Botany
Your skills and the employment market
When conducting your skills audit, it is important
that you think of the broad spectrum of skills that
you have acquired throughout all areas of your life.
You should consider everything you have done on
your course, as well as any work experience you
have completed (paid or voluntary), any
extracurricular activities that you have been involved
in which can demonstrate that you have developed
your skills eg. membership of clubs and societies,
team sports etc It is by knowing your strengths that
you can start marketing yourself effectively to
employers.
Employers will highly value the specific subject
knowledge and the wide range of technical and
interpersonal skills you have developed during your
Botany degree. These skills include: research;
information/data
handling,
evaluation
and
interpretation; the ability to solve problems in an
analytical and logical way; numeracy; written and
oral communication skills; IT; project management;
decision making and teamworking. Employers will
also value your ability to work methodically,
efficiently and accurately.
Science employers are particularly interested in:
communication skills (including technical report
writing and business presentations), numeracy skills
(including collecting, interpreting, and presenting
data), IT skills (including obtaining and
manipulating information), working with others (for
example in a project team), evidence you are
actively seeking to analyse and improve your
learning & performance.
Sample industries that botany graduates may enter
include:
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Conservation programs,
Education,
Forestry,
Horticulture,
Museums,
Environmental consulting,
Natural resource management,
Biological Industries.
Possible Career Opportunities
Plant Breeder
Teacher
Laboratory
Analyst
Ecologist
Park Ranger
Research Scientist
Lecturer
Science Education
& Promotion
Risk Analyst
Science Writer /
Editor
Quality Control
Horticulturist
Conservation
Scientist
Forestry work
Environmental
Consultancy
Note: Further qualifications may be needed for certain
positions. This list is a sample representation of positions
available.
Students who choose a career in research will need
to continue their studies with a research Masters or
PhD. Find out which universities specialise in your
interest area by checking postgraduate prospectuses /
departmental websites. New Scientist magazine is an
excellent resource for academic positions such as
studentships and new research degrees.
Sample Job Advertisements
Some jobs advertised that may suit students /
graduates (these jobs are not currently available and
are shown here for illustration purposes only).
Scientific Information Specialists, Thomson
Limerick. To analyse / extract information from life
science and biomedical articles. Must have degree in
botany, zoology, microbiology, biotechnology,
environmental science or similar.
Bursary Studentships, Connemara National Park.
Summer. To lead guided nature walks for visitors to
the park and to carry out a relevant conservation
project. A working knowledge of Irish flora is
desirable.
Trainee Regulatory Affairs Executive, Rivendell,
Meath. Background in Science incl. Botany.
Computer literacy essential and report writing.
Garden/Seed Bank Coordinator, Irish Seed
Savers. Maintain seeds, plants, gene bank,
production, sales, organic gardens and data on crops
grown, REPS etc.
Further study opportunities
Resources in the Careers Information Room
For certain career choices, employers may look for
candidates with further qualifications and training.
We have valuable information resources,
experienced careers advisers and information staff
on hand to help you with your queries.
Some of the courses chosen by graduates in the past
at NUI Galway (www.nuigalway.ie/courses) were:
 PhD
 Masters of Science
 Professional Diploma in Education (now
Professional Masters in Education)
 Masters in Toxicology
Some students opt to take conversion courses which
can be seen at www.nuigalway.ie/conversion or
searched within Ireland at www.postgradireland.com
Other courses taken by graduates were:
 MSc. Environmental Science, TCD
 Masters in Science Communication, DCU
 PhD Greenhouse gases, UCD
 PGCE, Brunel University
 First Aid and Child Psychology courses, Galway
 MSc Bioscience-Plant Science &
Biotechnology, Leeds
 MSc Environmental Bioscience in a Changing
climate, Warwick
Reference material in the Information Room
includes:
 Occupational Files – R and S
 Books such as:
» Working with the Environment (contains
chapters on Parks, Forestry, Consultancies
etc)
» Careers in Environmental Conservation
» Green Volunteers
We also have a range of titles to reference on taking
psychometric tests, going for interview, writing a
CV or personal statement… and much more.
Drop into our information room and we will be
happy to assist you – there’s no need to book an
appointment to browse through our resources.
Be sure and pick up our free booklets ‘Your CV’ and
‘Interview Skills’.
www.nuigalway.ie/careers has sections on studying
in Ireland and studying abroad with useful links for
many countries worldwide.
The website www.postgradireland.com also contains
useful information on postgraduate courses in
Ireland, www.prospects.ac.uk is an excellent site for
researching opportunities in the UK and
http://ec.europa.eu/ploteus/ covers the EU.
What past graduates have done
Here is a sample of job titles and employers
occupied by past students who studied Botany. This
has been taken from NUI, Galway’s First
Destination Statistics which is conducted 6 months
after graduation.
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Lab Technician, Donegal
Geotech, Lisheen Mines, Tipperary
Field Researcher, Wildlife Trust of South and
West Wales
Visitor Guide, The Burren National Park
You may also find it useful to take a look at our
other Opportunities leaflets.
Useful websites
We have found that the following websites contain
relevant and interesting information on opportunities
with a degree in Botany.
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www.nuigalway.ie/careers
https://delicious.com/careersinfo/science
www.nuigalway.ie/faculties_departments/botany
www.science.ie
www.teagasc.ie/careers/
www.botanicgardens.ie/gspc/news/news.htm
Irish Botany Newspage
www.wildlife.ie/ National Parks and Wildlife
Abroad
 www.prospects.ac.uk
 www.nature.com/naturejobs
 www.newscientistjobs.com
 www.earthworks-jobs.com/plant.html
 www.bsbi.org.uk/ Botanical Society of the
British Isles
 www.findapostdoc.com