u/GrapefruitSad292

I recently obtained my PhD and I am on a job hunt for a postdoc in Paris. I work on phage defense and genetics.

I contacted numerous teams and most of the answers they have regards the fact they do not have money. Nobody has money. The only way I could get a job is either to find a grant to apply to (so for a job next year) or do something I am not qualified for (but nobody would hire me as I won't be qualified). What do I do with that?

I was told doing a PhD would help me get a postdoc but now I feel like my friends that did not do a PhD have an easier way and find jobs so much faster

For context, I have 4 manuscripts in proof reading by my PI and soon to be on preprint. I'm not just cold-emailing either — I've been working my contacts, former supervisors and colleagues have passed my CV around and made intros, and that's produced meetings and good advice but still no funded position.

Anyone have a suggestion on how to atleast get an interview or find some with money to hire me?

I passed my viva two weeks ago, with minor corrections, which I was expecting. But something has been worrying me.

I was stressed in the run-up to the viva, but the day before, I switched into an "alea jacta est" mindset: whatever happened, the work was done. I wasn't stressed during the viva, and afterwards I felt nothing. I felt no excitement when they called me "Doctor" for the first time, and almost none during the celebration afterwards. I pretended to be happy so people wouldn't think it had gone as badly as I thought it had (I forgot some basic things during the viva). The celebrations over the following days were better, as if a weight had lifted.

I expected to feel a real sense of accomplishment after completing a four-year PhD abroad while in a long-distance relationship, but so far there's nothing. I feel nothing.

Towards the end of my PhD (around two months before the viva), my housing contract ended, so I had to move back home and submit my thesis from there (a month before my viva). I actually felt more relief when I submitted the thesis than after the viva.

Is it normal to feel nothing? Has the PhD destroyed whatever joy I had?