Unfortunately, the theme of my last post remains. I submitted only one application in the last three months. Apparently, I had an 'in' - I already knew four or five people working there (some relatively well), I had all of the qualifications listed in the ad, and it was an industrial position for something I am trained in. (Ok, the only thing I am formally trained in!) I did manage to get a phone interview, and it seemed to go quite well, but I didn't make the shortlist for the on-site interviews. It was kind of strange; I was quite confident I would at least get to the next step.
At this point, it still feels as though I am heavily under-utilized in what I am currently doing as a postdoc. I am not sure how to explain it, but it just feels like this particular path was not meant to be, in addition to the lack of any jobs out there. I am positive I still enjoy science - that is for sure. But when I begin to examine myself seriously, I almost find it comical that I ended up where I am. The things I do well and correctly are either unnoticeable by my superiors/colleagues, or they just get stolen - in the academic sense - and bastardized into another project. I find it incredibly frustrating how minor tasks unfold so slowly, with tiny improvements (<~5%) being the only outcome.
Anyway, in terms of a different career, I am pretty sure there isn't one, and I suppose it is just a matter of accepting the cards I was dealt (if that is possible). Remember back in high school, when the world was your oyster, and you could do anything you wanted? Remember how difficult it was to make a decision to go down a particular path because there were so many from which to choose? In a sense, it seems like only yesterday as I haven't accomplished much (outside the 'meaningless' academic world) during those fifteen years, but it is also incredibly distant - like some kind of fantasy world fading from my memory.
Well, another year is upon us.
There is a different career for you, and there is an opportunity for things to be better than they are now. The economy is still bad, and a lot of people are struggling to find a job. I know of people with engineering PhD's that are taking almost a year to find a job. And this is supposedly the area that is easy to get a job. The most important thing is to not get discouraged and keep looking for industry jobs.
ReplyDeleteI know for a fact that at many companies, having a PhD with no industry experience will make them skeptical of you. They believe that someone that has been in academia for so long is unable to do useful things or to work on deadlines. But what I have observed is that some companies have a PhD culture and some do not, and the ones with the PhD culture are more likely to hire. By PhD culture, what I mean is that they have groups of PhD's working there that are able to understand what kind of skill set you have and are more likely to appreciate you and your challenges in transitioning to industry.
tl;dr: Just hang in there and keep applying to jobs.