Chemical Engineering December 2010 - 16

CPI sector
Newsfront
Recruiting is more active
Recruiting firms working in the CPI
space have observed a markedly increased
number of personnel search
projects for chemical engineers in
2010. For example, Patrick Ropella,
CEO of the Ropella Group (Milton,
Fla.; www.ropella.com), a search firm
specializing in the chemical and allied
industries, says his firm has seen
an increase in search projects across
all industry sectors. " There's no question
that there's a more positive attitude
than a year ago, " he stated, " but
at the same time, there's also a lot of
trepidation, which makes for a slower
hiring process. " Ropella notes that his
firm has seen a significant number of
personnel searches aimed at helping a
company enter a new market. Another
positive indicator is the small number
of chemical engineering searches
to find staff for expansion projects.
" Last year, there were virtually none
of those, " Ropella said.
Although hiring freezes have largely
been lifted, fear concerning possible
new environmental regulations remains,
and people don't hire when
they are fearful, Ropella says. " We are
slowly thawing out, but we still haven't
broken free altogether, " he adds.
Salary increases for job-changers
are smaller than what has been seen
in the past, he says. " Normally, a 10%
increase in salary was the minimum
to get the right person into a new position,
but right now we're seeing a lot of
single-digit percentage increases. "
Rich Brandeis, a senior partner
who manages the chemical engineering
recruitment division at personnel
search firm CPS (Westchester, Ill.;
www.cps4jobs.com), has had a similar
experience. " The hiring climate for
chemical engineers is good right now,
and it's gotten stronger throughout
the year, " he says, expecting the upward
trend to continue.
Aside from the wider economic recovery,
part of the reason for the activity
could be that a lot of companies
went a long time without hiring anyone,
Brandeis suggests, so now, opportunities
are good for mid-level chemical
engineering positions across a wide
range of industries.
Noticeably fewer out-of-work engineers
are contacting Brandeis, and
Circle 7 on p. 58 or go to adlinks.che.com/29257-07
16 ChemiCal engineering www.Che.Com DeCember 2010
%
%
Petroleum
refining
16.9
Chemicals &
petrochem 30.2
Energy
13.8
Pharma/
biotech
Nonferrous
metals
4.1
2.2
Glass and
ceramics 0.6
Rubber
0.5
Food and
beverage 3.4
Pulp & paper 0.5
Specialty/fine
chemicals 5.2
Other
22.4
Area of work
%
%
R&D
12.8
Process
operations 23.9
Automation/
process
control
Process or
product
design
4.0
20.6
FIGURE 3-4. The largest number of
survey respondents worked in the chemicals
and petrochemicals industry. Process
operations was the most common
job area, although the distribution was
more equitable
people seem to be more confident
about making a career move. Also, we
have seen more counteroffers by companies
trying to retain workers, he
says, which can be viewed as evidence
for a stronger labor market. Brandeis
agrees with others in pointing out
that the hiring activity is broad-based
- " pretty much across the board, " he
says. " Not many sectors are lagging,
and the trend of improvement seems
to be a longer-term one, rather than a
short-term spike in activity. "
Environ.
health safety 5.5
Consulting 14.9
Plant manager 4.6
Academia
2.1
Regulatory 0.8
Other
10.8
http://www.ropella.com http://www.cps4jobs.com http://adlinks.che.com/29257-07 http://www.Che.Com
Chemical Engineering December 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering December 2010
