The implications are that when (sorry if) you find yourself unemployed after finishing your PhD you may not be entitled to any benefits.
I recently went to sign on and was told my claim could be household income based or contribution based. As my boyfriend is deemed to have a good salary (not taking into account he has to pay maintenance for his son and could not afford to pay all the household bills) I wasn't entitled to anything on that count. However, if I had paid NI contributiond for the past two tax years then I would have been entitled. So I would think ahead if I were you and if you can afford to make contributions then I would do it.

My mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer just after I had started my PhD and we nursed her at home. I carried on with my studies but four years later with hindsight and having really struggled to keep on track and now wondering if I will ever finish, I wish I had taken time off. There were other events in my life in the same year including buying a house,marriage break-up and starting a new relationship. I'm having counselling now because I don't think I dealt with everything properly (if you can!) at the time. I thought I was the sort of person who could just get on with things but I think I should have taken a break.
If you are feeling drained now I wonder how that will improve with your mum and the baby on the way. I'd say don't quit, but take some time off and carry on with some reading and stuff when you feel like it but know that there is no pressure and deadlines for a while.
Good luck with whatever you decide and I hope that there is good news for your mum.

OK, any thoughts on what this means. I have had an e-mail from the head of education at a museum saying I'm not getting an interview for a freelance job I applied for but they were very impressed with my CV and want to keep me on file and hope to work with me in the future. She has copied it in to the education administrator and the education officer. Is this is rejection or is it actually a good thing? And should I reply to the e-mail and how?

Durrr?

Well done. I hope you celebrated appropriately when your numbness turned to elation.

I'm another one in the same boat. I went part-time towards the end of my funded period so am now just starting my fifth year and want to submit in September/October but I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I've become very depressed lately, made worse by quite a few job rejections. I too have drafts of most of the thesis but most not to a high enough standard yet. I never seem to be able to get motivated to do any work and then I worry that I haven't done anything, although in the past week I have started to get an interest back and have managed to do a bit of work. It would be good for us all to support each other as we know that we can do it and it would be stupid to give up now.

I didn't get the art gallery job so it's back to square one. I was talking to my second supervisor last week and trying to explain that it was difficult finding time to do my PhD when I was travelling back and forwards to do the only work I can get 200 miles from home. I told her I needed a local job so I could have more time at home to work. She suggested I try waitressing which really annoyed me as she isn't living in the real world. There are no waitressing jobs around, the pay would be crap meaning I'd probably have to work 80 hours a week to make it pay, and I'm not even qualified to waitress so if there were any jobs, people with experience would get them. And there is the self-esteem issue, after being turned down for so many good jobs.
Oh well, the next application has to be in by Friday, another museum job, but a learning role, which is what I really want to do.

Any job in this climate!

There seem to be a number of posts about applying for and getting jobs (or not) at the moment so I thought we should have one thread where people can discuss this and let others know if they get interviews, ask for advice, and let us all know when they are successful so we can congratulate people. Also it might help that we are all in the same boat when we get rejections and need support. I'll start. I found out yesterday that I have got an interview next week for an art gallery job. It's part-time and local and quite well paid which means if I get it I can devote at least two days a week to my PhD and hopefully get it submitted later this year.

I've been in the same situation and it is really soul destroying getting interview after interview but then not getting the job. I've had really good feedback every time but there was always someone more experienced and usually an internal candidate. I don't know what the answer is. But I'd say go for every job as long as you tick all the essential and desirable qualities otherwise I wouldn't bother. I've been speaking to people lately about the number of applicants for jobs and one person told me 870 people applied - not for an academic job but it makes you think. If they have the pick of hundreds they are only going to interview those that have everything they want. I don't know whether it's worth even applying for an acedemic job, especially a senior one if you ahven't yet got your PhD. Oh I've gone even more negative now and contradicted myself I think. I'm very low at the moment re jobs. I was turned down for one in an organisation I've already worked for and a job which I had lots of experience and was doing elsewhere before I even started my masters. There were 8 jobs going so that means there wasn't just one person better than me but 8.
I'm waiting to hear about two applications this week.
I suppose we need jobs so we just have to keep applying and doing our best with applications and interviews.
Meanwhile my PhD work is non-existent as I have no motivation.

I split up with my husband in the first year of my PhD so I understand what you must be going through. I had friends I could talk to but my Mum died earlier in the same year so I really missed having family support. I didn't tell my supervisors until I had my first panel meeting, for which I had sent in my work late and arrived to find the panel had cancelled it because of this without telling me. I had driven 150 miles especially for the meeting and just burst into tears when I got criticism from the prinicipal investigator for the project who had been waiting for me. I told her I was under pressure to get work done because I'd just split from my husband. She was more sympathetic then. So I would say telling your supervisor was a good thing to do as they may be more accepting if you want to take time off or have problems with your work, deadlines etc.
I was lucky that me and my hubby split amicably enough as we had to live in the same house but it was strained at times. I can understand that having to move into halls could be depressing. I'd try to find shared accommodation with fellow Phd students or mature students who you may find it easier to bond with and perhaps be able to talk about your situation with.
I don't think you need to tell everybody about it. Do you have any friends outside uni that you could talk to, even of they live far away maybe you could take a break to visit an old friend you know you could pour your heart out to.
You could join the mature students society as you may find other people who are in the same situation or have been through it.
And of course we are always here to listen on this forum.
Things will get better for you, I know but I understand how difficult it can be.

I had an interview yesterday for a seasonal job which I thought I would have a good chance of getting as I had worked for another department in the organisation doing a similar job previously. It's not a high level but would do to keep me going till I submit my PhD in the autumn. I thought it was four days a week which would give me at least two days to work on my thesis. However, it is actually full-time. I haven't heard whether I've got it but the interview went well. But I don't know whether full time would be too much - financially I can do part time and for the sake of the thesis this would be better. The real dilemma is that I have just seen another job advertised in the same organisation which is part-time and much more relevant to my studies and is better paid and is something I would want to do when I finished my PhD anyway.
So do I apply for this one as well. If I get offered the first one do I turn it down and say I want to apply for the other one. Or do I contact them now and say I want to withdraw from the first one. I think whatever happens I don't mind if I don't get the full-time one as I think it will be too much as well as doing the PhD. (I know people do work full-time but if I have the choice I would rather do part-time).

My thesis is so multi-disciplinary that I can't possibly include everything about some of the areas which are linked to my arguments. For example I'm touching on aspects of Medieval memory theory but I can't go into great detail about this. (In fact one of my colleagues has done her whole thesis on memory). So I am taking out the bit that is relevant to what I am saying about it but then I hope that I will be able to read up on it more widely so that in my viva (if I ever get to that stage), I can show that I do know the background to the ideas I am using.
So I would say don't worry about trying to explain the can of worms but be aware that they are there and the reasons why you haven't gone down that road for your arguments.

I could do with some encouragement too. I really want to submit by my birthday in September, but because my funding has now finished and I'm having to work and travel a lot, I've hardly done any PhD for ages. I need to buckle down and get on with it. It's all there in some form but I just need to get a complete draft so my supervisor can see what areas need what work. This thread will be good.

I'm in Somerset and it's been pretty bad here with a severe weather warning yesterday. The Clarks shopping village in Street was completely closed - they are going to lose so much money. Hurrah for Christmas capitalism! I had a job interview in Bristol and tried to set off but it was ridiculous. I phoned to check whether the interviews were still going ahead and they said yes but then I was told that quite a few people had cancelled and not to take the risk if it was going to be too difficult to get there. They are re-arranging the interviews so that's OK but I was hoping to know whether I had a job before Xmas.