Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Daily Pump Trap: 3/1/11

Good morning! And a happy March to you! Between February 24 and February 28, there have been 106 new positions posted on the ACS Careers website. Of these, 14 (13%) are academically connected.

MerckMerckMerckMerck: Of these 106 positions, fully 75 (71%) of them come from the good folks at Rahway and points elsewhere. Sure, while there sure is a position for a senior biologics chemist, there's a lot more positions for senior attorneys and command center technicians. I'm not quitting on this, by the way.

You know...: While I regard China with some level of trepidation, there is no doubt that there is money to be made. Here's an advertisement for a product manager for a scientific instrument company in China -- is there any doubt that this is one of the world's great growth markets for such?

We make the things: BASF is looking for a Ph.D. chemist or chemical engineer with a strong catalysis background; 1-3 years industrial experience desired.

Plastics: St. Gobain is looking for a Ph.D. chemist with a polymers background for a senior research associate position. Silicone chemistry experience is desired, along with 8-10 years experience. (Pssssst -- if you really want that much experience and education, shouldn't you change the title? Just sayin'.)

5 comments:

  1. Maybe Merck is trying to tell the followers of C&EN something. We are a strong company that is hiring and growing, just not with any of you.

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  2. OK, OK, I picked a Merck job at random (who am I kidding, I picked the one on the top) for "Customer Business Manager Job"

    I kid you not, these are some of the qualities they're searching for: "4 years customer-facing work experience"; "Retail industry experience"; "Consumer product knowledge"

    Boy, I should have skipped that part of grad school where I learned about pKas and columns and HPLCs....and just gotten a job at JC Penny.

    Then, perhaps, I could work at Merck...

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  3. CHALLENGE! Can anyone find a stranger Merck post than mine? You have about ~350 to choose from, so enjoy!

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  4. On the title of 'senior research associate' -

    This is a title that is quite common in the chemical industry, for an experienced researcher with 10 years or so of experience after a Ph.D. (or 15 or so after a M.S.).

    At the large chemical company that I used to work for, the progression of titles, starting for new Ph.D.'s was: Chemist, Senior Chemist, Staff Chemist, Research Associate, Senior Research Associate. For the fortunate 10% of people on the technical side, there were then the Research Fellow positions.

    I suppose in the pharmaceutical industry, research associates are the BS/MS chemists who are on the bottom rungs of the ladder.

    On an unrelated topic - What's up with the Merck job announcements? One that sticks in my mind is the summer accountant internship. I've also seen one for mechanics.

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  5. Oh how ye mighty Merck hath fallen!

    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