Science Careers: Unexpected Avenues
It’s Careers Week 2021 (1st — 5th March 2021) — now we all know about some of the incredible careers STEM can open doors to — from aerospace engineering on rockets, to biomedical sciences in hospital treatment and diagnosis. Today, we’re going to explore some of the paths STEM can guide you to that you might not expect!
Studying the sciences can give you direct access to some incredible careers in STEM, but there are also plenty of non-science pathways that can open up once you complete your studies. This is because studying the sciences gives you a variety of transferrable skills, from good time-keeping to data analysis, the additional skills that these studies provide mean that non-STEM workplaces tend to view science graduates in a favourable way.
Civil Service Administrator
The Civil Service is made up of a selection of different departments, who’s role is to implement government policies and deliver services to the general public. Most of this work is based in an office environment, however some roles work on a rotational basis, which means you can move around to different departments. STEM courses that are considered useful include mathematics and engineering.
Relevant transferrable skills from studying STEM subjects include strong organisational skills, the ability to understand complex information, and excellent oral and written communication skills to get across complex ideas and information in a digestible way. If you choose to pursue civil service as a career path, you will be working for government organisations such as the Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), and the Home Office.
Technical Sales Executive
Technical Sales Executives are skilled sales staff that specialize in scientific or technology products. The key responsibility within this role is to promote and sell the company products by demonstrating advanced technical functions of the product, and inform potential customers of its uses and benefits.
The transferrable skills you gain for this role from studying a STEM subject include demonstrating the technical features of the products, composing important documents and customer proposals, as well as strong communication skills. STEM qualifications that can be considered for this role include chemistry and biotechnology.
Patent Attorney
A patent is:
“An exclusive right granted by the state allowing its owner to control commercial exploitation of an invention.”
A patent attorney is a member of a specialised legal profession, and is qualified to advise clients about patents. These people assist clients in obtaining patents that could potentially be granted by patent offices around the globe. They may be employed ‘in-house’ by companies or work in private firms (like solicitors).
You do not need a law degree — a degree in a chemistry, engineering, computing or mathematics based subject is usually strongly preferred. A STEM background is typically required to make sure you understand a client’s invention. You will learn any necessary law whilst on the job. This role is an interesting combination of STEM and law.
Science Communicator
And last, but certainly not the least on our list of STEM careers, is science communications. This immensely rewarding role is the practice of educating, informing, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonderment about scientific discoveries. Any discipline within science is considered helpful in the science communication world - biomedical science, forensic sciences, and animal conservation and behavior are just a few examples of STEM routes that could lead to a career in science communications.
Science communicators inspire interest in STEM by using entertainment, humour, exciting experiments, and more to get through to their audiences. Scientists can be trained in techniques used by actors, singers, and other entertainer-careers to improve their communication skills. By learning more about what fascinates people about science, you can use your knowledge of science and your skills in communication and entertaining to enlighten young minds and fascinate people of all ages.
If you want to learn more about where STEM can take you, have a look at our website, as well as some of the fantastic STEM courses at the University of Wolverhampton.