I wanted to share something I'm hearing from recruiters for industrial jobs who have been recruiting at [major research university] this fall. They are getting fewer applicants than in previous years, and really want to hire. In talking with some students/postdocs here, we think that people are worried about applying because they lost a year of productivity to COVID, so they don't think they will be competitive. If any of your readers are feeling this way, they should definitely apply: they aren't competing against the graduates from before COVID, they are competing against everyone else who also lost a year.[redacted sentence] There are definitely other reasons for the worker shortage (raise wages!) but there is probably some self-filtering happening even before the salary negotiation stage.
I broadly agree with the professor, but I have a different angle to why I end up in the same place (i.e. "now (early fall 2021) is a good time to apply." The annoying part of applying to positions isn't the Black Hole of Not Knowing After Applying, it's the time and emotional investment of writing all the stupid stuff that you need to write, i.e. a cover letter, a resume, a research summary, etc., etc. That part takes time, and to have an investment of time with an unknown payoff can be daunting.
However, so far as I can tell, we really are in a period of time where the entry-level barriers to being hired in the pharma/chemical industry seem to be shifting/falling, and I feel your chances of landing a job (especially without a postdoc) are higher for the last 2-3 years than they've been in a very long time. I make no guarantees as to what Fall 2022 will be like, and anyone who tells you they know is guessing as well. So I agree with MRU professor - apply now.
Best wishes to all those applying.
Feels like the late 1990s/early 2000s before things slowed way down in 2003/4 before the last great contraction. My university (Tier 1 Research, big name advisor, etc) went from 18 companies recruiting/hiring and all my friends getting amazing offers to only 1 company showing up the next year. I was looking forward to not having to postdoc and move on with life then scrambling to find one and write grants for funding.
ReplyDeleteYes! My large pharma has positions to fill. We've extended offers to several grad students who already have 2-5 offers, even though they have 6-12 months expected before finishing their PhD.
ReplyDeleteI am from synthetic chemistry background with Ph.D Organic Chemistry.. Looking for Postdoctoral position in organic chemistry and also interested in laboratory manager including NMR spectroscopy jobs
ReplyDeleteDo not do this on my blog. If you do this again, your comments will be deleted. - CJ
DeleteUsual disclaimer about this being anecdotal evidence and most likely doing something else wrong of course. I think my biggest sin is not going to a top 10 school for my PhD.
ReplyDeleteI've started to look for industry jobs after more than a year and a half as postdoc for a research institution. I have multiple first author publications including 1st author JACS and Science papers, lead inventor on a patent, I've won university level awards and done the ACS circuit at the national and regional levels, secured little bouts of funding here and there throughout grad school, mentored multiple undergraduate and early stage graduate students, collaborated with national labs, secured funding throughout grad school by managing shared instrumentation for the chemistry department. I even worked as a B.S.-level chemist before grad school.
I have applied to more than 30 industrial positions, the last application being sent off more than a month ago and I'm trying to refocus on the research and give applications time to process. I have only heard back from three employers, rejected by all, including one place which was nice enough to at least let me know they rejected me two days after I submitted my application. This was my similar experience at the end of grad school when I went for these types of positions. I'm sure something is amiss in the resume, cover letter etc. portfolio and this is mostly just cathartic internet ranting I know.
I can't wait to get out of chemistry and am actively seeking a career change now. I would completely understand if I was going for an R1 tenure track position or being ambitious with my applications, but I'm literally just trying to get my foot in the door at some kind of industrial level position and I can't even get an interview. It'd be nice not to have to live and breath chemistry 24/7 or to have to have some super name-recognized, pedigreed PI/university on my resume to get a real job even amidst a "worker shortage" but that's just where the field is at from my very, very limited perspective.
Sorry about the whining/rant and not seeking advice in this post, but just got caught up in the moment.
Happy to try to help. chemjobber@gmail.com - CJ
DeleteIf you are an organic chemist, have you thought about trying to apply to a CRO/CDMO/CMO? They will usually take a chance on someone with little to no experience, and likely pay very well in this current market. If this is outside of organic chemistry or analytical method development, then I cannot comment on the likes of the job market for you.
DeleteSorry to hear that:( in my grad school's department (i still have my school email for now) I do notice an increase of # of companies visiting us doing recruitment events (though mostly its organic); Feb this year I've also seen contractor/staffing agencies started to notice my resume much better than last Dec; ThermoFisher recruiters actually emailed me in March after ignoring my countless applications. From what Ive seen if your PI knows somebody or even sent students to a company, you'd get a pretty good chance to get hired; however if you try to break into industry with no connections AND with years of exp on something else, its very difficult; I've seen several experienced career moves but they all stuck with the same field.
DeleteThis is the OP from September 1st, 2021 at 3:57 PM, the CRO route was particularly good advice, I have applied to a couple in the last couple of weeks and have heard back from two of them with great turn around. Maybe I was being a bit too ambitious trying to jump right into BigPharma name (even at an entry level position) or a more specialized company right off the bat.
DeleteThanks for the advice (to everyone), definitely in a better headspace and a lot more level headed.
Putting together a research summary, resume, and cover letter should hopefully be a mostly one-time thing with a small incremental cost as you apply to more positions (tweaking resume, letter, etc. for specific jobs). Once the resume is crafted in the first place, customizing it (and the letter) for other jobs shouldn't take long.
ReplyDelete