I defended my doctoral dissertation in biology in September of last year. I've been on the job hunt for a year now, and I'm still unemployed. I've tried picking up additional skills, going to networking events, having my resume tailored, but there just aren't any openings. The psychological toll is devastating. I'm back seeing a therapist again, and I'm going to have to start taking antidepressants.I am nearly out of money and my credit rating is in free fall. At the age of 36, I'm living in my mother's basement with my PhD.
I feel like I've ruined my life in pursuit of a PhD. I even tried applying to jobs while hiding the degree, and I still get nothing. I sometimes think things will never get better, and every day that passes, I become less employable. HELP!
Hi Wallace.. sorry to hear this - I know how soul destroying job seeking can be. I cannot comment on applying for academic roles specifically but getting a job is a numbers game. Sometimes you are simply up against 300 candidates and the likelihood your cv will get even seen is slim.
When I went through a particularly tough period searching for a role (while out of work) my job was looking for a job. 8 hours a day I spent searching and applying. I got up at a usual time I would for work and I kept every application I made (and every job I read). So these numbers are fully accurate - I read over 50,000 jobs adverts, I got a reply from agents 10% of jobs I applied for and I got interviews for 10% of those... so 1 in a 100 jobs I applied for I got an interview. 99 slaps in the face per 100!!!
You might be sitting there thinking "clearly you were cr**" but a mere 3 years later I was looking again, the market had changed, I applied 6 roles, 5 interviews, accepted 1 (got turned down for 1) and withdrew from further interviews for the others. Was I 98% better than 3 years previous? My wife doesn't think so....
TL;DR - there's a lot to be said for sheer determination.
Don't give up just yet, job hunting can so hard and sometimes can take a long time! But also, could it be that you are too focused on a career in your research area? It might be worth widening your search to include other areas where you could use the transferable skills from your PhD. It sounds like you are reaching breaking point, and frankly, any job at this juncture would be better than none!
What type of jobs are you applying for Wallace? How many have you applied for? Like AOE26 said, it's a numbers game - you just have to keep on applying.
I spent 6 months of this year looking for a job after my PhD - I applied for around 20, got about 5-6 interviews, and got two job offers. That sounds good when I write it like that, but it took me about 3 months to get my first interview, probably because I was getting better at writing the applications as I went along. Getting rejected all the time is really, really hard - but you will get something eventually. Just keep applying. I wish you all the best.
As well as what type of job you're looking for, I wonder where you're looking -- I mean, geographically -- and if you could broaden your search? I've never had any difficulty getting a suitable job in a London or the Midlands, for example, but in my home town in the North East it's all but impossible to get any job at all, as there are almost no opportunities and on the rare occasion an opening is advertised it gets hundreds of applications because so many people in the region are unemployed.
I'm switching careers from science to patent law, even passed the patent bar on my own. As far as location, I'm kind of locked into my home town of Boston. There's lots of biotech opportunities here (in theory anyway), and I don't have the money to be able to move anyways. I'd consider moving if I could afford it, but I'm pretty much broke.
Hi Wallace, if you haven't already, it might be worth looking back at jobs you've had in the past and either trying to get back in with those employers or trying to get something similar - maybe not what you want to do in the long term, but I think it is true what people say about it being easier to get a job once you're in a job. In my experience, the whole business of going out working day to day, and being able to pay the bills, makes it much easier to be in the right frame of mind when the right opportunity does come along. I hope you find something soon.
I am in a similar position, finished my PhD last year, applied for lecturing jobs but nothing so far. There's however a reason for that I think: not enough publications, not enough teaching experience, no proven ability to attract external fundings. I am working on all 3; so things are getting better. But really, Wallace, 'ruined your life'? I may be technically unemployed, but I am so happy to have my PhD. I can give lectures and travel to conferences. I love speaking to people interested in my field. Try to be more positive! Besides, once you will get a job, you will still have to put up with stress and maybe lack of satisfaction, not to mention pressure to produce research and attract funding.
I am in the same situation. I defended my PhD in May 2015 and still unemployed. I havn't applied to any job because I have 3 years old twins. I live in Switzerland and the system of kindergarten here is awful. My kids have been accepted only for three days a week and 4 hours a day. I don't have any relatives here and cannot cover the day-care cost.
At times I feel applying for some postdoc positions is a sheer waste of time because quite often the PI already has someone in mind. Owing to the short duration of most postdoc posts, PIs wouldn't want to take a gamble, they're more comfortable going for someone they know, usually their own PhD students who're in the latter stages of their research. Just this month, I applied for a Postdoc post at some next door university. The topic is very similar to my PhD research and I have even published 4 papers in the same field. Surprisingly, I was not even shortlisted. It turned out that the post was actually reserved for the PI's PhD student, whom I know very well. We do interact occasionally because our PhD topics are in the same engineering theme and we're both at the same stage. But despite having zero publications under his belt, the PI settled for him although I considered myself a stronger candidate.
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