Physics

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

The typical skills developed by Imperial Physics students during their degree are highly valued by employers, and include:

• Highly advanced numeracy
• Ability to grasp and analyse complex data sets
• Reasoning, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Research
• Attention to detail
• Ability to communicate complex ideas
• Planning, organisation and self-motivation

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 webpages 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 learn about the range of career areas that might be of interest. You could carry out high-level, original research, combine technical knowledge with creativity to drive innovation in sound recording, apply analytical and computational skills to answer critical global issues, or a whole range of other options. Our What Do Imperial Graduates Do? pages contain our Graduate Outcomes data which gives examples of employers and further study options of previous graduates. You can search the data to find out what Physics students went on to do immediately after graduation and you may also find it useful to explore Imperial College LinkedIn – “Physics” where you can explore the career paths of our Physics alumni as their careers develop over time. However, don’t feel limited by what others have done. Make sure you follow your own interests, using these tools for inspiration if that is helpful for you.

For Physics students it is helpful to consider whether you want to use your science knowledge in your job. If so, would you like to be working in a lab-based role or doing something else? To help you begin we have listed some of the career areas that Imperial Physics students often go into, taken from our 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 Physics knowledge you could consider some of these industries:

• Technology companies
• Research and development
• Academic research
• Space agencies
• Healthcare/medical physics

If you are interested in continuing to use your technical knowledge but not necessarily directly, you might like to explore some of these career areas:

• Technical consultancy
• Education
• Data science
• Information and communications
• Science communications/science writing
• Energy sector
• Technology companies

Here are some typical careers outside science that Physics students go into:

• Financial services, e.g. accountancy, actuarial, audit, tax
• Graduate management roles
• Banking
• Wholesale/Retail trade
• Business and management consulting
• Civil service/government
• Trading
• Arts and entertainment

Through your research you’ll see that there’s a very wide range of options open to Physics graduates. Some of these are directly accessible from a first degree while others may require additional further study. 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.

In addition to our resources you may also find the national resource Prospects - Physics to have a similar but alternative commentary to the resources we’ve specifically curated here for you.

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 Physics. 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.

• IoP – Institute of Physics
• IST – Institute of Science and Technology
• Royal Astronomical Society
• Royal Meteorological Society

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 useful websites to find SMEs relevant to Physics:

• TechUK is the UK’s technology trade association and has a range of resources including members and partner lists.
• CWjobs is primarily a jobs board, however, it gives you a list of companies when you search by company which could highlight extra SMEs.
• The ENDS Directory is a directory of environmental consultants. Search by interest area or location.
• Earthworks jobs is a massive online jobs board covering a wide range of industries and a good place to find different SMEs.
• Engineering and Tech jobs is primarily a jobs board but it allows you to search by discipline and sector to help find a range of SMEs in relevant areas to you.
• SpaceCareersUK contains a list of companies of all sizes, including SMEs, working in the space sector.

SMEs can also be found using Google Maps by running a search for a specific term (e.g. “Data Analytics”) in geographic areas where you would like to work or where you know one organisation is. Often SMEs will cluster together geographically around a larger organisation related to their work from hospitals to transport hubs.

LinkedIn is also a good tool to discover SMEs. Explore the profiles of different people who have roles that you are interested in and scroll down their profile to see where they have worked. You may find SMEs and other interesting organisations that you did not know about. For further support with LinkedIn, attend a Careers Essentials: LinkedIn course.

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 pages 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. Jess Popplewell is the careers consultant for Physics but you can see any of our consultants for your first appointment.