Biotechnology

Over the course of your degree you develop a wide mix of subject-specific and technical skills, you should consider these skills developed on your course as well as through your other activities, such as paid work, volunteering, family responsibilities, sport, membership of societies, leadership roles, etc. Think about how these can be used as evidence of your skills and personal attributes. Then you can start to market and sell who you really are, identify what you may be lacking and consider how to improve your profile.

Prospects

Many biotechnology graduates go on to work in the health and science sector. This covers a wide variety of jobs including clinical and technical roles within scientific research, product development and hospital laboratories.

Biotechnology graduates are also employed as business and finance professionals and commercial, industrial and public sector managers. Some graduates will initially work in secretarial, administration, retail and catering roles. This may include those waiting for postgraduate courses to begin and also those looking for any employment immediately after they have finished their course due to financial reasons.

Where are the jobs?

The skills and knowledge gained from biotechnology degrees are used in many employment sectors. Most employment opportunities can be found within the NHS hospital laboratories (NHS Careers) and biotechnology research organisations. Other opportunities can be found in multidisciplinary consultancy or testing companies and research charities like Cancer Research. Government departments, agencies, educational establishments and research councils also employ graduates.

In other sectors like manufacturing, pharmaceutical and the food and drink industries, specialist roles may also present themselves in areas such as quality assurance and general management.

Explore employment areas:

• Science - overview of the science sector and the future markets trends;
• Health - overview of the health sector and the future markets trends;
• Information technology - overview of IT sector and related employment opportunities.

Jobs directly related to your degree

• Clinical molecular geneticist
• Clinical research associate
• Microbiologist (industrial microbiologist)
• Research scientist (life science)
• Teaching laboratory technician
• Regulatory affairs officer

Jobs where your degree would be useful

• Patent attorney
• Technical author
• Quality manager
• Technical sales engineer
• Systems analyst

Although some of the jobs listed here might not be first jobs for many graduates, they are among the many realistic possibilities with your degree, provided you can demonstrate you have the attributes employers are looking for. Bear in mind that it's not just your degree discipline that determines your options. Remember that many graduate vacancies don't specify particular degree disciplines, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

You can find more about the skills you develop during your course, the jobs listed above, plus case studies and where to find these jobs at Prospects.

Included with the permission of AGCAS. For the latest version of this publication, see www.prospects.ac.uk. For permission to reproduce, contact copyright@agcas.org.uk