hi JanineG
sorry to hear about Glasgow. Have you called the people at Dundee? I'm sure something will come up soon. Have you seen this website http://www.erasmusmundus-gem.eu/ my friend sent it to me. I remember you said that your topic is quite rare, perhaps you can find something here?

hi Swetchha
Visiting research fellow is definitely very encouraging! Its great that you have good chances of getting more publications!

love satchi

ok I am not shortlisted for another job application (again!). Just found out a few minutes ago. Oh well.
never mind.

love satchi

Send Email about Dundee applications and I have sent an Email to the faculty for my BSc to get the course explanation. Lets hope that can give me a hand. Whyyyy did that course have to close, couldn't they have let me do the honours year? I was held up over exams in organic synthesis and the sequencing for that!

hi janineG
what do you mean by "the course had to close"? did you do your BSc in Dundee? Is there someone from your old university who can give you a phd studentship?

My first supervisor once offered me a studentship if I didn't get the phd I was applying for. I thought that was really nice of him but I was interested in another topic.

love satchi

So here is some positive news to add to this thread. This week i received a job offer for a permanent full-time lectureship and two invitations for interviews for two more lectureships! From countless lectureship rejections over a period of almost 2 years to an actual offer of employment and interview invitations in a single week is quite incomprehensible! I swear I've not done anything different and I don't have any new publications. Maybe persistence is important and someone somewhere might be willing to employ you but it's just a matter of time until your paths cross. Anyway, I hope that this post will encourage those drowning in rejections who are feeling so gloomy about their career prospects that it is possible to get an academic job and what you are going through is just temporary. You never know which of those applications might lead to an offer. So don't give up!

That's wonderful news journey, congratulations! And thank you for sharing. It is encouraging to know that that needle in the haystack is out there... X

Your tenacity paid off!

Thank you! Good luck to everyone! I started applying to jobs the year before I finished and spent the current academic year working and continung applying. Has been a long and difficult period, but I guess you just have to keep trying.

hi everyone, and hi Journey!

thats excellent news journey--congratulations!!! and thanks for sharing!

Another question about for job application strategy---would it be more advisable to apply for lower grade positions instead--because I don't have any publication, and very little work experience. So maybe if I don't put my hopes too high, would that increase any chances of getting a job???

love satchi

www.researchjobfinder.com

They're not academic jobs, they're mostly market research, but I would be looking at this, if onyl to understand what else you could do beyond academia. Speaking as someone who had 2 postdoc positions, publications in top journals and attended all the major conferences in my field and was never interviewed for any lectureships (well over 100 applications).

Something is seriously wrong... Currently, there are over 101,000 Phd/postgraduate students in UK, for example.
But there may not be many job openings...... Government should interfere......?

Satchi - it is worth trying part-time jobs if any come up, as this seems to build up experience as well as pay the bills.

MeaninginLife - there is something seriously wrong. It is well known among academics that there are many many more PhD students than there are academic jobs. The problem is that this is not widely communicated to undergraduates or masters students. This can be easily addressed if the academic community publicised the low chances of getting into academia as soon as students start their undergraduate degrees. This way, the realities are known from day one; students may well be encouraged to drop any aspirations of an academic career very early on and therefore seriously consider other career options.

To be honest - and I'm sure others on here might feel the same - when I was an undergraduate or masters student, advice on the realities of getting an academic job probably would not have dissuaded me from doing a PhD too much. At that age and stage in my life I was just too naive to take on board any advice.

Journey - Many countries are also planning to increase the number of PhDs. There is no guarantee that Lectureship is really a permanent job. Some universities are also unable to keep too many associate professors who have many publications. In other words, these universities may look for new PhD holders to reduce expenses...

In a report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 317,000 waiters and waitresses in the US have at least a college degree; more than 8,000 have doctoral or professional degrees. In the UK, almost 80% of people achieving PhDs in science will eventually find careers outside science.