[Sarinzas]

hi all
I have PhD in organic chemistry and worked on ionic liquids and also synthesis of organic compounds (published 7 papers from my PhD thesis) and also have taken a course on drug design. from 8 years ago I have taught in universities. now I want to know is it possible to find a full found research opportunity in European, American or Canadian universities? and also what can I do to improve my chance for achieving this opportunity? does writing books in my language (Persian) help?
thanks for all your helpful comments in advance

[jeffmoonchop]

Unless you are dead set on becoming a professor one day, I would recommend an industry position, for which you will be valued more, salary wise and in terms of career progression, and likely a better work to life balance. I worked in the UK and found it much easier to find a job than in Canada where I now work. The job market in Canada is smaller than the US. Salary wise you will be paid the most in the US, then Canada, then UK. Can't speak much to the rest of Europe, although I am now interviewing for a job in Switzerland where the proposed salary is much higher, around 140k swiss francs (150k USD), which is similar to the salary you would look at in the US, but likely higher than most of the rest of Europe. This would be for a managerial role, likely for 5 years industry experience. I started on 85k CAD post PhD and now on 104k CAD after three years. The average postdoc in Canada earns about 45k CAD and will likely make close to that amount for much longer than three years before you will be lucky to find a lectureship.

[Corribus]

Government/regulatory is also an option if you have background in chemistry, particularly pharmaceuticals. Work-life balance is good. Salary is good.

Don't be a professor if you want work-life balance - but if that's the route you want to go, post-doc (at least one) is basically necessary.

[kriggy]

Government/regulatory is also an option if you have background in chemistry, particularly pharmaceuticals. Work-life balance is good. Salary is good.

Don't be a professor if you want work-life balance - but if that's the route you want to go, post-doc (at least one) is basically necessary.

My wife works in government regulatory agency and their workload is insane. Might vary between countries and at least they are not forced to work on weekends or 10-12 hrs shifts in a lab.

@Sarinzas: tough question. You need to do a postdoc or two and then keep looking at websites for open positions. Writing in Persian does not help in my opinion, if you can do it in English then thats going to help surely.

@jeffmoonchop: Swiss has likely the highest chemistry salary in whole Europe, possibly worldwide but the costs of living are very high there.