Chemical Engineers: How hard was it to find a job after graduating?
Was it harder than you expected or relatively okay?
Original post by CryingWaffle
Was it harder than you expected or relatively okay?
There aren't a huge amount of graduated chemical engineers posting on TSR. The most recent one I am aware of is ChemEngGrad (tagged because I can't seem to do that @ thing, check their posts). You may also want to check out the chemical engineering reddit, as I know there are graduated chemical engineers who post there, although many are from the US and Canada.
What level of study are you at?
(edited 7 years ago)
I'm currently going into year 13 and I'm choosing a degree and wanted to know what the job prospects were like. Statistics can only tell you so much I was hoping to hear from experience. I'll check reddit thanks a lot 
Original post by CryingWaffle
I'm currently going into year 13 and I'm choosing a degree and wanted to know what the job prospects were like. Statistics can only tell you so much I was hoping to hear from experience. I'll check reddit thanks a lot
Hi CryingWaffle, I just graduated with MEng Chemical Engineering. Despite getting a 1st and doing a lot outside studying I'm struggling at the minute to get a job, and a lot of others from my course are too - maybe 50% got jobs?
But there are a few people who have got really good jobs, you just need to be on the ball from day 1 in 1st year and intern/network as much as possible. So many people are studying chemical engineering at the minute and the market for engineers declined 14% this year so it is tough out there.
Original post by ChemEngGrad
Hi CryingWaffle, I just graduated with MEng Chemical Engineering. Despite getting a 1st and doing a lot outside studying I'm struggling at the minute to get a job, and a lot of others from my course are too - maybe 50% got jobs?
But there are a few people who have got really good jobs, you just need to be on the ball from day 1 in 1st year and intern/network as much as possible. So many people are studying chemical engineering at the minute and the market for engineers declined 14% this year so it is tough out there.
But there are a few people who have got really good jobs, you just need to be on the ball from day 1 in 1st year and intern/network as much as possible. So many people are studying chemical engineering at the minute and the market for engineers declined 14% this year so it is tough out there.
May I ask which uni are you from? I'd like to know how hard it is to get a job when graduated from different tiers of uni.
Original post by ChemEngGrad
Hi CryingWaffle, I just graduated with MEng Chemical Engineering. Despite getting a 1st and doing a lot outside studying I'm struggling at the minute to get a job, and a lot of others from my course are too - maybe 50% got jobs?
But there are a few people who have got really good jobs, you just need to be on the ball from day 1 in 1st year and intern/network as much as possible. So many people are studying chemical engineering at the minute and the market for engineers declined 14% this year so it is tough out there.
But there are a few people who have got really good jobs, you just need to be on the ball from day 1 in 1st year and intern/network as much as possible. So many people are studying chemical engineering at the minute and the market for engineers declined 14% this year so it is tough out there.
I adore you for writing this. 100000000% reality.
Engineering jobs are so difficult to get....even placements as well. I hate the way universities use misleading statistics to reel in students to study engineering with all this 90% end up in jobs or further study b.s.
It's hard as hell not to mention poorly paid in the UK (I speak for the majority of companies a few do pay you well)
Original post by ML8020
May I ask which uni are you from? I'd like to know how hard it is to get a job when graduated from different tiers of uni.
To put it in the nicest way possible; the university name won't do much for you at all.
Original post by ChemEngGrad
Hi CryingWaffle, I just graduated with MEng Chemical Engineering. Despite getting a 1st and doing a lot outside studying I'm struggling at the minute to get a job, and a lot of others from my course are too - maybe 50% got jobs?
But there are a few people who have got really good jobs, you just need to be on the ball from day 1 in 1st year and intern/network as much as possible. So many people are studying chemical engineering at the minute and the market for engineers declined 14% this year so it is tough out there.
But there are a few people who have got really good jobs, you just need to be on the ball from day 1 in 1st year and intern/network as much as possible. So many people are studying chemical engineering at the minute and the market for engineers declined 14% this year so it is tough out there.
Thanks for sharing your experience university stats really are misleading haha. do you ever regret studying ChemEng? I think I'd genuinely enjoy it so this won't deter me but i'll prep myself for the harsh reality out there.
Also (while we're here haha) what university did you study at? Did you enjoy the course/ was it difficult?
Original post by ML8020
May I ask which uni are you from? I'd like to know how hard it is to get a job when graduated from different tiers of uni.
Original post by CryingWaffle
Thanks for sharing your experience university stats really are misleading haha. do you ever regret studying ChemEng? I think I'd genuinely enjoy it so this won't deter me but i'll prep myself for the harsh reality out there.
Also (while we're here haha) what university did you study at? Did you enjoy the course/ was it difficult?
Also (while we're here haha) what university did you study at? Did you enjoy the course/ was it difficult?
I went to Leeds, but like trapking says I dunno if it matters really unless you go to oxbridge or imperial. Yeah I regret studying it a little, it was really hard and I feel like it was all a bit wasted now. The course is good because it's really varied, but definitely way harder than most degrees seem to be.
im currently at uni of leeds. I can tell you now, the course is really quite hard and the staff don't seem to make it easier. The teaching quality can vary a lot. Some lecturers are very good at explaining concepts with lots of examples but others seem to rush everything and seem disinterested. Furthermore, students often find some lecturers hard to understand because of the language barrier and some foreign lecturers. Also if you are a minority, expect to get used to being treated different in certain situations and dealing with subtle racism throughout your time. It is still a very good degree to have nonetheless and the job opportunities are available in other markets also, such as, banking and finance, etc. I would highly recommend doing a work placement year in industry as this will boost your chances of landing a good job.Best of luck,Garry Olumpghako
Hi there.
I graduated 2015 form UCL and a lot of folks in my year struggled to get a job relevant to what we studied. A small fraction of us are in jobs relevant to our discipline. The rest are in other sectors. Getting a role in finance and consultancy was easier (probably due to the university name)
The oil price crashed late 2014, so recruiting aspiring graduates and finalist students was not on the agenda for a lot of oil and gas companies. So that did make a contribution to our difficulties. Thankly, I managed to land a role about 4 months after I graduated. I speak about this in a thread I wrote (linked below, comment 779).
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2425110&page=39
Hope this helps.
I graduated 2015 form UCL and a lot of folks in my year struggled to get a job relevant to what we studied. A small fraction of us are in jobs relevant to our discipline. The rest are in other sectors. Getting a role in finance and consultancy was easier (probably due to the university name)
The oil price crashed late 2014, so recruiting aspiring graduates and finalist students was not on the agenda for a lot of oil and gas companies. So that did make a contribution to our difficulties. Thankly, I managed to land a role about 4 months after I graduated. I speak about this in a thread I wrote (linked below, comment 779).
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2425110&page=39
Hope this helps.
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