PhD Discussion Forum

Principle investigator AKA supervisor

Guys, my brain is f*cked up. Can barely sleep. Will likely get an invitation for an interview soon (thanx to my network it must be smooth). This is industry ... By the time I asked my acquaintance for that, I had been broken as you can see from my first message. Suddenly, one of the PI's, which I inquired about fellowships, replied. I pulled myself together and sent an application. By no chance do I receive feedback earlier than the decision on my appi in industry is made. I love science, I wanna publish, I only applied for industry cos I was broken. What should I do now? I fear not being able to return after a "real" job ever.

Similar story here. I left a good job in industry to take a PhD and now feel less employable than I was before. 5 months since I submitted, 2 since the VIVA and still looking. Despite several papers, teaching experience and conference talks, I've received the same string of rejections, including being sent the rejection e-mail by York for a particular postdoc THREE times! I also got the impression in one interview that my experience in industry counted against me. It does help to use this time to assess what difficulties you're having RE getting a postdoc. In my field, most postdoc positions seem to require a computer scientist rather than a mathematician. I felt that my C++ skills weren't strong so I've been writing my Matlab codes in C++. More publications always help and my supervisor has at least allowed me to continue using the research group's facilities, so I'm working on a lot of projects. It also helps to top up the funds! I haven't taken a part-time job because... I could land a proper job any minute. So I seem to be working most of the time without actually being paid a penny, which is depressing in itself. As a result, my money is almost gone and I've applied for a university job as a "research associate," which doesn't require a PhD but is at least related to my field, simply because I need the money and it'll allow me to have a research position. I'd say that if you're going to hold out for a postdoc, keep in mind that it could take some time and take cr*p jobs while you wait it out without worrying about p*ssing people around by leaving 2 weeks later. I think it's also a good idea to set a timescale - I've decided that if I don't have an assoc. prof. position by the time I'm 35, I'll give up while I'm young enough to retrain.

I am sick of these stupid rejections. The free market has decided: they need an army of cheap PhD's and no one gives a single f*ck about postdocs and jobs in R&D's where allegedly people, who graduated, are required.

Where is this whole story going into?

Yeah I know I'm just a whiny little sh*tter and that's solely my problem that I'm not employed, that I don't s*ck someone's d*ck, that I'm not some big daddy's son etc. I'm tired of seeing WHO is actually being employed for the positions which I applied for. Man, no single journal paper, no teaching experience, sometimes without knowledge of English whatsoever! If I knew this situation, I'd have never gone into science.

Seriously! Let's us all abandon science! Man it's solely driven by PhD's and postdocs. If not them, we'd be in a Stone Age already.

Over 60 rejections, over half a year of meaningless search, not even single invite to an interview. I'm getting suicide thoughts fellas.

Hi Andrew,

It may help, to google mathematician "Yitang (Tom) Zhang" who couldn't find a job in academia for years after his PhD. But he eventually managed to solve a pretty long-standing problem bringing him many prizes and a high respect in the field.

I mean, not finding a job right after the graduation that suits to our expertise is what we are all worried about. But may be you can give it more time. Finding a job in some other areas, in other countries with a lower salary, is an option too. I know there are lots of countries that are very welcoming to foreign researchers. They can not pay you a high salary, they may not be able to provide the best facilities but they can offer you adventures(e.g living in tropics) and less stressful life. This buys you time to improve your CV and expand your professional network.
Hope you find your dream job soon.

AndrewPetelov, please find a way of getting out of those thoughts. Every single one of us posting here is in the same boat. Start anything: volunteering, private tutoring in a subject of your choice (I did. It's great money in hand and you're interacting with people - eventually you'll find you're more and more in demand for tuitions! It might not be exactly what you're looking for - but, and from someone who now tutors quite a few young adults - it's rewarding and it's effing fantastic money!), anything to stop you eating away at your own thoughts. Unemployment sucks massively. But you're valued!!!