www.lafarge.com

December 2006. The ANRT (French National Association for Technical Research) celebrated the 25th anniversary of CIFRE research training contracts for doctoral students at the Collège de France. Among the attendees, Philippe Raveneau, one of the first PhDs to have benefited from this arrangement, tells his story. After doing his research with Lafarge and a stint in R&D, he worked his way up the ladder and today is head of the Mardyck plant, part of the Lafarge Aluminates group. An unusual itinerary? Not really, because on the careers website of this world leader in building materials, Lafarge tells it straight:  R&D leads to jobs outside the Isle-d’Abeau technology center. Spread the word!

On a visit through the R&D center buzzing with some 200 researchers, what activities does it have to offer? Answer: research engineer, project manager, division head, development officer. What sort of specialists are they looking for? Profiles in material physics and chemistry, of course, but recently they were looking for a research engineer in microscopy and image analysis. Obviously, engineers are more than welcome. What about PhDs? CIFRE research training contracts seems to be a popular method of recruiting researchers at Lafarge.

In any event, don’t forget careers that involve disseminating research. Lafarge, like all groups that have a large R&D center, has an intellectual property department that handles patents. Last month an opening for a “patent librarian” was posted.