[cth]

I am currently a postdoc in university with a very academic profile. I have been thinking about moving out to industry, hopefully getting a position in R&D department. However, in most interviews I have had, I got the same answer: "Your CV is very interesting but it isn't what we are looking for. You are not directly operational."

So, I have a question for chemists working in industry: Beside scientific expertise, what industrial chemists need? Is it managerial, accountancy, juridic competences...? I am ready to do a formation to make my application more valuable and competitive. I know the answer varies depending on the position and the company. I just would like some general ideas and feedback.

Thank you for your help

[Arkcon]

This will really depend on the disciple you're in, and the positions you're trying for.  Can you give us some example of the positions you applied to?  And how their needs matched your academic experience.

[cth]

I did a PhD.D in inorganic chemistry with a research focused on coordination chemistry, crystal growth and X-ray crystallography. Then I later specialised in hydrogen storage.

For example during a job forum, I got a 15 min interview with someone from Dow Corning. At the time, Dow Corning was advertising on their website for a crystal growth engineer position to make silicon crystals for electronic. So I wrote an application letter specifically for that position. The interview went fine. At the end, it appeared that I am not directly operational for the job but it wasn't clear to me why. Unfortunately, I didn't think about asking him specifically what formation I should do to become "operational".
I also applied to the car industry for developping hydrogen-fuelled cars.

[Arkcon]

Seems to me like you're doing fine.  You've managed to relate your knowledge to the positions very well.  The Dow Corning position may have had something subtle you missed, or they simply didn't want you for some other reason -- cost, or the position opening was lost to an internal reason, or something like that.  Certainly you have the knowledge applicable to the car industry for hydrogen fueled cars, but I don't know if they're really the ones working on the research in this regard, compared to the battery manufacturers.

[zoork34]

I recently made this switch from post-doc to industry so I will attempt to give some reasoning regarding how I acquired my position.  My PhD and post-doc focused on organic chemistry, with my research emphasizing polymer materials and electrochemistry.  However, my current position is an organic synthetic and formulation chemist.  My research now and what I did before have virtually nothing in common.  My employer was looking for someone to bring fresh ideas and youth to the group, someone who could make a good presentation and be able to explain technical issues in laymans terms, and I also got points for being from the same town where my employer is located (so I am less of a threat to move later on).  They assumed that since I had succeeded at my post-doc (as far as # of publications), that I would be able to transfer that success to their business.  I think it was honestly a lot of luck.  Right situation at the right time.  Unfortunately, there are thousands of PhD chemists looking for industry positions right now, and takes either a CV that will blow them away, or a little bit of luck, or some of both.  It sounds like you are on the right track for sure, but the math is not in favor of the job-seekers right now.