As somebody who has been looking for jobs (academic and non-academic) for a couple of months now with no success... I'd say take the job and keep applying for other ones. You can always quit if you find a better opportunity. But it's easier to find work while you're in work.

Sorry to hear you're depressed :( I'm really close to my mum and for this reason would have to draw the line at moving as far away as you have! Is there any way you can plan a trip home soon to catch up with friends and family? Sounds like it might be a good idea. Or perhaps even better, can you invite anybody over to Canada?

Very interesting article; thanks for sharing. I have to say I do find social interactions more difficult (or at least less natural) than before I did my PhD, although in my case I was living with someone for most of the time I was studying so I was only ever alone during weekdays. That said, because I am used to working alone during the day, I hate having to go for more than a few days without at least a couple of hours of being alone, as I find it very difficult to work when my boyfriend is home. I don't really enjoy meeting new people or having to talk to people who I don't already know quite well, but I think that was a feature of my personality from before doing the PhD that has been carried over or possibly slightly enhanced. I do feel a little hermit-like at times, but weirdly I don't feel at all uncomfortable or guilty about it because it's just how I like to be - I think if I didn't live with my boyfriend or see my mother as often as I do (we get on very well and she lives nearby), I might feel differently. Good to know I'm not the only one who has experienced this!

Replace 'coffee' with 'tea' and I'm with you ;)

Try not to take it to heart - as others have said, it might be more to do with your research not fitting well with the sessions they had in mind. And yes, it's pretty early for you to be submitting conference proposals, especially for big events. My first big conference wasn't until halfway through my second year.

If you want conference experience, I'd suggest going for postgraduate conferences as it'll be much easier to get accepted. Also, try not to compare yourself to others quite as much. I bet most of the people around you who went for this event weren't also in the first few months of their PhD!

I'm not sure how helpful this will be, but some other questions I thought about before my viva (which was in literature, so not a DBA, but some of these general points will be relevant to all doctorates I would have thought):

- If you were to restart this project from the beginning, what would you do differently?
- How would you take your research forward (publications, future projects, applying it to business situations, etc.)?
- Since you talk about 'holes', it might be worth having some idea of what you might say should the examiners bring them up. How could they be resolved?

And try to have at least some time to relax. I found my viva to be a shockingly enjoyable experience - it's not often you get eminent academics in your field to chat to you about your research ;)

Best of luck!

Thank you all for your (refreshingly honest) replies. My mum and boyfriend are both telling me to go for the full-time job if I'm offered it with what I think is a naïve assumption that I'll be able to just dip back into academia later on, even if I do nothing to improve my research profile - which I know isn't true. I am presenting at 2 big international conferences in the next two months, which is good, but on top of that need to plan a research trip for an article I'm working on soon, and need to at least start the process of adapting the thesis into a book this year if I'm to have any chance of making it in academia. Unfortunately my field (medieval literature) doesn't translate well to jobs outside of academia without additional qualifications, and there are fewer jobs for us in academia as language departments and funding bodies favour modern and contemporary studies.

But at the same time I am financially dependent on my family entirely, and I know they can't really afford to keep doing it: my mum is funding me out of her pension, and my boyfriend's on a limited contract which expires in a year's time and has no immediate prospects lined up. So really I have little choice but to take anything I'm offered, even if it means risking missing out on the dream career, and try my darndest to make it work with my research plans!

I should probably point out that I'm in the humanities, so access to labs won't be an issue, although I will still need library access and occasional research trips.

Hi guys,

I've just finished my PhD (hooray! yippee!) etc. and am now a bit stuck. I'm desperate for an academic position, but I can't seem to get a postdoc or teaching fellowship. I've had a couple of interviews but no offers. I also applied for postdoctoral funding for a project idea that I have but haven't been able to persuade any institution to back me: although the academics I've approached have mostly been keen, their departments haven't. This is, I think, partly due to my field, which isn't awash with opportunities at the moment, but mostly because I have no publications as yet: something I've been working on in my spare time, but it's a slow process.

The other issue is I have no job. I'm lucky enough to be living with my partner, who has been supporting me financially, but this isn't sustainable long-term. So I need a job, even non-academic, but with very little professional experience, this has been tricky too. I've been applying for a lot of part-time university admin jobs but have got nowhere so far. The good news is that I've been offered an interview for a full-time, permanent, non-academic job next week. The rate of pay is great, and the commute is short, but I'm not really interested in the career path and still really don't want to give up on academia. The plan, if I were to be offered the position, would be to try to continue to publish/attend conferences in my spare time, but I'm worried about how realistic this is.

So I guess what I'm asking is: does anyone have any experience of juggling post-PhD academic research with full-time work, and if so, how feasible is it? I think I have the drive to do it, but no longer being close to the uni library will make it harder...

Thanks for the suggestion - my card expires in a few months so I might change my title on it then.

I guess it does seem a little strange to have earned a title and not want to use it for fear of giving the impression of lording it over others. We English are a strange bunch...

I can't say I have any experience with this, but it sounds like others have addressed this more or less completely. I'm sure it will pass with time - just try not to do anything to encourage the feelings in the meantime!

I was lucky enough to get the first one I applied for, because it was a funded scholarship and happened to be a perfect fit for my skillset and research interests. The more time that passes, the more I realise how extraordinarily fortunate I was - I applied halfway through my Masters year and as I didn't get a Distinction for my MA or even a first for my BA, I don't think I would have been accepted to do a PhD any other way. I wouldn't say it was a fluke, but it was definitely a rare case of 'right job, right person, right time'.

Also:

Thanks all for the replies! I've been away for a few days so I've only just seen this.

I did do a search before posting and pulled up all those all threads, but I decided to make a new one because I wasn't really looking for advice on whether to use the Dr title generally - I'd more or less already decided that I won't outside of academia. I will probably just stick with Ms on a day-to-day basis. Still, it's good to know what other PhDs think on the matter.

My question was, as I said in my OP, specifically related to (academic) job applications and whether it's acceptable to use the Dr title if you have passed your viva but not yet received the PhD (i.e. graduated). And it seems from your responses that I ought to wait until I officially have it 'in the bag', which means I probably shouldn't put it on my job applications. This has been very helpful - thanks.