It is all very well having a PhD but there is a worrying lack of decent post doc jobs available, i know several people looking for a second post doc job who are currently unemployed as funding becomes more difficult to obtain. It seems to now be a case of finding any job you can do rather than one you want to do. I feel quite bitter about this situation, i am a year into a job i dont really like with a poor project in a field i would otherwise not be in. Does anyone else have similar experience?

I completely agree. I am 9 months in to a postdoc job where I am a glorified technician, and am being denied any opportunities to get other experience for career/skills development, and which I stay in because it has destroyed my confidence that anyone else will want to employ me.

I think being stuck in situations like this are very damaging, especially early on in a career where you need to stay competitive, i have learned nothing new in a whole year and also have no opportunity to develop any relevant skills in management/supervisory areas. I can only hope that i can generate some publication worthy results.

post-doc students. we'd like to hear more. Ann and the rest????

I'm lucky as my supervisors were able to obtain funding to employ me as a Post-doc. Currently striving to find funds to get me a contract extension. I really enjoyed my PhD and it's great to be able to continuing working with the same team. It's commonly acknowledged though that there are more new PhD qualified people than there are post-doc positions, so competition is fierce and many Post-docs do end up in technician posts (or being rejected for them as being over-qualified). It's a tough world out there! :o(

consider carefully when applying for PhDs exactly what you are looking for in a career, in science competition for jobs is fierce, there are also internal candidates for most vacancies reducing your chances. i was unemployed for six months before finding my post doc and its not what i expected, there are lots of PhD vacancies about but with no money for research people use PhDs as cheap labour. If i had my time again i would not have bothered. One good point is that you get to call yourself Dr which impresses the bank manager if no one else.

I'm sure you've all looked already, but try www.findapostdoc.com