Please, please I need some advice! Here's my situation: shortly after finishing my PhD in the sciences, I moved to a different part of the country, since my husband, who has a Masters, accepted a job offer. I applied to a few relevant job positions (from the same research company, not 100% match for my PhD, but close), and after months of waiting, I was told either they are not looking for anyone "that senior" or that I am not quite a match for the position. Right now, which is about a year after obtaining my PhD, I am struggling to find any job opportunities where we live.

In the meantime, I had an onsite interview for a postdoc at a fancy national lab (partly via former adviser connections). However, the position depends on funding, and was told to wait until August to hear back from them. The waiting time is almost unbearable, since I am essentially unemployed. I have decided to apply to more postdocs, and here is my dilemma. During my PhD I published 9 papers as a co-author (2nd, 3rd, so on) including a few in high impact journals such as Nature. However, my first author publication, which was supposed to be submitted last year, is still under preparation. I am in regular contact with my former adviser, so I know he has been working with other research groups in order to strengthen the paper. He assured me the paper will be submitted soon (maybe a in a few weeks, I'll keep bugging), and claims my CV is strong even without the first author paper published yet. So my question is: should I immediately apply to postdoc positions with the paper listed "under preparation" or wait and list the paper as "submitted"?

Has anyone got any advice for MiniMe about this?

First of all...whoa! I couldn't have 9 papers if I were in a parallel universe! :P

So in my opinion you may apply now itself with the paper listed as "under preparation" because you might miss out on opportunities if you wait. Since you have 9 papers, I think it is very easy to believe you when you say that you have another paper coming up. I really can't imagine why any PI would reject you for a postdoc.