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I come from a violent country that gives me no hope for the future. I cannot go back. My supervisor has more than 30 students, did not read my chapters, and insisted that I give in the first draft as final. The second supervisor, the expert on the subject, resents that the first supervisor will get all the credit. So neither helped. Refused to read drafts. The defense was full of questions that a reading of the first draft would have easily fixed. There was no support from the institution and I ended up with an average grade of cum laude after more than a decade of effort. All on my dime. Odd jobs. The reason I delayed was that my home country is hell and my family depends on me. I am so desperate that I d rather do a second Ph.D. than go home. I don t know if they will give me recommendations for a postdoc. Any solutions to get out of this? I mean can I get a postdoc with lukewarm recommendations? I have a sterling academic record, publications though a bit dated, and I truly think this grade is unfair.

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    "The problem is finding a non-academic job, I believe, means that I need to have a high salary" - what do you mean? You need a high salary? Is that essential? Why not prove yourself and develop your salary? US may not care about the 'cum laude', but they will care about publications, so the latter is more of an issue there.
    – Captain Emacs
    Jan 28, 2021 at 12:42
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    Can you shorten this post to be only about the actual question you have? It seems like the last line is what you actually care about, but I'm not sure.
    – user2705196
    Jan 28, 2021 at 12:59
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    @Peter. I'd be much more worried about letters for positions in the US. And even more about whether skill match any advertised position.
    – Buffy
    Jan 28, 2021 at 13:33
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    @user78397: Is the subject one of "mathematics, computer science, natural sciences or technology"? If so I don't see a problem, if you get a job in e.g. Munich as a PhD graduate in one of those areas it's absolutely unthinkable that you will be paid less than 50.000 Euros a year. For someone with a PhD the limit might actually be even lower but I'm not quite sure.
    – Peter
    Jan 28, 2021 at 15:03
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    @Wolfgang Of course no-one would ask for it - but if you apply in Germany and you got a "rite", I'd recommend to not mention the grade in the application, say, in math. For me, this would be a red flag.
    – user151413
    Jan 28, 2021 at 20:24

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