12 questions you don't want to be asked on an interview

You're at the white board in a conference room or sitting at a nice restaurant at lunch and someone leans over the table and says:

1. So tell me about your experience with angry bosses.
2. Did you have experience working on the weekends in graduate school? Did you like it? 
3. You're not one of those chemists that insists on proper PPE, are you? 
4. You don't expect a W-2 at the end of the year, do you? 
5. How would you feel about a part-time position in Bangalore? 
6. Do you know how many other candidates there are for this position?
7. Are you in chemistry for the money? I'm not. 
8. Do you think NMR is important for structure elucidation? How good are you at using IR for functional group identification?
9. Here's the complex natural product that my company is working on -- how would you synthesize it?
10. Do you prefer to be paid in drachmas or lira? 
11. You know, 70's vintage analytical equipment is quite good. Do you have any experience repairing old televisions? 
12. We have weekly naked group meetings -- got a problem with that? 

Enjoy the weekend, folks. 

How to talk about chemical safety

What's the best way to talk to a peer about how they're performing a particular chemical operation and its safety components? What if they're doing something really unsafe? 

I dunno, but here's one mostly ineffective way:

Hey! What you're doing there is REALLY unsafe. You're going to get yourself killed! And everyone around you, too! Are you some kind of idiot?

Here's another ineffective way:

What are you doing? [walks away]

 Here's how I might approach someone doing something unsafe:

Hey, uh, have you thought about the safety concerns with this method of doing something? No? Let's go look up some best practices on how to do this.  

I know that you're under pressure and trying to get this done -- I really appreciate that. But let's go find out if you could get hurt, eh?

That might be a little too diplomatic. It depends on the person you're talking, of course, and what approach you think might work the best. Readers, what do you prefer? 

What's going on out there?

Weekly unemployment claims (Credit: Calculated Risk)

It's really difficult to reduce something as big as the US and/or global economy into a few numbers, but let's try to see what's going on:

• Initial weekly unemployment claims have been trending down for a while (at right). 
• The national unemployment rate is at 8.5%; it will be interesting to see the numbers for January (reported next Friday.) 
• The 4th quarter of 2011 saw 2.8% real GDP growth. That's weak for a recovery, but the best rate since the 2nd quarter of 2010. 
• 2011 was a terrible year for new home sales because of distressed home sales (foreclosures, etc.) The Case-Shiller index is expected to show a 3.2% year-over-year drop in prices next week. 
• Paul Hodges says that crude oil inventories are up (good news)?

In related news, the Federal Open Market Committee intends to keep interest rates low:

In particular, the Committee decided today to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and currently anticipates that economic conditions--including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run--are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014.

Yay for borrowers, boo for savers.

Overall, the US economy appears to be muddling through. Trouble spots include oil prices, the European economy (and the continuing (resolving?) debt crisis) and the slowing Chinese economy. Let's hope employment for chemists starts on a positive trend, eh?

Man, I hope this isn't how they hire chemists in pharma

Credit: Wall Street Journal

You get to peek behind the curtain of job application software in the Wall Street Journal's article "Your Résumé Versus Oblivion" -- it ain't pretty:

Many job seekers have long suspected their online employment applications disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again. Their fears may not be far off the mark, as more companies rely on technology to winnow out less-qualified candidates... Recruiters and hiring managers are overwhelmed by the volume of résumés pouring in, thanks to the weak job market and new tools that let applicants apply for a job with as little as one mouse click. ...Most recruiters report that at least 50% of job hunters don't possess the basic qualifications for the jobs they are pursuing. 

The screening systems are one way companies are seeking to cut the costs of hiring a new employee, which now averages $3,479, according to human-resources consulting firm Bersin & Associates. Big companies, many of which cut their human-resources staffs during the recession, now spend about 7% of their external recruitment budgets on applicant-tracking systems, the firm says.

I'm not especially surprised by their comments about small companies, but it is interesting to hear some unscientific numbers:

Résumé overload isn't just a big-company problem. Job seekers often are surprised when they don't hear back from small businesses. These businesses rarely hire enough people to make an applicant-tracking system cost-effective, but even a one-time posting on a well-trafficked job board like Monster.com can garner hundreds of responses. Only 19% of hiring managers at small companies look at a majority of the résumés they receive, and 47% say they review just a few, according to a recent survey by Information Strategies Inc., publisher of Your HR Digest, an online newsletter.

Having survived feeling my résumé into a large-company database in the recent past and actually receiving a phone call (that ultimately resulted in a offer!), I have to say that (like the first paragraph), it was my assumption that there was some sort of black hole involved. The request that resumes be in "Word document format" was yet more evidence that computers were involved.

I once spoke to a man who was hired by a major government contractor (and employer of physical scientists) in Utah. He told me the best way to deal with the software was to copy the job description and its keywords and paste it into the top portion of my résumé. I see this is in the article's advice:

Forget about being creative. Instead, mimic the keywords in the job description as closely as possible. If you're applying to be a sales manager, make sure your résumé includes the words "sales" and "manage" (assuming you've done both!).

Good heavens. I, for one, quail at our new screening overlords.

Daily Pump Trap: 1/26/12 edition

Good morning! Between January 24 and January 25, there were 19 new positions posted. Of them, 7 (37%) were academically connected and will be covered by Tuesday's Ivory Filter Flask. Two positions were from Kelly Scientific Resources.

Zeroes!: The good folks at BASF (Iselin, NJ) are hiring an associate engineer for a position running an automotive catalytic reactor. No experience needed, salary "very competitive." Also, a B.S./M.S./Ph.D. chemist/chemical engineer position (in the same laboratory)?. Maximum 8+ years experience needed, descending for higher degrees.

San Francisco, CA: MAP Pharmaceuticals is working in the neurology area. They're looking for a Ph.D. analytical chemist to work on assays and drug formulation, it appears. 2 openings available.

Birmingham, AL: Once again, Southern Research Institute is looking for a Ph.D. chemist for a "senior scientist" position where they'll perform drug discovery. With the comment that they're looking for someone who has attracted outside support in the past, why don't they just call this an "assistant professor" or a "principal investigator" position and be done with it?

Eugene, OR: Life Technologies is looking for a B.S./M.S. chemist for a process chemistry position in their production department.

A broader look: Monster, Careerbuilder, Indeed and USAjobs.gov show (respectively) 244, 699, 2,952 and 48 positions for the search term "chemist." 

A poem, by Kelly Scientific Resources

[throat clearing] From the pages of ACS Careers, a poem by Kelly Scientific Resources:

the employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions

fumes or airborne particles

while performing the duties of this job

Process Wednesday: retreat curve agitators

Retreat curve agitator (Credit: Southern Glass)

I don't know what you think of when you imagine the agitator in a large-scale reactor, but I think I always imagined something that looked like a boat propeller. So it's come as a surprise to me to become familiar with the graceful lines of the retreat curve impeller that comes with a glass-lined reactor.

For a little tutorial on the retreat curve impeller, I refer us to "Understand Flow Patterns in Glass-Lined Reactors", an article by Dickey et al. in the November 2004 issue of Chemical Engineering Professional:

Glass-lined reactors are essential process equipment in the pharmaceutical and speciality chemicals industries. A typical glass-lined reactor included a retreat curve impeller (RCI) near the bottom of the vessel and usually a single baffle mounted through a nozzle in the vessel head. The RCI with rounded blade corners may limit harmful turbulence effects while maintaining circulation throughout the vessel. Glass lining (the term "lining" is used to refer to the glass coating on the agitator and the inside of the tank) provides corrosion resistance, is easy to clean, and eliminates product contamination.  

The retreat curve of the RCI blades provids better radial flow than radial flow impellers with similar power characteristics. The impeller is placed near the bottom of the vessel to maximize the allowable range of liquid levels and to produce circulation from the bottom to the top of the vessel. The baffle (occasionally two baffles) is mounted from a nozzle in the top head because mounting to the side of a glass-lined vessel is difficult. The impeller and baffle always have a rounded cross-section without sharp corners because high stresses in the glass can cause the brittle coating to fail. 

There's a lot in those paragraphs that I don't really understand (radial flow? turbulence effects are harmful?), but it's interesting to me nonetheless.

In other #SheriSangji news, CalOSHA's report is released

Over at The Pump Handle, they have a copy of CalOSHA's senior investigator's report on the Sheri Sangji case. It's quite a doozy, with pointed questions up and down UCLA's EH&S chain.

The investigator, Brian Baudendistel, gets to ask questions of everyone in the case, including Sheri Sangji's labmates. Here's the LA Times' story on the report. ScienceCareers also has a contribution. More on this report later. 

Readers speak on potential prison time for Professor Harran

Last week, I asked if anyone thought that Professor Patrick Harran should go to prison. As I've said before, the felony charges are likely to be an opening gambit between the prosecutor and the defense. No one expects that he will serve the maximum prison time (4.5 years), which is the harshest punishment available to the state in this case.

That said, I was curious to know if there was anyone who thought that he should go to prison, other than to teach all chemistry PIs a lesson (an option, I note, that I find unjust. Patrick Harran should not go to prison for the sins of all academic chemistry.) I did receive two responses from people who thought that he deserves prison time. The first response by VT:

Harran deserves some prison time.  

Lots of people sell pot. Only some get caught. Those who are caught get punished. I think someone in one of your comments section compared it to drunk driving. I think that this analogy is actually the best. You can drive drunk. You may or may not get caught. If you do get caught, you are going to be busted. If you get caught after having an accident which kills someone, you will be charged with involuntary manslaughter. And, unless your lawyers are good/your pleas for mercy are stellar/your judge is understanding, you are doing jail-time. 

Harran was unsafe. He got caught. He got caught when there was an accident that killed a student. The question here is severity of the punishment. Harran did not kill his student (as in the DUI analogy). But he was responsible for her safety. I think he gets time. 3-6 months.  

I don't see how he gets out of jail-time for this. Especially considering that his jury of peers will most likely not include any scientists.  

It is my opinion that, if Harran serves time, he deserves to go back to his current job at UCLA. 

The second contribution is from KO (one notes that Sangji was an employee, not a student -- the concept of personal responsibility still holds, in my opinion):

I do believe that Professor Patrick Harran deserves jail time.   

This opinion is based off the structure and nature of the student/PI (principal investigator) relationship.  A graduate student is not considered a full time employee of the University.  Therefore, not subject to the oversight of OSHA or other federal regulatory offices and this is therefore a direct liability.   In the case of industry, individual employers are generally protected from personal liability due to the nature of corporate law.  Since the university cannot claim the student as a full time employee, they accept full liability for said student.  And the person in charge of the student's training and direct oversight is the PI.  It reasons that the personal liability rests on the PI shoulders and the University takes liability for the system ensuring compliance and safety.  In this case both are at fault.  However, since you cannot arrest a university, the university should be held financally responsible and the PI held personally responsible for the safety and well being of the students.   Since the PI is not running a corporation or even an LLC then the PI is not protected and hence fully liable.

After reading all the comments, I think there are 3 or 4 general strains of thought about why Professor Harran deserves prison time:

• Harran going to prison will encourage chemistry PIs to change their ways. 
• Professor Harran's the PI, he's the captain of the ship, someone died on his watch, he deserves punishment. 
• He was being unsafe, he got caught, he's subject to the letter of the law. 
• If this happened in a meatpacking plant and Harran was the supervisor, he'd be facing charges and prison time. Why is it different if it happened at a laboratory? 

Finally, I want to highlight this comment from Anon011720120457p:

I think his tenure should be revoked. As for community service, if he gets probation and no jail time: volunteer work in a rehab hospital that treats burn patients. That will bring home the seriousness of his negligence in supervising Sangji.

This to me seems to be a punishment that's probably closest to what will actually happen.

Readers, what do you think?

Daily Pump Trap: 1/24/12 edition

Good morning! Between January 19 and January 23, there were 52 new positions posted on the ACS Careers database. Of these, 13 (25%) were academically connected and 33 (63%) were from Kelly Scientific Resources.

Argh: Do you know what's annoying? Clicking on a Kelly Scientific position and being told it's not active at this time, again and again and again.

Palo Alto, CA: Genencor is searching for 2 B.S./M.S. chemistry positions, both biochemistry/analytically-oriented. 

Daeduck, South Korea: SK Pharmaceuticals is looking for a M.S./Ph.D. chemist for pharmaceutical process chemistry research.

Cambridge, MA: Have a degree in petroleum thermodynamics and interfacial science? Schlumberger-Doll's CO2 mitigation department has a position for you.

You again: Sapling Learning is once again searching for a M.S./Ph,D. teacher of organic chemistry to work at its Austin, TX based headquarters for teaching and test writing.  

Ivory Filter Flask: 1/24/12 edition

Good morning! Between January 17 and January 23, there were 19 new academically-connected positions posted on the ACS Careers website. Let's do the numbers:

Total number of ads: 19
- Postdocs: 2
- Tenure-track faculty: 11
- Temporary faculty: 2
- Lecturer positions: 3
- Staff positions: 1
- Ratio of US/non-US positions: 17/2

Lindsborg, KS: Bethany College is a private 4 year school -- they're searching for a tenure-track professor of organic chemistry. Ph.D. desired, ABD acceptable. Very close to the geographical center of the United States!

The Yankees Win. Thhhhaaaaa Yankees Win: (Sorry, had to indulge.) Yeshiva University (NYC) is looking for a tenure-track professor of chemistry; no subfield specified.

Durham, NC: Duke University is searching for a postdoc with skills in protein-polymer conjugate synthesis.

Madison, WI: UW-Madison desires a Ph.D. chemist for an undergraduate chemistry coordinator position; this position has the biggest grab bag of descriptors ever. Caveat emptor. 5 years experience!?!?

Philadelphia, PA: Temple desires a lecturer in organic chemistry.

I got a gal: Kalamazoo College is searching for a visiting assistant professor in organic and general chemistry. 

No Foxconn City in the US? Not because we don't have enough "engineers"

(Via @NCharles -- thanks!) In the New York Times, a fascinating look at why the US doesn't have a facility making the iPhone:

Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight. 

A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day. 

“The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”

But the authors, Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher, begin to make mistakes when they start talking about the difficulties of hiring engineers in the US:

Another critical advantage for Apple was that China provided engineers at a scale the United States could not match. Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States. 

In China, it took 15 days. 

Companies like Apple “say the challenge in setting up U.S. plants is finding a technical work force,” said Martin Schmidt, associate provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In particular, companies say they need engineers with more than high school, but not necessarily a bachelor’s degree. (emphasis CJ's) Americans at that skill level are hard to find, executives contend. “They’re good jobs, but the country doesn’t have enough to feed the demand,” Mr. Schmidt said.

I find this a very frustrating conversation to attempt to have with the mainstream press, who apparently don't have enough experience in technical fields or with technical people to understand what's going on here.

What is an engineer? To me, an engineer is someone who's graduated with a degree in engineering from an accredited university and then, if required, takes the needed licensing examinations to gain a professional engineer's license. But, of course, being the son of an engineer, I'd say that.

What companies want (and what they can find in China in spades, I gather) are experienced engineering technicians and/or supervisors. Someone who used to work on the line, and worked their way through their organization and are willing to relocate and/or work for a new employer. Basically, they're looking for people that in the US military would be called non-commissioned officers or senior enlisted types (corporals, sergeants, etc.) We don't have enough people at that level of experience in the US who can relocate at a moment's notice (or be willing to live in dorms, or work 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, or whatever relatively harsh conditions are going on at Foxconn City.) But they're not engineers, and Bradsher and Duhigg are fooling people who are going to be making these assertions at their Georgetown cocktail parties. "Pity, Charles, the US doesn't have enough engineers. We ought to make more of them."

(Even then, there are plenty of people who are willing to work at the crazy-go-nuts pace and conditions that an Amazon warehousing/shipping facility performs at. Are they skilled mathematical technicians? No, probably not. That might be an issue.)

Needless to say, consumer electronics assembly is something that the US has lost for the near and medium term. Obviously, that's undesirable, but that's the truth of it. I hope we are wise enough not to lose any more industries overseas.

Best wishes to all of us.

Destination Europe?

From this weeks' C&EN, an article by Linda Wang on stories of American chemists in Europe:

Rather than cutting workers, chemical companies in Germany have turned to less aggressive cost cutting methods, Koch says. BASF in Ludwigshafen, for example, avoided layoffs by cutting back on overtime and transferring personnel to other locations, says Sarah Ulmschneider-Renner, head of talent resourcing at BASF. The company has begun expanding its workforce again, she says, with a focus on attracting applicants from around the world. “We are increasing our efforts in [human resources] marketing and worldwide job-posting strategies,” she says. “As a result, we are already seeing a significant increase in applications for our R&D positions from abroad, including the U.S.” 

Polymer chemist Jordan Kopping is among those who moved from the U.S. to Germany to work for BASF. He began working as a research scientist in Ludwigshafen a year ago. Before crossing the Atlantic, Kopping earned a Ph.D. in polymer and organic chemistry from the University of California, Davis, in 2006 and completed a postdoc at UCLA in 2007. In 2010, after teaching at a community college and working at a biopharmaceutical company, both in California, he started applying for positions in Germany. “I had nothing at the time tying me to the U.S., and I’ve always had the idea to try something international,” Kopping says. He chose Germany because of its strong economy and because of his interest in the language and culture. 

While job searching, Kopping enrolled in an intensive eight-month course to learn German. “One of the things I highlighted on my résumé was that I was committed to learning the language,” he says. That dedication demonstrated, he says, that he “would fit well into the culture and also into the way of life.” Language skills are not everything, of course. BASF is looking for Ph.D. scientists who have done research in state-of-the-art chemistry, says Ulmschneider-Renner. In addition, she says, chemists should include extracurricular activities in their curriculum vitae. “This information is often neglected, but we consider it extremely useful in forming an initial impression.” 

Koch invites American Chemical Society members who are looking for positions in Germany to get in touch with GDCh’s career services office. “We will try to help,” he says. But he also warns that applicants should be top-notch in their field. “If you’re not good enough to find a job in the U.S., you won’t find one here in Germany, either.”

I don't really think of working in Europe as a solution to American chemists' unemployment problems -- that said, it is a viable adventure for those willing to invest in the needed language skills.

Are you a moody chemist?

I wish I could be as impassive
as Larry Bird in reacting to bad news.
Credit: ESPN

If your chemistry is going well, does your mood improve? If your research is going poorly, does it depress you? I confess to being a somewhat moody chemist in graduate school; walls were definitely punched and doors were definitely kicked.

More recently, I've really, really tried not to let success or failure in the laboratory dictate my mood. I know that the highs couldn't possibly last forever and I know (I believe? I hope?) that the lows won't either. Nevertheless, it seems every chemist has blue periods.

Readers, how do you deal with the highs and lows of research? 

Observations on the odds of becoming a tenure-track professor

The odds of surviving 'Hell Week' during the Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL training? About 33%.

Classes typically lose around 70–80% of their trainees, either due to DORs (drop on request) or injuries sustained during training, but it is not always easy to predict which of the trainees will DOR during BUD/S. Winter class drop out rates are usually higher due to the cold. SEAL instructors say that in every class, approximately 10 percent of the students simply do not have the physical ability to complete the training. Another 10–15 percent will definitely make it through unless they sustain a serious physical injury. The other 75–80 percent is 'up for grabs' depending on their motivation. There has been at least one BUD/S class where no one has completed the program. Most trainees are eliminated prior to completion of Hell Week, but trainees will continue to DOR in the second phase or be forced to leave because of injuries, or failing either the diving tests or the timed runs and swims.

Pen y Fan -- looks a little harder than a candidacy exam, maybe.
Credit: Wikipedia

Odds of surviving from the Special Air Service's (the UK's most prominent special operations unit) hill phase selection? About 15-20%.

On arrival candidates first complete a Personal Fitness Test (PFT) and a Combat Fitness Test (CFT).[nb 5] They then march cross country against the clock, increasing the distances covered each day, culminating in what is known as the Fan dance: a 14 miles (23 km) march with full equipment scaling and descending Pen y Fan in four hours. (at right)[73] By the end of the hill phase candidates must be able to run 4 miles in 30 minutes and swim two miles in 90 minutes.[73] ...Typically, 15–20% of candidates make it through the hill phase selection process. 

Odds of getting a tenure track assistant professor position at a US university? From folks on Twitter (btw, these are mostly non-chemists talking:

@labroides: more news on the Irvine position, "only" 185 applicants, 5 selected for short list.
@sciencegurlz0: That is similar to the UT-Arlington jobs that I applied for. Both had approx 150 applicants. :(
@fianros:  That's better than the 600 applicants for TT chem/biochem positions past couple years.

Now I'm being tricky here, in that there's wild selection bias in special operations selection. Militaries will usually pre-announce their minimum physical standards (and pre-screen their candidates) to ensure that they're not wasting their time with the total number of applicants. Universities requesting applicants for tenure track positions, of course, seem to advertise for anyone with a pulse and a Ph.D.

It is my opinion that the classic "short list" of the 5 or 6 interviewees should be really called a "really short list", with the true "short list" being the various applicants that actually have a real shot at the professor position to begin with. It's my guess that the maximum number of people that a search committee can seriously consider hiring (i.e. applicants given more than a cursory glance) is probably in the 40 to 50 candidate range.

In some sense, applying for a tenure-track position is probably more like running for office or winning a golf tournament than passing an arduous test of physical ability and mental toughness.  In the end, there can only be one -- and that makes things much more daunting for the applicant.