Jobs for the Major
How this major affects a job search
Beneficially.
No joke, chemical engineering majors are highly sought after and get paid very well. Their skills are applicable to a wide variety of jobs as well. This major can be a starting point for practically any career of your choice.
Big companies and government agencies would love to have you. That means medical insurance, pension, 401K for retirement, paid vacation time, all together with the joy of moving technology forward.
The only disadvantages in this field are travel and long work hours. Many chemical, pharmaceutical, and consumer product companies are global. This means your boss may end up sending you anywhere.
While this may not be the biggest issue for you young and single folks, once you have a family, you are going to want to stick around. Or at least your spouse will want you around to help change a diaper or ten.
Common Career Fields
Law: The beauty of law school is that you can major in literally anything before applying. Yes, even basket weaving. Though basket weaving probably wouldn't be as applicable to your education as chemistry would…
With chemistry knowledge and analytical thinking skills, chemical engineers make great lawyers. You'll fight your way through tons of difficult courses and build up the study skills necessary to get through law school. Things like environmental law and patent law require a technical background. Chemical engineers make great lawyers at places like environmental protection agencies, or in patent offices.
Management Consultant: Have we mentioned the crazy awesome analytical skills of chemical engineers? Once you've been working in the field for a while you may realize you see patterns in the success and failures of your company and others in your field.
You may even think you should be running things...but wait, that might be a lot of stressful work. Maybe instead you could help someone else run their business. This will require a good mix of your education and experience, but as an experienced professional in your field you should be up to the task.
Physician: Chemical engineers take tons of the science classes required for med school, so by taking a few extra courses, you'll be well suited for admission. What is a doctor but a chemical engineer of the body and its processes? Fluid mechanics and thermodynamics may be applied to blood as well as petroleum. Just don't mix the two up. Cars don't run on blood. That would be creepy.
Process Engineer: Think manufacturing. You probably would work in a big factory making sure all the machines are running as efficiently as possible. Maybe you scale up production of a medication or maybe you maintain a chemical plant. Since you know how chemicals are created and disposed of it will be up to you to figure out the most profitable method of both.
R&D Director: This usually requires graduate school and preferably PhD. It's a great field for creative types, as a director, you think up projects to make quality products for the company. A director receives input from marketing, finance, the CEO, and the engineers and scientists, then converts it into a business plan. This person directs work towards new lines of products and assigns tasks on the project team. You really get to flex your creative side here, you could develop the next bendable liquid crystal display screen, or you know...that non-melting ice cream would be nice.
Sales and Marketing: This may seem like a no-brainer, but any company that is selling a new drug or chemical product is going to need someone on their marketing team who actually understands how it works. That's where you come in. Chemical engineers can bridge the gap between the science and the customer. They analyze the market and help the company make good business decisions.
You know the long super-fast messages at the end of commercials listing side effects? Someone has got to understand what those could be in order to list them. That's where you come in. Helping your company not get sued is a pretty important job.
Teaching: If you enjoy shaping young minds, consider becoming a professor. Keep in mind, the faculty at a college spends a lot of time on research as well as entertaining the students. If research doesn't sound too appealing, you could select a college that's more student oriented, like a two-year or community college. You'll get to blab about your favorite subject all day in front of people that aren't allowed to leave or talk. What a dream. Sounds much better than to the family over Thanksgiving dinner.
Current unemployment of the major
5.5%Percentage of majors who get a higher degree after college
45%Stats obtained from this source.