im just making this thread to discuss tips for finding jobs in my particular scenario

so i defended my phd in october 2025. i havent had a job since tbh. i realized i dont care that much about science and i dont think its wise to stay in a field like research if youre not passionate about it, especially these days when everything is so competitive

so im wondering, how do i switch fields? my brother was a math major and he never worked in that field, but he also literally makes 15 an hour at his current job.

am i just going to have to accept being broke asf for the rest of my life, or have to pretend i care about some job that is super technical that im barely good at?

What field do you want to switch to?

Do research on whatever field you want to pivot towards and what you need to get your foot in the door

cold message people on linkedin that are working in the field you want to work in

bro sign up with every recruiting company you can in your area/online and apply every job on their job board. It’s their job to find you a job and you represent them when they link you with a client. it’s how I got my current job, was only unemployed for 6 weeks. you can even contact recruiters directly via LinkedIn or the recruiting company’s contact page

Bruh idk

I jus need sum bread. Nothing crazy

Ig maybe data science/analysis, seems like anything coding heavy is gone

Update your resume and apply

You like manual labor? You could try a trade school/apprenticeship. Get immediate pay while learning a tangible skill that can potentially create your own lane

Hit chatgpt, gemini, whatever say you were in x field and you wanna pivot over to y field. Ask it to sort out your resume in whatever ways translate to that field and any other skills, certs, etc you could look into

Search reddit for people that made the switch or are in that field or self taught

You'll be able to piece it together

My advice would be to identify something with a fairly low level to entry and try to leverage skills you have and networking to get in the door.

you need to look into Tier 1 Helpdesk roles bro, there are so many. the pay won’t be great but once you in and can put that on your resume you can pivot from their or work up

Find a trade that you think is interesting and lock in.

Alternatively, you said you have a PhD? Teaching pays well if you have a ton of unit hours to draw from. I make 100k teaching high school because of my masters and 6 years of experience. At this point, I just teach the same curriculum in different permutations and it's not physically taxing or anything.

Got it, tbh i dont rly have a clue what makes sense, it almost feels like every day i wake up im an entirely different person with different concerns an interests

Great advice tbh, imma look into that

welding

What city are you in? Just curious. Certain pockets of the country have overpowered teacher unions that get you paid and can keep you at your job for a long, long time (Chicago, LA, most of the east coast).

The really bad states for teaching tend to be in the south/southwest.

Onlyfans

You won’t be broke forever, you’ll find something that works for you. Trust god and have faith

Damn im in NC

I am extremely easy to identify

If anyone who ever knew me saw that s*** itd be over

Find a literal job posting of the job you want or would want if you could have it, check the qualifications, reverse engineer the process and be okay with starting from entry level again if necessary

Real

Paper mill.
Never had any experience prior. Union. Have to work with people you might not get along with, but best job I’ve had and best pay I’ve had.

Damn howd u find that job