Emerging Voices: The Academia to Industry Pipeline: The Experience Dilemma | AIChE

You are here

Emerging Voices: The Academia to Industry Pipeline: The Experience Dilemma

Emerging Voices
September
2025

It’s the final year of your chemical engineering undergraduate education, and you finally sit down, open your laptop, and start combing through an abundance of job portals and company websites in search of your first job. You find a handful that interest you and decide to apply to them, but when you take a closer look at the requirements of the entry-level positions, a similar phrase sticks out on all of them: “3+ years of experience required.” Surely, your engineering lectures and lab courses can make up for the experience required, but to what extent? When it comes to fields in the pharmaceutical industry, for example, you may pass the preliminary round of interviews, but when asked if you have the technical experience required for their specific needs, you hit a dead end.

This seemingly innocuous line highlights a challenge that creates a Catch-22 situation for new graduates. “Everybody wants to hire somebody with three years’ experience, and nobody wants to give them three years’ experience,” according to Peter Cappelli, Director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School.

The employer. From an employer’s standpoint, mandating three or more years of experience for entry-level positions makes sense. It is a risk-mitigation strategy ensuring that new hires can contribute from day one, minimizing disruption to workflows and controlling...

Would you like to access the complete CEP Article?

No problem. You just have to complete the following steps.

You have completed 0 of 2 steps.

  1. Log in

    You must be logged in to view this content. Log in now.

  2. AIChE Membership

    You must be an AIChE member to view this article. Join now.

Copyright Permissions 

Would you like to reuse content from CEP Magazine? It’s easy to request permission to reuse content. Simply click here to connect instantly to licensing services, where you can choose from a list of options regarding how you would like to reuse the desired content and complete the transaction.