THERE ARE 5,000 of them released into the jobs market every year. Their skills could hold the key to industrial success but many employers claim they are scarce. Mathematics and physics graduates seem to vanish into a Bermuda triangle.
Six months after graduation, one in 12 new graduates is working in a shop, restaurant or bar as many sectors of UK plc bemoan a shortage of their skills.
Nearly 5000 “physematicians” – mathematical physicists and physical mathematicians – annually complete their degree, one in five with a First. But they disperse into 17 work categories because of flawed careers advice and a lack of work experience while still at college.
“Put simply, students lack awareness of the richness of career options available,” says Lisa Hall, Director of ExcelScient, a specialist maths and physics consultancy. “And most employers consider these students lack the ‘soft’ skills to make them employable.” The remedy, according to Hall, is a partnership between industry and Whitehall to dismantle a range of obstacles.
Prospects (the official graduate careers website) reports that physicists and mathematicians found employment in all sectors, though unsurprisingly the largest employers were in business, financial and IT sectors.
But there are fears that these new graduates are increasingly lost to industry, with 70 per cent more working as waiters and barmen compared with 2000.
The Institute of Physics (IOP) says this statistic may not reflect the career aspirations of physematicians if they are biding time looking or applying for relevant jobs. However, it does reflect slow employment rates in these fields. If their skills are so sought after, why are such graduates struggling to enter employment that utilises their skills?
“Students on a scientific career path find themselves hitting a void at the end of their studies,” Hall says.
“Ministers accept that career advice is poor for 14-19 year olds and are taking steps to improve the situation. Meanwhile, most university maths and physics departments rely on academic staff to impart career advice.
“But what do those tutors know? Most have never had a career outside academe. Advice given elsewhere is no better. Three out of four careers advisors have no qualification in mathematics or science beyond GCSE.”
I myself have just graduated and ‘hit the void’ so to speak. The careers advice I received was poor, despite a designated course, with little information on placements, graduate schemes and other job specific details.
I graduated with a 1st class Hons MPhys and want to go into an industry where I can use the leadership skills I gained from extra curricular activities while utilising my degree, not go into a job in the financial industry; if I’d wanted to do that I would’ve done a finance degree, but sadly this is all I am advertised by recruitment agencies such as GRB.
It would be nice to have some form of guidance during the final few weeks of university AFTER exams and perhaps a number of placements, as you discuss, earmarked for physics and mathematics graduates.