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Asked by anon-384037 on 19 Mar 2024. This question was also asked by aced1new, anon-394263, dav1d.
Question: How difficult was it to get a job to be a scientist
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Andrew McDowall answered on 19 Mar 2024:
It did take me a little while but that was in part my own fault. I didn’t prepare effectively for the interviews or assessement centres by finding out what reasoning or prioritisation tests were or how best to tackle them. I also managed to talk myself out of a couple of roles, one by using an alternative definition of “motivation” and not seeking clarification (they meant willingness to work, I meant reason to work, but by then it was too late), the other by insisting I wanted to be a laboratory research chemist when the company was looking for an experiment designer.
I could, with hindsight, have made things a lot easier for myself by properly preparing for my interviews and having a broader idea of the roles I could do.
I’ve recently lost a number of colleagues to reorganisation and their experiences suggest there are plenty of roles out there, at least in my area.
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Georgia Lambert answered on 19 Mar 2024:
I’d say for me it has been more time consuming than difficult. I want to be a research scientist in a university and to get this job you almost definitely need to have a PhD (with some very rare exceptions). To get to a position in which you can earn a PhD you first need to do an undergraduate degree, then maybe a masters (although not always) as well as spending your summers and spare time doing extra projects to build up your experience in research. This takes a minimum of 3 years but can take much longer. Then to earn a PhD you need to do roughly 4 years of orignial research. So you end up spending a lot of time as a student before you actually qualify as a scientist! Having said that, if you enjoy doing research projects like I do, that just means you get to spend years learning new and exciting things so its not necessarily a downside 👩🔬
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angeladouglas commented on :
I was lucky as there is/was a lot of demand for foresters!
It helped I was willing to do a variety of work (for Government or private companies or charities), was willing to move and was willing to accept short term contracts. I got writing applications’ and interview experience by applying for a mixture of potential roles and that was a great benefit in getting experience! I learnt a lot!!
Always read carefully what is being asked of the person in carrying out the work and what experience the employer would like you to have. That might be from in or outside of school e.g. hobbies, clubs, your own interests and experience – they all count.
Do be yourself, say you really would love to do the work and why. Think about what it would mean to you and do not be shy to ask one or two questions yourself. Research – look at their online information and check any media coverage they might have had.
There are a lot of opportunities and any experience counts. They will be unsuccessful applications but you always learn from these. It’s a great, rewarding career! Stick at it and do what you really enjoy 🙂
duty1deb commented on :
thanks for ur time
mohammedfaraazullah commented on :
It depends on what scientific field you are going into, some fields offer an abundance of opportunities whilst some others are very competitive. It will also depend on location.
Having said that there loads of resources online that can help you in your search of find your ideal job.
The interview stages are quite straightforward (well in chemical engineering anyway), the initial part would be a general screening about yourself e.g. motivation, skillset, background.
The second interview will be more technical based where you’ll be asked questions based on your previous experience, they’ll be some problem solving questions as well to test your critical thinking.
At first the interview process will seem daunting and nerve wracking, but one of the best advices I was given by my lecturer was treat it as a coffee table conversation that gives you a good gauge on how to interact with the hiring folks.