How to land your first job as a Chemical Engineer?

What is chemical engineering?

The field of chemical engineering is a vast one. Petrochemical engineering is one of the oldest branch of chemical engineering. However, the scope of field has grown over years and has merged with medical sciences and given rise to the invention of biochemical engineering and biomolecular engineering. 

How to get your fisrt job as a chemical engineer?

By this time you are enrolled in a four-year Bachelor’s of Chemical Engineering course at an Engineering University and hoping to succeed as a Chemical Engineer! You are also probably too nervous and confused about the University life and whether you would do well in studies or not. Well don’t worry too much because it is absolutely normal to feel that - everyone in your batch who chose this path is going through the same emotions. This blog post is a step by step guide for fresh Chemical Engineering students to help them prepare the next four years of their professional life; 

o   First year students – You can relax and just pay attention to the lectures during classes! Self-study from books such as Colson and Richardson and Perry’s Chemical Engineering Handbook would be an excellent practice. During this time you probably don’t even know what chemical engineering is thus, dedicate most of your time to reading. The more you read and gather information the easier the upcoming semester will be for you. Outside studies, the following activities can  help you make the most of your experience;

• Participate in Student Societies for example AiCHE.
• Seek career services and other assistance programs in your University.
• Reach out to as many students from other departments as you can, have meet-ups and make great friends.

o   Second Year Students – After spending one year at the University you should be familiar with your classmates, professors and faculty staff. As such it would be a great thing to invest time in reaching out to the professional people.

• Start Networking.
• Request mentorship from the professors at your University or industry personnel who are most likely University Alumni. 
• Get career path opinions from professional engineers you know.

o  Third Year Students – This is the time when all subjects should be very straight forward and easily understood by most of you. And if there is still any confusion, there is no need to worry as you will have a tonne or resources such as your friends, final year students and even some nice professors to assist you grasp the concepts. The following tips give you a heads up on what is expected by you in order to get hired as an entry level chemical engineer.

• Get involved in small projects or start your own. There is a plethora of research topics that you can keep yourself updated with and provide insight into.
• Start volunteering! This is really important. You can start as a volunteer in your own University and it would be an excellent addition to your resume.
• Try to obtain an internship to help you gain practical experience in the field.
• Prepare your first resume and cover letter drafts. Get them viewed by your mentor or other industry Alumni and take their feedback seriously to improve you resume.
• Start researching the industries and potential employers where you want to work. Gather information from company websites and reaching out to Alumni via LinkedIn who worked in that company.  

o   Final Year Students – Congratulations! You made it to the final year. This is the most crucial time of your life. Most of you are going to start your early career as a chemical engineer. It is common for students start worrying about getting a job at this point and rightfully so.

• Don’t stress out and don’t expect much.
• Keep working on your resumes and cover letter.
• Keep applying to as many companies as you can. After your 100^th application you are more likely to land yourself a job!
• If you don’t get interviews, there is a big probability that your resume and cover letter still need work. There is heaps of knowledge and tips available on the internet for improving your resume and cover letter.
• Carefully read the job description and mention only those skills in your resume that are relevent to the job you are applying for. 
• Reach out to the existing Network you have and ask them for a referral. 

After landing an entry level job and progressing in your career as a professional chemical engineer you will see that the salary benefits are worth the effort Chemical Engineer Salaries. 

Building the right resume takes more effort than just writing big words. It also involves doing work that can help you develop the employability skills.  Something that you eventually realize later on during your first job is that the University experience is entirely different from the practical life. 

Take the following list of famous chemical engineers as an inspiration;

Famous chemical engineers

Henry Bessemer – Economic commercial scale production of steel

Carl von Linde and William Hampson – Gas liquefaction and refrigeration

Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch – Large scale production of ammonia

Karl Bayer, Charles Hall, and Paul Heroult – Commercial scale production of aluminium

Jasper Kane and John McKeen – Large scale production of penicillin

Waldo Semon – Developed more than 5000 synthetic rubbers including PVC

George Rosenkranz, Luis Miramontes, and Carl Djerassi – Development of the contraceptive pill