Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Daily Pump Trap: 7/10/12 edition

Good morning! Between July 3 and July 9, there were 73 positions posted on the ACS Careers website. Of these, 12 (16%) were academically connected and 43 (59%) were from Kelly Scientific Resources.

South San Francisco, CA: Genentech is looking for a senior information specialist, preferably someone with a lot of experience in searching databases. B.S./M.S. in chemistry desired, with M.L.S. "an asset."

Rahway, NJ: Now there's a place I don't get to type very often. Merck is looking for new Ph.D. organic chemists. Yes, you read that right. Check it out (emphasis mine):
Successful candidates will be part of a Global Chemistry Network, working either on a project team to improve the properties of lead drug candidates through the design and synthesis of new small molecules across a range of disease areas, or collaborating across the network to develop innovative solutions to catalytic challenges in organic synthesis. 
Education: PhD required or will be obtaining PhD before July 2013 Required: Candidates must have conducted outstanding research in the field of synthetic organic chemistry or transition metal catalysis while obtaining a Ph.D. in that field. This position requires the mastery of all techniques associated with modern laboratory synthesis, purification and characterization of organic compounds on small and medium scale. Successful candidates will function well within multidisciplinary teams and possess outstanding communication skills. Strong problem solving and troubleshooting skills are required. In addition to strong technical skills, the successful applicant will need to exhibit strong leadership and interpersonal skills. 
Preferred: Additional experience within an academic laboratory (post-doctoral fellowship) or the pharmaceutical/biotech industry is a plus. Our employees are the key to our company's success. We demonstrate our commitment to our employees by offering a competitive and valuable rewards program. Merck's benefits are designed to support the wide range of goals, needs and lifestyles of our employees, and many of the people that matter the most in their lives. 
I can't imagine that Merck's campus recruiting programs won't take care of whatever actual needs they have, so I don't know why this ad is being published. But there we are.

Waltham, MA: Astra-Zeneca is hiring for an experienced Ph.D. medicinal chemist position in infectious diseases; 4+ years in the industry. 

Chicago, IL: Silliker is a food science company -- they're hiring chemists! Lots of chemists! (Well, they are a number of openings for analytical chemists, anyway.)

Macon, GA: KaMin is looking for a B.S. chemist, starting at $18.51/hour. (I sure hope that's the very bottom of the wage scale there.) 

Small companies galore!: Well, not really, but a couple. Avid Pharmaceuticals in Philadelphia is searching for senior analytical chemists. Bothell, Washington's Seattle Genetics (what is their story, anyway?) is looking for 2 positions, a senior process chemist and a senior analytical chemist. Pellion Technologies (the Cambridge battery startup) is hiring an inorganic chemist with 3-5 years of industrial experience.

6 comments:

  1. "Additional experience within an academic laboratory (post-doctoral fellowship) or the pharmaceutical/biotech industry is a plus"

    Sounds like they are hoping to score some Roche Rahway chemists at PhD entry level prices...

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  2. Anon back - meant Roche Nutley not Roche Rahway...

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  3. @CJ: OMG, dude what's with the late post? Isn't it past your bedtime ;)

    Ah, Merck is at it again with its illusory job postings for freshly-minted PhD organic chemists. Sadly, several friends tell me that Rahway and Kenilworth are continuing their pogroms against experienced chemists who actually developed Merck's most profitable and innovative products. Guess they have to make room for the anointed spawn of Harvard, Stanford, and Scripps. Heck, Princeton is just a short jaunt down Route 1…

    Avid (or at least its executive board) is enjoying champagne wishes and caviar dreams ever since Eli Lilly paid $800 Million for its PET-based imaging agent for Alzheimer's plaques.

    Seattle Genetics is riding high on the FDA approval of its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) Adcetris. If you recall from some recent C&EN issues, ADCs are the latest "it-girls" of Pharma. Fads come and go, however the clinical trial data from Adcetris and Genentech's T-DM1 look fabulous. ADCs offer Big Pharma a way to repurpose validated (& patented) therapeutic antibodies and well-characterized (& often open-art) small molecules using proprietary bioconjugation chemistry from small companies like Seattle Genetics. Incidentally, Seattle Genetics has development partnerships up the wazoo with Big Pharma. Judging by "strategic decisions" like the closure of Roche Nutley, bioconjugate drugs, not small molecules, will dominate the next decade.

    On a different topic, I would like to ask for advice from you or anybody else on this forum. How do you know when it's a good time to leave a laboratory research career? Anyway, thanks in advance from a regular reader.

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  4. Macon is not expensive. I see there are two positions, one a Technician, the other a Scientist.
    The Scientist position doesn't appear to be intended for more than an experienced BS. I doubt Kaolin is going away any time soon.

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  5. I see AstraZeneca is still trying to trot out this tripe that they're hiring after laying off half their chemistry staff earlier this year. Bunch of fucking buffoons.

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  6. Kaolin hasn't been doing so well in Georgia, but KaMin could be doing a lot worse. I don't think theres a large payscale for that position though.

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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