1. HELPING CHEMISTS FIND JOBS IN A TOUGH MARKET. 2. TOWARDS A QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE QUALITY OF THE CHEMISTRY JOB MARKET.
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| Photo credit: Flickr user akahodag (Creative Commons) |
What's the job market like for chemists? Dude -- it's always bad.*
How bad is it? How the heck should I know? Quantifying the chemistry job market is what this blog is about. That, and helping chemists find jobs.
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(*For the literal-minded, this is a joke. Mostly.)
I'm currently on the hunt for an entry level PhD position in the Boston area, and things have loosened up a little bit, i.e. from pretty much nothing to something here and there.
ReplyDeleteGot an email this week from one of my students whom I helped with passing orgo... she got a job working QC. She'd failed it the first time and needed the course to graduate. Happy for her.
ReplyDeleteUpset about your job prospects in chemistry? Let Obama know about it! Help create demand for chemists and other STEM workers, not additional supply!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.linkedin.com/groups/Tens-thousands-scientists-cannot-find-4094334.S.72363493?view=&gid=4094334&type=member&item=72363493
Physical chemistry PhD here (and long-time reader)... spent about ~ 20 months looking, starting pre-thesis defense, for an industry position. Finally found something, and it's pretty much exactly what I was looking for, high-risk/high-reward research with a startup.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what exactly the lesson is here... I have a lot of musings about my job search that would take too long to put in here. I guess it takes a lot of grit, running down every opportunity that you can find, and maybe something will work out. No guarantees of course!
Also, one thing I've learned is, don't get too excited about an interview... It's not that big of a deal for most companies to fly you out to wherever and put you up in a hotel. If you're eloquent enough and able to sound excited about your research on the phone, you'll probably get interviews... I had 6 on-sites before I got this position!
My experience has been, most companies (esp. startups) won't make the hard-nosed "do we *really* need this guy/girl?" decision until after the interview anyway. Make sure your suit's clean, your breath stays fresh, and you can clearly communicate your research skills and experience is about the best you can do.