British Ecological Society “Careers in Ecology” Conference: A student’s view
We are increasingly aware that the current graduate employment scene is far from what most twenty-something year olds would ideally wish to emerge into after having invested significant time and money on attending university. Hence, although only a first year, when the opportunity to attend an undergraduate careers conference organised by the British Ecological Society (BES) arose I was keen to apply and see what useful hints I could pick up for getting that elusive job. It would also allow me to hear from a variety of professionals and potentially open my eyes to career options I had not previously considered.
So with backpack, pens and a notepad I headed to London by train (kindly paid for by the university). The conference started with time to mill around and talk to other delegates, most of whom seemed to be in the final year of their respective degrees and hailed from numerous institutions around the country.
The focus of the morning was to introduce a range of ecology based careers starting with a talk on roles in research and academia by Professor Kate Jones of UCL. This demonstrated the range of things that researchers are involved in including community education programmes, close interactions with zoos and running university modules but also highlighted the potential frustrations of the role such as getting research past peer review and the lack of regular nine to five hours.
Following on from this we were introduced to careers in policy making, ecological-consultancy and the not-for profit sector which are somewhat linked to academic research using many of the same skills but with more tangible goals rather than the focus being on academic discovery.
The talks of most interest to myself were those on teaching and science communication. Having already had teaching in mind from work experience in January the talk reinforced the potential rewards of the career and the opportunities for travel that it can bring. I had presumed that science communication meant journalism but this was not the case. The speaker, Helen Featherstone, was involved in many creative projects aiming at engaging members of the public with scientific discovery (think: demonstrations, the body at the millennium dome, documentaries etc). It seemed like a great way to combine creativity and education whilst also involving keeping up to date with scientific research in a constantly varying role.
After a buffet lunch where we were able to network with the speakers there was a series of talks on making yourself more employable. This included: The Value of Voluntary Work, Work Experience and Internships, How to use transferrable skills, Finding the right masters/PhD, How a selection panel chooses the best candidate and advice on CVs, social media and useful websites and resources. I came away with lots of ideas on how to enrich my CV throughout my time at university such as volunteering at nature reserves, writing a relevant blog and building up identification skills and I kept note of places that the talkers had found experience opportunities in order that I can further explore these in the future.
The most valuable aspect of the day was finding out about Science-communication careers but it was also good to hear about careers that seemed less appealing in order that I can now focus my search for work experience around those that were of greater interest. It has motivated me to equip myself with extra skills and to get involved with events run by organisations such as the Wildlife Trust.
