ACS COMMENT
Chemists Care About Jobs VALERIE J. KUCK, ACS DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE
hard-hit, first by mergers and acquisiwe’re not just concerned about jobs, we’re tions in the pharmaceutical industry and doing something about them—helping our then by the economic downturn. On the members find work, develop new job opother hand, the Mountain and West South portunities, and reinvigorate the economy. Central Regions have fared well. Both have This is the fourth in a series of Com1.9% unemployment rates for chemical ments launched earlier this workers. Visit the ACS month by ACS President Employment Dashboard at Nancy B. Jackson (C&EN, webapps.acs.org/acsdash Aug. 8, page 52). All of these for an interactive graphical Comments are dedicated representation of regional to the theme “Paying It Foremployment trends in ward,” in which members chemistry. help members find jobs. Knowing which regions With U.S. unemployoffer better employment ment standing at more than prospects is helpful to 9%, more than 14 million some of our unemployed Americans are out of work. ACS members. However, And these figures do not many members can’t easily include 8.6 million involrelocate. They may have untary part-time workers spouses or partners with loWe urge all (that is, individuals workcal jobs, children in school, ing part-time because their members— family or friends who are hours were cut or they were particularly in dependent on them, or unable to find a full-time a house they can’t sell in hard-hit regions— job) or 2.7 million people a bad real estate market. to pay it forward marginally attached to the They need our help. by identifying labor force. Fortunately, ACS and sharing Chemical workers have has more than 163,000 employment fared better than others, members. We urge all with a national unemploymembers—particularly opportunities. ment rate of 3.8%. However, in hard-hit regions—to that figure doesn’t tell the pay it forward by identifywhole story. As Lisa M. ing and sharing employBalbes explained in her Comment (C&EN, ment opportunities. First, please post Aug. 15, page 38), recent graduates in any job leads you have at www.acs.org/ chemistry and chemical engineering are payingitforward. Second, get in touch finding it particularly tough to land their with ACS local sections and ACS technical first placements. Unfortunately, some have divisions to let them know about these job even given up on a career in chemistry, opportunities. which is disheartening for all of us, because Many of the 187 ACS local sections new talent brings new ideas and new vitalthroughout the U.S. have job clubs that ity to the field. would greatly appreciate learning of open National employment statistics also positions. ACS technical divisions, the hide some significant regional differences. programming units of the society, offer Figures from the ACS Comprehensive another way of disseminating employment Salary Survey show that the highest unopportunities. Select the division that is employment rates for chemists are in the most aligned with the open jobs that you’ve Middle Atlantic (5.8%) and Pacific (5.4%) identified, contact the division chair, and Regions. Both regions were particularly share your valuable information. Most PETER CUTTS PHOTOGRAPHY
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divisions have websites, newsletters, job boards, or Listservs to distribute the leads that you provide. If you are currently unemployed, especially if you’re in a region where the job market is particularly poor, we urge you to form a job club if one is not currently up and running in your area. A job club enables you to form a strong support network. Members look out for each other, pass along leads, and offer constructive advice. Job clubs also create greater efficiency and economies of scale. Individual members can be assigned to investigate employment prospects for particular companies or job sectors and then report back to the club. By working together and pooling resources, the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts. YOUR EFFORTS will make a difference.
Bill Suits, a retired chemist and active ACS career consultant, for example, has been working with Careers in Transition, a job club sponsored by the North Jersey Section of ACS. Suits not only participates in the club’s monthly meetings, but he also provides one-on-one coaching sessions to help local ACS members build their networks, prepare targeted résumés, improve their interviewing skills, identify job opportunities, and design comprehensive career plans. According to Suits, “Over 50% of jobs are hidden.” Helping people in his local area land those hidden jobs has become his mission. Find out more about Careers in Transition at www.njacs.org. You can also visit ACS Careers at www. acs.org/careers to take advantage of a broad range of member resources to find a job, start a new job club, build job-search skills, and much more. ACS is committed to getting chemists back to work. By paying it forward, we can help each other find employment, create new job opportunities, and set the U.S. economy back on track to prosperity. Views expressed on this page are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACS.
