Not who you are replying to, but I’ve found that PhDs struggle with employment because they are overqualified and lack field experience. I am mentoring a post doc right now and he’s unbelievably smart, but he can’t land a job for love or money. It’s a hard go out there right now if you’re specialized like he is.

He is a chemical engineer with 10 years post doc. Does water treatment, pit water modeling, deals with mine tailings, contaminated soils, etc. I would love to rent his brain if I could.