Industry Sectors

Role Description

Skills required

You'll need:

• scientific, numerical and technical skills
• a logical approach to solving problems
• the ability to analyse data
• the ability to make decisions
• excellent spoken and written communication skills

What you'll do

Depending on your role, you could be:

• inventing and developing new medicines and products
• investigating environmental issues
• diagnosing and treating illness and disease
• analysing forensic evidence
• teaching, lecturing and carrying out academic research
• Your day-to-day tasks may include:
• designing and conducting laboratory experiments
• making observations and noting results
• writing reports and presenting your findings
• You may also supervise the work of support staff such as laboratory technicians, and carry out other administrative work.

Role Training

You’ll usually need a degree accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in:

• chemistry
• applied or analytical chemistry
• biochemistry

Many employers will also want you to have a relevant postgraduate qualification. 

Most universities now offer both BSc (Bachelor of Science) and MChem/MSci (Master of Chemistry/Science) degree programmes. The entry requirements for the MChem/MSci courses are usually a little higher.

You may also be able to get into this career through a foundation degree, HNC/HND or higher apprenticeship. 

You could also start your career as a laboratory technician and study for a relevant qualification part-time.

Role Description

1. Entry requirements

• You may find it useful to have GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) in English and maths.
• Employers also value experience, which you could get by temporary work or volunteering.
• Getting a qualification in reception skills or business and administration may also be helpful.
• You could get into this job through an apprenticeship.
• You may need a background check with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

2. Skills required

You'll need:

• excellent spoken and written communication skills
• the ability to use office equipment like computers, photocopiers and fax machines
• organisational skills

3. What you'll do

You may work in the reception area of offices, hotels, sports centres, hospitals or health centres.

Your day-to-day tasks may include:

• greeting visitors and directing them to the correct person or department
• managing the visitors book and giving out security passes
• answering enquiries in person, by phone and email
• managing a room booking system and keeping rooms tidy
• dealing with incoming and outgoing post and deliveries
• arranging appointments and updating records on databases
• taking payments and handling invoices

4. Salary

Starter: £12,000 to £15,000

Experienced: £16,000 to £18,000

Highly Experienced: £21,000

Salaries vary and may be higher in some city centre offices.

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

If you're based in an office you'll usually work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

In hotels, restaurants and sports centres, you'll probably work a shift system that includes weekends.

In hospitals and health centres, you're also likely to work some early and late shifts.

6. Career path and progression

With training and experience, you could move into a senior receptionist or personal assistant (PA) role. 

In a GP surgery or health centre, you could train to become a medical secretary or a practice manager.

Role Description

1. Entry requirements

There are no set requirements, but GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) in English and maths will help. 

Office experience could also help you get a job.

You could get into this job through an apprenticeship.

2. Skills required

You'll need:

• IT skills
• typing accuracy and speed
• efficient time management skills

3. What you'll do

Your day-to-day tasks may include:

• entering personal details of customers into a database
• entering information for classified adverts in a newspaper
• transferring paper-based market research results
• updating patients' medical records
• processing invoices

4. Salary

Starter: £12,000 to £15,000

Experienced: £16,000 to £20,000

Highly Experienced: £21,000 to £25,000

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

You'll usually work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

You'll spend most of your time at a computer in an office.

6. Career path and progression

With experience, you could become a su

Role Description

Your day-to-day duties could include:

• supervising a team of care assistants 
• writing care plans 
• monitoring patients’ vital signs, like blood pressure and heart rate 
• completing patient medication records 
• developing and leading activities for service users 
• keeping families up to date about their relative's progress 
• training and mentoring new staff 
• attending team meetings with service managers 
• providing emergency cover

Role Training

You’ll need: 

• experience in care work 
• a level 3 college qualification in health and social care
• clearance from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
• You can also start in senior roles with a nursing qualification.
• You may need a driving licence.

Think Care Careers has more information about becoming a senior care worker.

Role Description

Skills required

You'll need:

• excellent organisational and time management skills
• good practical skills
• the ability to inspire confidence and trust in people
• the ability to remain calm under pressure
• good teamwork skills and the ability to work on your own initiative
• excellent listening and communication skills

What you'll do

You'll work in hospitals, nursing homes, health centres, clinics or prisons. 

In an NHS hospital you could work in accident and emergency, cardiac rehabilitation, outpatients, neonatal nursing or an operating theatre.

Your day-to-day duties could include:

• taking temperatures, blood pressures and pulse rates
• helping doctors with physical examinations
• giving drugs and injections
• cleaning and dressing wounds
• setting up drips and blood transfusions
• using medical equipment
• checking patients' progress
• working with doctors to decide what care to give
• advising patients and their relatives
• handling confidential information

Role Training

You'll need:

• a degree in adult nursing
• to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
• clearance from the Disclosure and Barring Service
• Nursing degree apprenticeships are being developed in 2017. Health Careers have information about all nurse training, including nursing degree apprenticeships.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council have information on how to become a nurse.

With experience, you could become a nursing sister, ward manager or team leader.

You could train as a midwife, neonatal nurse, health visitor, district or practice nurse. You could move into management, as a matron or director of nursing.

With a master's, you could become an advanced nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist then a nurse consultant. 

You could also become self-employed or work overseas.

Role Description

You could work in different areas, including:

Community pharmacy

• dispensing medicines in a high street or supermarket pharmacy
• giving healthcare advice about prescription and over-the-counter medicines
• advising on drug dosages and risks 
• running screening programmes for diabetes, cholesterol or blood pressure 
• visiting care homes to advise on the use and storage of medications
• ordering and controlling stock
• running a business, including supervising and training staff

Hospital pharmacy:

• working with doctors and nurses and other healthcare staff
• producing medicines when ready-made ones aren’t available, for example, cancer treatments
• buying, quality testing and distributing medicines throughout the hospital
• visiting wards and patients to talk about medicines and dosages
• dispensing medicines for patients being discharged from hospital
• supervising trainees and junior pharmacists

Local NHS service:

• giving advice to GPs and nurses on how to choose and prescribe medicines
• running GP practice clinics
• Education or industry:
• doing research into new medicines
• running clinical trials

In all of the above roles, you'll observe high standards of security and confidentiality.

Role Training

You'll need to do a:

4-year Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree approved by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)

1-year pre-registration training course in a pharmacy

registration exam

If you don't have the qualifications to get onto an MPharm degree, you could do a 2-year pharmacy foundation degree. You could then take a job as a pharmacy assistant or technician and apply for the MPharm degree directly into year two. 

If you don't have science A levels, you could do a 5 year course at a few universities.

Role Description

You'll work in:

• a 'third party' collection agency, paid to collect debts from businesses or individuals, or
• a company's finance or credit department, chasing late payments from suppliers and customers

Your day-to-day tasks may include:

• contacting individuals or business customers when payment is overdue
• checking credit records and tracing missing debtors
• setting up repayment plans and working with debt counsellors
• setting up and maintaining customer files
• processing payments
• starting legal proceedings if debts are not paid within an agreed time
• liaising with solicitors and bailiffs
• You may work at a debt collection agency as a 'field collector', travelling to debtors to collect payments in person.

Role Description

Skills required

You'll need:

• excellent organisational, planning and time management skills
• leadership, and communication skills
• the ability to negotiate and influence
• budgeting skills
• IT skills for using project management software
• the ability to use initiative and work under pressure

What you'll do

You could work on different types of project in almost any industry or sector like construction, IT or the NHS. You might be managing a large building development, introducing a new computer system or developing a new advertising campaign. 

You'll be:

• finding out what the client or business wants to achieve
• agreeing timescales, costs and resources
• drawing up a plan for each project stage
• negotiating with contractors and suppliers
• choosing and leading a project team
• constantly monitoring progress, quality and costs
• reporting regularly to senior managers and the client
• using specialised software and spreadsheets for planning, costing and analysing risks

Role Training

While you're working, you could study for an industry qualification like PRINCE2 or Agile.

You could also get professional qualifications through:

Association for Project Management (APM)

Chartered Management Institute (CMI)

Project Management Institute (PMI)

If you're working in the IT industry, you could get a certificate in project management through The Chartered Institute for IT (BCS).

With experience, you could move into senior management or become a freelance consultant.