Advice needed: How to get job with second-tier Ph.D.?

In My Humble Opinion
1

A friend of mine has a Ph.D. in economics from a second-tier university and she’s trying to find a job.

Most of her efforts to date have been fruitless, and it seems that since she is competing with Ph.D.'s from top-tier schools, she is unlikely to get chosen over those candidates.

Unfortunately, this has been going on for some time now, and she is starting to feel that she is unemployable.

I refuse to believe that. My reasoning is: all those Ph.D.'s from non-top-tier universities do end up getting jobs somewhere, so the question is how do they do it, how do they manage to get chosen over top-tier candidates?

Maybe people in this situation have to get a job via recommendation from someone within the company, since simply sending in a resume (via email or online) only works for stellar resumes.

What I would like to recommend to her are specific steps she can take to maximize her chance of getting a job.

Some ideas:

  • Maybe she should target non-top-tier companies, as these are more likely to hire non-top-tier cadidates, but how does one go about finding these companies?

  • Maybe she should try to get into a postdoc position at a top-tier school, and then, with that on her resume, she would have a much better chance of a job.
    But then, of course, it might be tough to get into a postdoc position at a top-tier school.

  • Maybe she should try to get a related degree (in something like finance), because there are more jobs out there for finance than there are for economists.

  • Maybe there are headhunters that can help her find a job, but from what I understand, headhunters mainly work with executive positions.

Do any of the above make any sense?

If you have any other ideas as to what she can do, it would be greatly appreciated.

2

What kind(s) of jobs is she looking for?

Is she looking for a job at a teaching college? Is she searching for a postdoc? Does she want a job in industry or in a non-profit?

3

There are headhunters for non-executive positions, although you may have to search a bit more for them.

4

Where has her school placed people before? That’s the first thing I’d look into, and see if she can work the alumni network.

Also, there is teaching as an adjunct, teaching at the community college level, and teaching at third-tier schools.

Smaller local or regional consulting firms might also be an option.

5

The PhD job market is not especially efficient. People to a degree don’t really consider their job prospects when starting a PhD and in many fields, there is a massive glut. What this means is that she basically has to keep setting her sights lower. The irony is if she sets her sights too low, she’ll be competing with Masters students from top tier universities which are probably cheaper to hire and the PhD might have actually harmed her employability prospects considerably.

6

My sister had a first tier PhD, but then went to professorship at a second tier university to be near her then-husband’s work. Most of her co-workers have second tier backgrounds. That seems to be how academe sorts things out.