A Career in the Chemicals Industry ? velop de and ver disco you What will
seeking enquiring minds and people with a technical flair to discover new approaches.
Opportunities and options
When it comes to the chemicals industry, what people sometimes forget is that every thing is made up of chemicals! And importantly chemicals are safe and highly effective if controlled in the right way. Our quality of life would be impossible without chemicals and the products that are made from them. The chemicals produced by the industry are used to make plastics, paints, additives, detergents, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and many other products in our lives today. The chemicals industry is a big and economically important sector with around 146,000 employees around the UK. It’s got an exciting future and there are a range of roles for those interested in getting on the career ladder. On average, full-time employees’ hourly earnings are 19% higher than in manufacturing generally. This reflects high skill, productivity and training levels. Graduate starting salaries range from around £20,000 to £25,000 a year and senior people with professional status can earn well beyond £50,000 a year. Jobs include process operators and laboratory technicians through to safety managers and site directors.
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The companies that make the products work around the clock to ensure highly safe, clean and efficient processes and the people who handle them are trained to the highest standards of safety and environmental management. This is an industry that traditionally provides well-paid, long term careers and opportunities to progress in the UK and in some cases around the world Discovery and innovation are central to the chemicals industry– new drugs to cure disease, the development of new greener production processes and materials that can be recycled and re-used are top priorities in the sector. New product development is a constant challenge, and the employers are
A dedicated website www.cogent-careers.com shows all the roles in the chemicals industry - including where a particular job fits into the organisation, the work area, the key responsibilities, and the typical day-to-day duties which the post-holder will be expected to carry out. The website also demonstrates the education and qualification requirements and the salary you can expect if you join the industry.
Interested in science? A big concern of the employers in the sector is the shortage of young people choosing to study science at both school and University. Each year the number of people studying science remains similar: yet these science industries will need thousands of new recruits – including technicians, operators, scientists, engineers and managers – over the next decade. If you are interested in science you might want to check out Cogent’s partner, Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Widnes, Cheshire. It has an exciting, state-of-the-art Catalytic Discovery Lab which hosts a range of workshops and hands-on activities for students. http://www.catalyst.org.uk/
www.cogent-careers.com