Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Chemjobber C&EN Index: 4/20/2009

Industrial (non-academic, non-governmental) positions:

Total number of ads: o
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: o
- Ratio of US/non-US: 0/0
Area: o

Governmental positions (US, international):
Total number of ads: 0
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 0
- Ratio of US/non-US: 0/0
Area: 0

Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 5
- Postdocs: 0
- Tenure-track faculty: 3
- Temporary faculty: 2
- Lecturer positions: 0
- Staff positions: 1
- Ratio of US/non-US positions: 5/1
- Area (square cm): 381

Please, sir, may I have a job in industry?: Got nothing to say here, 'cause there ain't no industry ads this week. Not a single one. I think this is (overall) the paltriest week of the Index so far, even beating the meager Christmas offering. 

Wanted: Juniorprofessor for universityjob: Interestingly, RWTH Aachen University can buy a half-page ad, but can't seem to buy a space for their job title "Juniorprofessor (W1)". 

Small college of the week: The University of Alaska Fairbanks (student population: 9,380, SA-LUTE!) is looking for an assistant professor in environmental/analytical chemistry. Amusingly, they have to stipulate that they want a Ph.D. with a postdoc -- as if they were going to find resumes without a postdoc or two...

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Chemjobber Wayback Index: April 21, 2003


As part of Chemjobber's first-draft-of-history edition, I've decided to decamp to my local university library and look for old editions of C&EN. I picked 2003, 'cause that's when I remember older members of my group going straight to industry (no post-doc) with great pay and sign-on bonuses. Here's the issue from four years ago, today:

Industrial (non-academic, non-governmental) positions:
Total number of ads: 14
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 39++
- Ratio of US/non-US: 39/0
Area: 2471

Governmental positions (US, international):
Total number of ads: 1
- Postdocs: 1+
- Permanent positions: 2
- Ratio of US/non-US: 2/0
Area: 117

Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 15
- Postdocs: 2
- Tenure-track faculty: 4
- Temporary faculty: 9+
- Lecturer positions: 1
- Staff positions: 1
- Area (square cm): 444

Okay, so it's not like it's news to anyone, but compared to 4 years ago, the job market sucks [insert your favorite noun here.] The Chemjobber Index for this issue (2471) is larger than any of the Index numbers for any issue of C&EN I've measured (since mid-2008), over twice the Index for the best showing of the Index and more than the last 5 or so combined. Whoa -- things REALLY were better back then. 

The most interesting tidbit? The ads were a who's-who of med chem: Lilly, Amgen, Exelixis, SGX, Merck, 3 from Bayer (I swear -- I've seen one Bayer ad in C&EN the past 2 years, it seems), Abbott and Roche. It was absolutely unreal -- pages and pages of ads. Well, maybe someday there will be that Big Rock Candy Mountain of ads in the back of C&EN once again. 

Monday, April 20, 2009

Chemjobber C&EN index: 4/13/09

Industrial (non-academic, non-governmental) positions:

Total number of ads: 2
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 4
- Ratio of US/non-US: 2/2
Area: 67

Governmental positions (US, international):
Total number of ads: 2
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 2
- Ratio of US/non-US: 2/0
Area: 145

Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 6
- Postdocs: 1
- Tenure-track faculty: 11
- Temporary faculty: 0
- Lecturer positions: 0
- Staff positions: 0
- Ratio of US/non-US positions: 10/1
- Area (square cm): 490

No comment: Insert whining about relative lack of industry jobs in C&EN here. Shanghai Medicilon is still looking for a VP of MedChem (wait, that's actually someone with "7+ years medi chem industry experience". If you're a VP candidate who likes Shanghai (who wouldn't -- really, I've heard it's great) and can stand typos, put in your CV! 

Wanted: secret agent polymer chemist: Something called the "National Institute of Aerospace " is looking for a M.S. or Ph.D. polymer chemist to work on something secret -- you need a "secret security clearance". You also need to be able to do Schlenk chemistry and use a glovebox. Good luck, Dr. 007. 

Wanted: copy editor: Someone at Los Angeles Sothwest [sic] Community College is looking to hire a chemistry instructor -- smart to use C&E News! They are also looking for an anthropology instructor, a computer science IT instructor, an English instructor, a learning disability specialist, a music instructor (I am not kidding - CJ) and two nursing instructors. Not smart! 

Small college (not so) of the week: The University of Auckland in New Zealand (student population: 47,510 -- SA-LUTE!) is looking for a lecturer in biophysical or biological chemistry. Even though they're not particularly small, I couldn't resist, especially with their Maori name (Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau) in the logo. It's worth noting that a lecturer position, elsewhere in the Anglosphere, is more like an assistant professorship in the US. 

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

What is the sound of one ax being removed from a tree stump?

From ScienceInsider, the case of either a really dumb pharma exec or someone who was drastically misquoted or misunderstood:
"Seventy-five cents of every dollar we spend on R&D goes to fund failure," he told an audience of execs and dealmakers at Windhover's Pharmaceutical Strategic Outlook meeting in New York City. Creativity and risk-taking remain essential, Turner said, but the scientific fruit must "come at a lower cost," though he didn't explain exactly how greater efficiency might be achieved.
Is that what it's being spent on? Seems to me, Mr. Turner, that it's being spent on useless execs like you.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Chemjobber C&EN Index: 4/6/09

Industrial (non-academic, non-governmental) positions:
Total number of ads: 0
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 0
- Ratio of US/non-US: 0/0
Area: 0

Governmental positions (US and others):
Total number of ads: 1
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 1
- Ratio of US/non-US: 1/0
Area: 36

Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 8
- Postdocs: 16
- Tenure-track faculty: 4+
- Temporary faculty: 3
- Lecturer positions: 0
- Staff positions: 2
- Ratio of US/non-US positions: 6/17+
- Area (square cm): 616

Well, that ain't good: I have heard it put that employment is a lagging indicator, so maybe this week's showing isn't such bad news. But once again, there were no (zero, zip, nada) industrial ads this week. A deputy director spot at NSF does not count as an industry job. Where are the frickin' industry jobs? 

Just think -- you'll never have to buy sand for your columns: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is opening up a campus on the Red Sea in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. They seem to be hiring faculty in material science and catalysis. I've always wondered if there are any US-born folks who have decided to take the Saud's dime (or the Emir's, for those in Dubai.) If there are, write in and tell us about doing chemistry in the Mideast!

Small college of the week: St. Olaf's College of Northfield, MN (student population 3007, SA-LUTE!) is hiring for a green chemistry teaching postdoc. Sounds like fun (okay, not the green chemistry part) and Northfield sounds like a lovely town, what with "Defeat of Jesse James Days " and all. 

Monday, April 13, 2009

This is just to say, by Chemjobber

A chemistry employment poem, brought on by this week's TAL rerun. Ahem:

"This is just to say", by Chemjobber

I have closed
the site
at which
you were employed

and which
you may have
relied on to
support your family

Forgive me
it was necessary
our shareholders
demanded it

with apologies to William Carlos Williams

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Odds and sods

  • Congrats to Angel Cabrera, for a truly gutsy Masters win. 
  • Stats from the recent ACS meeting in Salt Lake City: 32 employers, 524 applicants (does that seem low to anyone?) and 176 positions. Not a terrible set of odds, but certainly not great. Thanks to Chemjobber source T. for the numbers. 
  • Folks seem to say that the economy is picking back up a little -- it'll be interesting to know if that'll be the same for the chemistry job market. I guess folks at Pfizer are expecting a second round of cuts, having to do with Wyeth. Between Merck/Schering-Plough and Pfizer/Wyeth, I have a funny feeling that there will be a lot of out-of-work chemists. Let's hope I'm wrong. 

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Chemjobber C&EN index: 3/30/09

Industrial (non-academic, non-governmental) positions:
Total number of ads: 3
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 5
- Ratio of US/non-US: 5/0
Area: 119

Governmental positions (US and others):
Total number of ads: 2
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 2
- Ratio of US/non-US: 2/0
Area: 307

Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 7
- Postdocs: 1 
- Tenure-track faculty: 2
- Temporary faculty: 3
- Lecturer positions: 1
- Staff positions: 0
- Ratio of US/non-US positions: 5/2
- Area (square cm): 283

Pharma to jobseekers: don't call us, we'll call you: Not much from pharma, big or small, even though there is a position advertised from Novartis for a chemical engineer process (duh) position. Hopefully, things will pick up sooner rather than later. 

Permanent position, but there's a catch: Something called the "Energy and Environmental Research Center" is advertising three positions for engineers and a synthetic chemist. It's not until the end of the ad that you see that it sends you to www.undeerc.org. What, you might ask, is UND? Why, it's the University of North Dakota! Now why would they not want to advertise that they're in North Dakota? 

Department of Redundant Redundancies, Taxpayer Edition: There are two ads for a Research Chemist at FDA this week. Greater than 50% of the ad space for both is EXACTLY THE SAME, with the different details coming out in the "highly desirable" qualifications section. I don't understand why the feddle gubmint uses the same ad space to advertise two positions that a pharmaceutical company would use to do a mass hiring. 

Small college of the week: Hong Kong Baptist University (student population: 8,800, SA-LUTE!) is hiring both two lecturer-type positions in chemistry. If you're interested in living in Kowloon under the Basic Law (supposedly one of the finest, freest political documents ever), these positions might be for you! 

Chemjobber, back on the air!

Sorry for the hiatus, folks - work and life intervene. 

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Chemjobber Jobs Index Update:

The latest C&E News has 300 job ads for industry, at all levels. All major pharmas are hiring. It has 500 jobs in academic settings, at all levels (minimum start-up funds of $1M.)

Things are looking up!