The health and education sectors employ 60% of the science workforce, with the remainder of scientists working across a range of sectors (The Science Council, 2011), including:

• agrochemical companies;
• breweries;
• biotechnology research organisations;
• charities;
• environmental organisations;
• food and drink manufacturers;
• government departments and agencies;
• laboratory suppliers and support companies;
• multidisciplinary consultancy or testing companies;
• museums;
• petrochemical companies;
• pharmaceutical companies;
• professional bodies;
• publishing organisations.

Big players

• Chemical industry - Akzo Nobel, AstraZeneca, BASF, Dow Chemical, ExonMobil, Ineos, Johnson Matthey, Shell Chemicals, Unilever.
• Electronics and communications - BAE Systems, BT, IBM, E.ON, Rolls-Royce, Siemens, Vodafone.
• Food and drink - Kraft Foods, Dairy Crest, the Kerry Group, Mars.
• Pharmaceuticals - AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche, Avecia, Eisai, Eli Lilly and Company Limited, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), McFarlan Smith (Edinburgh), Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, United Therapeutics Corporation (Chertsey, Surrey), Almirall (Stockley Park near Heathrow).
• Biotechnology - Syngenta, Monsanto, Boehringer Ingelheim, Vectura.
• Defence - BAE Systems, Dstl, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce, Serco.

The following government departments and agencies are also among the main recruiters:

• Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI)  
• Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S)
• Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (Dstl)  
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)  
• Environment Agency (EA)  
• Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA)  
• Food Standards Agency  
• Forensic Science Service (FSS)  
• Intellectual Property Office (IPO)   
• Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)  
• Met Office  
• National Health Service - see NHS Careers  
• National Physical Laboratory (NPL)  
• Research councils and their related centres, including the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UKATC)  
• UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA)  
• United Kingdom Science Park Association (UKSPA)  

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

SMEs are organisations with fewer than 250 employees and an annual turnover of no more than £44million. Working for a smaller company can be rewarding because you are more likely to forge a path for yourself within the company, although opportunities to try other departments may be limited.

SMEs are unlikely to use the testing and assessment techniques of larger companies or follow lengthy recruitment procedures. SMEs are more likely to advertise their vacancies through the local press, university careers service bulletins, local graduate vacancy listings, jobcentres and word of mouth, rather than rely on their reputation and a presence at graduate recruitment fairs.

Your university careers service should have listings of jobs with small firms. See also the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) .

Self-employment

It is possible to become self-employed or work freelance within certain sectors once you have built up experience. Opportunities mainly exist within consultancy, science writing and editing, and sales.

Find out more about self-employment.