JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
SELECTIVE PLACEMENT OF CHEMISTS AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERS THROUGH INDUSTRIAL TRAINING PROGRAMS' CHARLES H. KLINE, JR. General Electric Company, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
G ~ ~ the I Nright Gjob is the most important concern of the young chemist or chemical engineer graduating from a univertity today. It is a rare student, however, who knows what the right job is and how he can secure it. The majority have had no working experience and know little of the jobs open to them in the world beyond the campus. Although they talk glibly of production, development, design, research, sales, personnel, and other industrial fields open to them, these terms generally convey only very hazy and inexact notions. What is product development work? What qualifications should a production supervisor have? Am I suited for technical sales? Most students, unable to answer these and similar questions, find that choosing a job is a confusing and uncertain task for which they find themselves ill prepared. This lack of preparation for a most important decision cannot be blamed on the universities. On the campus the student's chief aim should be the mastery of the theoretical background indispensable for his future professional career. In the crowded years of his technical curriculum there is little time for consideration of the jobs in which this theoretical knowledge will ultimately be applied. Also, in an environment where mental development is the primary concern, the student cannot get much opportunity to appraise accurately the personal qualifications which will determine to a large extent his success or failure in his future job. Energy, initiative, mechanical ability, general working habits, personality, leadership, and skill in human relations are not graded on term report cards along with proficiency in unit operations or physical chemistry. Often college placement counselors and faculty membersespecially those with a wide acquaintance in industry-can give students helpful advice on choosing a job. Aptitude and personality tests sometimes give useful information on an individual's characteristics, and industrial interviewers usually make a 1 Presented before the Division of Chemical Education a t the the ~~~~~i~~~Chemical society in chicago, 113th meeting April 10-23, 1948.
shrewd estimate of a student's ability and personality before offering him a specific job. At best, however, the transition from student to professional chemist or engineer is a gamble, in which the discontent and relatively high turnover among young technical men indicatea definite element of risk. The responsibility for fitting new technical men into the right jobs rests primarily with industry. While the universities can best give the basic theoretical training in science and technology, only industry can give the practical experience necessary for an individual to find the special field for which his interests and abilities most suit him. Although for many years industrial management has sought continually for men of ability to fill key positions within the-organizational structure, in the past m'ost companies have paid little attention to the selective placement of new technical employees. Even today most chemical engineers and chemists are still hired directly for specific positions in industry. Within recent years, however,,,progressive companies have turned to introductory training programs as a more efficientmeans of utilizing technical manpower. A properly run industrial training program offers the young engineer or chemist an excellent opportunity to complete his university education in technical theory with working experience in its practical applications. At the same time it enables him to determine his ability, personality, and aptitudes for various industrial jobs udder actual working conditions. When the new man completes his training and is ready for transfer to a specific position, both he and his employers have sufficient information to make a sound choice of a permanent job. Thus industrial training offers a means of selective placement of technical men that can eliminate many of the uncertainties of direct hiring for specific jobs. Industrial training should give broad and varied experience. For a proper understanding both of himself and of his company as a whole the new technical phases of his firm's of should learn activities. Ideally he should actually work in longrange research, the development of new products, the
OCTOBER, 1948
design of plant and equipment, production, and sales, advertising, and related activities. A practical approach to this desired diversity of experience is made in some companies by giving each new man a series of short assignments in several different divisions. Each of these assignments should last several months, so that the young employee may actually work on a job and not merely observe. Whenever possible, the different assignments should cover not only several functional types of work but also several product lines. The chemist or engineer entering industry today with the bachelor's or master's degree is not a specialist and is generally not yet ready to become one. In a small specialized business the training is of necessity limited to some particular field such as plastics or naturaleils. In the larger and more diversified companies, on the other hand, such a policy would restrict' the new man's experience and give him only a limited view of his firm's interests. During his training assignments the ,inexperienced engineer or chemist is serving his apprenticeship in the practical phases of his profession. In this transition period he should be encouraged to continue formal study both to assist in his orientation in industry and to extend his basic technical background. The opportunity for further education is especially important a t this particular time when a man is young, still accny tomed to formal study, and not yet busy with the timeconsuming responsibilities of later life. Many companies urge all new men to enroll in classes studying the company organization, the functions of the different divisions, and the products sold. These classes supplement the direct experience gained on the training assignments. Some companies also make arrangements for employees to take courses or to work toward advanced degrees in nearby universities, and a few companies run their own educational programs in technical and general subjects. These general concepts of practicaI experience, further education, and selective placementqhave been tested over the past two years in the training programs developed by the General Electric Company for chemists and chemical engineers. The basic principle of General Electric training is varied practical experience for the new technical employee a t the start of his industrial career. New men are put in a central training division serving the entire company and are then assigned for periods of three months to laboratory, engineering, and staff divisions in the various plants. On each three-month assignment the young chemist or engineer becomes a temporary member of a group of permanent employees working under a regular supervisor. The supervisor may give the trainee an independent project or, more likely, may have him assist a permanent employee. At the end of the assignment the supervisor rates him on his performance and ability and points out to him his strong and weak points. The man in training also writes a confidential report on his work to the central training division. The training office thus
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gets a good picture of each man's progress both from his own and his supervisor's point of view. Every six months the training director reviews the composite ratings with each man and emphasizes appropriate comments made by the assignment supervisors. Since lack of technical ability is very rarely a problem, stress is laid throughout the training period on correcting undesirable traits of personality, poor working habits, and immaturity. Each man is required to complete a t least four of these three-month assignments before he is transferred to a permanent job or to a more specialized training program. The actual assignments vary widely. Over the past two years they have included such work as the development of new resins and new plastic formulations, semi-works production of dielectric papers, engineering design, plant operation, advertising, market research, the evaluation of rocket fuels, various secret projects in nucleonics, and process development on the pilot-plant scale. This last item is especially important to the Company as the training program provides a convenient pool of men available for such short-term projects as pilot-plant operation. The different assignments do not follow any fixed pattern. The primary requirement is variety of experience and location. Each man is usually sent to two or three different cities to work in the plants of several different departments of the Company. When convenient, assignments are arranged in fields of a man's particular interests. For example, a chemist with a flair for writing may he given an assignment in technical publicity work or in an advertising section, and an engineer with an interest .&broduction supervision may be assibed for one period to a plant foreman or shift leader. While the new employee is getting practical experience on his job assignments, he is encouraged to study in the Company's educational classes. Two types of courses are given, general and advanced. The general courses are open to all men on the Company's training programs and are given concurrently at all major plants so that assignment transfers from one city to another will not interrupt the course 1roi-k. Chemists and chemical engineers are urged especially to take the coursein Company orgmization andpolicies. Many also take courses in engineering fundamentals and in electronics and other specialized fields. The advanced courses are given only to a carefully selected group of those men in training who show promise of becoming leaders in the more strictly technical fields. The object of these courses is to develop the ability of chemists and engineers to analyze and solve the complicated technical problems of industry. The class sessions are devoted chiefly to lectures by specialists within the company on various topics in the basic theory of chemistry and engineering. Each meek a problem is assigned to he solved by application of the theory presented. The problems are not simple computational exercises in textbook style but are complex and realistic technical projects. Many of
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them have actually arisen in laboratory or engineering divisions or use real data from the Company's plants. Solution of the problem generally requires about fifteen hours per week and must be done outside of regular working hours. During the first year of training the advanced course in physical chemistry is offered. This course treats principally mathematics, the structure and properties of the various states of matter, thermodynamics, and rate processes. Men outstanding in the firsbyear course are given the opportunity to take second-year classes. These men remain on the training program an additional year but now spend six months on each temporary assignment. The only second-year clam thus far organized covers the principal unit processes of chemical engineering. Additional courses in physical metallurgy and in resins, plastics, and electrical insulatlng materials will complete the full threeyear program eventually planned. From the group finishing the advanced courses outstanding men are selected for supervisory assignments administering the courses and supervising the program of rotating assignments for periods of one or two years. Placement from the training program comes after the basic year of experience or after completion of one of the advanced courses. Each man is sent to discuss placement with the supervisors of the two or three sections most suited to his abilities and his own preferences, and the placement made is arranged by agreement among the supervisors and the man concerned. Men who have shown special interest and ability during the general training program are selected at this t i e for further specialized training. Engineers and chemists interested in sales are transferred t o the Sales Training Program of the Company's Chemical Department. These men spend one or two years in various plants and take special courses t o get a thorough knowledge of sales techniques and of the Department's products. The training'is completed by experience in the district sales offices+ An occasional man is also accepted for the Patent Training Program. On this program he spends four years in the Company's patent office in Washington, D. C., and obtains the LL.B. degree by attending law school in the evening. After completing training he transfers to the legal or patent staff. Most men, however, are placed in permanent jobs immediately after completing the general training program. Men usually (but not always) transfer to one of the sections in which they have already had a temporary assignment. The majority go into technical work, but some are selected for advertising, market research, personnel, and other nontechnical fields. The jobs requiring a more highly theoretical background generally go to graduates of the advanced courses. A number of engineers and chemists enter the field of nucleonics, and special courses in nuclear engineering are offered to selected groups of these men. .The general operation of these training programs may be illustrated by two case histories. Mr. X, a
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
chemical engineer from the midwest, had been an artillery liaison pilot during the war but had had no previous industrial experience. When hired, he was primarily interested in engineering design and pilot plant work. His first assignment, however, was in a development laboratory evaluating detergents, and his second was in another laboratory studying the effects of various catalysts on resin formation. On his third assignment, in an engineering design division, he helped lay out a proposed polymerization pilot plant, and on his fourth, in a plant engineering section, he made process studies and design calculations for various plant changes. This man had an excellent technical mind and successfully completed the advanced class in physical chemis try. At the end of his training he was offered jobs in two development laboratories, a nucleonics plant, and a design division. His interest in design, however, . proved to be not so strong as he had originally believed, and he decided to return permanently to the laboratory in which he had had his first assignment. Mr. Y, a nonveteran, came to the Company direct from college. He was young and somewhat immature, but he had a good personality and showed some promise of leadership. His first two assignments mere in laboratory groups studying laminated plastics and ceramic lightning arrestors. His performance was rather poor, and his supervisors pointed out a number of faults to him. On the third assignment he was put in charge of a branch laboratory for the analysis of plating, pickling, and other metal treating solutions. Here he lras in close contact with factory personnel and did an outstanding job in organizing the laboratory routine and securing the cooperation of-the workers concerned. On his last assignment, working on a pilot-plant project for the production of silicone intermediates, this man was again successful both technically and personally and was asked to remain as a permanent employee. Throughout his year of general training, however, Mr. Y had been interested in technical sales. Although his earlier performance would not have justified selection for sales work, his later record was so excellent that he was placed on the Sales Training Program. He completed the normal two-year program in one year and is now about to leave for a district sales office. Through the maturing process of the introductory training program this man quickly prepared himself to assume an important position a t an early age. Although the General Electric programs for training and selective placement of chemical personnel have been in operation only two years, these and similar results thus far obtained have been most promising. Because of the current housing shortage the Company is still hiring men with families for direct placement. Within two or three years, however, nearly all chemists and chemical engineers, except those with the doctor's degree, will go through the introductory training outlined above. As graduates of the program come to fill more and more important positions in its chemical activities, the Company believes that the long-range benefits of training will he increasingly evident.
