Does anyone have other advice or suggestions?

Hi solo, i have been in similar shoes, i finished my phd end of last year it took me 8 months to find a job. During my time job hunting i have learnt alot. Hope to share with you my experience and will help you find your job/phd.
1. You should ideally never send the same cv to more than 1 job. It does take alot of time and effot to write a CV targetted to each application, but it makes your application less generic. Where possible i always try and include a cover letter to make each application specifically to each one to highlight the skills you match for the role. If the job description ask for a,b,c you put emphasis in your cv n cover letter you are good/have done at a,b,c.
2. My experience working both in industry and research is that PhD and industries talk different languages and have diffrrent priortiris. When applying for PhD focus more on your research experience (ie undergraduate research project) when i applied for my phd i put down in my cv i obtained the highest mark for my project in the year, add info that sells you, your relevant lab experiences. In industry they are more focused on being a "good fit", transferble skills are important like team working.
3. Network is vital, sometimes its not what you know is who you know!! Often phds and post docs r given to internal candidates. I got an interview oppotuntity by cheekly asking the manager if they had jobs during a visit, i declined the interview as i got my current job a week before they replied back.lts worth a try, the worse that could happen is a No but you havent losed out on anything. Hope this helps and good luck with your phd/job search

Thanks Blu, surprised anyone is still checking this topic.

And your advice is good, although I absolutely suck at number 3. Guess I need to take lessons.

Hi solo,

I've read the answers in this thread and none of them mention networking (I think - I scrolled it through). That's THE most important part of any job search (also PHD search). Although, we're used to hearing that only the people who "know someone" will get the nice job, and knowing someone is something you get through your parents/relatives. Maybe if you just happen to randomly meet someone, you'll get that well needed connection. Here's the deal: I think our generation (20-30 yo), are "in-betweeners" in that we grew up with technology/internet/social media, but we can't (yet) really grasp the power of this as it's such a new phenomenon. In short, social media flattens out opportunities; you can basically connect with anyone anywhere. You need to a) get a great social media presence b) network, network, network. I run a site for students job applicants/grads/entry level applicants and I recently wrote a blog post about it. If you don't mind, I'd rather link to it than spell everything out again :) Anyway, I think it's got some very useful tips on how to use social media for your job (also phd) search. I went through tons of articles for this and upgraded the content so it should really be an authority on the topic :) Here it goes: http://www.jobblyco.com/resource-center/the-ultimate-guide-how-to-land-your-dream-job-with-social-media