Good morning! A few of the positions posted on the C&EN Jobs website:
Milford, OH: This is sort of the oddest, most interesting "applied chemistry" position I've seen in a while. It's a PPG position:
West Sacramento, CA: Micromidas is looking for what looks like a M.S./Ph.D. analytical chemist, probably with some industrial experience.
Orangeburg, TX: It's always interesting (as a process chemist) to read and see what a "production engineer" position looks like. This one's pretty interesting.
Shanghai, China: A couple of polyurethane sales positions in Shanghai.
Editorial comment: Do you ever think that if a community/4-year college were to snag an old ICP-MS and some funding for consumables?, they could crank out analytical chemists who could get jobs right away?
A broader look: Monster, Careerbuilder, Indeed and USAjobs.gov show (respectively) "1000+", 1245, 8642 and 23 jobs for the search term "chemist." LinkedIn shows 519 jobs for the job title "chemist", wtih 83 for "analytical chemist, 34 for "research chemist", 4 for "organic chemist", 2 for "synthetic chemist" and 0 for "medicinal chemist."
Milford, OH: This is sort of the oddest, most interesting "applied chemistry" position I've seen in a while. It's a PPG position:
PPG is looking for a Development Chemist who can understand complex technical issues with Packaging Beverage Coatings. The Chemist will work under the direction of senior level Development Chemists, and must demonstrate the potential to develop and communicate hypothesis and work plan strategies independently. The ideal candidate will utilize a solid Chemistry background to develop new products and problem solve, using fundamental design and troubleshooting principles.
Accountabilities include:
Quickly develop an understanding of the technical hurdles in the formulation of packaging coatings. Develop scientific hypothesis (polymer and formulation) and test methods with the objective to resolve the issues at hand and develop fundamental design principles.B.S./M.S. (maybe Ph.D.?) with 5+ years experience.
West Sacramento, CA: Micromidas is looking for what looks like a M.S./Ph.D. analytical chemist, probably with some industrial experience.
Orangeburg, TX: It's always interesting (as a process chemist) to read and see what a "production engineer" position looks like. This one's pretty interesting.
Shanghai, China: A couple of polyurethane sales positions in Shanghai.
Editorial comment: Do you ever think that if a community/4-year college were to snag an old ICP-MS and some funding for consumables?, they could crank out analytical chemists who could get jobs right away?
A broader look: Monster, Careerbuilder, Indeed and USAjobs.gov show (respectively) "1000+", 1245, 8642 and 23 jobs for the search term "chemist." LinkedIn shows 519 jobs for the job title "chemist", wtih 83 for "analytical chemist, 34 for "research chemist", 4 for "organic chemist", 2 for "synthetic chemist" and 0 for "medicinal chemist."
I like the community college instrument tech idea a lot. Those Kelly/Aerotek ads offering $12 an hour to run routine HPLC's frustrate the hell out of laid-off BS/MS/PhD chemists, but this would be a good job for someone with a 2-year degree. I think a lot of this "STEM shortage" stuff we hear about is because companies have trouble filling technician-level jobs, which is their own damn fault because they're unwilling to train a plant guy into a technician like in the old days.
ReplyDeleteRe: Broader outlook/med chem pos.: I don't think that is accurate...I myself have applied for 4 med chem postings alone in the bay area in the past month. Maybe they just aren't posted on those big sites.
ReplyDeleteSo that's a search via LinkedIn.
DeleteI consider LinkedIn to be less comprehensive than Indeed. Indeed shows 15 for the search term "medicinal chemist" (with quotes):
http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=%22medicinal+chemist%22+&l=
"This is sort of the oddest, most interesting "applied chemistry" position I've seen in a while."
ReplyDeleteHow so?
I dunno, I think I was surprised by the specificity of the field ("beverage packaging coatings"), even though I am sure that this is a pretty big field.
DeleteAlso, I don't think I've seen such a position posted before? Finally, the comment about "listening skills" caught my eye.
Your thoughts on the position?
Seems like pretty standard consumer products position to me. Some companies in fmcg will hire new graduates and encourage rotations to get breadth. Others try to hire experienced talent. My impressions of PPG is that they usually like to hire someone with outside experience.
ReplyDeleteWithin disciplines of fmcg, there are special types of skills one develops. Each takes some time before one can really hit the ground running on any type of project. Polymer, formulation, regulatory, and SAR knowledge could really be valuable for PPG for this hire.
Packaging is something which is growing quite a bit right now, especially in mid-size companies. Though this could be do to shrinking of bigger companies. Many big fmcg are laying off and relying heavily on partnerships with other companies to get products to market.