Networking Effectively?

[spectastic]

Because online applications are such low yield processes, I'm inclined to invest more time in networking, considering that's how most jobs are obtained. This is where I'm having trouble.

 

• I'm a bachelors level candidate looking for research positions, looking for jobs outside my existing network in the oil/gas industry, and only in several metro locations. So far, I've only done online apps, called a few recruiters, and cold emailed some linkedin people with similar profiles. I hope to get a position as a research associate, but would settle for a technician if there's good prospect in moving up. (There's ONE professor in the nearby university doing research in my area... I don't know if he's hiring though, and it would only be a resume filler)
• I would like to get out more and meet people, but this area (around Houston) is all about oil/gas, and its support services, and for that reason, I have little interest in sticking around. 
• My background is in chemical engineering, and to my understanding, most of the research associate positions are carved out for chemistry, reason being a chemical engineer typically expect higher pay, which I don't care about too much at this point, but it could be a weed out factor, especially for positions with 100+ applications...

 

I did apply twice for grad school, but decided to not spend my entire savings to fund the first year. I do hope to go back someday, maybe do a part time masters, but that requires me to be close to the universities, which is partially why I narrowed down the locations. Ive been told that I should spend 90% of my effort networking, but I don't know how to get away from the computer. Any advice?

 

[husky]

In my experience, the best way to network is at professional events. I'm a graduate student, so for me, that means at conferences. I'm not sure about your field, but if you can attend professional meetings or conferences that's a great way to network! It might require travel, though. But it can certainly be a good investment.

 

If you are a student and the event is on campus, that is just GOLD!  

[wonderbread]

Are there any companies in your area that are in an area you may be interested in?  Even if they are not hiring it could be a good place to start without doing a lot of travel.  When networking everyone you meet with is not only a potential employer, but more importantly they are a potential advocate for you.  Even if they are not hiring, they may have a sister company elsewhere or may know of someone who is hiring.  Once you establish a relationship in a market it's amazing how wide the doors open for opportunities.

[Eigen]

I'd look for your local section of the American Chemical Society or AiCHE. They'll likely have regular meetings, and if you've kept your professional memberships up, you're already a member. 

 

Networking is all about making the person remember you, and one of the best ways to do that is to ask questions and get them to talk about themselves- they'll come away with a very positive remembrance of you. 

 

For you, I'd suggest meeting people at these meetings in a field you're interested in, and start asking them about what they do, how they got to where they are, and if they have any suggestions for someone trying to transition. 

 

You mention you're no longer interested in "oil/gas", but that's a huge field, encompassing many, many areas of chemical research. So it might be beneficial to tell us what exactly you are interested in?

 

You mention not going to graduate school because you don't want to have to fund your first year, but it's really rare for PhD programs to not fully fund you if you're a competitive applicant, so that shouldn't be a problem. If you were looking at MS degrees, that probably won't lead to a research position as a ChemE.

[spectastic]

 ok I have several questions

I'd look for your local section of the American Chemical Society or AiCHE. They'll likely have regular meetings, and if you've kept your professional memberships up, you're already a member. 

 

not really a question but I've been on the lookout. I didn't go to the last AICHE session in houston because the subject matter was on hydraulic fracking, but I probably should have.. Anyway, I was wondering if you know of any similar organizations that are more akin to the chemistry side of things than engineering. like does ACS do regular meetings like AICHE?

 

 

Networking is all about making the person remember you, and one of the best ways to do that is to ask questions and get them to talk about themselves- they'll come away with a very positive remembrance of you. 

 

agreed

 

For you, I'd suggest meeting people at these meetings in a field you're interested in, and start asking them about what they do, how they got to where they are, and if they have any suggestions for someone trying to transition. 

 

You mention you're no longer interested in "oil/gas", but that's a huge field, encompassing many, many areas of chemical research. So it might be beneficial to tell us what exactly you are interested in?

 

I just feel like oil and gas is such an old field that there's little innovation going on anymore. Having worked there for two years, I feel like any research that does go on are mostly process optimization and such. One view I got from a recruiter was that the upstream processes like drilling rigs, refineries, and chemical plants all make good money, and that margin of profit diminishes as you go downstream towards manufacturing, and eventually consumer products. But my view is that there's greater demand of researchers in manufacturing because there is more innovation, which is a necessity. On the other hand, oil/gas is more concerned about making more money over everything else, and I'm so much against that capitalist mentality. I have a friend working for Dow, who does specialty chemicals, and I'd like to get her take on the prominence of research over there.

 

You mention not going to graduate school because you don't want to have to fund your first year, but it's really rare for PhD programs to not fully fund you if you're a competitive applicant, so that shouldn't be a problem. If you were looking at MS degrees, that probably won't lead to a research position as a ChemE.

 

as evidence would suggest, I'm apparently not a very competitive applicant. 3.5 gpa, 167Q/153V/4.5W, 3 years of research, 2 pending manuscripts with 2nd author, and three pretty good recommendations (I think), and I'm pretty sure my essay didn't suck. I didn't get any funding in the two cycles that I've applied. I think my biggest mistake was not meeting the professors and not networking, which I tried on the computer, but got little yield. But I didn't apply this year because I was so busy with my job that I didn't have the time. So for the time being, I'm just looking for something to build some experience until I decide what the best option is later on. My view on a phd is that it's 5 years of commitment, with little freedom, and being a young guy, the thought of putting out 70+ hour weeks is not a very good way to spend your years in your 20s. I've been told that the road up the ladder is faster with a graduate degree, but I'm taking that with a grain of salt because I believe I can excel in a research role without a grad degree, and I'd much rather spend 5 years in industry building my network than 5 years in school worrying about papers and grants. But why do you say that anything less than a PhD won't lead to a research position?

Edited January 15, 2015 by spectastic

[spectastic]

Are there any companies in your area that are in an area you may be interested in?  Even if they are not hiring it could be a good place to start without doing a lot of travel.  When networking everyone you meet with is not only a potential employer, but more importantly they are a potential advocate for you.  Even if they are not hiring, they may have a sister company elsewhere or may know of someone who is hiring.  Once you establish a relationship in a market it's amazing how wide the doors open for opportunities.

you know honestly, I think there probably are at least a few companies here that fits, but I really want to move out west, just because I want to live there. One of the reasons why I didn't go back to school was because the schools there didn't give me any money, and they're super expensive (I mean holy donkey balls they cost a lot of money, not to mention the living expenses). I don't really know anyone out there though, so that's one of the places where I'm stuck. 

[spectastic]

In my experience, the best way to network is at professional events. I'm a graduate student, so for me, that means at conferences. I'm not sure about your field, but if you can attend professional meetings or conferences that's a great way to network! It might require travel, though. But it can certainly be a good investment.

 

If you are a student and the event is on campus, that is just GOLD!  

 

yea I think networking is like a skill, almost an art. With an event type setting like that, you need to know who's there, do research about them, and try to find out what their interests might be. I'm the first to admit I'm still a newbie at this.

[Eigen]

Not having a graduate degree won't just make the climb slower, you will top out very, very fast. 

 

You also seem to have have some significant misconceptions about graduate school, but I'll leave that alone for now. 

 

You're swapping 5 years of harder work and less flexibility now for what will be a career of less flexibility. I guess it depends what you mean by a research position, but with a BS, you won't ever be directing research, or doing direct innovation. You'll pretty much always be doing optimization, usually under someone else's direction. 

 

I'd suggest the local ACS meetings, but if you don't want to go when topics aren't directly interesting to you, you're going to have a hard time networking. 

 

A lot of the fundamental chemical innovation in a number of non-medical fields is coming from oil/gas research, so I'm not sure why you don't think there's innovation there. Maybe you're just not working for the right companies or reading the right journals?

[spectastic]

Not having a graduate degree won't just make the climb slower, you will top out very, very fast. 

 

You also seem to have have some significant misconceptions about graduate school, but I'll leave that alone for now. 

 

You're swapping 5 years of harder work and less flexibility now for what will be a career of less flexibility. I guess it depends what you mean by a research position, but with a BS, you won't ever be directing research, or doing direct innovation. You'll pretty much always be doing optimization, usually under someone else's direction. 

 

I'd suggest the local ACS meetings, but if you don't want to go when topics aren't directly interesting to you, you're going to have a hard time networking. 

 

A lot of the fundamental chemical innovation in a number of non-medical fields is coming from oil/gas research, so I'm not sure why you don't think there's innovation there. Maybe you're just not working for the right companies or reading the right journals?

so what do you mean by oil and gas? the way I see it, all the production of raw materials and chemical intermediates like say polyethylene, polyurethane... all the poly's are all well established. What's more interesting is what you can produce by mixing them and doping them to give them enhanced properties. In my mind, that information is more interesting to manufacturing. If you don't agree with that, what resources would you recommend to get better informed?

Edited January 15, 2015 by spectastic

[Eigen]

A huge part of the oil and gas industry is developing new technologies for refining. Specifically, cracking (breaking down long-chain hydrocarbons) and synthesis (building up short chain). There's a huge amount of money going into research for this, probably more than any other field at the moment, world wide. Especially the development of novel catalysts and new synthetic methodologies. 

 

You seem to be really broadly defining "manufacturing". I think you need to identify a particular area you're interested in- catalyst development, organometallic synthesis, organic synthesis, nanosystem development, etc. 

 

You've kinda switched from talking about oil & gas (hydrocarbons) to talking about polymer science, when they're not really very connected. In addition, as you mentioned, many basic polymers are well characterized- but they fall, generally, under manufacturing, rarely under oil and gas. 

 

Additionally, while some of the basic "poly's' are well characterized, the development of self-healing polymers, conductive polymers, and coatings with novel functionalities are still very cutting edge areas of industrial research. 

[spectastic]

A huge part of the oil and gas industry is developing new technologies for refining. Specifically, cracking (breaking down long-chain hydrocarbons) and synthesis (building up short chain). There's a huge amount of money going into research for this, probably more than any other field at the moment, world wide. Especially the development of novel catalysts and new synthetic methodologies. 

 

You seem to be really broadly defining "manufacturing". I think you need to identify a particular area you're interested in- catalyst development, organometallic synthesis, organic synthesis, nanosystem development, etc. 

 

You've kinda switched from talking about oil & gas (hydrocarbons) to talking about polymer science, when they're not really very connected. In addition, as you mentioned, many basic polymers are well characterized- but they fall, generally, under manufacturing, rarely under oil and gas. 

 

Additionally, while some of the basic "poly's' are well characterized, the development of self-healing polymers, conductive polymers, and coatings with novel functionalities are still very cutting edge areas of industrial research. 

that's my niche.