Hey tutti,
Potrei davvero usare alcuni consigli. È passato un anno e mezzo ora che ho cercato un lavoro in ingegneria biomedica e, onestamente, sono bloccato. Ho un Bachelor, Master’s e PhD in the Field, sono un cittadino dell’UE (quindi nessun problema di visto), fluentemente l’inglese e apprendimento olandese – eppure tutto ciò che sembro ottenere è il rifiuto o il silenzio radio.
La maggior parte dei lavori a cui applico non richiede nemmeno olandesi, e ancora … niente. Sto iniziando a chiedermi se è il mio CV, la mia specializzazione o solo uno scherzo cosmico. Ho fatto domanda in tutto il Belgio, nei Paesi Bassi e persino in altri paesi dell’UE – stessa storia.
È particolarmente frustrante quando vedo gli stessi annunci di lavoro ripubblicati più e più volte, e mi è stato detto che qualcun altro era “più adatto”. I miei anni di dottorato sono trattati come se non contassero come esperienza (come se avessi trascorso quattro anni a leggere libri e sorseggiare il caffè invece di lavorare in un laboratorio). Sembra che tutta la conoscenza che ho acquisito sia semplicemente invisibile.
E non farmi nemmeno iniziare le truffe. Ho avuto compagnie mi fantasma dopo interviste, promettenti contratti che non sono mai arrivati. Le aziende di consulenza che lascano progetti che svaniscono due giorni dopo. Potrei scrivere un libro su tutte le sciocchezze con cui ho affrontato.
Quindi … qualche consiglio? Corsi, certificati, tutto ciò che potrebbe aiutarmi a distinguermi di più? Sto già lavorando sul mio olandese, ma onestamente, mi sento utile come mangiare la zuppa con una forchetta.
Anche pensando che forse il mio modello CV faccia parte del problema: ho usato quello standard in lattice, ma forse è tempo di qualcosa con un po ‘più di appello visivo.
Grazie per la lettura – e per qualsiasi consiglio puoi lanciare la mia strada.
Modificare. Per chi mi chiedeva come appare il mio CV (ho ritagliato la sezione superiore per rimuovere i miei dettagli personali, ovviamente): https://imgur.com/a/vl8koil
No job with a Ph.D. in engineer. What am I doing wrong?!
byu/BelgianPallasCat inbelgium
di BelgianPallasCat
27 commenti
Can you share your CV after making the info anonymous? It would help a bit…
I’m not quite sure, but it’s possible that firms may think you’re overqualified.
My dad recently had to hire someone new for an entry position. 2 phds applied, both of them had unrealistic expectations when it came to salary and growth (expecting a higher starting wage, promotions every year as opposed to 2 years,…).
Not saying that you’re doing this, but as much of an achievement a PhD is, employers might think that you’ll have unrealistic expectations from the company. Of course this isn’t fair, I’m sure you’re a grounded person, but it can be extremely difficult to combat prejudice.
Maybe you can try being very open and direct with your expectations from the start to reassure recruiters that you’re not expecting anything crazy?
What kinds of jobs are you applying for? You might be seen as overqualified, or with a skill set that’s too niche.
Do you adjust your CV for the application, or at least have a couple of versions suited for different types of jobs?
Job market is fucked at the moment, especially for starters. PhD’s make you more expensive to hire as a starter without brining much extra to the table (sorry to say this, I also have a PhD, it’s a degree aimed at becoming a professor).
I searched actively for 8 months after graduating with my master’s last year. I was mainly looking for something in electronics or RF engineering. A few 2nd place finishes but also a lot of radio silence. Then I applied for a software engineer role and got it instantly.
Niche sectors are hard to get into as a starter these days.
Try searching with just your masters. To combat the air of you being overqualified. The longer you stay unemployed, the more unemployable you become.
It’s a difficult job market and on top of that it’s summer (always a difficult period because of the vacations). But ultimately no one can give you advice from this little context.
It’s impossible to say whether you are doing something wrong without actually seeing what you’re doing.
Also you’re seemingly brushing off that you’re still learning dutch when that might be a massive point of contention depending on your region and the jobs you’re applying for.
It might not be an explicit criterium but if you can pick a candidate of equal value who speaks the native language, why would I still pick you? Even if everyone in the workplace speaks fluent english, that will still be a consideration; that’s just how it is in Belgium.
If my job doesn’t necessarily require you to have a PhD, why wouldn’t I hire someone with a master’s degree who might expect a lower wage?
My apologies if that comes off as blunt and rude, but these are considerations employers are making and you need to consider how you’re going to convince them otherwise.
Source: I’m a professional career counsellor.
1. Share a imgur link to your anonymized CV for us to review, it should be tailor made to each job application.
2. Your PhD will be an asset only for jobs directly related to your topic. Probably anything from big pharma companies to chemical producers (there are many in Belgium)
3. Target big orgs and international companies that are known to hire PhDs (BCG, McKinsey, or the JRC from EC)
4. During interviews, frame your PhD as a years of experience
The job market is deteriorating rapidly. De-industrialization is clearly underway, and the outlook keeps worsening. Overregulation combined with much higher energy costs is pushing our industries out of the market. Especially for chemical industries it became very difficult to find a business case to invest here.
Before I can share any usefull info about the jobmarket, it would be usefull to mention what your field of expertise is.
Not everything is in the same demand. You might have parked yourself in a fringe field so people are not sure your interests and field of research align with the company hiring someone with your credentials.
Job interviews are a smell test, they’re not about the job or your skills. Focus on acting suave and smooth, like someone you would like to meet every day. What you say doesn’t matter as long as it’s not offensive, only the way you say it.
Why do a PhD if you’re not staying at a university?
The job market is hard atm, but, advice I can give is to make a tailored cv for jobs you apply to. If they ask for a ‘dedicated, young software developer’ (just an example) make sure to use all those words somewhere in your cv (not per se in the same order) Not sure how popular it is, but I know of companies that use software to track certain words, and if they’re not in there, no human will see your cv. A visually attractive cv can help, I use canva personally.
If you are looking for a job in pharma/biotech, that could be part of the issue. The job market in general is fucked, but in that sector even more.
Also what others said, PhDs often have unrealistic expectations about wage, car,…
Try to find any job, consultancy for example and get a bit of experience, after that it will be much easier since you are not seen as a starter anymore (yes having a PhD does not mean you have 4 years of experience unfortunately…)
This may sound a bit silly, but try running your cv through chatgpt and tell it what sort of companies and jobs you want to apply for. It can really help!
The first step is always getting past HR selection. It helps if you look at your application through their eyes. Make sure there is a tight match between the requested skills and your cv. Things that help:
-Try framing the phd as work experience, also in your cv. Maybe even headline it as ‘researcher’ in stead of PhD student.
-Highlight the obtained hard ánd soft skills during this experience, with emphasis on the requested skills. Tweak your cv for every application.
-Use Canva template to pimp your cv.
-Make a linkedin and really put in an effort and provide the link on your cv.
I don’t think phd is a problem if you let them know you’re willing to get paid at Master’s level. Only state institutions are obligated to pay you as PhD.
Good luck OP
edit: Canva, not canvas
I’m in the same situation. Even though my PhD topic and experience are highly relevant to the industry, most of what I get is either ghosting, automated rejections, or in some cases, invitations to interviews where the interviewers themselves don’t even show up.
I’ve attended a couple of university workshops that focused on translating PhD skills into “industry language,” tailoring CVs, and preparing for job interviews. I’ve also lost count of how many applications I’ve sent and how many CVs I’ve customized for specific roles. I’ve even met recruiters from companies I’m interested in and asked for direct feedback on my CV. Most of them said it looked strong and that I had a good chance when there were openings… but reality paints a different picture.
The issue is that many vacancies are either fake, require a PhD plus 10+ years of experience, or are looking for a bachelor’s graduate with zero experience. There’s no middle ground. For example, I recently saw a “Project Manager” role in the pharma sector: they listed a long list of responsibilities, wanted a PhD with 3–5 years of industry experience, and the salary? Gross €2700-€3200. No company car, just eco-cheques and an €8/day meal voucher. Even when we lower our expectations, we’re still being rejected. It honestly feels like some companies expect us to work almost for free. And even unpaid internships are rare these days.
I checked similar roles in the market typically pay around €3800-€4600.
Six months ago, I actually received two job offers, but I couldn’t start since I was still in the first semester of the final year of my PhD. Fast-forward to today: zero invitations, fewer vacancies, and way more experienced job seekers competing for the same roles.
The reality is tough, it’s not about how impressive or qualified you are. The market is frozen, and recruiters are often just there to waste our time. Stay strong, keep pushing, and good luck with your search. Hopefully things will improve soon.
Same degree, and I employ people with that degree in my company. We have a hiring stop due to how bad the market is right now. Has been for the whole of 2025, doesn’t seem to improve yet. You can send me your CV in DM and I can check if I would see any red flags
> I’m already working on my Dutch
I’ll be honest this is probably why. It’s really, really hard to find a job if you’re not fluent in the local language because you’re competing with locals, who already have trouble finding work. The choice is quickly made for employers, unfortunately.
I think the problem is Dutch. The bulk of the qualified jobs in the low countries are in Dutch. But companies have started to be distrussffull of people saying they are “learning dutch” because some times, they just stop learning it or trying to progress once they see most of their collegues can speak english. So companies has started to be more stricted with this criteria. Therefore english speaking jobs gets lots of applications due to the many expats in those regions.
Also summer doesn’t help, just not much going on in terms of recruiting and well all the young grads are desperatly trying to get their first job right after graduations, so entry level jobs, which are already scarce, gets a lot of applicants in this period. It might get better in Septembre and Octobre.
Many PhDs wildly overvalue their experience and the value of the PhD when they go outside their niche / research field.
We hire mostly stem masters and phds for niche roles. Majority of the job is learned on the job. We prefer phds but it takes them several years to catch up to masters with job experience. And plenty of them never catch up.
Very often a master with 4 years of experience is way ahead of a phd with 2 years of work experience. Yet the phd often is older and got his master 6+ years ago. The gap gets smaller over time and often phds overtake, but it takes time.
Very often phds cost more during these early years, and by the time it pays off we’re years later. They may work elsewhere. They may never get there. Thats a lot of uncertainty to overpay for potential.
Phd in engineering also isnt reserved for the best and brightest students, the way it can be in other fields. I wouldnt be surprised if ir + 4 years of MBB beats ir + phd, over a full career on average.
Part of the problem, (and I know, sorry, it isn’t helpful) is that we are in a recession. Otherwise, it is hard to give tips without knowing how your CV looks, is your field a very niche one etc etc
Consider that sometimes job ads get reposted on Linkedin automatically, even though the position might have been already filled. I was following one entry-level position at UCB that was reposted over and over, every time with over 100 applicants.
Watch out for the “Reposted” at the top of the ad and maybe apply anyway, but without much expectations.
With a PhD degree I think it’d be a bit more advantageous for you to aim at engineering positions that require skills in maths/statistics and/or research or those with AI/LLMs tuning. That’s what an ordinary Msc-and-below level (like me), even a veteran, software engineer may lack, increasing your competitiveness.
Current market is a bloodbath for starters with traditional software or data engineering positions, especially the latter, with the global layoffs and gen AI trends.
In any case, keep applying and with some luck, you’ll make it.
For those who’ve been asking about my CV, here’s the Imgur link to the first page. I’ve cropped out the top section to remove my personal details, of course.
[https://imgur.com/a/vL8koIl](https://imgur.com/a/vL8koIl)
The second page just covers conferences I’ve attended and my driver’s license details.
I’d love to hear any feedback you might have. Thanks again, everyone!
I strongly agree it is a problem, though may I suggest to start working as interim (an easy low pay job) while you keep searching for a job you can put that PHD to work.
I believe there are quite a lot of biomedical companies in industriepark Zwijnaarde, nearby Ghent. Have you already applied there?