I really enjoyed my mathematics degree, but whilst plenty of my colleagues have started careers in accountancy, banking and other traditional number-crunching areas, I was keen to try something different when I graduated in 2005.
My job involves supporting some of the many committees of the London Mathematical Society (LMS) along with providing the secretariat for the Council for the Mathematical Sciences (CMS). It’s in this role that I’ve been involved with preparing the agenda for the CMS meeting with Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State, DfES) where we’ll be discussing important topics concerning mathematics in higher education. It’s a very exciting time at the LMS, and the many different agenda, minutes and papers keep me very busy.
The LMS were keen to recruit a mathematics graduate, not just for the passion for the subject, but also for the problem-solving and analytical skills needed to do the job.
The best thing about my job is the feeling that I can really get involved and make a difference to and support the progress of mathematics from the outside, but with an insider’s appreciation of the achievements. In this job I can really get involved with the processes that will shape mathematics education to ensure there are plenty of graduates like me in years to come!
I used the automatic email updates system on a jobs website to let me know when the right jobs became available. Bear in mind that if your search term is just “mathematics degree” you’ll get a lot of results to look through! Fortunately my experiences gained from my role in the Faculty Union at university helped me to narrow down what kind of career I was interested in.
