The academic job search, it's lack of feedback, and the sense of belonging (or lack thereof). A thread... ( @AcademicChatter)

The lockdown, right on the heels of the end of last year's job cycle, has given me some time to think about the reasons why I might have come up empty-handed. I'm just venting here, but maybe someone else finds these thoughts useful.

First, some background: I have a Ph.D. in Physics, but after my Ph.D I switched fields and now I work in Developmental Biology, combining theory and experiments to understand how cells communicate to assemble into tissues.

I started the job search by doing all my homework and ticking all the boxes: I published my papers, submitted my preprints, and took time to prepare my materials and pass them around to colleagues and mentors, both senior and junior PIs.

I collected their comments, iterated and improved, many times. Here is where the problems start: feedback. Overall it was: "You've got this, your CV and materials are sound. You combine theory and experiments That's a hot commodity! You'll get a lot of offers!"

Wrong! I didn't even get too many interviews, and no offers. So, what happened? I wish I knew. Maybe my mentors are biased in my favor. I got some feedback from a few PIs from places where I interviewed and, to my surprise, they agreed with the assessment of my mentors.

Here is where I'm left wondering, the only other way to calibrate my possibilities is to compare my CV with those of people who did get offers. Needless to say, everyone who's got offers is very good, and they completely deserve them.

But there seem to be two main differences with respect to my CV: 1) Almost all of them did their undergrads and Ph.Ds. at big institutions (some literature supports this idea). 2) Almost everyone sticks to doing either theory and experiments, but rarely both.

Here is where I'm left wondering, if 1) is the main difference I can't do anything to change it, and the whole search might just be a fool's errand. If it's 2) I could change it, but then, why so many people keep telling me that this is a strength instead of a liability?

At this point, it's impossible to say. The main issue is that the whole process is quite obscure and it's almost impossible to get feedback from the people making the decisions. But the feeling that I might not "belong" is hard to shake.

Or it might all just be bad luck, and I'm reading too much into it. Is there anyone else out there in a similar situation? I would love to hear about your experiences.