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There's no doubt o n e point to be considered before starting on an analytical career is whether you can and w a n t to work under industry's pressure for speed, for the analytical chemist has many masters and many demands for his services. You should also consider the rather limited opportunity for fundamental analytical research, although this varies from company to company. I feel opportunities will become greater in the future as companies realize w h a t analysts can contribute. A third danger is t h e ever-present one of becoming simply a service analyst. A company which puts the analyst down as strictly a serviceman wastes much of his basic training and turns him into a technician. The individual chemist can do much to dispel this limited concept of his usefulness. O n t h e credit side is the favorable position the analytical chemist is in to contribute to all phases of industrial activity. T h e range of activities offers a tremendous challenge to his knowledge and originality. And, perhaps most important, h e has an opportunity in industry to make significant contributions to the literature of analytical chemistry.
T h e Commercial Chemical Development M a n CHARLES D. GOODALE Commercial Solvents C o r p . , Terre Haute, Ind.
Commercial chemical development has to do with coordinating the activities of various groups who are concerned with the selection, production, and sale of new chemical products or with the expansion of new uses for old products. I t includes writing catalogs and data sheets, giving assistance to customers, handling technical complaints, a n d engaging in promotional work on new applications. T h e rapid expansions and ramifications of the chemical industry have b r o u g h t it into touch with almost every other industry. As a consequence, the need for broad training is important. During the early and somewhat exploratory periods in a chemist's industrial life, he should tackle every job to which he is assigned as though it were his life's work. While there may b e a tendency for the younger man to b e more concerned about the larger phases of the company's work, he should realize that detailed, firsthand knowledge gained during his training period will be invaluable later, n o matter -what direction his activities may ultimately take. This is particularly true in commercial chemical development work. In contacting technical staffs of customers and prospects, he will need an adequate knowledge of his own company's products as well as a good general industrial background. Such work needs not only a sound academic background and knowledge of the products concerned b u t also a broad knowledge of the chemical consuming
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industries, including their products, processes, and problems. To build such a background requires patience. That characteristic combined with enthusiasm are basic requisites for t h e commercial chemical development man, for months and even years of preliminary spade work are necessary before a new chemical or a new project pays off. Commercial chemical development work is aimed primarily at converting research into profitable industrial enterprises. Without the proper follow-through, no idea or new product ever m a d e any money. This fact and the growing complexity of the industry have led to special groups handling one or more phases of chemical development activities. These groups, serving as coordinators, contribute their knowledge and borrow from the talents of their research, production, and sales staffs to accomplish the job of translating laboratory results into profitable industrial enterprises. Success in such work requires a variety of talents; some of the most important are : team-working ability, a flexible mind, sense of humor, active imagination, and particularly a willingness and ability to appreciate the other man's points of view. In developing a new and improved product, the development chemist must have faith and optimism. That faitli and optimism m u s t b e based on technical and economic knowledge. He must appraise his brainchild critically, and this requires intellectual honesty and integrity. Throughout his work, his ability to convey his ideas clearly, whether to his prospect or his management, can make the difference between success and failure. I t follows then that from student days throughout his career the m a n who would b e successful should work constantly to improve his mastery of the language. A sense of planning and willingness to work toward a sometimes distant goal are important parts of the commercial development man's make-up. M u c h more planning and intelligent effort may be needed to clinch the first five-gallon order than will be needed later for tank-car sales. The methodical, research-slanted approach required for introduction of a new chemical is much different from that of the full-scale sales approach for a product established on the market. A young chemist interested in field work should examine himself critically to determine whether he has qualifications and temperament for this kind of work or would prefer the possibly m o r e glamorous straight sales where h e can hear the cash register ring every day. A good reading program in the technical magazines is essential to continuing development of background. Further reading to round out knowledge of other sciences as well as some acquaintance with economics, labor relations, and business administration are desirable. While the desirable background knowledge outlined here may seem formidable, t h e prospective commercial chemical development man should keep in mind that starting with a good academic base, one can develop it on the job. No one man may have all the desirable qualities, but with conscientious effort it is possible for you to approach such a state. Progress APRIL
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may seem slow, but each step upward widens your horizons and brings into truer perspective the relation ship between your work and that of the chemical industry as a whole.
W r i t i n g for t h e Chemical Industry H O W A R D A. MARPLE Monsanto Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.
The field of writing in the chemical industry is a rapidly growing and recognized arm of management. It is highly important to the chemical industry and chemical science. It has many specialties within itself —from technical report writing to advertising. Yes, even to editing a publication like this one. Like sales, research, or production, technical writing is another avenue to highly responsible jobs and above average compensation all along the way. While the gift of the Muses is not essential to com mercial writing in the chemical business, the individ ual must have a liking for writing and the willingness to work patiently with words. Trade magazines in the chemical field require com petent staffs of editorial writers. I t is a field that can offer a technically trained writer either great speciali zation or wide diversification. This work permits an individual to keep himself informed on the latest de velopments in the field and in time can confer upon him an impressive amount of prestige. Some company magazines have attained the stature of a bona fide trade paper with the readers they serve. These company publications are written to the highest technical level and offer a challenge to imagination and technical ability that is scarcely matched by large general interest magazines. The basic job of public relations is to keep citizens at large, customers, and stockholders fully informed about company operation. A technically trained man, so inclined, could make a satisfying career in interpret ing a chemical company's activities to the public through the press and radio. Basically, such writing would be selecting newsworthy developments in a highly technical operation and interpreting them so that they are vivid and understandable to ordinary people. In advertising, technically trained men will find many opportunities ranging from technical report writ ing to the executive direction of chemical advertising. Obviously, a technical background must be comple mented with knowledge of advertising techniques, sales psychology, and marketing. In the preparation and placement of chemical ad vertising, a technical education can be a valuable background for qualifying judgment and guiding the decisions that must be made at every step of the adver tising operation. Technical men will find that their backgrounds en able them to correlate and present technical informa tion in the form of sales booklets, pamphlets, catalogs, 82
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and circulars used to carry information to lists of other technical people who can make use of tb_e products offered. These broad brush strokes outline the major fields in which a technical man can use his training in other than research, engineering, production, and sales. All of them require additional training, not necessarily formal, but definitely somewhat apart froirt the stand ard formal training given technical graduates. This consists of some bedrock psychology, salesmanship, advertising, and marketing. Since virtually all the fields require the ability to write, the man entering these green pastures should be able to express ideas in words that are clear, fluent, and emphatic. He must be able to produce readable writing.
The Technical Salesman H. D. HUGHES Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Division, Union Carbide & Carbon Corp., New York, Ν. Υ.
What technical sales means in die chemical process industries can be broadly conveyed by a list of func tions that the technical sales representative may be called upon to perform: • He is a salesman. First, last, and always his reason for being is to sell his company's product. • He is a technical consultant. He nmst offer to the customers and prospects in his area a thorough knowledge of his products and their uses in practical industrial applications. • He is a market research man. His company relies heavily on him for knowledge of business trends, de velopments in specific areas or industries, and general market conditions. • He is a public relations man. To his: customers, prospects, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances, John Jones of the ABC Co. is the ABC Co. • He is a business diplomat. When shipments are delayed, invoices are incorrect, materials d o not meet specifications, the technical sales representative bears the responsibility of explaining such situa-tions to the customer's satisfaction. • He is a credit investigator. The credit manager of his company will call upon him for financial in formation on his customers. β He is a writer. H e writes reports, and lots of them. H e must convey through the written word an accurate view of the situations in his area• He is a citizen. H e must take part, in so far as he is able, in the affairs of his business coimrnunity and his civic community. This tabulation, which is far from complete, should make it clear that technical training alone will not ensure success in the field of technical salens. The challenge of work of this type lies i n the appli cation of knowledge, information, and experience in an infinite variety of situations. The problems confronted
