26th Sept Graduate Jobroll

The graduate jobroll continues with a selection of positions away from the fumehood.

A personal care company is looking for a technical services associate (£24-26k) in the City of London, to manage manufacturers and stakeholders to ensure the quality and compliance of their products. This regulatory/quality role requires a degree, and will apparently “catapult you into the stratosphere”.

A Cheshire-based separation science company seeks a chromatography technical sales consultant to sell and support products and solutions to customers in New Zealand. Includes business travel. Requires a degree or PhD.

A Bristol-based supplier of scientific instruments is recruiting a chemistry graduate to the role of sales executive, pitching to the research industry in UK and Ireland. Includes frequent travel to meetings and exhibitions. Masters or PhD required.

Recruitment agency SCI is hiring an apprentice scientific recruitment consultant (£18-20k), to be located in Cheshire. With an OTE of £40k, this is an attractive option for a graduate looking to move away from the bench.

24th Sept Graduate Jobroll

A collection of lab-based chemistry jobs for graduates or postgrads.

Yorkshire Process Technology Ltd – a speciality chemical company in Leeds – is looking for a number of research chemists to join their R&D team. The role will involve carrying out process development and intermediate synthesis, likely utilising the company’s expertise in precious metal catalysis, catalytic coupling and solid supported reagents. BSc or PhD required.

Pharminox – a spin-out from Oxford University, but now located in Nottingham – is offering multiple graduate chemist positions in organic and medicinal chemistry. The company discovers and develops cancer drugs, and the roles will involve designing and synthesising compounds to support discovery operations. BSc required.

An industrial catalyst manufacturer in the North East seeks a development scientist to develop fluorination catalysts and support the manufacturing facility. Degree with 1 year’s industrial R&D experience required.

A developer of consumer products in the South East seeks a chemistry/materials chemist graduate (£22k) to deliver technical projects in new product development. Although advertised as a graduate position with a minimum of a BSc required, the desirable experience list (project management skills, commercial experience, conference presentations, publications) indicates this may be aimed at those with a PhD.

GSK are beginning the second phase of their industry-based PhD programme in Stevenage. Up to eight positions are available, in either medicinal and process chemistry (synthesis and drug design/development) or computational chemistry and informatics. A very good MSci or MChem is required.

21st Sept Jobroll

After a few technical issues, the Jobroll returns with a focus on some process chemistry positions advertised over the last couple of weeks.

Kent: Process chemist (£20-30k) at a speciality chemical company - support and resolve issues for production operations, perform pilot plant trials and transfer processes into production. Also includes maintenance of company HPLCs and GCs. Industrial process chemistry experience required (h/t Chemjobber).

Wirral (NW): Process scientist (pilot plant) (£23k) at Unilever on 3-month contract – carry out lab and pilot plant scale chemistry, route development, and work with a range of QC and characterisation techniques. Pilot plant and personal care product experience desired.

Northamptonshire: Production chemist (£17-21k) at a speciality chemical manufacturer – set up and run reactors and process batch sheets. Organic synthesis and/or production chemistry experience required.

Hertfordshire: Two shift process leaders (to £30k) at a pharmaceutical product manufacturer – plan and oversee team and shift activities to meet the production programme. Understanding of GMP, commitment to continuous improvement, and a degree or relevant pharma experience required.

Ayrshire: Two shift process chemists (to £30k) at a manufacturer of personal care products – develop new products, perform lab tests and scale up processes into production. Process development and bulk manufacture experience required.

STEM: Careers Advice

Investigating the supply of students studying STEM subjects, the Higher Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects report noted that those choosing their GCSEs and A Levels need to be aware of how their selection will affect their career options later.

The Government launched a National Careers Service in April 2012, and the Select Committee makes the recommendation that it provides advice about:

• STEM subject choice at school, and the consequence of this for further study and careers
• Choices available in STEM subjects at the Higher Education level and beyond
• The advantages of pursuing a STEM degree
• Jobs available to STEM graduates within STEM and other industries

Much of this information is already available online, from both government and commercial sources, so this may provide an opportunity to consolidate it in one location. Existing resources include:

National Careers Service – from the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills
Cogent - a Sector Skills Council licensed by the government, providing careers advice in scientific sectors
Prospects - “The UK’s official graduate careers service”, providing careers advice and job/internship listings
HECSU – a charity supporting careers advisory services, and providing graduate employment research
Future Morph – highlights STEM pathways from school age, created by the Science Council
National STEM Centre  - STEM resources for teachers
GetSmaart – career role profiles
Informed Choices – a comprehensive guide to making decisions about post-16 education from the Russell Group (h/t @DavidBarrRSC)

In addition, there are careers pages on job sites such as NewScientist Jobs and Target jobs which provide similar information. Everythingyouwantedtoknow also appears to be a useful resource, including links to the job pages of the Times Top 100 companies, careers fairs and other careers advice sites.

Online resources aside, the inquiry recommends improving the quality and provision of careers advice within schools. Given most teachers lack the experience to advise on careers within STEM industries, and with many “having limited experience of work outside the education system”, the Select Committee also makes the recommendation that

“schools should ensure that support for careers education through continuing professional development (CPD) is provided to those offering careers advice to students.”

If nothing else, the HECSU What Do Graduates Do? reports should be compulsory reading for anyone providing careers advice in the UK. These include information on the number of graduates from each subject, and their destination 6 months after qualification. A focus on the 2011 chemistry stats can be found in a previous post here.

STEM: Industrial placements

Many government reports have identified that Higher Education (HE) has a duty to not only educate, but also to improve the employability skills of their graduates and postgraduates (eg, the 1963 Robbins Report, the 1997 Dearing Report and the 2002 Roberts Review).  The Higher Education Authority defines “employability skills” as

“a set of achievements, (skills, understandings and personal attributes) that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy”.

Work placements and internships are seen as a key factor in gaining employability skills. This was supported by a range of institutions providing evidence to the Select Committee inquiry, including the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Russell Group of universities, industry (both Small and Medium Enterprises [SMEs] and large companies) and a student panel.

However, there was perceived to be a disconnect between this universal support and the actual provision of industrial placements. The report suggested that a few, select universities offer STEM placements, and most of these are with large companies. The majority of SMEs don’t offer placements, partly due to their perceived value to the company and the resource required to manage them, but also due to the potential barriers of interacting with Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

In this respect, chemistry students are fortunate. Of the 15 highest ranking chemistry departments in the UK (according to The Complete University Guide 2013), the vast majority offer an MChem or MSci course with an industrial placement. This is generally a 12-month placement in the third year (Bristol, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton, Surrey and Warwick), or final year (Durham and York). 

The Scottish universities in the top 15 - Edinburgh, St Andrews and Strathclyde - offer a 12-month placement in the fourth year of their 5-year chemistry course, although high achievers may be able to fast-track and avoid taking the first, foundation year of the programme. Southampton and Warwick additionally offer MChem courses with a 6-month industrial placement, while Imperial College has chosen to extend their MSci course to five years, with the fourth year in industry. Only Oxford and Cambridge do not appear to offer chemistry degrees with industrial training.

Regarding internships, the Science Council noted that

“the number of [graduate internship] vacancies in STEM industries seems  to be much lower than in many other sectors... and that it is easier for a STEM graduate to find an internship in a business-oriented environment than in a scientific or technical one... STEM  graduates [also] appear to be  less likely than other graduates to pursue internships. Given the call from employers for graduates with higher levels of practical and technical skills, it was surprising therefore that there are very few genuinely scientific or technical internships for graduates”.

The Select Committee made two recommendations in this section of the report. First, to find a way to incentivise employers to offer more work placements and encourage more students to take them up. Second, to create a central database of available industrial placements, which could be included in the Graduate Talent Pool service.  This was a site launched in 2009 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, designed to help new and recent graduates gain work experience by offering a selection of internships, including in the “scientific services” sector. 

While many universities already have links with large companies, this service could be an effective way for SMEs to register their interest in offering scientific industrial placements. If properly administered, popularised and advertised (to both clients and companies), this could potentially become the key repository for students and graduates seeking placements and internships, rather than having to search multiple graduate and job sites. In the meantime, companies wanting to advertise positions would be well advised to look to the sites of professional organisations, especially if they follow the example of Chemistry World Jobs and offer free advertising for industrial placements and internships.