I am going into the fourth year of a PhD program and my research, which is in a STEM field, has clear applications in the tech industry.
I have my Master's degree, but have decided not to finish the PhD.
Is it important to be enrolled while applying for jobs rather than be unemployed? Will the people hiring view me differently?
Note: being enrolled brings some significant demands on my time.
Being unemployed can significantly decrease your likelihood of successfully landing a job. The preceeding link is one of many stories covering that angle. The best graph describing how bad it is comes from this Atlantic article:
The upshot of most of these is that employers have a psychological bias towards employed people. Whether this is "fair" or "appropriate" or even "smart" not is really not the question, the finding is pretty difficult to refute: you are far more likely to land a job if you are currently gainfully employed.
To bring this back to your original question, I would strongly recommend you begin your job search before you leave the program.
Is it important to be enrolled while applying for jobs rather than be unemployed?
I'll answer this question from different point of views: your potential employers and yourself.
From your potential employers’ point of view, it does not matter. What matters is your immediate availability. Most companies prefer their new hires to start to work immediately. Once they make a job offer, they would like to see you in the office like today so that they can start to train you. They don't like to hear excuses like: I have some unfinished project, I am in the middle of writing a paper, I need to go to a conference next month, etc.
So, you need to indicate on somewhere such as your resume, cover letter or during the interview that you'll be immediately available. This will increase your chances to be hired. If you cannot be immediately available for some reason, you need to provide a definite time frame when you'll be able to start.
From your own point of view, you'd better keep enrolled. Job hunting can be a long shot. It can be only a few weeks if you are lucky. It can be a year or even longer if you are not lucky. Waiting for job interview and job offer can drive you crazy. You'll have things to do while you are waiting. You also can change your mind on finishing PhD if you still have some uncertainty about going to industry.
If you are absolutely sure you want to go to industry, then you should take bfoste01's idea, do internship. You can get into industry faster this way.
Good luck on job hunting. Academia will miss you!
I would apply for jobs now, while you are enrolled in the PhD program. Talk to your professors and develop a network. Ask for contact information of any of the individuals they know in industry. Send an cover letter with your CV and application, and be sure to mention your research's specific application to the job in the cover letter. Through this, companies sense that you are very meticulous and detail-oriented, and see how your skill in research could carry over to its products.
I think Scaahu has given a very nice overview of the situation, but to easy your mind: job search takes time, but you have to eat every day. Thus, no company can expect you to be unemployed to be eligible for hiring.
The only reason I can think of why not having a job would make you more desirable is your full availability; but if you have decided to leave, you can just do it (please, talk with your advisor well in advance, so they are ready, though).
And lastly, if you have a job, you have a leverage point. For a starter, you can ask for a salary that is, at least, as much as you are getting now. Another disadvantage of quitting is that you will have to live on your savings or benefits, and they are limited; thus you will have pressure to accept whatever job you can find in that time. If you keep your present job, you can wait longer until you find something you really want to work with.
@Zephyrus: This answer will be too long to comment. A lot will depend on your history.
Some context for you to make sure I'm not just blowing wind: My fiancés company: Biotech, fast growing, successful rounds of funding have brought a product to market, turned down offers to sell. My fiancé: Decade of experience in STEM industry.
Here's what I've seen matter in all my conversations with he Senior Scientist there, as well as my fiancé:
This might all be different for a massive industry conglomerate.
I hope that helps.
It probably will depend on where you interview in terms of how your status will be received, and what that would mean for a job offer. My fiancé works in a STEM startup that has been taking off, and I've had the luxury of chatting with many of the senior scientists about hiring whenever they are looking for people (it's a fun work culture where everyone and their SOs go out for drinks after work and chat). Anyways, in two instances a Ph.D. student working at the company on their internship was so talented that they tried to make each a job offer before they left. In one instance the conversation turned to what it would take to get that individual to leave their program and come work. In the other instance, and before the internship started, the University made the student and company sign a legal document that essentially said, "whatever said student works on in the lab during internship period becomes is owned by the University" (this was one of the top 5 schools in the US, you can imagine what one). Therefore, the company backed off because of patents.
In other instances students have applied for open positions at the company and if their resume garnered a look they then got an interview. However, if they weren't rock stars the company was not willing to lure them away from being a grad student by giving them a higher salary. Therefore, there was the perception by the company that they needed someone who could work now, and a student didn't seem to cut it.
Do you have an internship period at all? That's when I plan to explore offers to see what my skills are worth.
Well, to address the part where you want a comparison on enrolled vs. unemployed. It is always better to not to have to answer the questions about being unemployed. You don't want to look like you were doing nothing for quite some time. Interviewers usually aren't impressed enough by candidates that have a few years that weren't mentioned on the resume anywhere, be prepared to reason that effectively. And you don't know how soon you are going to find a job. If you continue your PhD and look for a job in the meantime, you have an excuse "I got a good job and hence left the PhD", which brings us to yet another point to ponder upon...
Let's say you quit your PhD(which you could actually officially finish in a year or two), apply for some jobs, interview and finally land into one. You work there for some time, but your progress starts plateauing. Now you realize that for a higher position they require a PhD(which you quit, remember?). At that stage, you might wish that you hadn't quit but you did, and now it might be the bane of your professional progress.
Think of these things in the long run... no one knows what the future holds...
Here's what you do. You request a "leave of absence" from the University for personal reasons. That way you can say you're still a student, but not obligated to take classes during that period.
I was in a similar situation. In my case, I wanted to have some/full break from academia. My ph.d is almost done, only public defence is pending. I had to decide whether to stay in the academia or move to the industry?
Here is my approach; I personally like building stuff and therefore biased towards the industry. I have enjoyed the time in academia but might not be able to keep myself motivated for long. Thus, I thought, either I move now or otherwise it will be too late. I am already 31 and its now or never kind of situation for me. So, I decided to move out as I found a job. The search still in progress for like 4 months now, had few interviews and perhaps land on a job in a month.
First rule, be honest to your university and supervisor. I informed my supervisor right away that I am looking for opportunities outside the university and will leave as I get one. He was very supportive and also offered to help me in making CV etc. It is quite normal to take this path, academia to industry, for a ph.d student.
You should ask yourself, "Do I like industry?" if Yes then go for it, in a reasonable fashion. Stay at the university, find a job and then move out :)
