KAREN WATKINS, C&EN NORTHEAST NEWS BUREAU

Life for chemists is not restricted to beakers and Bunsen burners in research laboratories. There's a whole other world out there, one in which chemists work on more immediate problems in close collaboration with customers and turn research novelties into reality. This is as true for the specialty chemicals business as it is for the entire industrial world.

	DETECTIVE WORK Wesley Whipple, an applications research scientist at Ondeo Nalco, investigates the kinetics of a polymerization reaction.

Applications development and technical service jobs are alike in that both are strongly customer driven.

Unlike R&D, which focuses on developing truly novel products, "technical service and development tend to focus on product line extensions, new applications of existing products, and fine-tuning our current offerings to meet customer needs," says Andrew N. Liveris, business group president for performance chemicals at Dow Chemical. "Technical service and development people are on the front line with the customers, providing technical support and troubleshooting on a day-to-day basis."

The main difference between the two jobs is the type of product they handle. Applications development generates new products or uses for existing products, whereas technical service does not involve modifications. Tech service representatives mainly help customers to use existing products as conditions change, says Alvin C. Lavoie, director of technical staffing at specialty chemicals producer Rohm and Haas.

Chemists and chemical engineers working in technical service tend to be enthusiastic about their jobs, finding them exciting, stimulating, and challenging. "There is a lot of satisfaction because I'm involved in a product from the beginning to the end, from when it was conceived of as a possibility, all the way down until we're making parts from it--the whole cycle," says Amy Clement, a technical service representative working in isocyanate prepolymers for Crompton Corp.

"If chemists are energized by uncertainty, this is a great job for them," adds Mike Lucartorto, human resources director at water treatment and process chemicals firm Ondeo Nalco. People in applications development and tech service also must tolerate not having complete control of events. "You can shut an experiment down and walk away from it, but you can't walk away from an angry partner," says John Peeples, human relations administrator at Lubrizol, a lubricating oils and fluid technology firm. 

PEOPLE WHO enjoy applications development and technical service jobs are generally those who are challenged by problems and like being able to use their technical background to solve them, says Gloria Stine, leader for technology and technical services in Solutia's industrial products division. Such individuals like to work with many different people and want to see the impact of their work.

Lavoie lists the three routes through which Rohm and Haas brings people into a technical service group: hiring them directly out of school as inexperienced rookies, accepting internal transfers from Rohm and Haas groups having some familiarity with the customer base, and hiring experienced people from the industry.

Though not many are hired out of school, Lavoie likes new graduates' energy, open minds, and cutting-edge education. Internal transfers have the advantage of knowing the company's product line and perspective, but they don't always know the customer base and the marketplace, or the outside world's perspective. External hires know the outside world but don't thoroughly understand the company's product line or its nuances.

Many people join Lubrizol and Dow Corning, the silicon chemistry specialist, working in the nuts and bolts of their R&D organizations, learning the basic technology that underpins the company, and then moving to interact with customers.

Though chemists may start their careers at Lubrizol in the research lab, recruiters look at the person's potential beyond that setting. "They don't just wear white coats anymore," Peeples says. At Lubrizol, "the lab is a feeder for technical service, the commercial division, and different avenues," adds Dave Mayher, human resources manager.

Dow Corning also fills many of its tech service positions from within the organization, rather than through outside recruiting, says Executive Director of Science & Technology James White. This process allows employees hired into research to be exposed to customers and decide whether they want their career paths to take them into the more customer-facing parts of the organization.

Apart from internal transfers, specialty chemical companies use a variety of techniques to locate prospective hires, including campus recruiting, alumni recruitment, and the Internet. Dow uses an internal job-posting process as well as a global external hiring process "to ensure we are considering a diverse candidate pool that reflects the world in which we do business," says Liveris.

Some unusual methods have also been successful. Solutia has a program in which its more senior employees use their networks to find higher level people. Ondeo Nalco has a lucrative referral program among its own employees, says Bill Pauss, senior sales and marketing recruiter.

REGARDLESS OF where they come from, applications chemists and tech service chemists share many traits. Comfort with a high level of change is key to a tech service or applications job. Specialty chemicals companies must be sure that new hires are able to adjust to the frequent changes in problems and in the marketplace, says Dennis McGurer, global director of education, development, and employment at Ondeo Nalco. "Sometimes people struggle with that," he cautions. "We need to let them know this up front. But the business can be extremely rewarding and satisfying, too."

A person comfortable in this job gets an adrenaline rush from the excitement of constant change--of not knowing what's going to come next, says Rohm and Haas's Lavoie. A person who likes to keep to a schedule, who likes to come to work knowing exactly what he's going to do that day, who doesn't like being interrupted, would experience great frustration, he adds.

While comfort with change perhaps tops the list for technical service people, experience ranks high also, says Anne P. Noonan, vice president of technology, marketing, and advocacy in Great Lakes Chemical's flame-retardant business. In most applications development and technical service jobs, specialty chemicals companies prefer to see candidates with some experience, either within the company or in the broader industry. Though Noonan will sometimes take people without experience, at the moment "we have enough green people and don't want any more."

"For technical service, we prefer people with experience in the company or a related industry, rather than going straight out of college into that role," says Lubrizol's Mayher. "If they have a few years of experience, we jump at those people."

Carol Jensen, vice president for R&D in performance chemicals at Dow, agrees on the need for experienced people, although "we have a mix of campus hires and experienced hires."

As with other specialty chemicals companies, Dow likes to draw from the talent present in an industry that is one of its key markets, Jensen adds. "Experienced hires who come out of the target industry tend to have an intimate understanding of the application issues," Jensen contends. "Often, customers cannot articulate the problems or issues they have in an application, so someone who has been in that role often anticipates the needs faster than those discovering them would."

Solutia also prefers experienced over green people. "Rarely is technical service an entry-level job, unless it's in a supporting role for someone in tech service," says Stine. Like Dow, Solutia brings into its ranks people who have had a manufacturing, technology, or product development position in the industry that it sells to.

	SERVICE FIRST Dow technical services lab technician Don Ervick performs a paper coating analysis for a customer.

"MORE AND MORE, we also pull from our own manufacturing and technology ranks into tech service," Stine says. Rohm and Haas also likes people with internal experience, says Lavoie. "They need experience with our product line. Some technical service people come from our applications or product development groups where they have seen and understood a lot of the chemistry involved."

Crompton also views having experience as "a real plus," says Clement, the tech service representative. The deciding factor in Clement's hire about two years ago was her manufacturing production experience in an industry that Crompton serves. "Experience in prepolymers and hands-on experience" were key, she claims.

In addition to experience, all companies list the ability to communicate well both orally and in written form as a crucial element for tech service and applications development jobs. People involved in these customer-facing roles need the ability to bring to their customers the right information at a level they can understand.

"In our recruitment campaigns, we look for excellence in communication, in collaborative skills," says Dow Corning's White. Solutia, in particular, looks for candidates who have samples of their written and presentation skills to demonstrate this ability during the interviewing process.

An outward focus is also crucial. "Really, the most important thing for all chemists and chemical engineers in Dow Corning is to stay connected to the outside world and the customers," White says. "We are looking for people who can translate the needs and desires of our customers into solutions that leverage our internal capability."

Comfort with change, experience, communications skills, and an outward focus are only part of the equation, though. Specialty chemicals companies also require excellent academic credentials. Jobs are available at all degree levels from associate to doctorate. "All our field employees as well as research and development employees possess technical degrees," says Ondeo Nalco's Lucartorto.

"For technical service, we don't look so much for Ph.D.s," says Great Lakes's Noonan. "We view a B.S. plus years of experience as more important." Dow Corning's White estimates that about one-quarter of the company's technical people have a Ph.D., one-half have bachelor's or master's degrees, and the rest have lower degrees. "More important than this are the other attributes. We have all kinds of people out in the field managing customer relationships," he says.

Other companies tend to look for Ph.D.s in customer-oriented roles. "We hire a mix of levels but have been focusing more on Ph.D.s in recent years," says Mayher at Lubrizol. Solutia also tends to look for Ph.D.s, "whether they work at the bench or by the customer's side in a factory," says Mark Dryer, recruiting manager.

AT ROHM AND HAAS, though senior scientists and project leaders mostly have Ph.D.s, it is possible for an individual without a Ph.D. to rise rapidly in the technical service ranks. "A B.S. or M.S. person in chemistry or chemical engineering with a lot of talent--superb communications skills, customer interface skills, and an ability to solve problems rapidly--can leverage that degree further in tech service" than he or she can in pure research, says Lavoie.

The communication, interaction, and problem-solving talents Lavoie lists are essential for tech service representatives. Such jobs require a competitive nature, but also an ability to work with people and the autonomy to be self-directed and work on one's own, says Ondeo Nalco's Pauss. "Also, we need a strong work ethic," he adds.

Judy Lynch, Lubrizol's college recruiter, emphasizes that potential employees should be good at teamwork--external as well as internal--and be able to interpret and communicate results. Noonan at Great Lakes stresses the ability to work on a team with people from different functional groups. "Plus, they must be capable of teaching," she says. Finding people with these abilities who also have the appropriate experience and skill level is very difficult, she points out.

	COLLABORATION Dow Corning engineers discuss dielectric materials used on semiconductor wafers with a customer.

TO ITS WISH LIST for a tech service hire, Dow Corning's White adds the ability to relate to customers. "Candidates should have good listening skills and a customer focus, and should be really able to take in what the external world is telling us," he states.

In addition, a good prospect should have the flexibility to work across disciplines. "Scientists and technologists have to be more adaptable than perhaps they have been in the past, working beyond their chosen disciplines," says White. "They can't be stuck in a groove. We're asking for a lot more than that these days."

Dow also requires its hires to be good problem solvers who "get a lot of satisfaction out of meeting that customer's need and demonstrating how our technology can solve that customer's problem," says Liveris. A large part of the job is trouble-shooting and finding a quick fix--not necessarily the optimum solution--using problem-solving skills.

Lavoie at Rohm and Haas claims that a technical service job goes beyond having experience, problem-solving ability, and good communications skills. "It's more than just being flexible. You have to have a comfort level with a type of job where you may have to respond to a problem without a lot of preparatory time. You may have to change your schedule to focus on what happened. If a customer's production line is down, you have to do whatever it takes to get our customer back in business."

Other factors in Solutia's recruitment process include a results orientation, a business and strategic perspective, and the ability to ask the right questions, Stine says.

By requiring a business and strategic perspective, Stine elaborates, Solutia seeks people who are able to understand how their actions affect the commercial side. "They should be able to take the customer's perspective and be able to persuade the customer," she says. By strategic perspective, she means that the individual can understand what the business is trying to accomplish and carry that out in his or her daily goals.

Lubrizol's Peeples concurs. "The biggest thing is that a chemist be able to read the business environment," he says. "We're getting to the point where even a chemist should get up in the morning and read the Wall Street Journal to understand how his role will change and how the needs of business change. He needs to understand the environment he's working in."

TAKING ALL these features into consideration, companies have a tall order to fill in finding good customer-facing employees. The fact that it is difficult to find such people reflects the unique, multifaceted nature of the position. Condensing her advice to the job seeker, Stine says people interested in applying for an applied or technical service job should "demonstrate to the prospective employer his or her in-depth knowledge and ability to apply it in a practical sense."

Dow Corning's ideal candidate, says White, would be a technology-savvy, customer-sensitive good listener who is a bit extroverted and who is excellent at his or her own chosen discipline. "Those are the kind of people we like, and those are the kind of people who do well in this sort of environment," he says.

Regardless of the path individuals take to tech service or applications functions, they will find themselves working in the trenches, side by side with customers, solving short-term or immediate problems. "And it's a nice transition place--a good stepping stone into a marketing or sales role" for chemists who are so inclined, says Noonan.

Whether or not he or she intends to move on, the customer-focused chemist will find a heady challenge in technical service or applications development positions.

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