Finished PhD for one year and can't find a job

I finished up my PhD in experimental high energy physics in June of last year. I didn't have tons of trouble finding a job, but I had absolutely no luck with jobs related to physics. I didn't apply to any academic postdocs, but I did apply to some industry jobs that were physics related.

I really wasn't qualified for those industry jobs though, so my lack of success was no real surprise. The issue was that all the physics related jobs I saw wanted skills you'd pick up during a PhD in condensed matter experiment or an EE PhD. I don't have those skills. High energy experiment involves far more software development than it does physics in a lot of ways.

I was able to get a job as a software developer because of my skill set. The actual PhD was a hindrance though, since I am doing a job most people with an undergraduate degree in CS degree could do. Despite this I was still able to find a job even though I limited my search to a single geographic area (San Francisco Bay Area). Most of the 'work' I had to do in interviews was not convincing everyone that I could do the job, but that I actually wanted that specific job. I also heavily tailored my resume to emphasize the software development work I had done during graduate school. It didn't even mention my dissertation topic (it did mention the sub-field of physics my degree was in though). I just talked about the software work I did for the experimental collaboration that I was a part of.

My advice would be to only concentrate on jobs for which you have concrete skills that would be useful to the job. Also remember that 'over-qualified' is code for 'I think this individual will quit in six months when they get the job they really want'. You need to be able to convince the hiring managers that this is really the job that you want.

Do you have lots of programming experience? It's surprising to me that you had no luck with programming jobs. What sorts of programming jobs did you apply for?

Hi StatGuy2000,

to answer your questions, yes I have applied for a few positions in Canada, however, in my field of nuclear physics there are very few opportunities available in asia, australia, new zealand, none that I have seen anyway.
I apply for most positions via job sites such as jobs.ac.uk, cv-library ... or via information from my friends who work in physics. I would love to attend conferences, but I simply cannot afford to do so, I had been unemployed for a long time, and money is tight. As for business cards, facebook linked etc etc, I have to say that I am not a member of facebook or linked, and I have not printed any business cards. I do however have my own website, which states my qualifications and interests. I am not really a big fan of facebook though, a complete waste of time and energy in my opinion.
Lastly I simply could not apply for more jobs than what I did. They were the only jobs I was interested in, and I refuse to apply for jobs just for the sake of applying for jobs. I have no intention of working in a position that I feel I would not like and have no interest in doing. I would rather stay working as a bus driver; sure the pay may be worse but at least I would have a higher level of job satisfaction.

You mention you applied to be a teacher. I'm very surprised it didn't go anywhere as I've been led to believe they are crying out for physics teachers here in the UK

My wife and I live in Canada. After getting an M.Sc. in Physics and an M.Eng., my wife decided to do a B.Ed. Near the end of this program (in Canada; two years ago), she was recruited fairly aggressively for UK teaching positions. The recruiting firms led her to believe that, because of the shortage of physics teachers in the UK, her lack of UK citizenship would not be a problem for initial placement.

You mention you applied to be a teacher. I'm very surprised it didn't go anywhere as I've been led to believe they are crying out for physics teachers here in the UK (the IOP magazine has adverts every month and there's usually lots of posters around if I visit a physics department).

There's some more info here:
http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into.../teach-physics

I know it's probably not ideal but surely it's better than becoming a bus driver!

They said that the competition is such that they only offer places on such courses if you have had at least 100 hours experience in a secondary school environment.

As far as computer programming goes, well I think I have a decent level of understanding of java and c++, but by no means would I consider myself an expert. Therefore, I have limited my applications to graduate level positions when applying for computer programming vacancies, but still I have not been offered a position.

Strange, our level of programming expertise are probably very similar. It might be that my experience just isn't applicable to the UK job market. What sorts of companies were you applying to for programming jobs?

Some additional info that may be helpful: I had zero success at large companies. I assume my app was being auto-screened by whatever application screening systems they used. Ironically, I also had little success applying to programming position at companies that did any sort of engineering or science, where I would have thought my skills would be more highly valued. I encountered a lot more success at companies that do regular business software. I'm not really sure what that means.

Another thing that I found helpful for networking was going to local programming related meetup groups/clubs.

I should say I am based in the UK, and I have applied for over 100 jobs in fields such as engineering, energy, statistics, computer programming, graduate scheme's, teacher, and even lab assistants at high schools, and on the rare ocassions that I get a reply, I am told that I am over qualified, or have too much experience or not enough. There just seems to be no one interested in what I have done or the skills I have gained at university.

Very interesting, what I am reading under this thread. I finished a PhD in particle physics many years ago and never found anything to replace the adventure. Unfortunately I seem to have slipped into retirement / unemployment. Would like find programming work (full time or part time) .

I am based in Central London. Post here seem to have a lot of US reference but if there is anyone geographically close that would want to meet up in Starbucks as mentioned above.

Any suggestions to forums where I can post this sort subject appreciated

Applied or cold-called directly to the companies? Or did you go to career fairs to tell companies to their face why you're looking for jobs perhaps below your credentials? Did you ask friends, family, neighbors, etc.? Email companies directly?

I highly doubt that there "seems to be no one interested in my skills.." You need to change how you're looking for a job. Be aggressive, I mean you are desperate, right?