Pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry

What can you do to make yourself competitive in the job market?

Maybe you have gained admission to a PhD program or maybe you are starting your first year. Either way the concept of what you will do after a successful defense is going to be on your mind throughout school. You are investing 4–6 years of your life at minimum wage to get this Diploma.

This is a story in my PhD in Chemistry series. Check out my other stories such as What is it like to be a Chemist?

Photo by Duangphorn Wiriya on Unsplash

Here are a few things to consider:

1. There are too many PhD chemists in the US for the amount of jobs available utilizing their chemistry skills. This is why there is an abundance of literature on “alternative careers” or “non-traditional careers”
2. The world needs a huge amount of skilled cheap labor to conduct basic research for next to nothing so there are plenty of openings for a new PhD students
3. 25–30% of your classmates will likely not finish their PhD
4. The major jobs for PhD holders in chemistry will be in R&D positions for companies that deal with polymers or pharmaceuticals
5. R&D budgets are shrinking, but workload is increasing — only the efficient survive
6. You need to beat out all of the…