Imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail from Lab Monkey, suggesting that I look at LM's new blog, LabMonkey4Hire. It is an analysis of the chemistry job market in the UK. (Personally, I really like the occasional focus on a job category -- it's something I might copy!) Below is an e-mail Q&A with Lab Monkey; the answers were briefly edited by CJ and checked for accuracy by LM.
CJ: Can you tell me a little about your background?
LM: I graduated as a chemist around 10 years ago, worked in a couple of relatively small companies - earning not much money but having a great time - before the lure of untold wealth and benefits attracted me to the world of pharmaceuticals. I'm still chasing the rainbow to find the pot of gold :-)
CJ: What has the last few years been like for chemists in the UK and in Europe?
LM: Traditional bench chemistry feels like a career in decline in the UK - the boom years of the 90's have well and truly passed. In the early 2000's, medium and large sized chemical companies still had annual recruitment drives for graduates - the jobs section in New Scientist was packed - but now you have to do a lot more digging. While most larger companies have had recruitment freezes for a few years now (and in some industries made massive cuts), the smaller CROs appear to be surviving with their lower cost structure (and salaries) - as they pick up outsourcing from the larger ones. I think Europe has been seeing similar trends as the non-EU parent companies shift their manufacturing and R&D elsewhere. Interesting anecdote though - we've had a large French chemist population in the UK for a long time due to the even worse prospects there, but a lot of them seem to have been heading back to France recently...
CJ: What is the state of pharma in the UK?
LM: Pharma has had a difficult 3-4 years in the UK - with widespread site closures and bouts of redundancies. Of the top 10 pharma companies in the UK - all common names - most if not all have been affected.
CJ: How is finding a job different in the UK than in the US?
LM: I guess we have the same basic process - regularly checking sites like NewScientistJobs and Monster, sending off CVs, wondering whether the agency will ever get back to you. I wonder though whether networking is easier in the UK, and "they" say that's the future of recruitment. As we're a small country and industry tends to be concentrated in a few key locations, you fairly quickly build up a network throughout industry from university, various jobs, conferences, vendors, service engineers, etc. LinkedIn is making this even easier - it keeps people on your radar - but I don't think it's reached its potential yet. The other advantage of being a small nation is it's fairly easy to move, and family/friends are usually no more than a few hours drive away.
CJ: Do you see things getting better or worse in the next year?
LM: I think we may have a bit of a breather in 2011. The recent cuts need a bit of time to work themselves out, which will hopefully buy us 12-18 months stability in R&D. With advances in new technologies and green energy, I'd really love to see an explosion of start-ups to take on entrepreneurial chemists looking for high risk/high reward jobs.
CJ: Anything else you'd like to say to the CJ readership?
LM: Only that if you'd like more info on the UK jobs market, please join me at labmonkey4hire.blogspot.com. It's been heavily inspired by Chemjobber's format of regular highlights from the jobs boards; and hopefully will evolve with related news in the near future.
[CJ here again]. Just like he says, if you're interested in the job market for chemists in the UK, head over there! Thanks to LM for the great Q&A!
CJ: Can you tell me a little about your background?
LM: I graduated as a chemist around 10 years ago, worked in a couple of relatively small companies - earning not much money but having a great time - before the lure of untold wealth and benefits attracted me to the world of pharmaceuticals. I'm still chasing the rainbow to find the pot of gold :-)
CJ: What has the last few years been like for chemists in the UK and in Europe?
LM: Traditional bench chemistry feels like a career in decline in the UK - the boom years of the 90's have well and truly passed. In the early 2000's, medium and large sized chemical companies still had annual recruitment drives for graduates - the jobs section in New Scientist was packed - but now you have to do a lot more digging. While most larger companies have had recruitment freezes for a few years now (and in some industries made massive cuts), the smaller CROs appear to be surviving with their lower cost structure (and salaries) - as they pick up outsourcing from the larger ones. I think Europe has been seeing similar trends as the non-EU parent companies shift their manufacturing and R&D elsewhere. Interesting anecdote though - we've had a large French chemist population in the UK for a long time due to the even worse prospects there, but a lot of them seem to have been heading back to France recently...
CJ: What is the state of pharma in the UK?
LM: Pharma has had a difficult 3-4 years in the UK - with widespread site closures and bouts of redundancies. Of the top 10 pharma companies in the UK - all common names - most if not all have been affected.
CJ: How is finding a job different in the UK than in the US?
LM: I guess we have the same basic process - regularly checking sites like NewScientistJobs and Monster, sending off CVs, wondering whether the agency will ever get back to you. I wonder though whether networking is easier in the UK, and "they" say that's the future of recruitment. As we're a small country and industry tends to be concentrated in a few key locations, you fairly quickly build up a network throughout industry from university, various jobs, conferences, vendors, service engineers, etc. LinkedIn is making this even easier - it keeps people on your radar - but I don't think it's reached its potential yet. The other advantage of being a small nation is it's fairly easy to move, and family/friends are usually no more than a few hours drive away.
CJ: Do you see things getting better or worse in the next year?
LM: I think we may have a bit of a breather in 2011. The recent cuts need a bit of time to work themselves out, which will hopefully buy us 12-18 months stability in R&D. With advances in new technologies and green energy, I'd really love to see an explosion of start-ups to take on entrepreneurial chemists looking for high risk/high reward jobs.
CJ: Anything else you'd like to say to the CJ readership?
LM: Only that if you'd like more info on the UK jobs market, please join me at labmonkey4hire.blogspot.com. It's been heavily inspired by Chemjobber's format of regular highlights from the jobs boards; and hopefully will evolve with related news in the near future.
[CJ here again]. Just like he says, if you're interested in the job market for chemists in the UK, head over there! Thanks to LM for the great Q&A!
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looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20