A few (?) of the positions posted at C&EN Jobs this week:
A broader look: Monster, Careerbuilder, LinkedIn and USAjobs.gov show (respectively) "1000+", 535 (down by ~100?), 9,598, and 8 positions. LinkedIn shows 1,479 positions for the job title "chemist", with 194 for "analytical chemist", 37 for "organic chemist", 29 for "research chemist", 35 for "medicinal chemist", and 7 for "synthetic chemist."
Waiting for next year's budget before posting new positions?
ReplyDeleteIn my sector of the specialty/commodity chemicals market, we are prepping for an R&D cull. Nothing like a re-organization to prepare our division for less favorable market conditions and take us "from good to great!" Or so we're told.........
ReplyDeleteYea, the industry has been a game of Survivor for some time now. Good luck in your re-org, hope it works out for you.
DeleteSome people say that the end of the year is the best time to do job searching, since employers want to fill positions before the budget disappears and have their new people in place for January. The unemployment rate is supposedly getting better, however the unemployment office parking lot is packed every time I attend a class! My case manager thought I am a pharmacist and failed to keep up to date with my certifications, then told me that I'm on my own basically and should have no problem in finding employment. She advised me to apply for senior director positions in unrelated fields just because it was at another big pharma company - no clue whatsoever. The unemployment office is currently looking to place truck drivers, welders, seamstresses, and registered nurses.
ReplyDeleteThat was my experience as well. When I showed up with a Ph.D. on my resume and tried to get some money for six sigma training I was told to basically get lost.
DeleteJust to test the theory I came the next time with B.Sc. in ChemE and got pretty smooth sailing until I bailed before anything was entered in their systems.
My better half went to check out the place with a scientific M.Sc. and had so-so service. I got the "over educated" rubbed in thoroughly.
I'm sorry that you had a bad experience. I have a MS, and was told that they didn't have money in the budget for retraining. We were all told to attend a class hosted by the local community college in a couple of weeks, and come back next year to determine if there is a path forward. I am open to doing other things, but need to network more in order to make that happen. I'm doing a volunteer gig now, and going to be attending a ton of classes at the unemployment office to show that I am persistent. It is humbling, for sure, but will add to my life experience...
DeleteHow did things work out for you and the better half?
The one time I met with a "counselor" at the unemployment office, she couldn't stop telling me how much I reminded her of "that tall, goofy Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory." After hearing this a number of times, I stopped her and said "I'm not tall and I'm an experimentalist. I'm clearly more like Leonard." That was very amusing to her. She didn't do anything to help me find a job, though.
DeleteThe experience wasn't all that bad, just that I couldn't get any retraining money. I did get a couple a useful points to update my resume. I had to attend some classes (yawn.....). Just as I was applying for benefit extension I got a call from a recruiter for a decent temp job, so I didn't go to one more seminar they wanted me to go to. Hey, I was at work at that time!
DeleteWhen the temp job run out 18 months later I was trying to get unemployment again. The missed seminar kept me from getting my unemployment check for the next four months. An unpaid day off would have been a lot cheaper.
Ups and downs. Life.
Avista Pharma Solutions in Durham and Longmont is hiring process and analytical chemists:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.linkedin.com/company/avista-pharma-solutions/careers?trk=top_nav_careers
Thanks for the info!
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