I'm currently in my 3rd year working as hard as I can on my PhD but I still don't expect to submit until spring next year. There's been some technical issues along the way. My department are applying for an additional 6 months funding as mine runs out in September although I haven't had any of this officially confirmed yet.

My dilemma is that I have just seen an advert for a job that looks perfect for me, it's a 3 year research associate trainee placement in an organisation closely aligned with the topic of my PhD. I've thought for a while that I didn't want to stay in academia so I suppose if I got this job then that's the route I'd end up taking. But as it's a trainee scheme it means I'd be learning extra skills along the way which I guess would make me more employable afterwards. The salary is roughly equivalent to that of a post-doc job which is good.

The challenge of course would be trying to get the PhD finished, it's not a requirement of the job, they will hire with just a masters (which I have) and relevant experience, which I could argue that I have from the PhD so far.

Of course I want to get the PhD over and done with but how many perfect job opportunities are out there? Not sure if I should take my chances and apply for it or just hope something else equally good turns up in 6 months.

What would you do in my situation?

My advise would be to apply for it. If you don't get offered the post, then this ends dilemma. If they offer it to you, you can take it or leave it, and at least at this future point you will have had more time to think about the pros and cons of the outcome. My guess is that the main dilemma of taking the job would be the risk of forever losing the chance of achieving a PhD. This can grate a bit when in the future you work with people with PhDs who may have fewer skills that you do. But perhaps its like Marcellus Wallace said in Pulp Fiction, that's just pride messing with you i.e. just take the money and forget about the pride.

In summary, I would say to apply for the job and this will give you time to think about your options a bit more. For example you might think about whether there are more than just two options e.g. maybe you could take the job and at some future point resume the PhD part time.

Thanks for your advice, I've been thinking along the same lines.

I've just had a chat about the job with my supervisor, the ad was sent to a group mailing list so he'd already seen it, he thinks that I could do the job which is a nice confidence boost. However he is concerned about me finishing the PhD if I did get the job but he hasn't talked me out of applying for it.

Someone else in my department at the same stage as me recently started a job and she has managed to come to some kind of flexible arrangement which allows her to spend time on the thesis and the job, plus she's gone down to part time registration for her PhD. I've sent an informal enquiry to see if there is any scope for this before I put in all the effort for the application. Part of me still wants to finish the PhD, I don't like the idea of it hanging over me unfinished, but the other part just wants to get out and work.