How can a physics student get work experience? I'm not sure whether I want to go straight into employment or do a research degree. Should I start to make arrangements when I go back to uni in October?

With the shortage of physicists work experience should be easy to obtain. Organisations would see a placement as a way for you and them to decide whether you were suited to the work and might wish to apply for a job as a graduate. Unfortunately, not all offer short placements. Many prefer to take sandwich-course students for a year. You could start searching websites now.

Most companies have not yet posted details for next summer. (One exception is Shell, which has already done so.) But there is no one career as a physicist. Physics graduates use their subject knowledge in different career areas. You should first identify some that interest you. A large number of students who wish to enter industry choose communications and electronics (microwave, optoelectronic and radio). Try companies such as Siemens — which offers summer placements at its research site, Roke Manor — and check for announcements from telecommunications companies such as BT and Vodafone before Christmas.

Many physicists enter the defence industry, either employed directly by government or by companies with government contracts. If you surf www.careers.civil-service.gov.uk you will find information on the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the Defence Engineering and Science Group (a major recruiter of physics graduates), and the Met Office, which offers one-month to three-month summer placements. You could also try QinetiQ, which normally has summer placements each year in areas such as aviation, defence, energy, communication, electronics and space (www.qinetiq.com). Physicists also find employment in the energy, computing and manufacturing.

For a placement after graduation try CERN Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, which takes 100 students for two to three months in the summer (http://humanresources.web.cern.ch).

Many physics graduates do full-time postgraduate study. In 2002 it was almost 33 per cent. (Probably due to the fact that funding is more readily available for physics than for many other subjects.) Make contact with postgraduates in your own department and ask to shadow some of them to find out more about this option. If you do choose employment you are likely to receive encouragement from your employer to take a higher degree through part-time study.

Further information: contact careers advisory service for details of organisations.

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