Career Development: It Ain't A Random Walk

Most chemical engineers do not realize the difference between a job and a career.  A job is a forty year random walk through the chemical processing industry.  A career is a directed path to an ultimate goal.  There is a second feature about careers that chemical engineers do not recognize: careers begin with a written plan.  But, to write a career development plan, the chemical engineer must understand corporate structure.  This presentation outlines corporate structure in terms of leadership; i.e., direct leadership, organization leadership, and strategic leadership.  It then shows how to use this structure to formulate, develop, and manage a career in the chemical processing industry.  This presentation also discusses the content of such a career plan and the need for it to contain three levels based on a chemical engineer’s twenty year goals, which dictates the ten year goals that in turn dictate the five year goals.  This presentation also discusses the need for such a plan to be evergreen.