Statistics

Employers will value highly the specific subject knowledge and the wide range of technical and interpersonal skills you develop during your statistics degree.  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

In 2009, six months after graduating, nearly 45% of statistics graduates were in paid employment, with a further almost 15% combining work and study. Of those who went straight into work after graduation, 43% were working as business and finance professionals (e.g. accountants) or associate professionals (e.g. personnel officers), 8% were working in commercial, industrial and public sector management, nearly 9% were in clerical and secretarial roles, 3% were marketing sales and advertising professionals and 2% were information technology professionals. Nearly 10% had jobs in retail and catering, many of them probably on a temporary basis. Around 8% were believed to be unemployed.

Where are the jobs?

Major employers include the Office for National Statistics (ONS), including the Government Statistical Service (GSS), the National Health Service (NHS) (see NHS Careers), local councils, pharmaceutical, insurance, market research and marketing companies, banks, accountancy firms, universities, colleges and schools. There are also opportunities for employment with publicly funded research institutes or government agencies including the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW).

Spend some time exploring the following employment areas:

• Accountancy and business services
• Banking, investment and insurance
• Government and public administration

Jobs directly related to your degree

• Statistician
• Actuarial consultant and Actuary
• Operational researcher
• Financial risk analyst
• Market researcher
• Research scientist (maths)
• Higher education lecturer

Jobs where your degree would be useful

• Chartered accountant, Chartered certified accountant and Chartered public finance accountant
• Software engineer
• Insurance risk surveyor
• Management consultant
• Pension scheme manager

There are opportunities to work as an environmental, forensic, government, health service, market research, medical or pharmaceutical statistician.

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