1. HELPING CHEMISTS FIND JOBS IN A TOUGH MARKET. 2. TOWARDS A QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE QUALITY OF THE CHEMISTRY JOB MARKET.
Other business before the council includes approval of a $4.00 increase in ACS dues to $158 for 2015.
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.)
ACS cares only about the rich and famous. It is a sham non-profit organization, one that needs professional members only as far as they provide a tax-exempt cover for its hugely-profitable publishing business.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely considering not renewing this year. Its become a $158 magazine subscription for me, which doesn't seem worth it.
ReplyDeletei spent my ~$150 on beer this year, no regrets
ReplyDeleteAfter I finished grad school, my next ACS renewal was bumped up to full member. I crossed it out and marked I was still a grad student, and sent them $78. I've been a post grad 'grad student' now for 3 years. I think it just goes to show that the ACS really isn't a non-profit, and as long as they're getting some money out of you they're happy.
ReplyDeleteNo idea why anyone would spend $158 on this.
ReplyDeleteEveryone I knew with an ACS membership had it because they planned to attend an ACS meeting and the membership was cheaper than the difference between the nonmember/member registration fee. It currently costs over $400 for a non student member to attend an ACS meeting for 2 days. I think that this is too high a price for the speakers to pay. Speakers provide the content and therefore do the work, they shouldn't have to pay the ACS as though the ACS was doing them a favor. Also, I find it ridiculous that the ACS meetings forbid you from bringing your own coffee and snacks to the venue. Pay to go, pay to give a talk on your hard work, pay extra for a crappy cup of coffee.
DeleteAbout eight years ago I started throwing those envelopes in the trash. They started phoning me for a while like a collection agency, so I had them pit me on their do-not-call list. I never learned why they are such a useless professional association until it was pointed out that membership dues are only about 10% of their GI with the vast majority coming from accessing publications. So, they need chemists to create content and to demand that their employers pay a pretty penny for access to that content. Having a lot of members is about giving them cover (if nobody joined that would be a problem). But if everybody joined that would be a problem too, because their member unemployment data would trend towards accurate and that would dry up some of the cheap student labor as students fled to other disciplines with better (and more accurate) prospects.
ReplyDeleteOh come on, it takes over 5000 members' dues to add up to Madeleine Jacobs' salary, so it can't be THAT bad, right? Right?
ReplyDelete$158 for a mug is definitely too much.
ReplyDeleteACS CEO = $800,000 per year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chemical_Society). Not renewing anymore. The magazine comes to the school's library anyway.
ReplyDelete$158 for a mug is definitely too much.
ReplyDeleteI've been an ACS member for over 20 years and have never received a coffee mug. WTF!
They are so awash in conflict-of-interest due to their business dealings that I refuse to support them with any 'dues'. Their heart is in making money from content and publishing. They should spin off CAS, spin off publishing, then we can talk.
ReplyDeleteFor too long I was a loyal worker bee in their ecosystem. I spent 70 to 100 hours a week at work, mostly in the lab, writing proposal and especially manuscripts. I did the writing, the graphics design, and ultimately the page setting using their templates. I paid page charges. I bought journal subscriptions and reprints. I reviewed their other submissions. I made sure my employer purchased on-line access. And I paid dues.
ReplyDeleteScrew them.
There has to be some benefit for being a member in a professional society like the American Chemical Society...right? If a chemist is not a member of ACS, are there other professional societies I should consider joining?
ReplyDeleteSome of the smaller ones are more relevant to my particular field, and they tend to have lower dues. A sampling...
DeleteMaterials Research Society $115
American Vacuum Society $105
Electrochemical Society $105
Society for Applied Spectroscopy $80
(Many now cover areas that have long departed from their original intent, so the names can be a bit misleading.)
However, unless membership is included with a conference fee, I don't bother since my employer won't spring for membership but will pay for conferences. Anyway, many of the core functions of a scientific society have been taken over by social networking sites like LinkedIn.
I'm an ACS employee and I'd never consider being a member - why? The discount on a meeting is it. And yes, Jacobs' salary makes me especially dedicated to NOT being a member.
ReplyDelete