Job outlook for chemists: grim?

The news today is that US GDP rose 3.5% for the 3rd quarter of 2009. Good news, I think, even if most folks are attributing it to the stimulus package.

Unfortunately, all the talk is about a "jobless recovery"; for example, the Federal Reserve is worried that the pace of economic "was unlikely to reduce the unemployment rate appreciably." Worse, there's now talk of a "job-loss recovery", where companies continue to shed jobs while growth and/or profits come back.

I'm on record thinking that the job outlook for R&D chemists will pick up in late 2010 -- I don't see any reason (other than pique) to change my opinion. Take that one-year master's or take that postdoc and ride this bad boy out.

Daily (?) Pump Trap: 10/28/09 edition

Good morning! There are 236 new positions posted from October 15 until October 27. Of those positions, 68 (29%) are from the academic sector and 121 (51%) are from our friends at Kelly Scientific.

Industrial outlook: Not too many huge companies, but Amgen and Vertex make a showing in these past two weeks.

Plastics!: If you are an expert in fiber spinning, Dow has a position for you for their Sorona PTT product line. (Experienced PhD chemist desired.)

Petroleum!: Total is looking for a PhD organometallic chemist for plant support of their resins division. Remember it's not pronounced like the breakfast cereal!

That's a fun name: Ashwin-Ushas is looking for a B.S. chemist to do well, a little bit of everything chemistry wise. Looks like they work for a lot of defense contractors -- good to know they need chemists too.

Kelly Time!: Not so bad this time, but still, if you're a chemist, I doubt you want to be a senior microbiologist, a greenhouse technician or a coding nurse (why is this position always in Puerto Rico?!?)

Breakfast at Concert Pharmaceuticals?

According to the October 19, 2009 C&EN, Concert Pharmaceuticals serves breakfast:

"Founded in 2006, Concert is applying deuterium chemistry to develop new drugs. The company treats its 44 employees to breakfast twice a week to give them an opportunity to come in early and socialize with their colleagues. "The intent is to create an environment that is friendly, conducive, collegial, and high performance," founder and CEO Roger Tung says."

So inquiring minds want to know -- what's the spread like? Is it bagels and coffee? Or is it an omelet chef and his twenty awesome pans? Comment below or e-mail me at chemjobber -at- gmaildotcom.

Chemjobber C&EN Index: 10/19/09

Industrial positions (non-academic, non-governmental):
Total number of ads: 4
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 16++
- Ratio of US/non-US: 16++/0
Area: 341
Week to week Index trend: Up.

Governmental positions (US, international):
Total number of ads: 1
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 1
- Ratio of US/non-US: 1/0
Area: 55
Week to week Index trend: Up, slightly.
  
Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 32
- Postdocs: 2
- Tenure-track faculty: 29+++++
- Temporary faculty: 2
- Lecturer positions: 1
- Staff positions: 0
- Ratio of US/non-US positions 26+++/3++
- Area (square cm): 1542
Week to week Index trend: Up.

Better: Exxon is looking for one fuel researcher, Gilead is looking for one research associate in process chemistry. There's a sales position and then there's...

Millenium?: I never quite know what to think of Millenium's ads in C&EN, especially considering how often they're posted in the pages of C&EN and their online reputation about those ads. 

Like the Energizer Bunny: Tenure-track positions continue to be strong, at all levels. A remarkable run, but I should be comparing last year with this year...

Small college of the week: Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY, student population: 2,550, SA-LUTE!) is looking for a visiting assistant professor in biochemistry. "Enthusiasm for teaching and working with undergraduate students in a liberal arts setting is essential." (Too obvious?) On your downtime, you could attend the National College Comedy Festival - hilarious! 

C&EN Wayback Photo: A sssssmokin' postdoc

(from the 3/3/01 (?) Chemical and Engineering News.)

Where'd you do your postdoc? That's right, baby, you worked for the most famous EEEEVIL tobacco company of them all, Philip Morris.

What was your previous experience? "Experience in the high temperature reactions of polysaccharides is essential."

What did you do? "The candidate will participate in a research project to study the pyrolysis and combustion of natural occurring polysaccharides and their derivatives."

Awesome, simply awesome. When you're done burning organic material, what do you do with the skills you learn? Take an assistant professorship at Cigarette U?*

*All snark aside, I swear, if things get desperate enough, I'll be right there with ya, dipping cigarettes into pyrrolidine or whatever to make them taste better. 

Chemjobber C&EN Index: 10/12/09

Industrial positions (non-academic, non-governmental):
Total number of ads: 2
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 4
- Ratio of US/non-US: 1/3
Area: 124
Week to week Index trend: Up.

Governmental positions (US, international):
Total number of ads: 0
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 0
- Ratio of US/non-US: 0/0
Area: 0
Week to week Index trend: Down.
  
Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 26
- Postdocs: 3+
- Tenure-track faculty: 20+
- Temporary faculty: 1
- Lecturer positions: 0
- Staff positions: 2
- Ratio of US/non-US positions 26++/1
- Area (square cm): 1158
Week to week Index trend: Down, slightly.

Um, well: One job posting in the US, another (bigger) ad for a company in China. Big sigh, especially since the company is not even in the traditional Shanghai-area biotech/scientific hotbed. This is getting tough.

Academic jobs, though: Tenure-track positions continue to be strong, at all levels. 

Fascinating academic positions: Virginia Tech's Chemical Engineering department is trying to fill a visiting professorship in chemicals distribution management. I didn't know such a specialty existed, but I'll bet there's an Aldrich employee who qualifies...

Department of Out-of-Control Acronyms (DoOoCA): The University of South Florida is searching for an assistant professor for the Center for Smart Metal-Organic Materials Advanced Research and Technology Transfer. For the not-so-detailed amongst you, this institution is abbreviated SMMARTT. I am not kidding. 

Small college of the week: Hendrix College (Conway, AR, student population: 1,350, SA-LUTE!) is looking for a tenure-track assistant professor in organic chemistry. Considering this is the alma mater of chemblogosphere eminence grise Derek Lowe, this week's pick is a no brainer. 

Daily Pump Trap: 10/14/09 edition

Evening, folks. From the period of 10/7/09 to 10/14/09 (inclusive), there are 166 new positions on the ACS Careers database. Of these positions, 41 (~25%) positions  are academic in nature and 91 (55%) are from our friends at Kelly. Some of the open positions are pretty interesting...

Breathe easy: The Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (what a name!) is looking for a research associate to look at particle sizes in aerosols. B.S. or M.S. in chemistry with experience desired.

Let me guess, they want a resume: Vitae Pharmaceuticals is looking for fresh organic Ph.D.s to do med-chem with an eye towards metabolic diseases and Alzheimers.

Surface chemistry?: A company called Ocean NanoTech wants to hire M.S.-level conjugation chemists with an eye towards bioassay development with quantum dots. Fascinating. Interesting note -- Ocean NanoTech is located in Arkansas. So it's a figurative ocean.

Great for cocktail party chatter: Merck is looking for a process scientist to work on vaccine adjuvants. As long as you're avoiding the anti-vaxxers at the neighborhood picnic...

Kelly Time!: It's like it never ends: Do you like chemistry? Do you want to be a chemist? The brilliant people at Kelly Scientific wish to know if you want to be a food safety manager, a sanitation manager, an animal caretaker or an ATTN! Medical Device Regulatory Affairs Associate. I swear, these people couldn't be dumber if they tried.

Chemjobber C&EN Index: 10/5/09

Industrial positions (non-academic, non-governmental):
Total number of ads: 2
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 2
- Ratio of US/non-US: 2/0
Area: 44
Week to week Index trend: Down.

Governmental positions (US, international):
Total number of ads: 1
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 1
- Ratio of US/non-US: 1/0
Area: 37
Week to week Index trend: Down. 
  
Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 31
- Postdocs: 1
- Tenure-track faculty: 25++
- Temporary faculty: 1
- Lecturer positions: 0
- Staff positions: 3
- Ratio of US/non-US positions: 29/2+
- Area (square cm): 1391
Week to week Index trend: Up 

Ugh: 2 industry positions, both not in the lab. Sigh. Good luck to those who wish them...

Academic positions still going strong: Lots of tenure-track positions, at all levels. 

Small college of the week: Rhodes College (Memphis, TN, student population: 1,664, SA-LUTE!) is looking for a tenure-track assistant professor position in Organic Chemistry. Pretty cool... especially if you like barbecue! 

A visual representation of C&EN's letters on the UCLA/ Sheri Sangji case

Letters reacting to Jyllian Kemsley's article on the UCLA tragedy of research assistant Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji have been posted on C&EN Online. (I really appreciate the fact that C&EN has posted more letters online than they were able to print. Way to go, guys.) More on the letters substantively, later.

Here is a Wordle word cloud representation of all the words used by the correspondents in C&EN:

Here is a word cloud of all the words I've used to talk about the Sangji case:

What's the difference? Not much, really, except for one word: Harran.

UPDATE: C&EN Editor-in-Chief Rudy Baum comments below: "C&EN ran ALL of the letters it received on Jyllian Kemsley's coverage of the accident at UCLA, either in print or online. Harran's name is not prominent in the word cloud because almost none of the letters mentioned him."

In the comments below, I stated my opinion that the lack of Harran's name in the letters was a choice on the part of the editors. My opinion was clearly not correct. Apologies to C&EN and the editorial staff.

Daily (?) Pump Trap: 10/06/09 edition

Morning, folks! Including September 26, there have been 209 new jobs posted on the ACS Careers database. Of those, 106 (51%) are from our friends at KSR. Also, 51 positions (24%) are either postdocs or faculty positions in academia.

Chemist wanted for law firm: Want to work for an international law firm? Keller and Heckman are looking for a chemist for a non-bench position; graduate degree preferred, with experience in plastics.

Biomarker discovery: RTI International is looking for a research chemist (BS/MS with experience) to do mass spectrometry for animal studies. Sounds like fun.

From the future: E-Paper Inc. is looking for chemists (5 positions!) to work on their display screen technology. "Sunny California", the ad says! M.S. or Ph.D. preferred.

Kelly Time!: Same song, different week: Do you like chemistry? Have you always wanted to be a chemist? Kelly Scientific Resources is asking you this week, if you would like to be an "Analista Estadastico", a fungal microbiologist, an animal study director or a veterinarian. Do these people read?!?!

Chemjobber C&EN Index: 9/28/09

Industrial positions (non-academic, non-governmental):
Total number of ads: 4
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 6
- Ratio of US/non-US: 4/2
Area: 499
Week to week trend: Up.

Governmental positions (US, international):
Total number of ads: 1
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 4
- Ratio of US/non-US: 4/0
Area: 336
Week to week trend: Up, slight. 
  
Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 24
- Postdocs: 2
- Tenure-track faculty: 30+
- Temporary faculty: 0
- Lecturer positions: 0
- Staff positions: 0
- Ratio of US/non-US positions: 32+/0
- Area (square cm): 1094
Week to week trend: Down, but (still) strong 


Don't call it a comeback: Lo and behold, a few industry ads. Just a handful, including...


What's your title again?: Novartis is looking for a "Scientific Education Manager" for both Cambridge and Basel. Your job, should you choose to accept it, would be to "catalyze a collaborative culture of learning and training that fosters scientific innovation and interdisciplinary research... [and] to evaluate and develop scientific learning opportunities for NIBR employees at all levels." Fascinating. While I was initially confused by it, it actually sounds like a cool position. Good luck out there. 


Still going strong: Lots of universities hiring, including R1 schools. Good luck to the ~200 or so postdocs who actually have a shot at these positions. 


Small college of the week: Presbyterian College (Clinton, SC, student population 1300, SA-LUTE!) is looking for a tenure-track professor in biochemistry. If you wish to teach at a school that has the largest bronze statue of a Scotsman in the world, this position may be for you! 

Safety officers of the world, cringe!

This is one of those things that bench scientists hate putting up with -- silly visiting dignitaries, using your labs as their props. Why the lab manager could apparently spare PPE for Drs. Fauci and Collins and not HHS Secretary Sebelius or the President of the United States is beyond me. (Photo credit: Lawrence Jackson /White House)

What kind of message would it send to the bench scientists of America if the President had donned a pair of safety glasses and a specially embroidered Presidential lab coat?* Now that would be change I can believe in.

*P.S. Thanks for the stimulus money! There are some seriously starving postdocs out there. Now about all of those out-of-work middle-aged bench scientists...