Job hunting advice for theoretical physics PhD

[jk]

Oh god. Can both sides let it go. One side has certain life experiences and another side has another set of life experiences.

How did it reach the point that people are arguing on what really happened in an experience in a presumably private setting in another person's life experience without having been there?

For all you know Diracula's experience could be valid. I don't know since I wasnt in the room. I could choose to maybe not believe it but I can't argue that it didnt happen because I wasnt there.

That's what forums are for.

No one is arguing about what happened in a private setting. We are discussing whether it is valid to extrapolate from that incident.

I will stop now

 

[NegativeDept]

I found some links relevant to the "Should I hide my PhD?" question:

A physicsforum thread from last year in which ParticleGrl replaced "PhD" with "researcher," and twofish-quant moved it to near the bottom of the page. (Both emphasized that playing down a PhD is a good idea for some applications, not all of them.) There are also some potentially useful job-search tips on that thread.

A Slashdot post full of hilariously terrifying quotes like this one: I often joke that if I ever have to apply for a (non-academic) job, my chances will be better if I just put 'prison' for the four years I was doing my Ph.D. in order to explain the time gap. This is eerily similar to what twofish-quant said: The reason I mention I have a Ph.D. is so that no one thinks that I was in jail for armed robbery.

At least one Slashdotter endorsed my favorite tactic, similar to what ParticleGrl suggested: If you want me to hire you, you have to show me that you are worth it. How can you do that? Work on a project (open source/your own/whatever) in your spare time and bring it to the interview. That brings us back to the short version of my original question:

How do I encourage those people to click on my math/programming portfolio?

If I already have some social or professional connection, I can just ask. What can we do to get the attention of competent hiring managers whose social graph is >2 degrees of separation away?

 

[NegativeDept]

Obviously you have already a lot of experience with optimzing the CV - this is a great idea.
I wish you all the best!

Thanks! But I also made some beginner blunders.

I figured nobody would care much about my TA responsibilities or service-industry jobs from ~10 years ago, so I didn't list a chronological work history. Apparently this is called a "functional" resume. What I didn't know: many HR workers are required to construct a chronological history and ask you about "gaps." It annoys the hell out of them if they have to spend time finding the dates. If there are no dates at all, they'll often just delete you.

So now my resume/CV has a clear reverse-chronological timeline ending with an almost-completely-irrelevant customer service job. At least I wasn't in jail for armed robbery.

 

[atyy]

I guess the problem with people thinking you were in jail for armed robbery is that it implies incompetence for getting caught?

 

[jesse73]

No one is arguing about what happened in a private setting. We are discussing whether it is valid to extrapolate from that incident.

My point was that no matter what happened in the private setting he has a bigger advantage at extrapolating from that incident because he was there. People could choose to not believe him but at the end of the day being there is the best insight into an event

 

[jk]

My point was that no matter what happened in the private setting he has a bigger advantage at extrapolating from that incident because he was there.

Not to be argumentative but you are completely missing my point. No one is denying the poster's version of that event. However, extrapolating from one event to assume that it is very common is not warranted. That is my point.

People could choose to not believe him but at the end of the day being there is the best insight into an event

Yes. The key phrase being "insight into an event". One event does not make a pattern.

Does the fact that it happened to that person in that instance negate decades' worth of events in mine and others' experience where such behavior was not commonly observed?

At this point, I will drop the matter as it has derailed the thread far too long.