Grrr.

(gift)

I am angry, I am disappointed, and worst of all I am becoming bitter.

Every day I ask myself the question "How did I get to this point?". What decisions in my life did I make that lead to me being 31 years old with a PhD and unemployable? Was it when I started my first degree? Was it when I started my PhD? Was it my choice of PhD project? Was it when I moved cities 13 months ago? Or worst of all, is it just me? Am I so crap that people can sense it via an online application?

The frustrating thing is I know I can do the jobs I apply for. I know I would arrive work on time every day. I know I would not take a day off unless I was genuinely sick. I know I would treat my colleagues with respect. I know I would work hard in the lab. I know I would work ovetime if I had experiments running. I know I would not go to work under the influence of drugs or alcohol. But still I cannot get an interview, let alone a job.

I have applied for a wide range of positions; from post-docs to technical officer/lab glasswashers and everything in between. I have applied for jobs outside my field and closely related to my field. Still no luck. I spend hours preparing my applications and before yo ask, I do write the cover letters and resumes to suit each position.

People say "you must just be applying for the wrong jobs", but I only apply for the positions that I can satisfy all the selection criteria for, so that can't be the problem.

People say "you are living in the wrong city", but I refuse to believe that in a city of 4 million people there isn't a single lab that could use me and my skills.

Okay, I am going to bore you all with my sad story regarding my job-hunt now. I am going to do this primarily because it will make me feel better to vent to an anonymous audience, but also to sympathise with Badhaircut and 404.

13 months ago I finished my experimental work and started writing up and applying for "real" jobs. Estimate of submitted applications so far: 50 responding to advertised jobs and 30 cold-calling letters. Net result: 0 interviews, 0 jobs. All of this in a country celebrating its lowest unemployment rate in more than 30 years.

I have a casual job as a shop assistant to fill in my days, which pays me the Aussie equivalent of about 3p a week.

Grrr.

(rabbit)

Ho hum. I win.

Jet.

Okay, okay, so there are lots of names meaning "angel" and I was very unimaginative and small-minded to suggest it could be something as mundane and predictable as 'Angela' in the first place. Enough!

Welcome back, Bobby and sylvester. Hope you guys stick around for a while...been a bit quiet on here lately.

Bobby, what have you been filming?