ICIS Chemical Business recruitment blog

By Lara Mcnamee

Following on from the previous entry - 'IChemE invites entries for Innovation and Excellence Awards' - IChemE has announced that its 2010 awards entry deadline has been extended until Friday 30 July 2010.

For more information contact Matt Stalker.

By Lara Mcnamee

IChemE will be holding its Awards for Innovation and Excellence on 4 November in Manchester, UK. The event, now in its 17th year, will mark both individual and team achievement. Included in the awards line up is an award for education and training - sponsored by Cogent.

This award recognizes the individual or team that best demonstrates innovation in training, development of staff or education of a wider community, that changes public perception, develops young people, or addresses a chemical engineering skills gap.

Among the other accolades available is a core chemical engineering award, an engineering project of the year award and the young engineer of the year award.

The deadline for entries is 16 July. For more information contact Matt Stalker.

By Lara Mcnamee

From 3-9 June 2010, BASF is running its popular Kids' Lab at the Hong Kong Science Museum. The company says that around 700 children aged 6-12 are expected to join in a programme designed to make chemistry fun through meaningful, hands-on experiments.

BASF hopes that through the success of the Kids' Lab programme that it will encourage children to become scientists in the future.

Children will be able to conduct three experiments:

•    "Red Cabbage Indicator"
•    "A Chemical Change"
•    "Making Paper"

BASF says that two of this year's experiments are shown for the first time in Hong Kong, "Red Cabbage Indicator" and "A Chemical Change". Children will be able to learn about a "chemical change" using materials commonly found in the home, and how colour extracted from red cabbage varies with pH values.  

Some facts about BASF Kids' Lab

•    BASF Kids' Lab is an interactive chemistry education programme first launched at BASF's headquarters in 1997 in Germany as part of BASF's social responsibility activities.
•    Since its introduction in the Asia Pacific region in 2002, BASF Kids' Lab is currently conducted in 12 countries and regions in Asia Pacific, and has more than 20,000 participants every year.
•    This is the fifth consecutive year of collaboration between BASF and the Science Museum.

Check out BASF's new Facebook page for participants and interested parties to share photos and comments.

By Lara Mcnamee

Bayer says that applications for the scholarship programmes of the Bayer Science & Education Foundation can now be submitted. In the academic sector, students can apply for a Bayer, Carl Duisberg or Kurt Hansen scholarship if they are aiming to undertake a study project abroad.

The fields of study funded include biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, bioprocess engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, medicine, pharmacy, physics, statistics/biometrics and teacher training in scientific subjects.

Each year the Bayer foundation makes available a total of up to €150,000 for these scholarships. Sponsorship is open to students from Germany who are planning a period abroad and students from foreign countries who are looking to spend a period of study in Germany.

For the first time, the scholarships in the academic sector are being supplemented by Hermann Strenger scholarships to support young people looking to gain initial work experience as part of a non-academic training programme.

Applications are invited from trainees in commercial, industrial, scientific and medical occupations and young professionals in these fields who have completed their training within the past two years.

With this new programme, the Bayer Science & Education Foundation is looking to offer targeted funding to young people in the non-academic sector to allow them to gain professional experience abroad. The foundation will this year provide a further €50,000 for this programme.

The closing date for applications for all four scholarship programmes is 15 July 2010. The application documents are available online. An independent scientific committee will decide on the allocation of funding in mid-September 2010.

By Lara Mcnamee

ExxonMobil is launching the 39th year of its community summer jobs programme, providing interns for 270 non profit agencies across America for eight weeks over the summer.

Students receive a paid internship allowing them to gain hands-on experience in a wide range of community organisations and the agencies benefit from support during the peak summer months. The programme also offers professional development opportunities and encourages non profit service among students viewed as future community leaders.

ExxonMobil says it has provided $16.3m to fund nearly 4,400 internships since the programme was founded in 1971. In 2010, ExxonMobil expects to contribute around $950,000 to fund 320 positions in Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. The programme has also extended to New Jersey for the first time.

Non profit organisations selected for the programme include health, social services, education, arts and emergency assistance. While working with these organisations, interns gain hands-on experience related to their career paths, from social work and volunteer coordination to website management and marketing.

In addition to their internships, students also participate in professional development activities and group service projects in their respective cities. Interns are paid for all time spent in the programme.

For more information about the community summer jobs programme visit www.exxonmobil.com/csjp.

Average salaries for chartered chemical engineers in the UK and Ireland have risen by 5% since 2008, according to IChemE (the Institution of Chemical Engineers).

Results of the IChem 2010 UK and Ireland Salary Survey reveal that the median salary for a chartered chemical engineer is now £60,400, compared with £57,500 in 2008. A chartered chemical engineer aged 30-39 will typically earn around £8,500/y more than a non chartered chemical engineer of the same age.

SABIC has presented a cheque for $1m to endow a special chair in polymer catalysis at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

Dr Abdulrahman Al-Ubaid, SABIC's executive vice-present, technology and innovation, said that the company's quest for excellence in catalysis will be further supported through SABIC grants for post-doctoral fellowships and sponsorship of further research at KAUST.

In his fourth diary entry, Ryan J Murphy, our graduate Rhodia scientist, gives young chemical-industry recruits some practical advice.

Reading back through my posts, I've realized they've read a bit like a press release for Rhodia.  I've really shined on the company quite a bit--it's true.  Honestly, I have meant what I've written; no one has told me what to write to make things look good.  New things can sometimes seem "great" and settle into "good" over time, but this blog is a real time deal and so far the job's been wonderful.

That said, I have started thinking about tid-bits I've left out that might be helpful to those in transition to the chemical industry.  If you are coming straight from academia, be prepared for a rather massive jump in bureaucracy.  With some aspects, things just take *this* much more time or effort. There are one or two more forms to fill out than you'd be used to.

With other things, there is a ton more of your time taken up.  Meetings and meetings and meetings.  For the most part, I have not had meetings that were pointless; most have been totally justified, but just know that they will be an increasing part of your day to day work.

Also, your access to journals will drop like a wet rope.  By all means, keep your email/password to the library of your academic institution.  You may not need to look up many papers, but still...just trust me on this.

Depending whether and where you post doc'd, be ready to deal with important benefit decisions: health insurance coverage, flexible spending accounts, retirement, dental, optional supplemental insurance for vision, etc.  If you haven't dealt with this in the past, it's pretty stunning.  If you get the "I'm finally fully employed and they already want me to think about when I'm done working??" feeling, it's normal.  These things are important.  Listen to every word your HR rep utters and ask all the questions you need.  That's what they are there for.

Because I'm running out of room, I'll just finish with one funny observation I've had: people really do gather around the coffee machine and/or water cooler and chat about the game, or current news stuff.  Had a good laugh at that the first time I saw it.

So, because this has been such a smash hit (wink, nod), I'll continue writing periodically for awhile.  If there is anything you'd want to know, or any topic you'd want me to comment on, please feel free to join the conversation. I'm more than happy to take requests.  Until next time....