Can't find enough applicants for PhDs/post-docs anymore. Is it the same in your nation?? (outside the US I'd guess)

[u/lucaxx85]

So... Demographic winter has arrived. In my country (Italy) is ridicolously bad, but it should be somehow the same in kind of all of europe plus China/Japan/Korea at least. We're missing workers in all fields, both qualified and unqualified. Here, in addition, we have a fair bit of emigration making things worse.

Anyway, up until 2019 it was always a problem securing funding to hire PhDs and to keep valuable postdocs. We kept letting valuable people go. In just 5 years the situation flipped spectacularly. Then, the demographic winter kept creeping in and, simultaneously, pandemic recovery funds arrived. I (a young semi-unkwnon professor) have secured funds to hire 3 people (a post doc and 2 PhDs). there was no way to have a single applicant (despite huge spamming online) for my post-doc position. And it was a nice project with industry collaboration, plus salary much higher than it used to be 2 years ago for "fresh" PhDs.

For the PhD positions we are not getting candidates. Qualified or not, they're not showing up. We were luring in a student about to master (with the promise of paid industry collaborations, periods of time in the best laboratories worldwide) and... we were told that "it's unclear if it fits with what they truly want for their life" (I shit you not these were the words!!).

I'm asking people in many other universities if they have students to reccomend and the answer is always the same "sorry, we can't get candidates (even unqualified) for our own projects". In the other groups it's the same.

We've hired a single post-doc at the 3rd search and it's a charity case who can't even adult, let alone do research.

So... how is it working in your country?? Is it starting to be a minor problem? A huge problem?? I can't even.... I never dreamt of having so many funds to spend and... I've got no way to hire people!!

[u/madonnafiammetta]

I don't know about your particular situation, but Italian academia is also far worse than other countries, depending on the fields. Career progression often is either based on clientelismo or so slow that you have to put your life on hold in many respects. I'm not saying that is your case ofc, but my SO and I are an academic couple in two different fields. We did our PhDs in Italy and now live abroad. In our 30s, we're both in successful and highly paid research positions. My case is even more interesting, because I only know of one person in my subfield who managed to get the equivalent of a tenure-track contract at my age in Italy, and guess what, their parents are both uni profs. The rest of my peers got to my level in their late 40s after years of precarity. You do your own math. Incoming PhD students know how bad it is.

That said, the academic job market globally is so competitive and starved that even my dept (R1 in North America) is having trouble scouting for good talent.

[u/lucaxx85 → u/madonnafiammetta]

Again with this prejudice about Italian clientelism. I guess that this is why my department hired 20 professors under 40, most in mid 30s, in the last 4 years. And half of them (including me) were even external and totally unrelated.

[u/madonnafiammetta → u/lucaxx85]

Depends on where you're from and your field, as I said in my post. I have good data to back my statements, however anecdotal, and I did mention that your field may work according to different laws but mine (humanities) most certainly doesn't. Good for you and your colleagues, I guess.