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ChemE job market

So I know that ChemE job market has gone downhill recently but I was wondering if I should be worried. I have had a tough time finding a placement and everyone I speak to says the same.

Is it just as hard trying to get a graduate job and should I consider doing a Msc in another subject instead?
Original post by firebaron999
So I know that ChemE job market has gone downhill recently but I was wondering if I should be worried. I have had a tough time finding a placement and everyone I speak to says the same.

Is it just as hard trying to get a graduate job and should I consider doing a Msc in another subject instead?


When you say you had a tough time finding a placement, did you eventually find one?

Reason I am asking, is because probably most engineering students find getting placements tough (although plenty do manage to secure them in the end). I think the overall success rate is a better indicator.
Reply 2
Avatar for Spher0
Spher0
5
I've just graduated in Chem Eng - with a grad job secured. For me, getting a placement was far harder than getting a graduate job offer. I don't consider myself to be particularly special, but it took me about 6 months to land a placement at the beginning of my second year: when applying for a grad jobs, i attended 4 interviews for process engineering graduate schemes and received 3 offers.

I'd put most of it down to the interesting topics i could discuss because of my placement, not to mention i was far more used to the generic HR questions that are part of every bloody assessment day.

Don't give up - there's light at the end of the tunnel.
Reply 3
Avatar for sherace
sherace
13
There are a lot less placements than there are jobs, so that explains the lack thereof.

It took soo many attempts to get my placements, but by the end of my third year, I had completed an internship as a Mechanical Engineer, which helped me to get a placement as a Chemical Engineer, which in turn, helped me to get my current Graduate Chemical Engineering job that I'm in now. Think outside the box for how you get placements. Get out and network. I actually received two internship offers, the other one that I turned down for the MechEng one was actually Civil Engineering. I didn't complete any kind of application for either of these roles. I just took myself on my feet the old fashioned way and went to meet people. Take your opportunities and look at your situation and see what you can do with it!

But I also believe that other graduates are struggling too. I don't know a field, except for teaching, medicine etc... where you can just walk into a job. Chemistry grads, Biology grads, Physics Grad, Geography grads every grad is having a hard time. So I say stick with the evil that you know, at least you know what can improve your situation. I wouldn't have a clue how to get placements ect as a Physics student!

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