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Careers in, and with, maths

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Careers in, and with, maths | plus.maths.org http://plus.maths.org/content/careers-and-maths

2 of 4 09/29/2010 10:16 AM
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1. Comput ing element - in fact, some of them are jobs that didn't exist pre-computer. Eg computer games developer, systems administrator.
2. Number-crunching. Eg medical statistician.
3. Providing a "ma t hs cons ult ing" role. Eg aerodynamicist, avalanche researcher.
4. Involve res ea rch, harnessed to a business/commercial purpose - eg financial modeller, meteorologist.

In more det ail:

1. Comput ers . They provide you with a way to implement things that couldn't practically be implemented pre-computer. Often, these are
mathematical algorithms.
2. Number-crunching. There is a famous saying "garbage in, garbage out" - but there is another way to get garbage, and that is to do a faulty
analysis of perfectly good data. People who understand the principles of experiment design and analysis are in the most enormous demand across
all walks of life:
local government - education and health
medicine - drug development and regulation
polling and market research
and much more
3. "Cons ult ing". Another way to work in a particular field of interest, while still using your mathematical skills, is to provide a specifically
mathematical (rather than statistical) element to something that has a number of facets.
A Formula One team consists of literally a couple of hundred people, of whom the drivers are only the most visible. This team includes specialists
on materials and aerodynamics, who help design new cars.

Or, researchers on avalanches includes people who know about snow, about geography, about geology - but also people who understand fluid
mechanics.

It allows you a degree of flexibility and variety that isn't often found in a job.

4. Res ea rch. Numbers of people doing innovative maths research outside and inside academia are broadly comparable. This means there is very
wide range of interesting jobs - original, intellectually challenging, work.

Careers wit h mat hs

Architect
Primary teacher
Military air traffic controller
Science communicator (Science Museum)
Science administrator (NESTA)
Qualifications manager

T hemes
1. T ra ns fera ble ma t hema t ica l s kills Some of them have a particular professional qualification for which you don't need maths. But they assured
me that the skills they learnt from maths have stood them in good stead in their working lives.
2. Working wit h s cient is t s a nd ma t hema t icia ns Others are working in a scientific or mathematical environment, in jobs where a maths or
science degree is essential, but they are no longer doing maths. I fall into that category - there are also jobs in the Civil Service and local
government, and the voluntary sector, working with scientists and educators to put together programmes.
3. Communica t ing t echnica l idea s Many mathematicians and scientists are rather poor communicators. If you are good at expressing complex
ideas clearly and succinctly, there are plenty of roles in all sorts of organisations, for people who can "translate" technical ideas for the rest of us!

What is special about a mat hemat ical career?

Flexibilit y
People have very heavily mathematical jobs in all sorts of fields of endeavour - and these jobs are not flagged up as being specifically mathematical.
Although this is a problem for maths, in that people perceive it as not leading to many good jobs, it is actually linked to a great strength of the discipline,
and that is its flexibility.

"Keep your opt ions open"

Suppose you realise that don't actually want to do what you always thought you wanted to do. If your studies were very specific, this can be a total
disaster.
But the beauty of maths is that it isn't just one subject. A lot of the people I have interviewed have said that along the way they switched their degree
focus - and this is the crucial part - without having to repeat a year.

But st ill be focused!

What if you were focused - and then you discover that your focus was on the wrong thing? It's important to be able to rescue the situation.
Some of the people I have interviewed did have to change their degree course, but were given a lot of credit for the maths they had done because it was
so much more relevant to their new subject than many other subjects would be to a different subject.

3 of 4 09/29/2010 10:16 AM
Careers in, and with, maths | plus.maths.org http://plus.maths.org/content/careers-and-maths

A real career st ory is all of t hese t hings

Hardly anyone matches the one-paragraph "profiles" of jobs that you can find.
Once a reporter asked Prime Minister Harold Wilson what he feared most, and replied "events, dear boy, events"!

People can - wrongly - feel like freaks if they don't know what they want to do, or feel that they might make the wrong choices. The reality is that most
people feel like this a lot of the time, many people have more than one career, and many people make false starts before finding their feet. But often
these parts of people's career stories are written out - doing other people a disfavour.

How t o have a happy and successful working life

1. Alwa ys keep lea rning.
You never know which skills may come in useful in your next job, or what will be necessary to know in your current job if things - like the economy -
change.
Always take the chance to do courses, or to learn new skills.

2. Be compet ent !
It's a competitive world, but competence and professionalism are at a premium in every field.
"Mere competence will put you in the top 10 percent. If you're audible, your writing is legible, and you don't talk too fast, you will be better than
most".

Spell-check your CV and covering letter, and ask a friend or relative to look through it
Turn up on time
Be polite and to the point. Don't be rambling or monosyllabic.
Do your "homework" about the company and job beforehand - the web is a good place to get the information you need.
Think about things from your employer's point of view. Too often, people think of what an employer can offer them, and not the other way round.
3. T hink of yours elf a s a ma rket a ble commodit y.
Make an periodic audit of your skills, and be hard-headed.
4. Ma ke cha nges a s t ep a t a t ime.
If you know you're not where you want to be, see if you can plot a "stepwise" path to where you want to be, rather than having to come out and
retrain.
It is often much easier to move within organisations - sometimes vacancies are only advertised internally, other times people may be willing to give
you a chance because they know and trust you and think you're competent, whereas your CV wouldn't even get you an interview.

5. Show init ia t ive.

If you don't match the person spec for a job you want, see if you can rewrite your life experiences, or pick up some voluntary or temporary skills, to
make you a closer match.
6. Keep a s king ques t ions .
Find out what other people do, what the ups and downs of it are, how they got into it, where it's leading them, what tips they can give you, and so
on.
7. Rewrit e your CV a nd covering let t er for every job.
It really shows when you don't.
Employers who advertise a job have a person in mind, and if they're any good they will have put together a list of competencies and used that to
draw up a person spec. It is up to you to read the job ad and explicitly answer in your CV and covering letter all the questions in an employer's mind
as they read your application.

Use your covering letter to tell the story of why you are the person for this job.

8. T a lk t o s omeone who ha s t o a ppoint people.

Ask them for their pet hates, and what impresses them.
9. Be ent hus ia s t ic
It is the most visible, infectious, emotion. If you don't feel enthusiastic about the jobs you are applying for, you are probably applying for the wrong
ones.
10. Don't s et t le for s econd-bes t
It's worth dreaming. B ut...
11. Be pra gma t ic.
I wish I'd been a bit more pragmatic along the way - I'd be earning a lot more now!
12. Be flexible.
Think of yourself as a work in progress, always try to keep options open without losing focus, plan for various eventualities.
13. Our parents are right in the value they place on qua lifica t ions !
14. Know your s t rengt hs a nd wea knes s es and play to them.
Watch a video of a mock interview. Look back critically on situations where you did well and did badly.
15. Work out wha t rea lly ma t t ers t o you and make sure you don't compromise on that.
16. Gua rd a ga ins t jea lous y a nd dis grunt lement .
If you are constantly moaning, either change jobs or stop moaning.
17. T a ke job des cript ions a nd ot her people's s t ories of t heir wonderful lives wit h a pinch of s a lt .
It's hard to have confidence in your own jdugment and choices, but in the end it's the surest route to being happy.

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