My boyfriend needs a job in Seattle
May 10, 2010 7:02 PM Subscribe
SeattleFilter: I'm probably moving to Seattle for law school, and my boyfriend wants to come too! He's gonna need a job, obviously. So tell me, Seattleites: Are there pharmaceutical plants nearby? Other clean room type manufacturing jobs? Details inside!
Okay, so the long of it is that my boyfriend is still working on his degree. He's got 5 years of experience in clean room packaging for pharmaceuticals, and 2 of those are supervisory. His official title is Packaging Operator.
However, he's also good at writing (really, really good actually), and wants to break into technical writing. If that's not necessarily degree-requiring, we're open to knowing about that!
If neither of these are a possibility, what other kinds of jobs can he expect? What kind of manufacturing is happening in Seattle? Anything chemical?
And lastly, what's the economy like? What are his chances, in other words, of finding work w/in the next 8 months?
Okay, so the long of it is that my boyfriend is still working on his degree. He's got 5 years of experience in clean room packaging for pharmaceuticals, and 2 of those are supervisory. His official title is Packaging Operator.
However, he's also good at writing (really, really good actually), and wants to break into technical writing. If that's not necessarily degree-requiring, we're open to knowing about that!
If neither of these are a possibility, what other kinds of jobs can he expect? What kind of manufacturing is happening in Seattle? Anything chemical?
And lastly, what's the economy like? What are his chances, in other words, of finding work w/in the next 8 months?
Response by poster: Well, he's worried that he won't get hired outside chem/pharm manufacturing, because it's very different. He usually unloads/cleans hoppers and generally keeps the product from getting contaminated; it's not much like assembly line or metalworking or anything. =/
His future degree is going to be in tech writing, I believe. He's only about 20-25 hours in though, so I don't think any of his coursework is resume-worthy.
posted by aliceinreality at 7:13 PM on May 10, 2010
His future degree is going to be in tech writing, I believe. He's only about 20-25 hours in though, so I don't think any of his coursework is resume-worthy.
posted by aliceinreality at 7:13 PM on May 10, 2010
OK – I was going to suggest a technical writing summer internship at Google, since those seem to frequently lead to full-time employment, but he wouldn't be eligible to apply for another couple of years.
Check the listings for jobs at the Amgen facility in Bothell (Seattle suburb) and Hexcel in Kent. Sorry I can't be more help (I moved from Houston to Seattle last year and it took me almost half a year to find a job in biomedical research).
You'll like it here.
posted by halogen at 7:26 PM on May 10, 2010
Check the listings for jobs at the Amgen facility in Bothell (Seattle suburb) and Hexcel in Kent. Sorry I can't be more help (I moved from Houston to Seattle last year and it took me almost half a year to find a job in biomedical research).
You'll like it here.
posted by halogen at 7:26 PM on May 10, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks, though! Anything helps. And we are moving from Houston too! ^_^ He works at Kaneka here.
posted by aliceinreality at 7:32 PM on May 10, 2010
posted by aliceinreality at 7:32 PM on May 10, 2010
Response by poster: I know about the prospects. I'm looking at unemployment post-grad square in the face.
Just going to hit the ground running (with a scholarship) and see what happens. Law is my dream career. And I might be waiting another year anyway depending on my June LSAT score, but we'll see.
posted by aliceinreality at 7:56 PM on May 10, 2010
Just going to hit the ground running (with a scholarship) and see what happens. Law is my dream career. And I might be waiting another year anyway depending on my June LSAT score, but we'll see.
posted by aliceinreality at 7:56 PM on May 10, 2010
The University of Washington is ranked #2 in the country in federal research grants, is it possible he could work in an academic lab or is he wedded to private sector pharmaceutical manufacturing jobs? (I've worked in both private and academic laboratories and many of the skills transfer over.)
There are a number of biotech firms that are based in Seattle but, as far as I know, they are more rooted in doing basic research and development than in manufacturing. ZymoGenetics is a reasonably big employer here. Institute for Systems Biology is a smaller one (founded by a Nobel Laureate IIRC). But these are all completely dwarfed by the UW.
Seattle's a great place to live, welcome.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:10 PM on May 10, 2010
There are a number of biotech firms that are based in Seattle but, as far as I know, they are more rooted in doing basic research and development than in manufacturing. ZymoGenetics is a reasonably big employer here. Institute for Systems Biology is a smaller one (founded by a Nobel Laureate IIRC). But these are all completely dwarfed by the UW.
Seattle's a great place to live, welcome.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:10 PM on May 10, 2010
Also worth checking out are Dendreon (downtown) and Bayer Healthcare (Lynnwood). Good luck! It's good time to check out Seattle; the weather's just starting to turn nice.
posted by sapere aude at 9:11 PM on May 10, 2010
posted by sapere aude at 9:11 PM on May 10, 2010
Response by poster: I'm not sure he'd qualify for academic research. What he does is labor-intensive, and not research-related. It's all just getting the product packaged and ready to ship, with some special skills due to it needing to be done inside a clean room.
Thanks for the recs, though. I'll have him check them out. =)
posted by aliceinreality at 10:18 PM on May 10, 2010
Thanks for the recs, though. I'll have him check them out. =)
posted by aliceinreality at 10:18 PM on May 10, 2010
II've heard theres a lot of biotech around here - not sure how it's doing after all the ups and downs in the economy though. Would that be useful or completely besides the point?
posted by Artw at 10:32 PM on May 10, 2010
posted by Artw at 10:32 PM on May 10, 2010
Response by poster: I think it depends on what KIND of biotech. He specifically deals with CoQ10, so I think it would need to be related to medicine or supplements. He has no special knowledge about protein creation or anything.
posted by aliceinreality at 8:11 AM on May 11, 2010
posted by aliceinreality at 8:11 AM on May 11, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Check the job listings at Boeing for manufacturing positions. There are also many smaller companies that produce all kinds of parts for Boeing in and around Seattle.
What is his (future) degree in?
posted by halogen at 7:12 PM on May 10, 2010