I got a job!

[taylaca]

I've been looking for a job as a chemist since I graduated in October but never getting any responses to the applications I send in. Then suddenly I got an email inviting me for an interview and then today they emailed me again to let me know I got the job. It seems like there is so much competition for jobs these days that it is really easy to despair that you will never get called back.

 

I just wanted to share because I'm happy.  :happydance: And to wish good luck to anyone else out there who is job hunting!

[mcsneezy]

Awesome! Congrats!! That is really awesome.. my fiance is also a Chemistry major and has had a really tough time finding relevant work, so kudos to you! :D 

I finally just got a job myself, but it's DEFINITELY not anywhere near my dream career lol.

[Duma]

Congrats! Being a chemist is fun! What kind of work will you do? Chemists can do so many kinds of work :p

[jellysundae]

Congratulations! And thanks for sharing your happy with us, it's a great way to make other people feel good too. :D

[tk421beth]

Congrats to you! How exciting! :rock:

 

When do you start? How far is it from your home?

[just4dailies]

Congrats! Being a chemist is fun! What kind of work will you do? Chemists can do so many kinds of work :p

Congratulations from me as well. I'm curious on the details too :)

Will you be doing anything on Neopets to celebrate?

[charelan]

Congrats! Finishing school is so stressful when there aren't lots of jobs to go around.. I'm glad you found something in your field!

[taylaca]

Wow! Thanks to all the people who replied!

 

@Duma The job is a Quality Control Chemist at a company that manufactures pharmaceuticals. So basically testing stuff to make sure it meets regulations. Chemistry certainly is fun. Are you a chemist too?

 

@tk421beth I start on Monday. It is about a 20 minute drive or a 1 hour bus ride from home. I'll probably be busing most days unless neither of my parents need the car that day. I will probably look into renting an apartment and/or getting my own car at some point. I've just been mooching off my parents for a few months since I moved back to Canada (I was previously living in Japan to go to university) since I basically had no money.

 

@just4dailies I hadn't even thought of doing anything on neopets to celebrate. hmmm. Any ideas? Maybe i should dress my neopets up holding balloons or something.

 

@mcsneezy I hope you and your fiance both get the jobs you really want. I think sometimes you just have to slog through a job you don't really like just to get experience to show you can work well before you can get into your preferred field. Especially something like chemistry it seems like all the jobs really want at least a year or two minimum experience regardless of what degree you have so it can be quite hard to get into. I was also applying at a bunch of jobs I didn't particularly want, I was just really lucky that the one I got was what I really wanted to do. So what would your dream career be?

[just4dailies]

Yeah something like that :) for some reason the chemistry for beginners game came to mind. (More just picturing the background of the vials on the desk & the Ixi in his chemist garb than the actual game).

[Duma]

Wow! Thanks to all the people who replied!

 

@Duma The job is a Quality Control Chemist at a company that manufactures pharmaceuticals. So basically testing stuff to make sure it meets regulations. Chemistry certainly is fun. Are you a chemist too?

 

As a matter of fact I am. I work in a laboratory that tests petrochemical products, so basically I'm testing stuff to make sure it meets regulations as well, although we do much more than just that.

Pharmaceuticals is a lot more strict though, since it has a bigger effect when it doesn't meet regulations. You can actually harm peoples health instead of their cars! You can really take pride in your work, it is very important!

If I may give you a tip (if they don't offer this one at your work): take a little notbook with you that you can put in the pocket of your labcoat (about size A6 I believe) and write down everything they say when explaining a test. You'll have to learn many tests, so the information will be overwhelming at first. If you write it down, not only will it make a good impression, you'll make it a lot easier for yourself when you have to do it alone. You can just read all the steps and important things to look out for. I've been doing this job for many years and even trained some new people, but even I still use my notebook from time to time.

[taylaca]

Yeah something like that :) for some reason the chemistry for beginners game came to mind. (More just picturing the background of the vials on the desk & the Ixi in his chemist garb than the actual game).

 

Oh yeah, maybe I should play that game again. It's been a while. Actually, I just remembered that I dressed my Shoyru up in a labcoat themed outfit a few days ago. Although that was before I got the job so I couldn't really say it was in celebration... unless I just pretend lol

 

 

As a matter of fact I am. I work in a laboratory that tests petrochemical products, so basically I'm testing stuff to make sure it meets regulations as well, although we do much more than just that.

Pharmaceuticals is a lot more strict though, since it has a bigger effect when it doesn't meet regulations. You can actually harm peoples health instead of their cars! You can really take pride in your work, it is very important!

If I may give you a tip (if they don't offer this one at your work): take a little notbook with you that you can put in the pocket of your labcoat (about size A6 I believe) and write down everything they say when explaining a test. You'll have to learn many tests, so the information will be overwhelming at first. If you write it down, not only will it make a good impression, you'll make it a lot easier for yourself when you have to do it alone. You can just read all the steps and important things to look out for. I've been doing this job for many years and even trained some new people, but even I still use my notebook from time to time.

 

I'm really glad you mentioned taking notes. I did that when I was learning all the stuff for my master's degree research and it was a lifesaver. I was thinking about bringing a notebook when I start work because it is so hard to remember procedures if you don't take notes but I was worried it would seem weird or unprofessional. But if you think it would make a good impression then I guess I don't have to worry about that. Thanks for the advice! Have you been in the same lab since you started, or have you done other stuff as well?

[Duma]

You're welcome for the advice!

So far, I've stayed in the same job since I started. I don't have a drivers license so I'm lucky I got this one so close to home. If I wanted another job (although I don't think I want to do something different then working in a lab) I'd need to get that license first.

I really wish you the best of luck in your new job!

[taylaca]

I wish I lived closer to my work, or at least on a more convenient bus route. It is actually pretty close in distance but the buses don't go that way. I have my licence but I hate driving. Unfortunately the city I live in has a really unreliable system of public transport and terrible weather and road conditions for bikers. Pretty much everyone here owns a car.

 

My first couple days of work have been really good. Everyone is really nice so that always makes things easier. Mostly I've just been reading SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and doing safety training and stuff so far. It is a bit dull but at least it is in English. In the lab in Japan (where I did my master's degree) I had to sit through tons of safety lectures in Japanese that I could barely follow (my Japanese language skills being far from brilliant).

[Duma]

I know that part is a bit boring, but it comes with every new job. If a company wants to keep their accreditation they must have it recorded that every person working there has read all those things and has been trained for all the procedures.

But having to read those in a completely different language like Japanese, wow. Even if you can manage in a language, those kind of documents usually use very specific words you hardly hear anywhere. I hope you had a translator :P

[taylaca]

I know it is necessary. Every time I have started in a new lab at the universities for a research position it always started with a bunch of reading. When I started in Japan they just gave me a super technical textbook on the theory and calculations to do with polymer chemistry and were just like, "we don't understand this book but you speak English so you can just sit and read this English textbook." So I spent like two weeks just reading a textbook for about 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. At least these SOPs seem useful/relevant. And I get to fill in a training sheet for each one I read so I feel like I'm accomplishing something as I go through the list, as opposed to just "yeah I read some more pages in a textbook on a topic I will probably never need to know about."

 

And today I got to do a practice titration with an old sample and fill out one of the "trainer required" SOPs as opposed to all the "read and understand" ones.

 

It wasn't so much reading documents in Japanese as listening to lectures in Japanese. There was usually a powerpoint presentation so I could kind of follow along. It really helped if there were pictures but sometimes the slides were full of blocks of text. In those situations I just ignored the slides and tried to focus on what the person was saying. My listening comprehension was better than my reading comprehension.