A Diary of a jobseeker.

When I was coming to the final six months of my (three and a half year) PhD I decided that I would begin to look for full time employment (at the time I was employed as casual academic marker). My aim was to get started early so that I would have procured a decent job by the completion of my candidature. I felt that after seven and a half years of study (during my undergraduate study I also worked in part time level 2/3 research and administrative positions) that I would not take less than $42,000 a year. I started applying for research and policy officer positions in or near my area of expertise. Three weeks after each application I received a nice letter in the mail thanking me for my interest while informing me that I had not been successful.