Work opportunities after studying

After graduation

If you are interested in starting a career in industry, the strategic location of JGU in one of the strongest industrial hubs in Germany with multiple technological, chemical, and pharmaceutical companies in the immediate surroundings, ensures you optimal networking and internship opportunities.

Opportunities in many fields

Studying physics to work in physics is nice – but how about studying one discipline and having opportunities in many fields? This attractive equation holds true for physics. An important aspect of studying physics is the wide range of possible careers. Physicists not only get positions in neighboring fields such as IT, chemistry, and biology. They qualify for jobs in professions and industries.

Good job prospects for graduates in physics

Some of the jobs physicists can get are not directly related to physics at first sight. Consequently, the unemployment rate of physicists is considerably lower than the general average rate of 6% (2017). In general, physics graduates benefit from the increasing need of German and international employers for more STEM experts. Especially the number of open positions in Research and Development offered by industrial employers has been increasing.

A physicist in IT business

One would think that architects study arts and design in order to prepare for a successful career. Not so for the highly demanded architects of the contemporary era in which big data structures require architects of a special kind. In this area many physicists are currently working as business and technology architects. Especially the Rhine-Main area attracts young professionals to work in e.g. pharmaceutical companies, its strong finance and insurance sector or in software industry all around Germany.

Research careers of Mainz Alumni

Antonia Statt currently is a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University at the Center for Complex Materials. She completed her PhD in Physics at JGU in 2015 with a dissertation on “Monte Carlo Simulations of Nucleation of Colloidal Crystals.” In May 2017, Stefan Axmann (34) was appointed as head of the newly founded Department for Forensic Physics at JGU. His papers bear curious titles involving baseball bats, stump impact on the skull, and bullet speed measurement. When thinking back of his early days as a first-generation university student of physics, nobody, especially not Axmann himself, would have expected such an unusual career path that would take him to Mainz.

"Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations. Examples include the double helix in biology and the fundamental equations of physics."
Stephen Hawking

Address

Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz
Faculty Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science
  • Staudingerweg 7
    55128 Mainz, Germany
  • +49 6131 39 20660
  • physics@uni-mainz.de