Placement Opportunities for 2014/15
Degree with Employment Experience
During Level 2 you will have the opportunity to apply for an industrial placement year as part of your degree. Biomedical Science specific placements are advertised on the MOLE 2 - BMS Level 2 Community during the academic semester with closing dates for applications often early in October. Further information on placement opportunities can also be found through the Careers Services Website.
If selected you spend a year between Level 2 and 3 employed in biomedical science roles. It provides an excellent opportunity to gain work experience and establish contacts in industry.By successfully completing a placement year you will graduate with an amended degree title to reflect your industrial placement experience e.g BSc Biomedical Science with Employment Experience.
A placement year is taken after your penultimate year of study, returning to University to complete your final year. A placement year provides you with a number of benefits:
- Develop your technical and transferable skills
- Opportunity to apply the knowledge, understanding and skills developed during the earlier stages of your degree programme within industry
- Improved finances - the average salary for a typical placement year is between £15,000 – £17,000, plus chances of sponsorship for final year
- Career Development – creation of career opportunities post graduation
For more information about applying for placements and options available, students should contact BMS staff representative, Dr E Seward (e.p.seward@shef.ac.uk) and submit a completed Placement Interest form (see right hand Downloads box) emailed at the beginning of level 2. For information on placements currently available to BMS students, students may also contact:
- Helen Thorpe (University Student Placement Co-ordinator) at her placement drops in which are starting every Tuesday from 15th October 2013 at 12-2pm in Careers Service through Semester 1. No appointment is necessary.
- Email: placements@sheffield.ac.uk
Please be aware that to be eligible to apply for a placement position you will need to have an average score of at least 60 from your L1 modules (excluding practicals). This is necessary given the extreme competition for placement opportunities. In unusual circumstances, and with the support of the placement officer, students falling below this criteria may also be considered.
Opportunities for Lab based Placements
Working in the research and drug development function of a pharmaceutical company such as GSK, Pfizer, AstraZeneca or within a Contract Research organisations such as Covance. Other lab based opportunities include working with organisations such a Cancer Research, one of the larger Biotechnology companies or with a research institute such as the National Institute for Medical Research.
Opportunities for Placements outside of the lab
If you would like to gain experience outside of the lab, many pharmaceuticals offer placements in their business and commercial functions e.g in Marketing, business development, communications, Human Resources. You should also consider alternative career paths where your knowledge of biomedical science and analytical skills would be a great asset, such as in science communication (publishing and media), clinical trials, investment and management consultancy, medical devices, patent and intellectual property law etc.
Opportunities in these sectors should be discussed with University Student Placement Co-ordinator and may be explored further by searching the Careers Services WebSite.