Membership of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has many benefits, including its highly regarded continuous professional development (CPD) programme.
The RSC offers tailored support to all its members, with membership categories focused on specific points of a chemical scientist’s career journey, from student through to Fellow (FRSC).
With over 50,000 members, new applicants instantly become part of a global community, with a huge wealth of experience and knowledge available.
And as careers progress, membership is tailored to match.
Chartered Chemist (CChem) is the RSC’s flagship award, celebrating the professional achievements of experienced practising chemists.
As a registered charity and professional body, the RSC is also licensed to award The Professional Registers, showcasing skills, professionalism and competences learned within a specific role, as well as providing a solid framework for future career development.
But – as Jess Evans, Industry Member Experience Lead at the RSC, explains -career development isn’t just about accruing knowledge and expertise, as crucial as they are.
“A key part of all the awards is the focus on developing soft skills, like leadership, teamwork, and working with integrity, to reflect employer requirements,” Jess explains.
“We also offer accreditation of company training, whereby the attributes for the awards are mapped to an organisation’s existing training and development practices, providing a framework of recognition.
“This is mutually beneficial as we run bespoke support activities for our accredited companies and they in turn can use our branding as recognised training partners.”
And what about the leaders of the future? Jess points out, “Early career individuals with a chemical science educational background often haven’t had the time or opportunity to think about ‘soft’ skills like communication and confidence building.
“So, for instance, we run a mentoring programme where our members can link up with experienced scientists in their field. It’s extremely rewarding for both parties – the mentor can ‘give back’ to the community while the mentee can benefit from the mentor’s learnings and experience.
“Then, as our members take the next step up the career ladder – maybe to their first leadership position – our careers team has lots of resources and support on hand to help shape and inform their skills as a manager.
“If you’re mid-career and looking for a step up or a change in role, the RSC offers personalised career support through discounted training courses, our monthly ChemCareers webinars series, one-to-one chats and CV reviewing.
“We also have an online professional development tracker called RSC Pathfinder which – through a series of questions – helps members identify their skills gaps and career goals and subsequently suggests activities and ideas to assist their progress.
“All our members can access Pathfinder by heading online to their personalised members’ area.”
Every year, the RSC promotes its careers programme through events such as CHEMUK.
“The Expo is an important event in our calendar,” Jess says. “It’s a great chance to see some familiar faces from our membership community and meet potential new members.
“This year, several of our members presented on behalf of the RSC in a panel session focused on how we can create a positive culture for everyone working in the chemical sciences.
“On our stand, there was particular interest in our careers support for graduates and the help we can offer to jobseekers looking for a new role.
“There was also a lot of interest in Chartered Chemist, particularly around the support and recognition the award can provide when thinking about that all-important next career step.
“We’re very much looking forward to welcoming new members – and meeting up with our existing members – at CHEMUK ‘25 next May, at NEC Birmingham.”
Interested in becoming a member? Find more details at rsc.li/join. Membership is on an individual basis, although companies can support employees through the application process as a group or individually.
Contact membership@rsc.org for more information.
