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Why did Albert Einstein struggle to find an academic job after graduating in 1900?

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Portrait of Albert Einstein in a suit and tie, looking slightly to the side with a neutral expression. — Albert Einstein Albert Einstein developed the special and general theory of relativity, which recast gravity as a bending in space-time.

After graduating in 1900, Albert Einstein struggled to secure an academic position primarily due to his strained relationship with his professors at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School. Because he often studied advanced subjects independently and cut classes, he earned the animosity of some faculty members, most notably Heinrich Weber.1

When Einstein requested a letter of recommendation from Weber, the professor reportedly played a "dishonest game" that hindered his job prospects. Consequently, Einstein was rejected from every academic position to which he applied. This period marked a significant crisis in his life, leaving him unemployed and forced to take on temporary tutoring jobs, from which he was also eventually fired. His professional situation did not stabilize until 1902, when he secured a position as a clerk at the Swiss patent office in Bern through a recommendation from the father of his friend Marcel Grossmann.1