Ask HN: Academics of HN, my partner cannot find a job
I'm looking for advice as my partner is finally looking for a full time job and cannot find one.
She has a 4.0 from an Ivy league university, got a perfect score on the SAT, did a masters internationally in a second discipline and then finally got a PhD in biology/ecology with over 23 publications and 18 as first author. She is finishing up her postdoc and needs a job.
I don't understand the field of academics, but what the hell is she to do? I'm posting her achievements above to show that she is clearly a dedicated and hard working individual, but I don't know what to do. It's hard for her to get interviews and the competition is steep. She is poised, has a great professional portfolio and is well-spoken. I'm biased, but I'm wondering what I can do to help her find a good job.
I recognize biology/ecology is different from tech, but I'm looking for advice from the academics of HN that understand the field better than myself. Her first choice is a tenure-track professorship at a good university, but the job options are sparse.
Comments
At that stage usually her PhD advisor or her PostDoc advisor or her own network should be chipping in... I am not sure how many years of experience she has as a postdoc, the few I knew ended up with 6-9 years of temporary postdoc positions before they got a tenure track job. Industry is bit more welcoming but might demand some amount of exclusive interview prep. Having said that, what are the other options if not a tenured track position that your partner might be interested in? Would you and your partner be willing to relocate to another country/continent? Did you explore stable positions at universities that are not highly rated?