I have been unemployed since December of 2005. It is a truly humbling experience, especially for someone with a PhD. You spend YEARS of your life struggling to survive on a student's stipend and putting in long and tedious hours in a lab (in the case of people in life sciences anyway), to be unceremoniously dumped from a job that you gave your all to. Intellectually, the layoffs weren't that hard to understand...the company was hurting for money and so they eliminated programs that weren't immediately destined for the clinic. In that sense, it certainly wasn't personal. However, one can't help but consider that if one were truly valuable to the company, the company would find a way to keep that person on. It certainly adds insult to injury that some of the people who were retained were simply "yes (wo)men" or Peter Prinicipled to the positions they attained. Oh well, such is the life in the biotechnology industry! I have to add that in retrospect, it's really a good thing, because from what I've heard from friends who are still at my former company, it's not such a nice place to be any more. They've actually had another layoff in the first quarter of this year, so they're really struggling.
So, I have been looking for a new job since December. I have kept a job search log, and I have applied to approximately three jobs a week since the beginning of the year. Some were perfect fits, some were a bit of a stretch, but I could have excelled at them all. That's 48 applications...out of all of those, I've had four interviews. This is about a 6% ROI if you're counting - if I were a stock, I'd dump me! Out of the four interviews, two seemed seriously interested in me. One even called my references, but then I never got an offer. This leads me to suspect two reasons, either one of my references gave less than a glorious synopsis of my capabilities or there's another reason that I will reveal shortly. I can't imagine that one of my references would give me a bad review, but if I had to choose someone, I would really suspect my boss at the company I just left. It seems pretty malicious, but this is the same person I worked my ass off for and who did not fight to keep me. It bothers me that I will never know the reason.
I think that a job will come along, it just won't happen in my time frame. It's difficult to hear all the questions and advice from friends and family...
Why don't you have a job yet? I thought you'd be hired by now.
Why don't you consult?
Are you being too picky?
Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to move forwards...
I just want to SCREAM! If I HAD the answers, I wouldn't be in this situation! It's not as though I have been sitting on my hands and doing nothing. I have networked with contacts in industry, I've gone to job fairs, I've worked with recruiters, I've stalked Monster, Medzilla, HotJobs, and other industry-related websites daily. I've rewritten my resume.
So, someone might ask, maybe you're just not as good as you think you are? Fair enough. But, everyone that I have worked for has been pleased to have me work for them, at least as they've told me to my face. I've been the main inventor on multiple patents and the author of many manuscripts. I've managed staff, and had my direct reports tell me that I'm the best advisor they've ever had. Again, it could be that this is lip service since I will be giving references for them in the future. Maybe I don't interview well? Possible, although I have gotten feedback that I'm poised and articulate and give excellent seminars (a part of the interview process for scientists).
Here's what I truly believe that it comes down to. I found out that I was pregnant with my second child the week I got laid off. I am painfully nagged by the possibility that my lack of success in this job search is due to my "condition". The four interviews I went on happened in a time frame far beyond the ability for me to conceal my expanding belly. If this is true, I am heartbroken that in all of the years of progress we've made with women's rights, it still comes down to basic discrimination.
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