WSJ article on Princeton chemical engineering PhD grad who can't find a position

Via the Wall Street Journal, this bit of depressing news: 

Jack Weis likes to joke that he’s just another unemployed guy living in his parents’ basement. 

That leaves out a few key details: The Salt Lake City native has applied to more than 2,300 jobs since he graduated from Princeton in 2024 with his Ph.D. in chemical engineering. And he still doesn’t have a job.

He first pursued corporate science jobs and prestigious postdoctoral fellowships at national laboratories. Then he cast a wider net, applying to software engineering and other roles. Eventually, he was getting ghosted for food-preparation jobs, including at a company that sells frozen crab cakes. 

For a time, Weis got a gig training AI on his expertise, including in engineering and fluid mechanics. That work dried up too.

I first interviewed Weis late last year, the day before his 30th birthday. Covering careers and the labor market, I endeavored to meet job seekers in all 50 states, hoping it would help me understand why many people felt so dim about their futures. Just 34% of Americans surveyed by Gallup in August said it was a good time to find a quality job.

...Weis studied chemical principles and molecular interactions, and he aimed to work in science roles at pharmaceutical companies. The response to numerous applications was mostly silence, with a few rejections.

He soon widened his search geographically, and by industry. He sent hundreds of cover letters and résumés through job portals and often didn’t get an interview. 

The article uses him as a tool to talk about relative non-quality of the current job market. I don't think the job market is good, but I speculate that if anyone applies to 2300 jobs without success, at least a portion of the problem lies with the candidate's job application selection choices and how they are presenting themselves.* That said, I do indeed wonder if Dr. Weis, in normal times, would have found himself a postdoctoral position, but post 1/20/25, those positions have probably dried up a bit as well. 

Well, best wishes to Dr. Weis, and all of us. 

*(Whenever the media does one of these "PhDs who can't find jobs" posts, first, I wish they wouldn't. Second, I often wonder what would have happened had they had talked to their PhD adviser.)