Biology
Biologists are highly employable. In the graduating year 2021 86% of graduates were in graduate level employment or further study 15 months after graduation.
85% felt that their current activity is on track with their future and 89% felt that their current activity is meaningful.
What skills will I gain during my degree?
As well as the skills developed on your course, participation in extracurricular and work experience, organisations large and small are also looking for students to have developed a range of attributes such as the following while at university. What employers seek from candidates is evolving all the time and it is important that you keep up to date with recruitment trends in the career areas that interest you.
- Collaboration
- Relationship building
- Initiative
- Resilience
- Adaptability
- Influencing online and in person
- Business appropriate communication
- Self-motivation
- Career management
- Digital literacy
What are my career options?
Biologists are not confined to a single industry or sector. Instead, they find themselves at the crossroads of various disciplines. Whether you're preserving endangered species, tackling infectious diseases, ensuring food security, or enhancing data-driven solutions, you will be working in a multi – disciplinary environment and with colleagues and clients in and outside of science.
Venture Beyond the Lab: A World of Possibilities
While many of you will undoubtedly begin scientific careers, the evidence from previous graduate destinations is that your biology degree opens a world of possibilities beyond the confines of a laboratory. Biology graduates enter a diverse array of roles spanning law, finance, public relations, teaching, and charity work.
Pursue Your Passion: Specialisation and Growth
As you embark on your career journey, you may discover the need for further study and specialised skills. Continuing Professional development will ensure you remain skilled and expert in your chosen field.
The following booklet “A guide to Biology Careers” produced by the Royal Society of Biology provides a good overview of careers in the life sciences.
What are my further study options?
36% of graduates went onto further study after graduating from Nottingham university. Here is an illustrative list of courses undertaken by previous students.
- Graduate entry to nursing
- Graduate entry to medicine
- Global development
- Ecological applications
- Parasitology
- Cancer immunology and biotechnology
- Molecular biology
- PGCE
PhDs undertaken included:
- Microbiology
- BBSRC doctoral training programme
- Developmental biology
- Biomedical sciences
Visit our Further study page to find out more
Graduate destinations such as those noted above do not necessarily provide a complete picture of what students go on to do with their lives and careers.
LinkedIn can be very useful to track how careers have developed over time. You can also find out where former students work, what they do and how they got there. This information can be useful to
you when making decisions about your career, networking and taking the important next step after graduation.
Getting started with LinkedIn