What comes after materials engineering PhD for international student?

sayeo87

Somebody I know has recently started a PhD in materials engineering in a decent (top 20) engineering school. He is mostly passionate about his work and is focusing on ceramics research. Recently he has started sharing with me his fears about not being able to be employed after getting her PhD. He has had substantial research experience even beginning in his undergraduate years but has only had one industry internship with a semiconductor company in southeast Asia. The very prospect of the job search greatly scares him.

Another area of concern is that he is an international student, and as such will not be hired by companies only hiring US citizens, and is also automatically exempt from jobs and funding related to the DoD and such (of which there are quite a few).

My questions are: what kinds of realistic opportunities will there be for my friend after his PhD, specifically considering his field and that he is an international student? It seems tenure track jobs are really hard to come by... Does anybody know any international students who graduated with materials engineering PhDs? How real is the proepect of eventually having to accept a crappy job having nothing to do with his education such as selling insurance over the telephone or the like? (I have seen recruiters for such jobs interview EE grads...)

Also, this is the best place (with a decent amount of web-traffic) I could find to post about this. It would be great if someone knows of perhaps a more related forum or resource where I could ask these questions.

Monte_Carlo

Freud: I don't mean to be facetious, but, the friend you are asking about: is that yourself?

sayeo87

Gandhi: “Fear has its use but cowardice has none.” :)

Its not me. But suffice to say that "friend" is not a complete representation either. I'm keeping it generic for privacy's sakes. Anyways, it would be great if you have some thoughts on my questions, and not just the contexts they are in :)