Thursday, July 21, 2011

Daily Pump Trap: 7/21/11 edition

Good morning! Between July 14 and July 20, 118 new positions were posted on the ACS Career website. Of these, 6 (5%) are academically connected.

B-A-S-F! B-A-S-F!: 17 positions desired by the the people who make the products you buy better; all good looking chemistry positions, including (stunningly) a position in China. Lots of intriguing ones, including an Informational Professional, a Computational Chemist and a Product Data Specialist.

Akron, OH: Goodyear has posted 3 positions, all polymer-related. Sounds good.

Atlanta, GA: Coca-Cola is looking for a EH&S person with at least 7 years of experience. Seems awfully cushy.

Zeroes!: PPG Industries is hiring Ph.D. chemists with 0-2 years of experience; you'll be working on organic dyes and polymers as well.

Vidalia, LA: Boehringer Ingelheim is looking for a B.S. chemist (3-5 years exp.) for a process development position working on adsorbents.

Wilmington, DE: DuPont desires a B.S./M.S. organic chemist for work on organic LEDs; 2+ years of experience desired.

Merrrrrcccckkkk!: 76 positions (66%) from our friends in Rahway, including one in Quebec titled "Chef service de la paie Job." I wonder if it means "Head Chef of Quebec" -- that'd be a pretty cool job. 

6 comments:

  1. "Oui, monsieur, I will prepare vous a bon souffle biotechnique!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just got a a job in June at the BASF facility in my hometown fresh out of college with a B.S. in Chemistry. They are clamoring for good people right now at nearly every site. I've heard that many managers are having a hard time filling positions due to a lack of qualified candidates actually following through with the interview process. Discussions with them seem to indicate that many people, especially PhD's going for Staff Scientist positions, think they're "too good" to make resins, coatins, and emulsions. Then again, if that's the attitude you want to take, have fun at Pfizer...

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  3. I posit the problem is that some expect that PhDs have experience with resins, coatings, and emulsions.

    Only the Polymer Science/Materials Science programs are doing similar things.

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  4. I agree with anon12:17. I can guarantee that lots of organic chemists would jump at these opportunities, but are getting weeded out by the requirements. Just a couple of examples:

    You have earned a PhD in chemistry, physics or engineering in the area of (organic) semiconductors and already gained experience in vacuum deposition technology for device and materials research. To this, you add a broad knowledge in semiconductor physics and in optical and electrical characterization methods for semiconductors as well as solar cells.

    Beyond a university degree in Chemistry or one of the Sciences (or the equivalent), you will have experience in the formulation of coil coatings, specifically in plastisol, polyester, polyurethane, and acrylic technologies. Knowledge of production processes, coatings chemistry, and coatings applications is also required. In addition to sound knowledge of customer processes, with experience of line-based coil-coating issues, understanding of the underlying chemistry involved with formulations to aid development is required.

    You have the University degree (PhD) with achievements above average in Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry or Physical Chemistry. You have broad experience in the field of Polymer Physics, Material Sciences, Polymer Synthesis or Polymer Characterization and you can show impressive educational achievements to date as well as relevant industrial placements.

    I know very few classically trained organic chemists who can meet these requirements.

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  5. BTW, NewChemist, if you know how some of these Ph.Ds can get their foot in the door at BASF, why don't you post some tips here? Then when people apply have them go through you so you get the referral bonus. Win-win!

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  6. I have a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry, and even if I were still doing lab work, I wouldn't be chosen for the Ph.D. job announcement above. Guess how many polymer chemists have experience with vacuum deposition technology? Not many.

    I suspect that companies like BASF want some other company to train people in narrow fields, and then the BASF's of the world will be interested in those individuals.

    I would also like to know more details from New Chemist above. Are you working in BASF's coatings division?

    At least PPG is willing to hire relatively new Ph.D.'s without specialized experience.

    BTW, "Chef service de paie" is just a more elegant way of saying 'Payroll Manager'. If you read through the Merck job posting, at the end it says they want a 'CPA ou equivalente' or something to that effect.

    I bet no one at ACS Careers speaks French. Or if they do, they don't care about posting Payroll Manager jobs on their chemist job board.

    ReplyDelete

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