Company recruiters are on college campuses this fall, talking to chemistry and chemical engineering students who will soon be graduating. They have jobs to fill, and they are looking, as they always are, for the best candidates to fill them. In many cases, though, companies will be hiring fewer people than they did last year. And last year's demand for new graduates was off substantially from the year before.

COURTESY OF MONSANTO

There's no gentle way to put it: New graduates in chemistry or chemical engineering are going to find it harder than it's been in a long time to land their first job.

There are, of course, jobs available, and students with strong résumés and good interviewing skills will receive offers for rewarding work (see page 43). But many new graduates will need to cast their nets more broadly than they would have in years past, and some may face less than ideal options as they begin their professional lives.

The reason, in a word, is the economy. "I think we are all waiting for the U.S. economy to fundamentally turn," says Ron Webb, manager of doctoral recruiting and university relations for Procter & Gamble. "Unemployment is still high, and there's not a lot of work to be found across most of the U.S. economy right now." Employment for chemists, he adds, is no exception.

John MacKinnon, R&D recruiting manager for Dow Chemical, agrees. It's going to be a challenging year to be entering the chemical workforce, he predicts. The factors MacKinnon cites are all economic and apply across the industry: "Weak demand for our products, high oil prices, and low prices for our products themselves. I think other companies are facing exactly the same issues that we are."

At Procter & Gamble, "we're by no means in a hiring freeze, but we are certainly off our normal pace," Webb says. The same could be said for Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, Bayer Polymers, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, to name a handful of bellwether companies for chemical employment.

YET THE PICTURE is not uniformly bleak. DuPont, for example, plans to increase its hiring in the coming year, as do several biotechnology firms. And academic employment remains quite strong, although there, too, some universities are feeling the constraints of tight budgets as they try to hire replacements for retiring faculty or expand their departments.

"We're hiring now at about a third the rate we historically average," Webb says. That means the company will be hiring 20 to 30 Ph.D.s and M.D.s in all fields in the coming year, compared with a long-term average of about 60.

But the biggest change that Webb sees this year is not that overall hiring is down, but rather that it's down uniformly. "The one sector that has been robust in its hiring in recent years has been the health care sector," he points out. "This year, even they are starting to slow down. Health care is starting to look just like all the other sectors that hire chemists."

At Procter & Gamble, which makes prescription drugs as well as consumer products, R&D hiring in the consumer-products areas has been tight for the past several years. Until this year, however, the company had continued to hire chemists for pharmaceutical R&D in order to keep pace with its competitors. "But now we are seeing everybody pinching back, and we are, too," Webb says.

Webb is not alone in his assessment. Hiring of chemists by big pharmaceutical companies will be very slow this year, predicts David M. Floyd, vice president for drug discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb's Pharmaceutical Research Institute. "I don't know of a big company that is considering any significant hiring over the short to intermediate term," Floyd says. Like other major drug firms, Floyd says, "Bristol-Myers Squibb is clearly in a period of transition, and I anticipate only a very few new Ph.D. chemistry hires in 2003."

That could be bad news for new chemistry graduates, who, in recent years, have increasingly been finding their first jobs at drug firms. According to the American Chemical Society's most recent Starting Salary Survey, conducted in October 2001, 29% of new Ph.D. graduates looking for jobs found them with pharmaceutical companies. That's up from the 21% who did so two years earlier. Pharmaceutical companies are the single largest employer of newly minted Ph.D. chemists, according to the survey. They are the largest employer of new bachelor's-level chemists, too, accounting for 20% of their first jobs in 2001.

Joseph R. Flisak, team manager for synthetic chemistry at GlaxoSmithKline, also predicts that this will be a lean year for jobs in the pharmaceutical industry. A major factor, Flisak believes, is the widespread industry consolidation taking place. His company went through such a merger two years ago, when Glaxo and SmithKline formed a single company. The company continued to recruit modestly through the merger process.

This year, Flisak says, "we've been looking at the resource needs of all our departments, and where it makes sense, we will be hiring." The company is looking for analytical, synthetic organic, and computational chemists at the bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. levels and for chemical engineers. Particularly in demand, Flisak says, are people with expertise in robotics and laboratory automation.

At Pfizer's Groton, Conn., R&D facility, recruiting this year is "quite comparable to last year," according to Martin R. Jefson, who is responsible for chemistry recruiting for the site. "This is not aggressive growth, but we are maintaining our current resources." Pfizer has a merger pending with Pharmacia Corp., "and it's impossible to speculate what will happen when the merger is complete," Jefson says. "Our current recruiting represents a cautious approach to maintaining our strength."

Despite near-term uncertainties brought about by the pending merger, Jefson is optimistic for the longer term. "This is still a vibrant industry," he says, "and I do think there will be opportunities at Pfizer, particularly for folks who are really interested in doing science in the laboratory."

Roche Bioscience will be increasing its hiring of chemists this year for the second year in a row, "somewhat bucking the general trend," according to Hans Maag, vice president for medicinal chemistry in the neurobiology business unit. Maag says the Palo Alto, Calif., research arm of Roche will likely hire twice as many chemists this year as it does in an average year. Part of the reason is that the company is placing slightly more emphasis on chemistry than on biology. "Our focus is very clearly on chemists with a very strong synthetic background," Maag says.

Outside of the pharmaceutical industry, several other big employers of chemists and chemical engineers are also cutting back on their hiring, but not eliminating it altogether. "I wouldn't say we are scaling back significantly, but we are definitely scaling back," Dow's MacKinnon says of his company's hiring plans for 2003. Last year, Dow reduced its hiring of scientists and engineers for its R&D effort by about 60%. This year, the company will hold to about that same level, MacKinnon predicts.

This year, Dow has an increased demand for Ph.D.s, rather than for B.S. or M.S. chemists, and a greater need for chemistry majors rather than chemical engineers. In particular, MacKinnon is looking for Ph.D. chemists with expertise in organometallic chemistry, homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysis, small-molecule organic synthesis, process organic chemistry, and polymer synthesis.

Bayer Polymers "will be hiring on a very limited basis and only in what we call critical needs areas," says Lawrence B. Friedman, manager of university relations for that portion of the giant Bayer organization. Bayer is in the midst of a reorganization that will lead to four independent companies under the Bayer umbrella, of which polymers will be one.

Hiring in the chemicals and polymers areas will be less than half of what it was two years ago, which Friedman considers a typical year for hiring. Most of the decrease occurred last year, he says, although "this year, our hiring will be even lower." As is generally the case at Bayer, the company will primarily be hiring chemists, chemical engineers, and polymer scientists at the Ph.D. level. "We will be looking even more closely than we usually do for people who can get up to speed very quickly with us," Friedman says.

At the Ph.D. level, Bayer Polymers hires about equal numbers of chemists and chemical engineers, and its lower recruitment needs are affecting both disciplines equally. That's a big change for chemical engineering graduates, Friedman points out, who have become accustomed to being very much in demand.

"The market's tough right now" for chemical engineering graduates, says Willie R. Bell, employment team leader at Westinghouse Savannah River Co. "Normally, we'd be courting them. We'd have to knock on the doors and roll out the red carpet. But it could be different this year."

Bell says his company will be looking to hire about 45 bachelor's-level engineering graduates this year, about half of them chemical engineers. That's down from more than 100 per year in recent years. The reason for the decrease is that the Department of Energy, for which Westinghouse is a prime contractor, has mandated a shift in the Savannah River workforce away from professional staff toward blue-collar workers, he explains.

That means Westinghouse Savannah River will be recruiting at seven schools this year, instead of more than 20 that they visit in a typical year. "Even with that limited number of schools, we expect to get at least 120 to 130 candidates," Bell says.

"Many companies have been on campus this fall to maintain relationships, but not all were hiring," notes Sharyl M. Hackett, campus relations and diversity manager for ExxonMobil in the U.S. "From ExxonMobil's perspective, it's a great market, providing an excellent opportunity to hire top-quality students." Even so, the company will be hiring fewer chemical engineers this year. But "we have only modestly reduced our Ph.D. chemical engineering targets, as this is a critical discipline for us," Hackett says.

Although opportunities for current graduates may be limited, ExxonMobil has not cut back on the size of its summer intern and co-op programs. "We certainly have opportunities for students to gain work-related experience and develop into the top-quality students we seek," Hackett says.

Not all employers are cutting back on their recruitment of chemical professionals this year. One of the largest, DuPont, will be "recruiting actively and aggressively on campus at all degree levels," says Lin Wang, Ph.D. and science recruiting consultant for the company.

DuPont's stepped-up recruiting efforts reflect the company's improving financial performance, Wang says. DuPont's recently reported third-quarter earnings were more than double the company's earnings in the same quarter last year (C&EN, Nov. 18, page 23).

The low point for recruiting by DuPont came in 2001, Wang says. "We have recovered moderately in recruitment from last year, as DuPont's business has been showing signs of improvement. And for next year, we are cautiously optimistic."

CHEMISTRY PH.D.S are in demand at DuPont this year, Wang comments, especially those in organic, inorganic, and polymer chemistry. Demand for chemical engineers is not as high as in previous years, "but we do have needs in chemical engineering."

"Our leadership believes that DuPont is a science company," Wang continues, "and that science needs to play a prominent role in the company's growth. That's one reason why our businesses are pushing for renewal, particularly in the science fields."

Biopharmaceutical companies present a mixed picture in the current economy. Although as a group, the 30 biotech firms that C&EN regularly tracks reported earnings declines for the first three quarters of 2002, some individual companies are doing very well. And at some companies, financial success is fueling stepped-up recruiting.

Amgen, for example, the largest and most profitable of the biopharmaceutical companies, is actively recruiting for chemists at all degree levels, according to Jeannette Simon, associate manager of human resources. Recruiting has been very active for the company in 2002, she says, and she expects it to be much more active in 2003. "Our drug pipeline is very strong, requiring new personnel in all areas. We launched four new products this year, so there's a lot of activity, and we are planning for a lot of future growth." The company is seeking analytical and protein chemists, as well as chemical engineers, for positions in R&D, in manufacturing, and throughout the company.

"Smaller companies are actively recruiting and may be more competitive this year for the best graduates," says Allan S. Wagman, who recruits for Chiron's medicinal chemistry unit. Chiron is "cautiously expanding and aggressively recruiting," Wagman says. He expects about a 5% jump in hiring of research chemists this year. As is generally true for drug and biotech companies, Chiron is looking particularly for excellent synthetic organic chemists. Such candidates "are getting interviews and offers," Wagman says.

At ChemBridge Research Laboratories in San Diego, "we're seeing better candidates, on average, than we saw a year ago," says Alexander Chucholowski, executive director of chemistry. As a small biotech firm, ChemBridge usually can't compete with larger drug firms for the best candidates, Chucholowski explains. "People who wouldn't have applied for jobs with us last year have an interest in talking to us now," he says. "Very good chemists still have lots of opportunities," he adds, "but I believe the market for chemists is softening somewhat."

DRUG DISCOVERY companies may be a good place for newly graduating chemists to look for work. At Albany Molecular Research, for example, human resources senior director Brian D. Russell expects recruiting to be strong this year. That's "pretty consistent with last year and the year before," he remarks. "Our business continues to grow, and so do our recruiting needs." The company looks primarily for synthetic organic chemists, "but we are also looking for individuals with analytical, microbiology, enzymology, and computational chemistry backgrounds."

Roughly one of every five newly graduated Ph.D. chemists is headed for employment at a university or professional school, according to the most recent ACS Starting Salary Survey. That makes the academic sector second only to drug companies as a source of first employment for chemists. Compared to the employment outlook within much of industry, opportunities in academe remain strong. Yet even here, the lengthy economic downturn in the U.S. may be beginning to soften the market for new assistant professors.

These pressures are most acute at some state universities. The chemistry department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for example, expects retirements to create two vacancies in the coming year, yet department chairman John C. Wright says he won't be able to fill either of them. The state has at least a $1.1 billion deficit, 10% of the state's total budget, and recent newspaper reports suggest that the deficit may be even greater (C&EN, Aug. 26, page 25).

Retirements will have a major effect on the chemistry department in the coming years, since about 18 of the department's 40 faculty are over age 55. However, "next year doesn't look like it's going to be any better--perhaps worse," Wright says.

Dealing with the effects of the deficit falls to the university's deans, he says. "Our dean wants to protect a healthy faculty at all costs," Wright explains, "so he hasn't eliminated all hiring. This year, he has authorized half the number of searches that would normally be authorized. And chemistry didn't get one of those authorizations."

Nevertheless, Wright adds, "that does not mean we are going to be shut out entirely. There are interdisciplinary searches going on, and we often benefit from these."

The nine campuses of the University of California system are being asked to cut their overall budgets by 10%. "That's not a good thing for hiring, to say the least," says William M. Gelbart, chairman of the department of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. Nevertheless, Gelbart says, his department hopes to hire new faculty this year.

"We may be the only division at the university that's hiring right now, but we are hiring," Gelbart says. The reason, as at Wisconsin, is a division dean who is focusing diminished resources on maintaining a strong faculty.

As is true for most large departments at research universities, the UCLA department hires new faculty every year. "We generally have three searches going, and more often than not, we make three offers and get two people," Gelbart says. This year the department hopes to make two offers.

At the University of Florida's chemistry department, "we are doing searches this year, but not as many as we would like," department chairman David E. Richardson says.

"Hiring someone in academic chemistry these days is an expensive proposition," Richardson says. "If you want to do it right, you don't want to try to do it at low cost. So you cut down the number of positions you go after." This year his department is searching for two tenure-track faculty and one nontenured teacher.

A year ago, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Florida's economy was particularly hard-hit as potential tourists shied away from air travel. Resulting budget cuts reduced hiring in the chemistry department from a possible three positions to only one.

Now, Richardson says, "we seem to be getting back on track." Florida's economy is doing well, compared with many other states that are experiencing large cuts in their educational budgets this year, he says. "We are not facing steep declines in our ability to hire."

At Purdue University, the chemistry department is making plans for expansion. The university as a whole will be adding 300 faculty over the next five years. "The new positions will be primarily in interdisciplinary fields of research, and chemistry, we hope, will be able to take full advantage," department head Ian P. Rothwell says.

Although the School of Science, which includes the chemistry department, is still mapping out the areas it hopes to expand into, the department is already actively recruiting, Rothwell says. "The ad is out, and we're collecting the files, though we're not sure yet how many positions we will have open this particular year." The department needs to hire about two people each year to maintain the faculty at its present size of 48, he explains. "We're seeing that many of the best applications are in strongly interdisciplinary areas."

INTERDISCIPLINARY research interests are also becoming more important at Harvard University's department of chemistry and chemical biology. Traditional boundaries between scientific disciplines like physics, chemistry, biology, and even medicine are morphing, says Anthony R. Shaw Jr., codirector of graduate studies for the department. That fluidity has changed what the department seeks in its junior faculty. Although the traditional evaluation tools of what research a candidate has done and who they have done it with continue to be important, so is a capability of looking at multiple areas of traditional science, Shaw says. Recruiting will be fairly typical this year at Harvard, Shaw adds, where the department tries to hire about two new faculty every year.

The chemistry department at Texas A&M University hopes to slightly expand its department this year. It has four entry-level positions and one more senior position, according to department head Emile A. Schweikert. Two of the entry-level positions were open last year as well. Then, the department was unable to find a suitable candidate for one position and made an offer that was not accepted in the other.

This year, Schweikert says, the applicant pool seems much stronger, both in terms of the number of applicants and in their quality. That may be because the department has modified its search, broadening it to look for the best candidates, with less concern for their particular subdiscipline, Schweikert suggests. Economic conditions that have cut back industrial openings may also be a factor, he says.

It's not unusual for academic positions to go unfilled from one year to the next, and seasoned observers advise those looking for tenure-track appointments to be prepared for a lengthy job search. "People have sometimes needed to take a second, and occasionally even a third, postdoc if they are really determined to find an academic position," says UCLA's Gelbart. "It takes that long for them to get lucky. They deserve a good position, but they have to be in the right place at the right time, and they have to persevere."

Yet fundamentally, Gelbart is optimistic about the prospects for academic employment in chemistry. "Overall, I think the situation has been steady for many years for people who want to go into academia," he says. "There are ups and downs. Sometimes it's better at the public universities; sometimes it's better at the private ones. But overall, people who are determined to find an academic position will find one."

GO TO

INTRODUCTION - EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK 2003

DEMAND

The year ahead is shaping up as even tougher than this one for those seeking employment in most fields of chemistry. Jobs are available, but the hunt is likely to be long and arduous.

WANTED
Scientists Needed To Help Secure The Homeland

BEYOND GRAD SCHOOL
When Jobs Are Scarce, Some Seek Postdocs

SALARIES & EMPLOYMENT

The unemployment rate for chemists climbed to 3.3% in 2002, the highest rate measured in more than 30 years' worth of ACS surveys. But for chemists already in the workforce, the salary situation remained quite strong.

WORKFORCE
Societies Look At Changing The Face Of Science & Engineering

THE INTERVIEW

Seasoned chemical industry recruiters describe what works and what does not, plus a list of tips for the interviewee.

HEALTH INSURANCE

What employees need to know about ensuring continued coverage when their employment status changes.

CAREER-PLANNING RESOURCES

A guide to sources of job and career information well suited to chemical scientists seeking industrial, academic, or government positions or looking to change careers. Some of the most comprehensive resources can be found at the American Chemical Society.

Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society