From my previous post, there were some questions in the comments. Will deal with them in two seperate posts.

I am less than a month away from submitting my PhD, and am frustrated with bench work. I am very interested in begining a career in industry, and specifically looking at applicaiton scientist roles.

As you yourself have said, you always hire through recruiters, however, all the ones I’ve spoken to keep telling me that I’ll have real trouble getting a position straight out of my PhD. One of them has refused to put me forward to any of the companies she has as clients. Another one has done so, as my experience matches exactly what the client needs, but told me in effect not to hold my breath. Apparently I have to go through sales first. I don’t beleive that is so, but perhaps I am misguided.

I should point out that I am in the UK, so the market here is probably different from the US, but what are your thoughts about this?

I couldn’t disagree with what you are being told any more strongly than I do. “go through sales first”…. ummm.. NO - I wouldn’t hire you in to an app scientist role if you had been through sales first. At that point you have been taken too far away from the bench.

“not right”is very odd. In looking at our app scientists, they are all straight from Ph.D. At other companies I know of, that is mostly true as well. Several have done post docs, but far from a majority. Several don’t have a Ph.D. - so that is pretty much the opposite of what you are being told.

I am looking world wide when I say this. I have full visibility in to Europe, China, and India - so this is certainly not a US only issue. I would say ex-US that it is critical that you have a Ph.D. as I don’t currently see any non-Ph.D’s. In the US it seems to be a lot less of an issue.

Straight out of the Ph.D. it WILL TAKE A LONG TIME to get a job. You don’t know anyone, you have nothing in your favor with regards to work experience etc…. It took me 4 months, and I got VERY lucky. Others have taken 5/6/7 months.

If you are buying from ebay, ask specific questions. For example, do clubs have serial numbers/warranty and are they guaranteed authentic? Get this in email and keep it. My credit card co dropped the charges because I could prove the items sent to me were fake and that the seller was a crook based off all the email. Also make sure the seller is a power seller and that they have the $1000 buyer protection. It doesn’t do any good that a seller has a return policy if they are selling fakes because they likely won’t honor it. Most legit sellers are quick to reply to email and will give phone numbers etc. if you have questions. Counterfeiter’s dodge you on often block out previously sold item information as “private” on their feedback score report. Stay away from 1 or 2 day autions as these are usually crooks trying to dump their junk quick. Bottom line, don’t bid until you are confident in the seller.

Last suggestion for what it’s worth…if a deal seems to good to be true, go with your instinct because it probably is. I see iron sets like the one I got dupped on starting out at $100 a set. With CG4s listing at $600+ this is not logical, but sooo tempting! However, don’t think a high price is a guarantee that the clubs you are bidding on are real either. My friend spent $600 on TM CGBs and they were fakes as well. Good luck.

I previously bought a CG10 60* wedge and 56* sand wedge and loved the way they hit so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with a set of CG4 irons. These irons are just as forgiving and still offer plenty control as any of Cleveland’s world-class wedges. It did take me a little bit to learn to play this set as I do hit these clubs a bit higher and gained a little distance compared to my last set. Cleveland has really expanded their expertise from wedges to any club today. You cannot go wrong with Cleveland.
After several more rounds with these irons I am beginning to get the hang of them. On the down side the D wedge has a tendency, for me at least, to balloon up sometimes. Also I should note by saying that I don’t use the 2-4 irons. Hybrids are the way for me with low irons. Other than that these clubs are great.

The seler was very quick to respond to my questions during the bidding and was very quick to ship the product. After the transaction he did not respond to my questions…a perfect case of buyer beware. The left handed putter was shipped with a right handed putter cover and was not shipped with the divot repair tool.

I decided to buy this putter as I have wanted it for over a year but wasn’t willing to pay full price. I kept checking E-bay for the “right” deal and finally found it.

This putter had been kept for a couple of years by the seller in brand new condition. I am very happy with the prestine condition and the price that I paid for it. 

item paid for 24 mar.07 but yet to be received. during phone call seller stated that item was shipped 9 apr 07. tried to contact e bay but time ran out before i could send resolution message. SELLER NOT VERY RESPONSIVE
e bay can you help?

Nothing to love or like when you pay someone for something and never receive it. I was totally not impressed. I did everything that was asked on payment. Again I never received the product. I e-mail the seller but received no reply. I checked other reviews and seen where this seller has a history of fraud. I would like my money back or the product but have no received either. With service like this I will probably no longer use e-bay or paypal again. I do not appreciate being ripped off.