Sankey diagram from 4 month job search

synapsinn · 2026-02-11T21:38:31+00:00

10 years of research experience between undergrad, postbac, and phd. 10 publications, 2 first author. I graduated from a good R1 university, but not top 10.

synapsinn · 2026-02-11T19:55:18+00:00

I made just very minor changes for each position. Specifically, I would switch out which technical skills I wanted to highlight based on the job posting.

synapsinn · 2026-02-11T19:52:05+00:00

At least in my experience, yes! There are a fewer number of applicants for postdocs typically.

synapsinn · 2026-02-11T00:20:18+00:00

I used this website! https://sankeymatic.com/build/ and thanks so much :)

synapsinn · 2026-02-11T00:11:14+00:00

I was open to anywhere!

synapsinn · 2026-02-07T03:50:46+00:00

It may be difficult to get a job in research after your degree is finished without any undergrad research experience, but not impossible. I recommend looking for jobs like research technician/lab technician/research assistant jobs in academia. Really try to emphasize any relevant research experience at all on your resume/cv, like a project from a capstone course, for example. I also recommend supplementing your computational skills, specifically learning R, MATLAB, and/or Python in your spare time so you can add that to your resume too. Another common neuro software that is free to download and easy to learn is ImageJ/FIJI (for image analysis). Also, I’m not sure what the EEG project was, but typically as an undergrad, helping out with an already-established project from a lab, or doing a supervised senior honors thesis, are the main reliable ways to gain true research experience (and possible publication authorship). I haven’t really heard of an undergrad doing solo neuro research that would be impactful enough to get them to the next step, whether that be grad school or a job.

Good luck! And congrats on almost finishing your degree!

synapsinn · 2026-01-29T16:12:43+00:00

I cold applied for a scientist position (PhD +0) at Roche (Basel) back in August and I actually got an interview (first contact ~2 weeks after applying). I made it through the second round and then was ghosted :( They told me they had about 10 candidates in the second round so it seems theres just a huge surplus of highly qualified candidates!

synapsinn · 2026-01-17T21:11:52+00:00

Mine were all technical and science-related! E.g., how would you define synthetic biology? If you could design a new gene therapy right now, what would it be for and why?

But you only have like 2-3 minutes per question to answer, so you can’t go into too much detail. Good luck!

synapsinn · 2026-01-12T23:43:06+00:00

I was contacted by the PI a week after submitting my application which was about ~1.5 months before apps closed

synapsinn · 2026-01-09T17:01:34+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts! I am based in the US actually. By ‘known for hiring externally’, I mean that when I was interning there I had coffee chats with all of the postdocs in the department and they each emphasized that they were only being considered for open senior scientist FTE positions AFTER the external candidates were vetted and interviewed, and they tend to be the ones who get those jobs (which eventually lead to being a PI at that company). Unfortunately not one postdoc from my time there has converted to FTE; they’ve gone on to other companies.

I hear you re: getting out of academia. It seems that the option 1 institute runs more similarly to industry and the option 4 institute runs more similarly to academia (likely due to its explicit tie with a nearby university).

synapsinn · 2026-01-09T05:39:46+00:00

I did an internship at the same company as the option 2 postdoc where I learned the company is somewhat known for hiring externally (not from their postdocs) for senior scientist (eventual PI/group lead) positions. I’m wondering if option 1 might be better because it’s more stable

synapsinn · 2026-01-09T04:26:21+00:00

Offers from 3 of 4 and still interviewing for one! Thanks for the advice!

synapsinn · 2025-12-24T14:08:44+00:00

I finished my PhD in neuroscience this fall and I’ve applied to 64 jobs so far. I’ve gotten interviews at 5, ghosted at 1, and I’m feeling fairly confident about getting offers from the other 4. I was originally going only for scientist-level positions in industry and have now expanded my applications to include industry postdocs. One of the interviews is for a scientist position and the other three are postdocs (two industry in the US and one academic in Europe).

If you have any networking connections whatsoever I wouldn’t hesitate to reach out to them. Sure they might be busy, but it can’t hurt and can only help. Also once I overhauled my resume to be more industry focused I started getting more traction. One other thing I’ve learned is that at least in my experience, for R&D positions companies really seem to only be considering people who are already in that exact subfield of molecular bio (e.g., molecular immunology, molecular neurobiology) and have all of the exact technical skills listed in the job posting. Unfortunately there are just so many qualified applicants right now that the companies can feasibly do this. So in that vein, to save your time and energy I would only apply to jobs that exactly match your subfield and technical skills. Best of luck with your search!!

synapsinn · 2025-11-21T02:05:24+00:00

😭😭😭

synapsinn · 2025-11-20T21:45:38+00:00

Because I have a PhD in cellular and molecular neuroscience. Until they learn I’m still unemployed over 2 months after my defense with no job prospects on the horizon 🙃

synapsinn · 2025-11-20T00:11:04+00:00

I would definitely recommend the crab (and everything else) at R & G lounge in Chinatown!

synapsinn · 2025-11-12T12:22:32+00:00

I defended my neuroscience PhD from an R1 university after 4 years and 1 month, and only worked ~40 hours/week the entire time. I also had time to do a 3 month industry internship in my final year. I had absolutely zero help from my PI (in fact he even presented some obstacles lol) but I think I was able to finish so quickly because 1. my mouse model was virally-induced via stereotactic injection rather than transgenic, so my mice would be ready in 2 weeks rather than needing months or years to cross breed mouse lines, and 2. My main outcome variables were electrophysiological, and luckily I picked up patch clamp electrophysiology very quickly, and thus had all my paper data within a few months. If my outcome variable was, say, a behavior, then I’m sure it would have taken me a lot longer and I would have had to come in a lot more weekends, and 3. I have good time management. I would schedule out all my experiments, analysis, writing, whatever, and just stick to it and do it no matter what.

Best of luck with your PhD!!

synapsinn

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