Thursday, June 27, 2013

Daily Pump Trap: 6/27/13 edition

Good morning! Between June 25 and June 26, there were 17 new positions posted on the C&EN Jobs website. Of these, 3 (18%) were academically connected and 8 (47%) were from Kelly Scientific Resources.

South San Francisco, CA: Genentech is looking for a Ph.D. analytical chemist to join their corporate QA structure. Sounds vaguely interesting.

Bridgewater, NJ: Henkel is looking for a B.S. chemist to become a product development scientist towards adhesives.

Waynesboro, VA: Invista is looking for an experienced Ph.D. analytical chemist for its apparel division to be a "business analytical chemist." It's a really odd set of skills they're looking for, but it sounds interesting.

Golden, CO: The DOE is looking for a biofuels chemist, looks like. Salary: $89,033.00 - 115,742.00?!?! Nice.

A broader look: Monster, Careerbuilder, Indeed and USAjobs.gov show (respectively) 219, 1008, 2506 and 15 positions for the search term "chemist." (That Careerbuilder number is significantly higher than its typical 650-750 positions.) LinkedIn shows 132 positions for the job title "chemist", with 2 for "organic chemist", 19 for "analytical chemist" and 5 for "research chemist." 

6 comments:

  1. Hey CJ, Reading that DOE opening, it has "this is someone's promotion" written all over it, or "we already have a prof/national lab manager/postdoc that's going to fill this opening."

    And yes, the GS-13 pay scale covers that range, however, to reach the highest step requires being in the position for 20 years. Considering this is basically leading into a Program Manager spot they'll be a GS-15 in 3 to 5 years.

    Its all just a charade to make the hiring process look like its open to anyone. I'll use FOIA and get the person's resume and sent it to you. A 6-pack of your favor carbonate alcoholic beverage says they'll have very close ties to DOE.

    What do you say?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you want to, uh, sure. I think we should keep their name between us, though.

      Delete
  2. Why would someone's promotion be externally listed?

    ReplyDelete
  3. When someone reaches the highest level of their current position in the GOV they have to apply to a position at a higher level if they want to advance. This is due to 2 things: #1. When you're hired into a position with the GOV there is a grade range associated with that position, for example my current position was for GS-7 to GS-11. Once the person reaches the highest grade level for the position they were hired for, they cannot be promoted any higher without applying for another job. #2. Due to #1, when someone reaches the highest grade level and management wants to move them higher, then an opening must be posted for which they must apply. There are many requirements from OPM and the MSPB regarding the posting of openings on USAJobs to have a 'fair and open competition' for any openings. To this end, management then will post openings which are often 'open to all US citizen' but the requirements are crafted so that only the person being promoted is qualified. To this end, the opening and applications are all just a charade for someone's promotion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is exactly correct and applies to every single agency.

      Keep in mind that the level of bureaucratic stupidity in HR (of which you have just a taste here) applies to purchasing, safety, IT, etc. For fed scientists who give a damn, the soul-sucking, illogical, wasteful rules foisted upon us by the worst board of directors in the world (Congress) are the worst part of the job.

      Consider this when looking at salaries on USAJobs.

      Delete
  4. Do public/private companies also post promotions externally?

    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