Sarah H.
About me
| Sarah H. | |
| Sociology | |
| Sociology and Social Policy | |
| Undergraduate | |
| James | |
| 2011 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Social Researcher | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Charity and voluntary sector | |
| 2013 |
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A day in the life of a Social Researcher in the United Kingdom
My advice to students considering work
Try wherever possible to get work experience even if it's for a short amount of time. Be brave and apply for jobs you want- even if you feel you won't get it.
What I do
I am a mixed methods social researcher, I work within a team to carry out large scale surveys, evaluations and ad hoc qualitative research.
I am involved in all aspects of the research process including designing questionnaires or topic guides, carrying out fieldwork, analysing data and report writing. I work within the children and young people team and so my job is focused within that policy area specifically.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Extracurricular skills:
As my job is so varied I use a lot of different skills. Day-to-day I use communication skills with both my team and with research participants. I use project management and organisation skills, as well as using analysis tools such as SPSS and NViVo.
A lot of the skills that I use within my job I learnt whilst I was at York. For instance I use a lot of the skills gained during my dissertation to write reports and academic papers. I also often present at conferences or events, a skill I also learnt during the course of my degree.
What I like most
I love the wide variety of tasks and the fact that I work in several projects at once. I also love that due to the clients we work for, my work has a direct impact on UK policy.
What I like least
Sometimes the job can be quite stressful but I have learned to juggle a lot of tasks at once and I now quite enjoy the pressure!
Next steps...
If you like the look of Sarah’s profile, the next steps are down to you! You can send Sarah a message to find out more about their career journey. If you feel you would benefit from more in-depth conversations, ask Sarah to be your mentor.