One Source, Science citation index, journals, trade press. ⢠assets to ... raw material supply, a suitable factory, a
Building my Career as a Chemist
August 2, 2015
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Personal observations • younger professionals often times laid off in their companies (especially pharma), whereas older professionals often time working in one place for most of their lives • recent graduates struggling to find industry jobs, often times doing one or more postdocs out of desperation • most PhD students do not prepare for the job market at all and are only focused on their current, limited studies and leisure
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Personal goals • landing a solid job from which I can transition away from research and direct involvement in science towards business side • becoming less and less dispensable • making myself more valuable and marketable than peers • building a profitable side business
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Potential personal side projects to pursue full time for 3 months and part time afterwards for another 6 months until graduation • Create Organic Chemistry online course • Create a website with book reviews relevant to business (www.istudybusiness.com) • Pursue CFA qualification, Level 1 in 3 months full-time, levels 2 and 3 part-time • Create website with reviews on a different but somewhat related scientific subject (problem: not really interested, also: possibly narrowing myself down too much for the job market) 1
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UK companies that hire organic chemists
Spreadsheet: http://bit.ly/1Iy9Pbn
Information gathered from professionals 5
General Career Paths • process development • technical service • business development (more senior, within 10-15 years)
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Industries • pharmaceuticals • fine organics • personal care (financially least robust) • food products • energy
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Skills necessary to success apart from technical • leadership • economics • business • public speaking - Attending Toastmasters now • written communication - I do want to write more, see section 3
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What work as a Chemist is like (in bigger companies?) • Supervision of assistants • planning of experiments and reporting results • little actual lab work 2
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Finding the first job
9.1
General Advice
• Resume is direct mail advertising!!! • be open to, and look into all kinds of organic chemistry positions, and don’t be too narrow • large outsourcing of organic chemistry to Southeast Asia has probably peaked and may be reversing a little • there are opportunities in large companies, small companies and now many academic labs have developed efforts in drug discovery - look into them all, don’t limit yourself • take opportunities to network at ACS and BIO meetings to help get a sense of opportunities and make connections • broaden your skill base as much as possible, while maintaining your expertise in organic chemistry (other skills - analytical, purification, presentations, etc) • maintain an ongoing desire to learn and broaden your knowledge base - being able to work at the interface of different disciplines is a real benefit • Postdoc is necessary for academia or high level pharma positions • Adapt resume for each company individually • working in big companies has the advantage of giving you a lot of expertise in a field quicker than in small companies
9.2
Company Research
• One Source, Science citation index, journals, trade press • assets to liability ratio, size of company in financial terms, number of employees, sites etc, and also whether they have launched any new products recently or had any recent acquisitions or major divestments.
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Questions to ask for company interview
• Plan some questions for your interview that make it clear that you have attempted to analyze the business and how it’s products are marketed. • raw material supply, a suitable factory, a quality system, a logistics system, customers who can pay (on-time) • one of your questions will make it clear that you are serious about the company and the possibility of working for that company. 3
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Direct company recommendations
• Wuxi (China) • Boehringer Ingelheim • BASF • Shell (org. chem only in the US)
9.5 9.5.1
Alternative Careers Competitive Intelligence
Some CI is being taught in business schools, but generally people develop expertise in a field, learn some search analysis techniques, then do CI in an organization for a while. Getting consistent funding for CI in a big company is tough, so during lean times, people will move to marketing, business analysis, or become independent consultants. CI is a good role for folks to transition mid-career 9.5.2
Sales
• a lot of traveling required • initial industry experience recommended • a lot more jobs than candidates in scientific sales. Most require at least 1-2 year of sale experience. • questions to answer in a job interview: – How would you answer ”what experience do you have in sales? ∗ you could get a sales job which requires little to no experience. E.g part time at the local department store. ∗ you could contact a future potential employer and say something ” I am considering to get into sales and I wonder if you would allow me to shadow one of your sales guys for a day or two....” You can then include this in your cv and or your covering letter to address the ”concerns ” mentioned above. ∗ you can apply for an inside sales with a view of becoming field sales. Sales support roles are easier to get into and they can open up doors. – Why should we offer you this role over someone with years of experience? – Why did you study for so long and now you want to get into sales?
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