A helping hand for medical engineers

Medical device engineering is an innovative field in healthcare but there’s not a lot of information out there about careers and employers. So, for all you medical engineers, Suzie Bullock, Careers Adviser, provides a brief overview about what’s available.

Where to start

The first point of call for careers information for students and graduates is usually prospects.ac.uk but there isn’t a job profile specifically for medical device engineers. The closest source of careers information is biomedical engineer.

Many medical engineers work in the NHS but if you choose to work in the private sector and want to gain chartered status, the most relevant professional bodies are:

• Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
• Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)
• Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)

To find a job, these sites are useful:

• emedcareers
• Engineering Jobs
• Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
• Nature Jobs
• New Scientist Jobs
• NHS Jobs

If you want to stay in Leeds, which is a thriving city for its healthcare sector, there are some reports on medical technology and investment in Leeds, which you might find interesting:

• Leeds City Region report
• The University of Leeds, Science and Innovation Audit

Recruitment agencies in medical engineering include:

• Carrot Pharma Recruitment
• Harris Lord Recruitment
• Hobson Prior
• Meet Recruitment

Employers in the area are:

• Ability Matters
• Airton Solutions Ltd 
• Covvi 
• De Puy Synthes
• Steeper
• Stryker 

You could also use job search sites such as indeed and simplyhired to look for medical device engineer roles.

If you want to approach a company or find a job to apply for, there is information on speculative applications, CVs, cover letters and application forms on our careers website.

From student to professional- transitional top tips

 

Steph Wright graduated from the University of Leeds in 2018 with a degree in Philosophy.  She now works as a Talent Executive for THG, attracting and retaining the best graduate talent.

Here is her insight and advice on making the transition from university to the workplace.  So, whether you are an undergraduate hoping to do an internship or a graduate who has secured or is seeking their first job, there are lots of great tips to make you more effective as you enter the workplace.

 

Unfortunately, there isn’t a step-by-step guide which will tell you how to be ‘successful’ or have ‘an impact’ in your first graduate job, but there’s definitely a few things you can do to make the transition from university to professional work a little easier.

Manage your time

It’s an obvious one, but managing your time is the key to making your job easier. Although it’s important at university, it’s even more important at work because your ability to manage your time doesn’t just impact you anymore; it also impacts everyone you work with.

Top Tips for Careers Fairs

Thinking about coming to a Careers Fair, but not sure how to approach it?  We welcome hundreds of organisations to campus every year – who are keen to recruit Leeds students.

The Fairs are a great opportunity to say hello and learn more about your potential future employers.  Olivia Osborne from the Employer Team gives you her top tips for getting the most out of  Careers Fairs.

Who are you here for?

Do some research into who’s going to be at the Fair. Download the Career Fair + app for a full list of organisations attending – plus a map of where they’ll be. You can favourite the ones you want to see.

(The app means we’ve stopped printing fair guides to cut down on paper waste – we’ve saved nearly 60,000 sheets of paper in three years!)

Prepare questions

Once you know who you’re keen to speak to – prepare some questions for them. Be brave and arrive armed with informed questions that will help you with your research – but also might leave a good impression on the employer.

Resilience – the art of bouncing back

Jo Horton joined the university as a Careers Adviser in May 2019, having completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Guidance Studies the previous year. Prior to this, she worked in a diverse range of roles, including university administration, publishing and as an English Language Teacher in Japan.

It’s 2002 and I’m sitting in Leicester railway station, crying my eyes out on the phone to my mum. Earlier that day I’d had an interview for my dream job as a Research Assistant in the History Department at Leicester University. The interview had gone well but I’d just received a phone call to tell me that I hadn’t been successful. They liked me and would have given me the job, except one of the other candidates had a PhD while I only had an MA.

Over the next few weeks I spend a lot of time thinking things like ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘I’m never going to get a graduate job’, ‘What’s the point in applying for anything else?’, ‘Life is so hard – it’s not fair’. I briefly look into applying for PhDs but to get funding I’d have to teach undergraduates alongside my research, which I convince myself I am not capable of doing.  I drink a lot of wine and eat a giant bar of chocolate to console myself.  I stop searching for graduate roles and resign myself to a life of unfulfilling temp jobs.

How I got my job: Graduate Recruiter & University Partnership Consultant at FDM

Lara Senhen  graduated from the University of Leeds with an MSc in International Business with distinction in 2017.

Here she talks about her own career path and gives insight into her current position at FDM.

During my studies, I applied for various graduate and entry-level jobs and it was frustrating receiving multiple rejections. I decided to visit a local careers fair where I signed up with a recruitment agency who called me a couple of weeks later for a job in Germany. I sent over my CV and I was invited to an Assessment Centre before receiving the job offer a couple of days later. Straight after handing in my dissertation, I moved to Hamburg where I started working for a programmatic advertising company as a Client Service Executive. Despite enjoying the job, I realised that I was not happy in Germany so I started applying for jobs again.

Applying to FDM

After sending my CV and cover letter to FDM, I attended various interviews as well as visiting the office itself. I received a job offer from FDM to work as Graduate Recruiter & University Partnership Consultant, starting in Summer 2018 so I relocated back to the UK.

Who is FDM?

FDM recruits, trains and deploys talent around the world through our renowned Careers Programme. With centres across the UK, mainland Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific, we are a leading graduate employer, working with an impressive list of worldwide clients across multiple sectors. FDM provides industry recognised IT and business training, as well as invaluable commercial experience and the opportunity for rewarding professional development. We recruit all year round from any degree background, seeking those with a drive to succeed within the technology industry.

What is my role?

I recruit for FDM’s Graduate Programme which involves helping graduates find their preferred career pathway which is a fulfilling job in itself. I get the chance to go out to different universities, attend careers fairs and deliver workshops on video interviews, assessment centres and other employability skills. I also work closely with societies and support employability modules on different courses through delivering presentations. It is quite a diverse role where I split my time between the office and visiting various university campuses. It’s always great to be back as an alumna or visit different universities.

Hints and tips

Reflecting upon my experience, I think it is really important to have an open mind regarding what you want to do in life. When I started applying for jobs, I only applied for certain positions in specific industries but I realised that there so many other jobs out there which I never considered exploring. I would advise you to make use of the resources at your university, whether this involves going to careers fairs, popping into the careers centre for a one-on-one appointment or simply speaking to lecturers.
Finally, it is important to stay positive.

The Careers Centre is here to help whether you are a University of Leeds graduate or still studying.  So, if you’d like to chat about career ideas or get some feedback on your applications get in touch.   Careers Fairs and Events are a great way to meet employers so plan ahead, there will be lots of opportunities to network with employers in the coming year.

Assessment Centres- presentation tips

 

 

Pablo Costa is a Careers Adviser here at the University of Leeds. Prior to working in HE he was a graduate recruiter running assessment centres- giving him an insider view of what it takes to succeed.  Around 89% of major graduate employers use assessment centres to evaluate graduate candidates (Institute of Student Employers, 2018), so, it is crucial to understand the variety of activities you may face in an assessment centre.

One common example is presenting yourself to a panel of recruiters. Here are Pablo’s tips on how to approach this exercise.

Assessment Centre: Presenting Yourself

It’s the day of your assessment centre and they have asked you to talk about yourself for 5 minutes in front of a panel of assessors.

If you’re like most people, talking about yourself in front of an audience isn’t the easiest thing to do. But, maybe you like it. If so, that’s great. If you don’t, then we need to look at ways to make this a more comfortable experience.

Why have they asked me to do this?

Well, it’s to see how well you tailor communication and engage with an audience (if they hire you for the role).

OK, what do you mean by tailoring communication?

This would mean understanding what your future colleagues and/or clients want to hear when you are delivering information to them. In other words, communicating what they want to hear and not rambling, waffling or going off-subject.

Love Leeds? How a career in the health sector could be good for you

So you’ve loved your time here, want to stay but don’t know what to do? The health sector in Leeds is thriving and, spoiler alert, there are plenty of roles where you don’t need a medical or science degree. In this blog, Careers Adviser, Suzie Bullock, explores options in the health sector in Leeds for graduates from non-science subjects.

Healthy outlook for the city

Leeds is home to some big players in the healthcare sector, including National Health Service (NHS) Trust hospitals, NHS England and NHS Digital.

Leeds has the third largest number of healthcare jobs outside London, with a turnover of £4.3 billion and employing around 13,000 people.

Moreover, Leeds City Council (LCC) aims to become the best city for health and wellbeing, where the poorest people improve their health the fastest. Consequently, the council is actively working to attract investment and the city is a major hub for health innovation.