Bioscience YES and Your Career
Participating in the Bioscience YES competition can help your career in a variety of ways. You will be able to demonstrate to potential employers that, by participating in the competition, you can work well as part of a team, are innovative and can work well under pressure. The speakers and mentors from the biotechnology industry who you will meet during the competition, will be happy to talk to you about how they progressed in their career and offer new insights on the different careers available to bioscientists. Furthermore, these people may be potential employers, so Bioscience YES offers you the chance to make your first introduction! You will also benefit if you want to stay in academia. Many of the skills you will learn are just as relevant in developing and running research projects.
Past participants of YES are invited to attend a biosciences careers seminar organised by The Royal Academy of Engineering, sponsored by the Gatsby Foundation.The seminars give an opportunity to find out first hand about working in the life science sector and to develop career plans, job search strategies and CVs.
If you are thinking of future career directions, we have put together some useful web sites that may help.
Obvious sources of career information are your University's Careers Services; some services have particularly good web sites with links to further information.
For a variety of career information try:
The Research Councils offer career information and information about sources of funding:
www.bbsrc.ac.uk
www.mrc.ac.uk
www.nerc.ac.uk
Journals, as well as advertising job vacancies, have some useful information on the different career options open to postgraduates:
www.nature.com
www.newscientist.com
www.the-scientist.com
For academic posts, try www.jobs.ac.uk
Keeping up to date with the latest news in the biotechnology industry is important when job-hunting and remember to use your contacts, the benefits of networking cannot be underestimated.
www.bioindustry.org is the web site of the Bioindustry Association. Access up to date news on the Biotechnology industry. Also details on "young BIA", an association for younger members that organises meetings, an excellent opportunity for networking.
At a regional level there are several biotechnology networks which advertise jobs on their websites:
www.oxfordshirebioscience.com is a portal for the biotechnology community in Oxfordshire and advertises jobs in the biosciences sector in South East England