A mathematical mind is a beautiful mind. And a useful one.

The word "mathematics" on a graduate's record tells an employer that the graduate can pick up technicalities, understand what software does, and analyse data.

In today's information-rich environment, the possibilities for mathematically trained graduates are endless.

Interested in money?
There are very well-paid jobs in finance, handling risk analysis, investment planning, option pricing and stock market prediction.

Want to save the world?
The mathematics of Greenhouse climate models still needs a lot of work. Greenhouse models are typical of the large mathematical models used to understand and predict complex systems like the atmosphere, interacting populations of animal species and the different sectors of economies.

Want to be at the cutting edge of science?
The Genome Project is making bioinformatics an expanding area for applications of mathematics.

Powerful statistical methods are needed to make sense of other huge data sets, such as those
generated by drug tests, supermarket scanners and defence surveillance satellites.

Want a job meeting people?
Mathematics graduates who combine their technical knowledge with people skills are in special
demand, since many jobs involve communicating in teams and explaining the results to outside clients.
For this reason, double degrees and combined degrees are increasingly popular options - for example, maths and finance, maths and law, maths with science communication.

Like sharing your knowledge?
There is a shortage of high school mathematics teachers, so mathematics with education is attractive for those who wish to inspire the next generation.
Academic positions in mathematics are harder to find, but are possible for those enthusiastic to make contributions to research.

Take a look at some profiles of a few Mathematics graduates from around Australia.

The Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training publish The Job Guide, which provides an in-depth look at a range of occupations, and their education and training pathways. It also gives useful information about how to work out what occupations suit you best, based on your interests and abilities. There are also contact addresses under each entry so that you can find out more detailed information about the occupation. Take a look at the entry for Mathematician and related jobs.

The University of Western Australia has developed links to organisations who employ mathematics and statistics graduates which will give you some very useful information.