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Two years.Unfortunately the job market in my field is extremely saturated, which makes employers very picky about who they hire - they’ll prefer to wait for the perfect “purple unicorn” candidate even if I might be available, willing, and otherwise qualified for the job.Here’s a post I made somewhere else when I was in the depth of my job search, back in 2016:It has been about 20 months since I got my PhD in chemistry, and I’m still on the search applying for my first job. It’s been a really emotionally draining, tough ride. Before I graduated, I had heard horror stories from others about the chemistry job market and how brutal it is…but there’s nothing like experiencing it firsthand yourself. There are several major hurdles, which I’ll try and document here.Applying online. The major portal for job applications is now online. This is convenient for both job seekers and employers; job seekers can electronically send applications for positions (which normally include a cover letter, resume and/or supplemental information such as a research summary) from the comfort of their home or office. With the internet, employers and recruiters also have a larger talent pool. The process is still time-consuming, however; I would estimate that it takes me on average about 45 minutes to fill out an online application; this includes filling out the information in the online forms (I always end up having to manually do this since the resume parsing never works), making edits to my resume to tailor it for the position, and writing a cover letter. I put in all this work, only to be greeted with:The cone of silence. This is the most frustrating aspect of the job search. You’ll submit your application online, and usually within 1 minute receive an e-mail saying “Thank you for your application, it has been successfully received, and will be reviewed by our team”. This will be followed by….. silence. You won’t hear anything for weeks, or even months on end. I have a list of all the jobs I have applied to, and at least 85% of them have a note saying “Status: No reply”. I would follow up… if I knew who to follow up with! The internet is only so helpful in this regard, and its not always possible to find out who the particular recruiter or hiring manager is for a particular position.Case in point: I recently applied to 3 positions in Allergan in August, and still have not heard anything back. The recruiter for the position (as listed on LinkedIn) was unresponsive to my e-mails, and it was only by following up with a friend of a friend in the company that I was informed that yes, they had my application and that it was still under consideration. The funny thing is, these positions are still being listed on job boards and are still accepting applications!The insane saturation of this particular job market. Don’t listen to the politicians – we don’t have a shortage of scientists in this country. We have a massive, massive, glut, and anyone who does any kind of scientific hiring will be able to corroborate this. It’s especially bad at the PhD level – back to my example at Allergan, I was discreetly informed not to get my hopes up since they received 500+ applications for 1 opening in medicinal chemistry. Plus, I did happen to have a nice chat with a senior executive at [a big pharma company] and he somewhat condescendingly told me to stop wasting my time, because pharma hiring is based on pedigree; if you don’t have a degree from Harvard/Stanford/MIT/Caltech, etc. your application will be immediately discarded. The irony is that the executive I talked to did not have a degree from those schools - he proudly told me he got his PhD at [not one of those schools]!That being said, it seems to me that there’s really only one surefire way to get a job out of school, and that is through campus recruiting. Unfortunately no companies in my area of study (chemistry) came to hire at my university, so that ruled out that approach. The other way is to join a position through a friend’s referral, which works for smaller companies and startups. Applying to big companies is seemingly slower, since the application has to go through several stages – a recruiter (who may or may not know the subject and understand your resume), followed by an interview with the hiring manager (who will be knowledgeable in the domain), and further interviews. I have been told that ‘80% of jobs never get advertised’ and other statistics like that, but those are only relevant for experienced job seekers looking to move laterally; it’s not relevant for fresh graduates looking for their first job. For your first job, you need to play by the company’s rules for applications. Once you get experience and make contacts, then you can get your friends to backdoor you into positions at other companies.At least, that’s my observation. I don’t know what other avenues there are for gaining employment (I should specify that I mean relevant employment that would utilize my education and background; I could always go and be a cashier at a grocery store, but that would be a massive waste of my education and also the taxpayer money that went into funding that education).I’m including this gem as an example to illustrate my point:I applied to this position at BBraun in Irvine in March – on paper, it is a typical Analytical chemist position, and one that I am reasonably well-suited for. The only weird thing is that they explicitly want “Pharmaceutical industry or a relevant post-doc experience of 3-6 years for PhD”, which doesn’t make much sense (but can be chalked up to “credential inflation” in this over-saturated job market). In any case, I was swiftly rejected by the company, but to my surprise, the position is still up, over 6-7 months later! Stuff like this just really infuriates me. Companies like these waste so much time searching for the perfect “purple unicorn” candidate, and then will raise a hue and cry about a “STEM shortage” when they’ve rejected everyone for the most random reasons.EDIT (10/26/2016): This morning, I was greeted with this e-mail from Merck: “Thank you for your interest in Merck. We appreciate you taking the time to pursue career opportunities with us. We have chosen at this time to suspend the search for this position and may reopen the search at a later date”. I applied to this position 2 months ago (August 25, 2016, to be exact), never heard anything back, and then received this notification. Seriously, something is screwy in hiring – has this happened to other people, or is it just me? Also, I honestly think there should be less of a stigma against unemployment – just look at how much time elapses in the job search! The companies are the ones that are slow in getting back to job seekers; in other words, the rate-determining step in the job search is waiting to hear back from companies, which means that individuals should not be held completely responsible for long periods of unemployment if they are applying aggressively.2ND EDIT (11/16/2016): Yesterday, I got this email from Eli Lilly: “Thank you for your recent inquiry for the Research Scientist-Small Molecule Design and Development-Developability position, requisition #28370BR.The position in which you originally expressed interest has unfortunately been cancelled and was not filled. Please feel free to review current openings and submit your interest accordingly”. At least this position didn’t leave me hanging for that long – I applied to it on 10/13/2016. I’m just completely nonplussed here…

Caution : This is a detailed answer. It includes everything, from the reasons behind Shri Kedarnath floods to how the Law of Karma works. So, please have patience while reading the answer.Allow to go into the details of why Shri Kedarnath was flooded.Global Warming : That’s the main reason and because of it, the Himalayan ice-sheets melted. This is the water that rushed into Shri Kedarnath valley. This climate change is due to human activities which includes emission of gases like Carbon dioxide, Hydrogen Sulfide etc.Non Eco-Friendly Development : While promoting the development works in area, the government never cared about the natural ecosystem present there. Revenue is not everything. You need to maintain the balance. There is a difference between a tourist spot and a religious shrine. Bhagwan Mahadev Himself resides there and people want to tour Shri Kedarnath as a tourist spot!Building Dams and Stopping the Natural Flow of the River : Unabated construction of dams was one of the main reasons that amplified the destruction caused in the 2013 flood. But the government is still following the same policies which invited the disaster.Not Having a Proper Disaster Rescue Team : During the flood, there wasn’t any team of NDRF(or related organisations). Even if they were present, their number was less. If there would have been a proper setup, it could have saved thousands of devotees. We are grateful to our Indian Defense Force which saved hundreds of lives putting their own lives in danger.To all the soldiers who are reading this answer, we Indians are indebted to your efforts, sir and madam.Removing Devi Mandir by the government : Indian spirituality is not a blind faith 🙂 There was a temple of Ma Dhari Devi in that area. The government displaced that temple for construction works. There were huge protests by the Devi-bhakts. Let me tell you one thing. The ancient Indian temples are not just something made of bricks and clay. They are Spiritual Centers where the spiritual energy is reserved for the welfare of the mankind and devotees. The government delocalised the temple and the very next day, the valley was flooded!There were a lot of vehicles in the area polluting the divine space. Basically the humans and the government both were exploiting the Nature as much as they can. Nature always balances the situation and that resulted in the massive disaster.Now I am coming to the main answer. You have put the blame on Lord Shiva that He caused the floods and didn’t even save the devotees! Well done humans!Okay but let me answer this question, too.First of all, we need to understand some concepts of Hinduism. There is a universal Law of Karma that governs us all.Now I am not saying 100% devotees are like this but let me tell you what kind of people go in a temple. Always remember, every person going in a temple is not a devotee.I personally know many people who have multiple girl friends. They talk dirty things with them. They eat meat. They abuse each other. There souls and minds are devoid of any purity and are filled entirely with lust, jealousy and hate. But they regularly go to the temple of Shri Hanuman because temples are merely tourist spots for them. 60% of them visit Shri Kedarnath as either as a tourist or to ask something from Shiva. Now tell me, where is bhakti!Every person has his/her past life karma. Those who ask to explain the Law of Karma, let me tell you, it is not a child's play to explain it. It took 12 years of meditation for Shri Gautam Buddha to understand the Law of Karma. Ancient sages who realised the Divine, said “ब्रह्मा सत्यं जगत मिथ्या” means God is true and the world is an illusion. They got this knowledge after years of meditation. Now the atheists who always want to remain in their comfort zones, they question this!Law of karma is applicable to all. Even God is not allowed to refuse it. The greatest devotees of the God and the incarnations of God like Shri Ram and Shri Krishna suffered because of the Law of Karma. I will give examples from both their lives but this is the beauty of this great Sanatana Dharma! There is a single law and it is applicable to God and men alike.When Shri Ram incarnated, he was exiled to the jungle. There he killed Vali without a direct combat. Although, the arrow hit Vali’s chest in front but this was immoral according to the Law of Karma. Vali had the boon that whoever will fight him, half of the power of his enemy will go to Vali. Hiding and killing him from back was the only way to kill him.Karma showed its effect and Shri Vishnu paid it back when he incarnated as Shri Krishna.Vali was born as a bheel (tribal shooter) and by mistake he shot an arrow at Shri Krishna and He left his human body.So what Shri Vishnu did in his incarnation as Shri Rama, He paid for it in His next incarnation as Shri Krishna.Now let me tell you the story of a great devotee who lived his life in a miserable condition.He was Shri Ramkrishna Paramhansa, a great devotee of Goddess Kali and the guru of Swami Vivekananda ji.If you read his biography, you will be in tears. He was a great devotee. He loved Goddess Kali like his mother. He was such a great devotee that the Goddess Herself appeared in front of him. He used to eat his food with her and always lived in a trance (bhaav-samadhi). He was extremely advanced spiritually yet he died of cancer even after being a good devotee(he took karma of an alcoholic person out of comapassion for him). Karma never spares anyone but due to the grace of the Goddess Kali, he got salvation.Shri Swami Vivekananda died of tuberculosis.shri Raman Maharishi died of a cancer. mata Mira Bai was given poison. You can see the lives of the devotees were not easy.they all were great beings but they took karmas of others out of compassion and their body suffered It still isn’t. There no freedom from the Law of Karma.Lord shiva is the god who drank poison which was the result of negative karms of everyone,to save his children he drank itShiva only saves you, he never punish you, your own karms punish youWhat about the devotees who lost their lives in the Kedarnath tragedy?Before explaining it, let me tell you something about Kashi (Banaras ) and Ujjain. These two auspicious places are guarded by Bhagwan Kaal Bhairav, an “ansh” of Shiva. Whosoever dies in such sacred places like Kedarnath, Kashi, Ujjain, she/he directly gets salvation. Go there and you will meet people who will tell you their experiences.Before death, Bhagwan Kaal Bhairav appears and put the person in extreme pain and the suffering clears all the previous karmas of the person. He achieves liberation.So all those who died there, they surely achieved freedom from this cycle of birth and death.Now since you are blaming Shiva for all these tragedies, let me tell you something about Shiva.He is present in every single particle in universe. He is the omnipresent Lord.Lord Shiva did not made His temple at that place.We devotees made His temple. It was our fault to build His temple in that disaster- prone area. So if you want to blame, then blame us.Shiva is like the gravity. He is present everywhere but if you jump from a building you will die. It is not because of gravity. It is because of your own stupidity. In the same way, blame those Pandavas of Mahabharat and the sages who worshiped Shiva at that place. Blame the devotees like us who visit the place. That area is an earthquake-prone area still we made a temple there that costed human lives.Shiva is the god who punished Yamaraja Himself to save his devotee Markanday from death. The same Markandey Rishi created the Mahamrityunjay mantra. You can not blame Lord Shiva for it.Recently the Australian government decided to kill 10000 camels stating that they are responsible for carbon emission. I mean we humans are so insane that we blame everyone from animals to God for these incidents but where is our responsibility?In that incident, Shri Kedarnath temple was saved by a miraculous stone named Bhima Shila. Just before the flood was about to hit the temple, this rock came in between the water and the temple thus diverting the direction of the flood. It saved the temple otherwise all the other buildings collapsed and this 4000 years old temple is still standing high.You can see the breadth of the rock in this picture. It is exactly equal to the breadth of the wall of the temple.In Hinduism, the body is not permanent. The soul is. So death is not ultimate. It is just a passage to new life. Creation and destruction is constant and simultaneous process. Having said that, I would like to add that saving such places is very important as these places will give salvation to millions of people.Let me tell you the power of Shiva devotees.The Mughal ruler Aurangzeb tried everything to eliminate the very name of Kashi but till date it is known as “Mahadev ki Kashi”. Tell me one civilization apart from Sanatan Dharma that survived the Islamic invasion.“ Shiv ki kashi” todayThe civilization of Mesopotamia, Greece, Egypt and Chinese perished from the face of this earth but the Sanatana Dharma is still standing high and it is just because of our true nature of spirituality.Do not blame Shiva for these things just because we have made His temple on that place. Creation and destruction are the essence of this universe and the materialistic people will never understand this.Thank you. Har Har Mahadev.Thanks Snigdha Ganguly ji for edit

In neurotypicals it is right action in the face of extreme consequences.Two examples come to mind.This is Chiune Sugihara. He was a Japanese government official who served as vice consul for the Japanese Empire in Lithuania. He helped over six thousand Jewish people travel through Japanese territories by issuing them visas.In 1940, it became apparent to many of the Jewish population that they needed to flee the areas that they lived as the anti-semitism rose. However, without a travel visa it was exceptionally dangerous to do so, and few countries would willingly issue them.At the time, Jews from Lithuania made up over one third of the population, and half the residents of all the towns. They arrived by the hundreds to the Japanese embassy seeking visas to escape, but the Japanese government had such stringent requirements that had to be met in order to qualify for one of these visas, nearly no one was able to get one. Also, the Japanese government required that all visas issued would have a third destination, and not a final destination of Japan.Between the middle of July and the end of August in 1940, the applicants were in significant danger if they stayed. This was the genesis of Sugihara’s heroism. He shirked the duties that he was bound to and began issuing visas. His lower rank in the government made this act particularly surprising as disobedience is not something often found in Japanese officials.He then spent eighteen to twenty hours a day hand writing visas, creating a months worth of visas in a single day. Many of these were issued to heads of households. That granted them the ability to take their entire family with them on that single visa. Even as the consulate closed and he left his post he continued to write visas. He continued to do so in transit from his hotel to the train station where it is reported that he was literally throwing them out the window of the train.In a final act he threw blank sheets of paper with the official consulate stamp and his signature out the window so that people could fill them in and use them to save themselves and their families. Finally, when there was nothing more to be done, Sugihara bowed deeply, saying;"Please forgive me. I cannot write anymore. I wish you the best."Our next example is a Nazi. Ooo, did you feel that? The wave of evil with just hearing the word? All the same, let me introduce you to John Rabe, or “the good man of Nanking”.This man was stationed in Nanking China for nearly thirty years at Siemens AG China Corporation. He was also a dedicated member of the Nazi party and the political party’s local head. During the Sino-Japanese war, six weeks of hell on Earth happened in Nanking. 50,000 to 60,000 Chinese people were massacred in horrific and astonishing ways.With the approach of the Japanese army, those that could flee, did. Those who couldn’t, including those too old, poor, ill, and unable, stayed behind. With the army coming fast, John Rabe and several others attempted to negotiate with the Japanese consulate in Nanking hoping to establish a safety zone. Rabe even wrote to Hitler believing that he would protect the Chinese people by laying pressure on the Japanese to comply. He was obviously wrong.As the days counted down, and in ignoring the Japanese government’s refusal to enact any safety zone, these individuals, German, English, American, and Danish, formed the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone. This was an area that the population could flee to in order to escape the coming bloodshed. This safety zone was two square miles, into which scores of people fled to. Rabe was the head of this committee.Rabe himself raised his large flag bearing the Nazi symbol over his garden to deter Japanese bombers from striking his home. The refugees that were in his garden made their beds beneath this flag for protection.He housed 650 people in his home alone. He used the Nazi arm band and his membership in the Nazi party to keep the Japanese soldiers in check. He kept them from coming over his garden wall by waving it in their faces, he was able to get his stolen car back that was a necessity for transporting food and supplies. It was his use of a symbol synonymous with evil to save hundreds of thousand of lives, and in doing so could have been executed at any moment.He had no reason to believe that the Japanese soldiers would even care about his country of origin, or the fact that he was a Nazi. To continue massacring people, they could have just as easily shot him in the head and continued their actions.Rabe was forced to leave China before the massacre was over. One of the members of the safety committee had secretly filmed the atrocities in order to prove them to outside forces and compel action. Rabe, at great possible peril to himself, smuggled these films in his coat lining all the way back to Germany. He showed these films upon his return, wrote his letter to Hitler, and was arrested by the Gestapo.After his release, he and his wife lived out the fall of Berlin and the following occupation by Allied troops. He was rearrested by the Soviets, and forced to undergo a “denazification” process in order to be able to rejoin society and gain permission to work. He was unable to obtain decent means of employment after that due to his failing health, and the survivors of the massacre, hearing of his misfortune raised what would be $20,000 and promptly sent to him in gratitude. They also sent packages of food every month with letters of thanks.After all of this suffering, John Rabe died in 1950 of a stroke. His tombstone was moved from Berlin to Nanking, where it stands now. Every moment of the massacre Rabe knew what could befall him, and what would befall those that he protected if he was killed. He acted. In the face of horrors that cannot be imagined but should be so the breadth of the capabilities of all humans be understood, he acted.That is fearlessness...there is a question of morality here… I cannot bring myself for now to betray the trust these people have put in me, and it is touching to see how they believe in me.~John RabeEdit: One of my commenters provided additional and valuable information regarding Chiune Sugihara. With his permission I am sharing it as an addendum to my answer.Vytautas Juršėnas10h ago · 2 upvotes including Athena WalkerIt’s an interesting read, but I would like to correct some things. You wrote “In 1940, it became apparent to many of the Jewish population that they needed to flee the areas that they lived as the anti-semitism rose.” The story is a bit more complicated. In June 1940 Lithuania lost it’s independence, as the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum and took over the country. It was soon annexed and incorporated into the USSR, which meant a major change of the whole economic and social system, from market economy to centralized dictatorship with closed borders and much larger scale of repressions. Lithuanian Jewish population was already quite big, and it was also supplemented by some recent refugees from Poland after the German-Soviet takeover in 1939. This population formed a very big part of small business owners community, which meant that the danger of this property being forcibly appropriated by the communists was imminent, with owners being displaced. There were three main ways of coping: some of them tried to leave at any costs, and that’s where Sugihara was invaluable. The others actually welcomed the Soviets enthusiastically, joined their organisations themselves, etc., hoping that will help their image, as well as expected that Soviet presence will make them safer against Nazi Germany. The third ones just laid low like before. The first ones who left via Sugihara or in other ways somehow, were the luckiest ones. The second ones were quite visible (as they vocally participated in manifestations, etc.) and sadly this resulted in growing tensions with some parts of Lithuanian populace. The third group, while innocent, were the most unlucky. When the forcible exile of Lithuanian population to Siberia started (June 1941, after Sugihara was placed elsewhere), Jewish victims even made the biggest proportion (counting percentage per their population) of all Lithuanian nationalities. Soon after this the Nazis invaded and local radicals unleashed their murderous wrath, also fueled by the actions of the aforementioned second group, on the remaining Jewish population.