These are uncertain times for job seekers. A friend left his job for a more high profile company lately but was made redundant after two months. Two other fresh graduates I know started their first job in September but have already been fired. They are now considering to start a postgraduate degree to not waste time and also to get a more competitive profile. This has been a trend where more undergraduates are applying for postgraduate courses. Similarly, life is also not easy in the academia. The New York Times has covered this issue:
Fulltime faculty jobs have not been easy to come by in recent decades, but this year the new crop of Ph.D. candidates is finding the prospects worse than ever. Public universities are bracing for severe cuts as state legislatures grapple with yawning deficits. At the same time, even the wealthiest private colleges have seen their endowments sink and donations slacken since the financial crisis. So a chill has set in at many higher education institutions, where partial or full-fledge hiring freezes have been imposed.
The anticipated wave of retirements by faculty members who are 60-something is likely to slow as retirement savings accounts and pensions wither, administrators and professors say. That means that some students who have finished postdoctoral fellowships and who expected to leave for faculty positions are staying put for another year, which in turn closes off an option for other graduate students coming up the ladder.
Anyway, being aware of the challenges is not the same as pessimism. It may mean trying out more options and widening the search. Good luck!
