PostDoc Discussion Forum

Hi,

I am a bit lost at the moment. I found this forum, and I thought that maybe some of you could offer me some advice.

I finished my PhD in Biology in 2018. Since then, I've worked as a laboratory technician two times. I have also applied for several postdoctoral positions, but they haven't contacted me after the interview. After so many years, maybe it's a bit too late for me to do a postdoc.

I am now seriously considering quitting my current job as a laboratory technician in a school. Not only is the salary low, but I have to do a lot of chores that have nothing to do with my job (printing, cleaning the floor, booking trips...).

I have no relationship with my thesis supervisors nor PhD colleagues. I contacted once a university from Denmark where I spent three months during the PhD, but they told me they wouldn't hire me unless I got a Marie Curie grant.

I only have three publications and no postdoctoral research experience, so I think that there is no point in applying for a grant because you have to be so brilliant to get one.

When it comes to offers, I search in this page and also in "academic positions". Do you know other similar pages where I can find postdoctoral positions?

Thank you,

Sid

That seems a bit defeatist to me. Couldn't you try reconnecting with your former colleagues? Drop them an email and explain. They might have something for you. Are there research projects you can get involved in? Why not just skip the post doc and look for lecturer jobs? Go and work in an FE college, then try and work your way into HE.

I'm in a different subject area admittedly. But persistence pays off. Colleagues openly laughed at me when I said I wanted to be an academic, and I only had a masters. But I'd worked with universities and had research ideas. Took a chance on a short term contract and turned it into something better through hard work. Do some blogging about your subject, try and get your name out there

I have to do a Master's to be able to work as a professor, even if it's an assistant. I also need some research experience (I have none, besides the PhD and three months I worked as a technician).

My former thesis supervisors don't answer emails (two of them cut contact with me after I read the thesis). Other researchers I have worked closely with won't accept me unless I get a grant, and I think this is almost impossible.

I think I have ruined my career due to bad choices. What terrifies me is the effort and time I wasted doing a PhD. All for nothing.

I think a lot of people saying this is catastrophic are towing the typical line that an academic career needs to be 'perfect' to be successful.

Don't get me wrong; it will be hard if your pitch at interview is 'and I've just stopped researching to work in a school'. But I'd think many academics would be sympathetic if it's along the lines of 'I needed to support myself/my family/etc, but in the meantime I've been reading x, y and z, and have a really strong interest in proposing...'.

That said, the grass is not always greener. Academia does a trick of making you think arbitrary milestones (Iike getting a postdoc) are significant achievements, when in fact you may be more fulfilled (and certainly richer) in industry. I think you can get more from your PhD than you have done, and it sounds like you want to, so you owe it to yourself to try. If the goal is to return to academia, you should be spending the time between writing applications on revising and learning the field. If your goal is simply a more prestigious, well-paid role, you'd probably do well to look towards industry.