The thought of life after university can be quite daunting, but there is plenty of information and advice available. This web page is intended to increase awareness of events, which may be poorly publicised, and facilitate your search for the right career.
Perhaps even more important to you now is your time here at Magdalen. Tutorials are a central part of your learning and it's crucial that you are happy with the work and with the interaction with your tutors. I want to make sure you enjoy your time spent studying here so you can enjoy your time spent not studying even more!
I hope to provide you with useful information that you might need in making choices that will affect the rest of your life. If you have any unanswered questions, please don't hesitate to email me at
======================= 2. WHAT'S ON - 4th week =======================
Monday 12th May * Civil Service Fast Stream (organised by the Careers Service), 2:15 pm to 3:45 pm, Careers Service * Oxford Consulting Society Annual Speaker Event (event must be booked), 6:15 pm, St. Anne's College
Tuesday 13th May * Drop in with Allen and Overy (event must be booked), 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, The Old Bank Hotel * Oxford Entrepreneurs - 'Growing a Start-up' Panel Discussion, 7:00 pm, Said Business School
Wednesday 14th May * Essential career planning for first year law students (organised by the Careers Service), 12:00 pm, Law Faculty * Doosan Babcock Energy, 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm, Royal Berkshire Conference Centre
See online listings at (http://www.careers.ox.ac.uk/homepage/whatson) for: * Most up-to-date details and booking instructions * Event descriptions * My Diary - receive automatic reminders straight to your inbox
One to One Careers Advice
from Past Members through the Old Members' Database
Every Magdalen undergraduate is a member of the Magdalen Society, the Old Members association. The object of the Society is "to maintain and foster contacts between and for the mutual benefit of the members of the Society and the College".
The Development Office maintains a database of around 6,800 past Magdalen members. They are happy to help any member of the JCR get in contact with a past member of any profession, for information and advice.
The Development Office is Swithun's 1:3. They operate an open door policy, so feel free to pop in for a chat. Alternatively, email
Oxford University Careers Services (OUCS)
The OUCS has extensive resources at their office at 56 Banbury Road, with staff able to give guidance when needed. They also produce a weekly vacancy bulletin, The Bridge, which is sent to all finalists. Their website includes a database of a range of different vacancies as well as a 'What's On' page with details of various events and fairs. You need to register, but this is quick and painless and then you have access to all their services: www.careers.ox.ac.uk
Other Useful Links:
Oxford University Computing Services (OUCS) run courses every term to give you the opportunity to improve your IT skills: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/learning/
Milkround Online provides general careers information as well as allowing you to create an online CV and to search for vacancies: www.milkround.com
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) has information on both jobs and courses in teaching English abroad: www.tefl.com
University of Oxford International Services Details of scholarships and opportunities for studying abroad: http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/io
Gradgrad is a unique employment website for university graduates and students as it allows them to establish relationships with employers while they are still studying. In the process they have the opportunity to receive job offers from employers. http://www.gradgrad.com/
Personal Tutor Scheme
Personal Tutors Scheme
This scheme is designed to provide members of the JCR with a direct link with a member of the SCR who is not one of their academic tutors. ‘Personal Tutors’ (also known as ‘Welfare Tutors’) serve primarily as an extra welfare provision, within the academic sphere, available for discussing issues that students may feel uncomfortable speaking to their own academic tutor about.
First years will have the opportunity to meet the tutors at a variety of occasions in their first term such as Deans’ Dinners. Hopefully during these gatherings you will find at least one of them to be someone you could speak to. For further advice on this contact Susan Burton or the JCR Academic Affairs Officer (). The six tutors are:
Professor Sue Iversen: Psychology
Professor Alison Etheridge: Applied Mathematics
Dr Christine Ferdinand: Fellow Librarian
Sir Michael Wheeler-Booth: Politics contact via:
Dr Rob Jacobs: Chemistry
Mr Mark Blandford-Baker: Home Bursar
Professor Susan Iversen studied for her BA and PhD in Cambridge followed by postdoctoral training in the USA at the National Institutes of Health, Washington and Harvard Medical School. The years 1966-1983 were spent directing research in Cambridge before joining the US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co, where she was involved in establishing the first commercial Neuroscience Research Centre in the UK. She returned to academia in 1993 as Professor and Head of the Department of Experimental Psychology in Oxford, posts she held until 2000. In 2000 she became Pro-Vice-Chancellor with a broad portfolio of financial and research planning responsibilities. Her published research focuses on disorders of brain function, particularly schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease with particular reference to the biological bases of these disorders, their clinical presentation and treatment. She has served on a wide range of national research committees and has recently joined the Council of the Girls’ Day School Trust.
Mark Blandford-Baker is the Home Bursar. He lives off site but is always willing to see someone. His interests include rowing, rugby, fine wine, photography and Norfolk. He is experienced in helping students with a range of enquires and problems from money, to careers, to relationships etc. and is always happy to keep discussions confidential, as are all the Welfare Tutors.
Dr. Robert Jacobs is the Stipendiary Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at Magdalen College. This is my sixth year at the college. My research interests focus around studying the chemical and physical properties of surfaces. This encompasses a wide range of fields including, amongst others, nanotechnology, electrochemistry and biotechnology. My laboratory contains a wide variety of state of the art scientific equipment capable of many experimental methods including: scanning probe microscopy, Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy, ellipsometry and X-ray reflectometry. I am also the chairman and senior member of the Oxford University Motor Drivers' Club.
Sir Michael Wheeler-Booth (Politics) having read history at Magdalen, worked at the Palace of Westminster as a Clerk in the House of Lords 1960-97, ending up as Clerk of the Parliament 1991-97. During that time he was seconded to the Government in an attempt to reform the Lords, set up the Lords system on E.U. matters, and was concerned with numerous functional reforms. After retiring he came back to Magdalen as a Visiting Fellow, gave Waynflete Lectures on 'Parliament in a Changing World', and was kept on as special lecturer in Politics since 1998. He has also served on various Royal and other Commissions on constitutional matters, including House of Lords Reform, the Monarchy, and devolution to Wales. He is married and his wife writes children's books, has three children (two girls at university, and a boy at school) and has written on constitutional matters.
Dr. Christine Ferdinand is the Fellow Librarian at Magdalen and the Women’s Adviser in addition to her role as a Personal Tutor. The Women’s Advisership was set up soon after women were first admitted to Magdalen College – the college wanted to make sure that a senior member of college was available to help women who were adjusting to life in a previously all-male college. Women of course are fully integrated into Magdalen life now, but there are still problems women in particular might encounter in their university and college careers, and some women just prefer to talk things over with another woman. So an experienced Women’s Adviser remains part of the college welfare team.
Professor Alison Etheridge was a student at New College where she later held the Sir Christopher Cox Fellowship. The holder of this research fellowship acts as a welfare officer and provides a link between students and Fellows. She was also Tutor for Women. She then worked and studied in Montreal, Cambridge, Berkeley, Edinburgh and London before returning to Oxford to become a Fellow of Magdalen. Her research is now largely concerned with mathematical modelling in population genetics, but she has also published papers in ‘pure’ mathematics and two books on mathematical finance. She lives outside College with her husband and two small children.
The thought of life after university can be quite daunting, but there is plenty of information and advice available. This web page is intended to increase awareness of events, which may be poorly publicised, and facilitate your search for the right career.