Difficulty Finding Position After Physics Bachelors Degree

[Ascendant0]

I'm a non-traditional (older adult) student who just finished a bachelors in physics this past summer. Due to life circumstances, at this time I'm looking to obtain a position and get back to work rather than grad school, at least for now. However, despite me having decades of extensive work experience in other fields, including regional management for a chain of organizations and even running my own LLCs in the past, I can't land a job in anything to do with my areas of study.

I know trying to do research at this level is unrealistic. I'm trying to find work within the tech industry. Companies that work on various technologies that need people for positions that include calibrating equipment (which I have years of experience with a variety now, all in college), working with Python or MATLAB (both of which I have years of experience with, also all in college), data analysis, data research, or other similar roles. I have applied to over 100 positions, and there has only been two that I heard back from, neither of which went anywhere. It is beyond discouraging.

Everyone I apply to wants work experience, but how am I supposed to GET the work experience if no one will give me a chance? I even offered to shadow or volunteer at some places to get additional hands-on experience or knowledge, but many won't because of security clearance, or because "I'd get in the way". I am continuing to volunteer as a research assistant with the professor that I had done research with while attending college, so I have him as a reference for a number of things. Unfortunately, that's the only reference I have that is related to these fields though, and it seems like my resume and cover letters are getting overlooked.

I now have a bachelors, yet I've spent months working for DoorDash barely scraping by. It is beyond humiliating, let alone not enough to live comfortably. I just can't get my foot in the door with any company.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I can get someone to give me a chance, it would be greatly appreciated. Either particular types of positions to look for, particular companies, anything that you think might help. Honestly, I'm desperate at this point. I need a better income, but don't want to resort to doing a job I can't stand to make it happen.

 

[russ_watters]

Not really physics job advice (I'm an engineer so others can answer on that), but if you're desperate and doing DoorDash to make ends meet, that's "get a job, any job" territory. Can't that "any job" be a high paying management job in your old field while you continue looking for your place in physics?

 

[CrysPhys]

I'm a non-traditional (older adult) student who just finished a bachelors in physics this past summer. Due to life circumstances, at this time I'm looking to obtain a position and get back to work rather than grad school, at least for now. However, despite me having decades of extensive work experience in other fields, including regional management for a chain of organizations and even running my own LLCs in the past, I can't land a job in anything to do with my areas of study.

I know trying to do research at this level is unrealistic. I'm trying to find work within the tech industry. Companies that work on various technologies that need people for positions that include calibrating equipment (which I have years of experience with a variety now, all in college), working with Python or MATLAB (both of which I have years of experience with, also all in college), data analysis, data research, or other similar roles. I have applied to over 100 positions, and there has only been two that I heard back from, neither of which went anywhere. It is beyond discouraging.

Everyone I apply to wants work experience, but how am I supposed to GET the work experience if no one will give me a chance? I even offered to shadow or volunteer at some places to get additional hands-on experience or knowledge, but many won't because of security clearance, or because "I'd get in the way". I am continuing to volunteer as a research assistant with the professor that I had done research with while attending college, so I have him as a reference for a number of things. Unfortunately, that's the only reference I have that is related to these fields though, and it seems like my resume and cover letters are getting overlooked.

I now have a bachelors, yet I've spent months working for DoorDash barely scraping by. It is beyond humiliating, let alone not enough to live comfortably. I just can't get my foot in the door with any company.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I can get someone to give me a chance, it would be greatly appreciated. Either particular types of positions to look for, particular companies, anything that you think might help. Honestly, I'm desperate at this point. I need a better income, but don't want to resort to doing a job I can't stand to make it happen.

* Your profile doesn't say where you are. From your post, I'm guessing the US. Is this correct? If so, here are AIP websites that should help guide your job hunt:

https://www.aip.org/statistics/phys...employment-academic-years-2023-24-and-2024-25

https://www.aip.org/statistics/whos-hiring-physics-bachelors

* Purely anecdotal comment. I meet a lot of college students when I'm ice skating. Those who graduated this past spring faced a brutal job market. E.g., one student I know well graduated with a BS Biomedical Engineering/MS Mechanical Engineering. Solid grades and research projects. Normally should have been a shoe-in. But very exasperating and extended job hunt. Feedback from several companies was that the overall political and economic environment in the US is so unstable that they can't do any forecasting and planning (companies were interviewing 'just in case', but actual hiring was in a state of limbo). She finally did land a job at a medical devices company ... but as a contractor, not a permanent hire (whatever a permanent hire means these days ).

* Purely speculative comment. I'm retired now, but I used to work in major industrial R&D labs. We typically hired fresh grads with a BS Physics as entry-level research assistants reporting to PhD-level staff members (and with a prescribed growth path). In your case, your non-traditional background likely hurts you, since you have "decades of extensive work experience in other fields, including regional management for a chain of organizations and even running my own LLCs in the past".

So you're a difficult fit for many tech companies. You're too old and too experienced for an entry-level tech position. Even if you were game for an entry-level position, the suspicion would be that you would be disgruntled from the get-go, that you're only parking yourself temporarily until the job market improves. At the same time, you don't have the proper background for a more senior position.

 

[marcusl]

The job market is terrible and AI has wiped out entry level jobs. What hasn’t changed is the need for networking. In a 40+ year career, I worked at two startups, 2 small companies (~120 people) two large companies (~25,000) and one multinational (110,000 employees), not in that order—and was offered jobs at a number of others that I didn’t take. In every case but one, I knew someone inside who knew me and advocated for my hiring or actually recruited me. It doesn’t have to be a work contact, either—I got a job at an aerospace company through a fellow Boy Scout leader. So use your contacts and make new ones.

 

[gmax137]

I retired after more than 40 years in the commercial nuclear power business. Along the way, I worked with many physics bachelors. Check with the power companies, and with the reactor vendors (eg, Westinghouse, GE). They don't really need people with advanced degrees, since the analysis methods were largely developed decades ago. They do need people who can understand and implement the methods. That could be you.

 

[symbolipoint]

She finally did land a job at a medical devices company ... but as a contractor, not a permanent hire (whatever a permanent hire means these days ).

Not a purely perfect interpretation, but a "contractor" can be a person who was hired from a "staffing" agency or employment agency. The target site company who wants to use the worker did not hire the worker; the employment agency hired the worker.

 

[CrysPhys]

Not a purely perfect interpretation, but a "contractor" can be a person who was hired from a "staffing" agency or employment agency. The target site company who wants to use the worker did not hire the worker; the employment agency hired the worker.

Not necessarily. That's one scenario, but there are others. It really depends on their HR policy and current IRS regulations. But the paperwork details aren't really important. What matters is that she doesn't get company benefits, and she can get terminated at any time without formal severance procedures.

 

[Ascendant0]

Not really physics job advice (I'm an engineer so others can answer on that), but if you're desperate and doing DoorDash to make ends meet, that's "get a job, any job" territory. Can't that "any job" be a high paying management job in your old field while you continue looking for your place in physics?

I probably have a better chance at a management position, sure, but the more applications I put in for something like management somewhere I'm not interested in, the more it pulls me away from looking for what I want to look for. I don't have enough hours in the day as it is, so every application I put in for something I don't want long-term is one less application I could've put into something I do want. However, recently I have started exploring management options. I just don't want to go back to where I started again and have the degree be a complete waste.

Even with searching for management somewhere though, it won't be easy either, as management positions tend to be very competitive.

 

[CrysPhys]

I probably have a better chance at a management position, sure, but the more applications I put in for something like management somewhere I'm not interested in, the more it pulls me away from looking for what I want to look for. I don't have enough hours in the day as it is, so every application I put in for something I don't want long-term is one less application I could've put into something I do want. However, recently I have started exploring management options. I just don't want to go back to where I started again and have the degree be a complete waste.

Even with searching for management somewhere though, it won't be easy either, as management positions tend to be very competitive.

I'm someone who transitioned to different careers many times. Here are some general tips for you.

* It's a tight job market. For someone with a non-traditional background, the advice given in Reply #4 is key. You most likely will need a personal contact (direct or indirect) to get your foot in the door. Hiring managers will likely have a stack of resumes from traditional candidates (in this instance, candidates in their early 20's with newly minted BS Physics); they know what to expect from, and how to process, these candidates. Then they come across your resume. Why would they spend extra time working through it? They probably won't; much easier to chuck it, especially when they have plenty of easier choices.

* But a personal intro from a colleague, friend, family member, ... can flip the script. Over my careers, I've both received such help and given such help. And, as in Reply #4, consider your extended network.

E.g., at one time I was an R&D physicist working in optoelectronic devices for telcom. My company was downsizing, and my position was in jeopardy. My wife was a microbiologist working in pharma. One of her colleagues at the pharma lab was a chemist; but that colleague had a brother who happened to be a director of optical transmission systems at a telcom. My wife spoke to her colleague, who spoke to her brother. He in turn arranged for me to interview.

On the flip side, at one time I was working as a patent agent in a law firm. One of my wife's colleagues at the pharma lab had a husband who was recently laid off as a high-school bio teacher (though he previously worked in industry as well). He was considering various career options, including patent agent. His wife talked to my wife, who talked to me. I then spent a good chunk of time explaining to him how to transition to a patent agent.

* Once you do get your foot in the door (either for a formal interview or an informal conversation), you need a compelling story why your non-traditional background provides extra value (over traditional candidates) for the position ... instead of being excess baggage that needs time and resources to dispose of.

* I don't know the details of where you came from and where you want to go. But you might need intermediate stops and detours. E.g., assume you want a position in an R&D lab as a research assistant. But your background might make you more competitive, e.g., for a position as a lab or manufacturing facilities manager. If the opportunity arises, take it, even if it's not what you really want. Prove yourself, develop contacts with the R&D staff, and apply for a transfer when the opportunity arises. Might take several years, though.

 

[Choppy]

Just to throw it out there... have you given any thought to technical sales or technical training roles?
Sales often conjures up certain stereotypes, but in my field (medical physics) sales reps will often be charged with brokering multimillion dollar deals that require a deep understanding of the technology involved was well as adjacent systems, the technical environment, customer needs, and ultimately aid in the advance of meaningful clinical work.
On the training side, customers need to know how to implement new technology that comes into the clinic, how it will integrate with existing technology, what changes are coming with new software releases, change management. Trainers can be anything from a person operating in a traditional classroom at a corporate training site to online presenters.

 

[symbolipoint]

My wife was a microbiologist working in pharma. One of her colleagues at the pharma lab was a chemist; but that colleague had a brother who happened to be a director of optical transmission systems at a telcom. My wife spoke to her colleague, who spoke to her brother. He in turn arranged for me to interview.

Ponder the very real and active practicality of Microbiology!

 

[CrysPhys]

Ponder the very real and active practicality of Microbiology!

Well, about 5 yrs after that event, the pharma company my wife worked at had a major downsizing and layoff. By that time I had left telcom and was working as a patent agent in a law firm. She asked me to speak to several of her colleagues (who had been let go and were having a difficult time finding new jobs) about a career as a patent agent. My wife found a research position at another pharma company. That lasted for several years, until that company had a major downsizing and layoff of its own. The pharma industry as a whole was undergoing a meltdown in my area, just as telcom had years before. So no field is immune from downsizing and layoff. That's a joke, because my wife's specialty at the time was immunology.

 

[symbolipoint]

About #12, I initially commented only to be very general about optimism for finding opportunities in microbiological work. My remarks on this are a distraction to the forum topic, but still hopefully helpful or something. Get a degree in Microbiology, and work in food processing, food technology, hospital microbiolog. lab, maybe some big big computers for something within Industrial Hygiene, or could be part off-shoot into some related work.

 

[CrysPhys]

About #12, I initially commented only to be very general about optimism for finding opportunities in microbiological work. My remarks on this are a distraction to the forum topic, but still hopefully helpful or something. Get a degree in Microbiology, and work in food processing, food technology, hospital microbiolog. lab, maybe some big big computers for something within Industrial Hygiene, or could be part off-shoot into some related work.

We have many posters here asking along the lines, "Which degree will guarantee me a job?" Microbiology is not it at this time in the US; particularly with the present federal administration, their healthcare directives, and all their funding cuts. In the US at this time, about the only guaranteed career path is to get a degree in the medical (or related) field and complete the requirements to become a licensed clinical practitioner. But even that can change if there's a major shift in government policy. People once thought that getting a JD and passing the bar would guarantee them a life-long career as an attorney. But the financial crisis/great recession of 2008/2009 proved otherwise. As I've mentioned before, not only technological changes, but changes in government regulations, policies, and funding, as well as changes in business practices, can invert the job market for particular fields very suddenly. Just look at what's happened over the last 1 - 2 yrs in the US to clean-energy and electric-vehicle sectors. I've previously cited a number of similar examples. Chasing after what's currently hot is not a sustainable career strategy.

 

[marcusl]

The administration has instigated a huge ramp-up of weapons procurement (especially since you-know-who apparently shot off most of our inventory of missiles and other armaments). I've read that it will take years to build new facilities to meet the demand. At this time, then, engineering jobs in the defense industry look like a growth area.