / clinical researcher (typically known as a CRA, this is a hard field to break into without experience; my recommendation if you wished to pursue this path would be to make sure you do an honours year or even a Phd at a clinical research centre. The pay can be quite generous in this sector, however I have heard it is long hours and a lot of traveling).
- Medical information associate / drug safety associate / pharmacovigilance officer etc. (these individuals typically provide scientific expertise to the marketing and sales departments of a pharmaceutical company and are often also involved in medical affairs; a very interesting field, but once again hard to break into without some how gaining experience).
- Regulatory affairs / medical affairs (the direction I'm hoping to pursue, these individuals act basically as consultants who are responsible for putting in motion all the neccessary steps needed to take a scientific innovation from the lab to the market place).
- Quality assurance / quality control officers (an area not too hard to land a job in, these individuals oversee the production line for factories producing pharmaceutical and healthcare products, ensuring they are being produced in a manner that satisfies legal standards etc.).
- Other random corporate jobs (patent analyst, sales rep etc.). A lot of recruitment firms are happy to find jobs for science grads looking to 'climb the corporate ladder', typically this will involve a basic entry level job involving adminstration-like duties or phone based sales within a medical orientated company, but hopefully will allow career progression into roles where their science education will be more called upon.
- Government agencies (this includes agenices such as the TGA and IP Australia, both often have job vacancies that can suit recent science grads; unfortunately though they are both also located in Canberra).
- Post graduate options (of course a science undergrad can work as a great stepping stone into medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, physiotherapy, paramedics, patent attorney and other related jobs).
Note that most of these jobs more relate to the medical sciences, although some are obviously open to any science disipline.
In summary the options most available to a well performing sci student include:
- lab assistant (50-60k, little in terms of career progression though and almost always only a 1 year contract position)
- Phd (4 years, most students pursuing a PhD are on the australian postgraduate scholarship, which is ~$25'000 pa).
- Academic (requires a Phd and typically a number of years working as a post-doc, there's a lot of detail in this, if it's what you're thinking about let me know and I'll expand on it).
- Hospital scientist / public health researcher (you can find these jobs on http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/ entry positions typically pay ~$50'000 pa. and senior scientist / managerial positions in a pathology lab can be around the $80-90k mark).
- Clinical trials / clinical researcher (typically known as a CRA, this is a hard field to break into without experience; my recommendation if you wished to pursue this path would be to make sure you do an honours year or even a Phd at a clinical research centre. The pay can be quite generous in this sector, however I have heard it is long hours and a lot of traveling).
- Medical information associate / drug safety associate / pharmacovigilance officer etc. (these individuals typically provide scientific expertise to the marketing and sales departments of a pharmaceutical company and are often also involved in medical affairs; a very interesting field, but once again hard to break into without some how gaining experience).
- Regulatory affairs / medical affairs (the direction I'm hoping to pursue, these individuals act basically as consultants who are responsible for putting in motion all the neccessary steps needed to take a scientific innovation from the lab to the market place).
- Quality assurance / quality control officers (an area not too hard to land a job in, these individuals oversee the production line for factories producing pharmaceutical and healthcare products, ensuring they are being produced in a manner that satisfies legal standards etc.).
- Other random corporate jobs (patent analyst, sales rep etc.). A lot of recruitment firms are happy to find jobs for science grads looking to 'climb the corporate ladder', typically this will involve a basic entry level job involving adminstration-like duties or phone based sales within a medical orientated company, but hopefully will allow career progression into roles where their science education will be more called upon.
- Government agencies (this includes agenices such as the TGA and IP Australia, both often have job vacancies that can suit recent science grads; unfortunately though they are both also located in Canberra).
- Post graduate options (of course a science undergrad can work as a great stepping stone into medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, physiotherapy, paramedics, patent attorney and other related jobs).
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