Environmental Technology

Wherever your career leads you employers will want to see evidence of the skills you have developed in your studies. These may include technical skills and academic knowledge if you’re seeking a job related to environmental technology and ‘transferable skills’ like problem solving, resilience and intellectual curiosity that fit a broad range of roles within and outside of environmental technology related roles.

The typical skills developed by Imperial environmental technology students during their course are highly valued by employers and include:

• Problem-solving
• Analysis
• Project management
• Teamwork
• Communication skills
• Ability to learn fast
• Working under pressure

It’s good to reflect on your abilities and consider what skills you can evidence and which skills you may need to enhance. Use our Self reflection webpage to help you understand and document your abilities.

During your degree you will have many opportunities to develop and learn new skills. Employers will want to see what you have been doing to develop your skills and knowledge outside your course while you have been a student. Experiences such as student societies, part-time work, volunteering and sports can develop your skills and will be valuable additions to your CV. Work experience can also help develop skills and help you decide what career direction you want to go in and become more competitive in future job or further study applications.

As an Imperial student you can participate, or take a leadership role, in a wide variety of Students’ Union activities where you’ll develop many skills. You also have free access to LinkedIn Learning and can use this to develop or improve your knowledge and abilities with software tools and skills through instructional videos taught by industry experts skills.

You can learn and develop the skills required to be successful in the job or internship market. For example, you will need to know how to create a strong CV, write a good cover letter and perform well in interviews. We can help you to learn these skills. Start with the Applications and interviews section of our website, and by attending our skills training and workshops.

When you understand your skills through self reflection it’s a good idea to then learn about the range of career areas that might be of interest. Our what do Imperial Graduates Do? contains our Graduate Outcomes data which gives examples of employers and further study options of previous graduates. You can search the data to find what Environmental Technology graduates went on to do immediately after graduation and you may also find it useful to explore Imperial College LinkedIn Alumni Tool where you can explore the career paths of our alumni as their careers develop over time. However, don't feel limited by what others have done, but instead, follow your own interests.

For environmental technology students, it is helpful to consider whether you want to use your degree knowledge in a job. To help you begin we have listed some of the career areas that Imperial environmental technology students often go into which is taken from our what do Imperial Graduates Do? Graduate Outcomes data. Our exploring options resources can help you to learn more about these sectors including desirable skills, responsibilities, professional development and salary expectations across different roles and industries. You can also meet employers from many of these areas through Careers Service events and fairs which are advertised on JobsLive and in our weekly newsletter. 

If you are interested in continuing to use your environmental knowledge you could consider some of these industries, all of which employ environmental specialists:   

• Manufacturing
• Electricity Gas & Water
• Construction
• Wholesale and Retail Trade
• Information and Communications
• Environmental Consultancies
• Policy

Here are some of the typical careers outside science that environmental technologists also go into:

• Banking / investment
• Graduate management roles
• Real Estate
• Consulting
• Public Health
• Project Management
• Law
• Marketing
• Financial services e.g. accountancy, actuarial, audit, tax
• Teaching

Through your research you’ll see that there’s a very wide range of options open to Environmental Technology graduates. This can create many questions that you’ll want to answer and speaking to a Careers Consultant through one of our one-to-one appointments may help after your initial research.

A professional body, association or society seeks to further a particular profession and the interests of individuals engaged in that profession. The body maintains an oversight of the knowledge, skills, conduct and practice of that profession and can offer accreditation or chartership. You can often use professional bodies to access training or networking events and explore related career options.

Below are some links to professional bodies that deal with various areas related to Environmental Technology. Many offer student membership which can give you access to job listings and careers information while offering great networking opportunities. Some memberships may even allow you to register your CV to vacancy matching services or to be viewed by other members of the community.

• Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) 
  
• British Ecological Society 
  
• Environmental Sciences Association (ESA) 
  
• International Water Management Institute -
  
• Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) 
  
• Society for the Environment 
  
• The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) 
  
• The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Management 
  
• The Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management 
• The Energy Institute 
  
• The Institute of Water 
  
• The Institute of Environmental Sciences 
  
• The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) 
  

There are many well-known Multinational Companies (MNCs) offering graduate level jobs but Small or Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), defined as organisations with fewer than 250 employees, also offer a wide range of interesting and unique graduate level roles. Due to a smaller marketing budget SMEs can be harder to find and they often rely on you approaching them speculatively to show motivation and interest. They will sometimes engage with universities through incubation hubs to help them grow skills and expertise. The Imperial Enterprise Lab often run events to help students understand and network with SME and start-up communities.

Below are some websites to help you find SMEs relating to environmental technology:

• The ENDS directory is a directory of environmental consultants. Search by interest area or location
• The Environment Analyst UK has two interesting areas – a directory of organisations and a markets update where interesting information can be gathered.
• Earthworks jobs is a massive online jobs board covering a wide range of industries and is a good place to find different SMEs.
• GreenJobs covers environmental and renewable energy jobs across all industry sectors.
• The Association of Consulting & Engineering ‘find a consultant’ page allows you to search for engineering consultants by specialism.
• Work in startups is a jobs board, however, it can be used as a research tool to find names of SMEs which can then be used on other websites like LinkedIn to explore further.

Sector specific job sites:

• Acre (corporate responsibility, sustainability, environment, health & safety, and energy. Jobs within corporates, consultancies, non-profits and NGOs)
  
• Allen & York - a leading international recruitment consultancy with a passion for sustainable business growth
  
• Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (Popular categories include Flood Risk Mgmt, Ecology & Conservation, Sustainability, Policy, Legislation & Strategy, Water Mgmt & Engineering, Waste & Resources, Contaminated land, Hydrology & modelling)
• Earthworks - job posting board for oil, energy, mining, seismology, sustainability, waste management and many more related areas
  
• IEMA have a jobs board 
  
• Environmental Health News have a jobs board
• Environmentaljobsuk.com 
  
• Environmentjobs.co.uk 
  
• Environmentjob.co.uk  
  
• Gradcraker - a leading website focused on STEM jobs, placements and internships for STEM students
  
• Green Choices lists job vacancies in the environmental field at many levels and in many different contexts
• GreenJobs - cover environmental and renewable energy jobs across all industry sectors
• Hays Specialist Recruitment - a leading global recruitment agency placing over 63,000 people into permanent roles last year
  
• Jobs.ac.uk - a jobs board for research, science, academic, teaching and management jobs and studentships in the public and private sector
• Kinetica - specialists in scientific recruitment
  
• Matchtech - provide clients with complete recruitment solutions across Engineering, Technology, Professional and Skills & Employability sectors 
• SRG - an award-winning resourcing company dedicated to the science, clinical and engineering sectors
  
• WorkingSmart – a specialised energy recruitment company to the upstream oil and gas industry and recently extended to midstream, petrochemical, refinery and renewables
  
• Terra.do hosts a jobs board for climate specific roles, as well as related courses and resources

Environmental Law:

• Friends of the Earth offers a one-year legal internship and will provide you with the opportunity to work on a range of cases.
• Greenpeace International offers a paid internship which will also provide you with a chance to work on lots of different environmental law issues:
• WWF-UK has a legal department so keep an eye on its vacancies website
• The Environment Agency has career opportunities for those of you looking for a career with the country’s environmental regulator.
• There is also the option of training and working with the Government Environment Department, DEFRA through the Government Legal Department.
• ClientEarth regularly has new roles for environmental lawyers and legal staff with different levels of experience.

Career planning often takes time and can sometimes feel overwhelming. It’s a good idea to set aside a small amount of time on a regular basis to maintain momentum. Below are some things to get you started:

• Sign up to the Imperial Careers Newsletter by checking the relevant box on your personal profile on JobsLive
• Learn about the timescales for applying for further study, work experience and graduate employment
• See our What's on webpages to find out about the different types of events that we run, including: workshops, careers fairs, career talks  - and hear from alumni and employers about different types of work.
• Learn the skills that will help you succeed on the job market in the Applications and interviews section of our website, and by attending our skills training and workshops

If you feel stuck with your career planning, you could book a one-to-one appointment to talk it through with a careers consultant. Rebecca Guppy is the careers consultant for Environmental Technology but you can see any of our consultants for your first appointment.