Career Development and Opportunities
As physicists you have the opportunity to work both in the industry or in the academia. The expectations of each career path can differ a lot and, to help you get into the workforce, we list on this page some resources that can help improve your career, decide whether to work in industry or academia, learn about what you can do as a physicist, find jobs and more.
Also, always feel free to contact us and talk to staff and all faculty members about your career and CV development.
The Physics Co-op program allows you to work while you study to gain practical experience as a physicist working in the industry and to broaden your career opportunities upon graduation.
The program is offered to students who are enrolled in all of the B.Sc. Major, Specialization, and Honours programs in Physics. More details are available on the program page.
Some organizations of physicists and magazines have career resources and job postings sections on their websites that can help you discover careers available to physics graduates and find physics-related jobs.
- Quebec Quantique (Job postings)
- American Association of Physicists in Medicine (Job postings)
- American Institute of Physics
- American Physical Society (Job postings)
- Biophysical Society (Job postings)
- Canadian Association of Physicists (Job postings)
- Canadian Astronomical Society (Job postings)
- Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (Job postings)
- European Physical Society
- Institute of Physics (Job postings)
- Society of Physics Students (Job postings)
Some other resources that could help you as a physicist in the workforce:
- Accelerator science: A field where jobs go begging
- Life of an Industrial Physicist – Some alternate uses of your physics degree by Ian D'Souza
- Physics: What can I do with my degree?
- Reports and graphics on the employment of physicists by the American Institute of Physics
- Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics
Throughout your studies and future employment, in addition to your intellectual, research and technical skills that can be measured, you will need to develop soft skills. Even though they are difficult to quantify, they can improve a lot your chances of being successful.
Below you will find a list of resources that can help you improve your skills in communication, organization, interpersonal relations, leadership and many other soft and hard skills, like programming and bibliography management, for example.
- Careers Toolbox for Undergraduate Physics Students & their Mentors (4th edition)
Book that covers some of the best practices undergraduate students can take to prepare themselves to enter the industry. Book by the American Institute of Physics.
- Concordia’s Careers and Planning Services (CAPS)
Offers individualized assistance in career-related matters to students. Holds career-related events including career-building workshops, industry job fairs and others.
- Concordia’s Graduate & Professional Skills program (GradProSkills)
Offers professional development workshops and resources in a variety of skill domains for graduate students.
As a physics graduate, in addition to the academia, you can also work in the industry on a great variety of fields that range from healthcare to aerospace and also IT, artificial intelligence, materials, energy and many others. In what follows you will find a small selection of fields and related local companies that hire physicists.
Artificial Intelligence
Data Collection/Analysis
Energy
- Atomic Energy of Canada
- BC Hydro
- Bruce Power
- China National Offshore Oil Corporation International (CNOOC)
- Hydro-Québec - Institut de Recherche d’Hydro-Québec (IREQ)
- Novelis
- Ontario Power Generation
- Suncor Energy
- Syncrude Canada Ltd
Materials
Medical/Healthcare
Optics and Photonics
- ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB)
- Avalon Holographics
- BMVOptical Technologies
- Centre d'Optique, Photonique et Laser (COPL)
- Few-Cycle
- Institut National d’Optique (INO)
- Iridian Spectral Technologies
- OZ Optics
- Santec
- TeraXion
Quantum Computing
Security/defence
- Canadian Security Intelligence Service
- Chronicle
- National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces
- Obzerv Technologies
- Raytheon
Space
Software
Telecommunication
Technology
- Aerotech
- BlackBerry
- Bombardier
- Matrox
- Mentor
- Nest
- Pratt & Whitney
- Redlen Technologies
- Rolls Royce
- Semtech
- Teledyne Technologies
- VIAVI Solutions
- Waymo
- X Development
- Zurich Instruments
Multidisciplinary
- Agilent (chemical analysis: food, environmental and forensics, pharmaceutical, medical diagnostics, energy)
- CAE (civil aviation, defence and security, healthcare)
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (biology, chemistry, climatology, engineering, environmental sciences, hydrology, informatics, library science, meteorology)
- GE Canada (aviation, financial services, energy, renewable energy, information technology, healthcare, lighting, oil and gas, transportation)
- National Research Council Canada
- Teledyne DALSA (digital imaging, electronic imaging components, semiconductor fabrication)
- Thales Group (aerospace, space, transportation, defence, security)
- The Washington Center (academia related)
- University Incubators (e.g. District 3 at Concordia)