Lab Tech/Research Assistant Jobs

[member4123]

I recently graduated with a biochemistry B.S. from a top 25 university. I was looking to take a year or two off before moving forward, to figure out what I wanted to do. I really wanted to do some sort of research as a lab tech or research assistant. However, I've been having a lot of trouble finding any sort of paid positions. I've applied to a over 70 places - specific emails to professors along with general positions on monsters and other job sites, and even university job sites. I'm beginning to think that the only way I can get a job is to volunteer for a while to make some connections. I have had three research experiences, but wanted to branch out from those fields (mainly clinical psychology/neuroscience). Does anybody have any advice for me?
Thanks

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[MedPR]

I recently graduated with a biochemistry B.S. from a top 25 university. I was looking to take a year or two off before moving forward, to figure out what I wanted to do. I really wanted to do some sort of research as a lab tech or research assistant. However, I've been having a lot of trouble finding any sort of paid positions. I've applied to a over 70 places - specific emails to professors along with general positions on monsters and other job sites, and even university job sites. I'm beginning to think that the only way I can get a job is to volunteer for a while to make some connections. I have had three research experiences, but wanted to branch out from those fields (mainly clinical psychology/neuroscience). Does anybody have any advice for me?
Thanks

Try the hospitals nearby. That's how I got my lab job; though it's clinical and not research, there are research jobs available.

 

[Algophiliac]

Try the hospitals nearby. That's how I got my lab job; though it's clinical and not research, there are research jobs available.

What sort of clinical job did you locate? I am having the same problems as the OP, and it is beginning to worry me in a similar manner. It seems odd that jobs paying $24,000 gross per year are this difficult to obtain!!

 

[kinokoboy]

Try working at an anatomic pathology lab. If you can, reach higher than the lab aide or specimen processing clerks. Try looking into histotechnicians and pathology assistants.

 

[MedPR]

What sort of clinical job did you locate? I am having the same problems as the OP, and it is beginning to worry me in a similar manner. It seems odd that jobs paying $24,000 gross per year are this difficult to obtain!!

Interesting that you mention $24k gross.. That's almost exactly what I get working this job.

It's a job in a microbiology lab at a top 10 hospital. I basically just applied for every job I was qualified for (including housekeeping and food service) in every nearby hospital. I wanted a lab job (research or clinical), but I figured a job in housekeeping or wherever else in the hospital would give me a foot in the door and make it easier to transfer if I couldn't get a "good" job outright.

Search on the hospital job websites, make phone calls, do whatever you can.

Before I worked here I sent an email to every single MD at the med school of my undergraduate institution. I sent them all the same paragraph (my name is MedPR, I attended undergrad here and am interested in applying to medical school. I am very interested in "insert person's area of interest" research and would like to know if you have any openings in your lab. blah blah blah" I ended up getting two volunteer offers both with the potential to become paid gigs, but after about 4 months I ended up getting hired in this hospital and stopped doing research.

Take what you can, even if it's unpaid. As the OP said, a foot in the door is better than nothing.

 

[CardiologyJosh]

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[MedPR]

Yupp. I make ~$24K gross in my lab too. I think most entry level lab tech positions are in the range of $30-35K. Master's degree's change things though ;-)

Yea the actual lab technologists (medical lab technologist, clinical lab scientist, etc) in this lab make about $37k gross in their first year. Not bad for a bachelor's degree job.

I can't wait to get out of here. Unfortunately I'll probably end up working up until the day before I leave this city for wherever I matriculate (if I matriculate at all).

 

[CardiologyJosh]

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[kinokoboy]

The politics in my lab is driving me crazy....must get into med school!!! Yeah, I know there's politics everywhere but I can say for certain that none of the techs, pathology assistants, supervisors, and managers mess with the Pathologists. The only people who mess with the pathologists are other pathologists, the medical director, and the clients.

In my place if you mess with an MD/DO, you get fired!

 

[Caprica6]

I recently graduated with a biochemistry B.S. from a top 25 university. I was looking to take a year or two off before moving forward, to figure out what I wanted to do. I really wanted to do some sort of research as a lab tech or research assistant. However, I've been having a lot of trouble finding any sort of paid positions. I've applied to a over 70 places - specific emails to professors along with general positions on monsters and other job sites, and even university job sites. I'm beginning to think that the only way I can get a job is to volunteer for a while to make some connections. I have had three research experiences, but wanted to branch out from those fields (mainly clinical psychology/neuroscience). Does anybody have any advice for me?
Thanks

Have you had any interviews? If you have applied to 70 jobs, but have had 0 interviews, I would recommend reworking your CV and cover letters. I have worked in research, and I know how difficult it is to find positions, but with prior undergrad experience you should have at least had some interviews. You say you want to branch out. Are your experiences at all related to the positions you are applying to technique-wise?

You mention emailing specific professors. Did these pertain to specific job listings, or were they inquiries to people whose research you were interested in? If not, you should try it. Send them a copy of your CV, what your goals are, and why you are interested in working in their lab. This is how I found both of my positions. This can put you at an advantage because due to university requirements to always post job listings, many of the jobs you are applying for are actually already filled.

 

[CardiologyJosh]

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[Prncssbuttercup]

I worked for a biotech company for years. They pay crap, even if you do have a masters. A woman I used to work with, who is now a 3rd year at VCOM said that "this job made her 100% certain that she never wanted to work in biotech" that was 18 mos worth of work... Look for biotech companies, and large teaching hospitals...

Best of luck...

 

[CardiologyJosh]

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[MedPR]

I'm leaving my lab in 3 months, cannot wait for that sweet sweet liberation. I work at one of the top 3 labs in the US; I work alongside some of the brightest and creative minds in science - with this in mind, it was here that I realized I will not achieve professional fulfillment in the laboratory, and instead, need to pursue medicine. Working in one of the best labs in the country, has driven me away from science. You do the math, lol. Indeed, sweet liberation shall be endured when I leave this windowless, frozen hole I call my workplace.

Oh same here. I thought I might like being in a lab, but it's absolutely terrible.

I worked for a biotech company for years. They pay crap, even if you do have a masters. A woman I used to work with, who is now a 3rd year at VCOM said that "this job made her 100% certain that she never wanted to work in biotech" that was 18 mos worth of work... Look for biotech companies, and large teaching hospitals...

Best of luck...

Been here 16 months and I've been wanting to quit for about 13 months.

 

[member4123]

Hey everybody, thanks for the tips.
Caprica6- I've basically been trying both techniques. I applied through university websites, but, as you said, most of those positions are already filled. I also have been emailing specific professors. I've been getting some responses but most of them are simply "I'd like to take you on, but I don't have any funding at this time". I have research experience in Gel electrophoresis (working with RNA), some histology (working with rats/neuroscience research) and clinical psychology. I've been looking mainly at cancer biology/marine biology jobs. The only person I've really interviewed with would be taking me on as a volunteer, which seems to be the way to go at this point.

 

[pp77]

While interviewing I met a guy who started off as an administrative assistant and parlayed that into a research position. Made me wish I'd thought of doing the same (though the administrative positions are probably hard to come by these days as well).

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Hey OP, I was in your shoes last year. Degree in neuroscience from a top 20 university. Had four years of research, a thesis, a couple posters, and a first author publication in the works. Took me SEVEN MONTHS to find a job as a research assistant, and I applied to everything I qualified for in the state (and out of state too). Hell, I even applied to freaking Olive Garden when I got desperate and even they wouldn't take me (first interview went well, second interview was just 15 minutes of "You have a degree in neuroscience from a top university...why are you here?"...and yes, Olive Garden has multiple interviews these days).

Anyway, you just gotta keep trying. Try reviewing your CV and cover letter. After I made a few changes to mine I got the call back for what eventually became my current job. Also, it really helps if you apply for research jobs in your own field. From talking with my current PI's it's become obvious that one of the major reasons they hired me was because my degree was in neuroscience, they were neuroscientists, and I was the only applicant with a background in neuroscience.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

Seriously, go get a phleb certification. You'll like the job more and have more mobility and it will increase your patient contact hours for your app. Unless you're planning on doing a top research school, a job in biotech will not likely really help your application. If you're willing to move you might be able to get a job in a small hospital lab as a med-tech... Stick with something that gets you patient contact hours, they are more valuable than research hours...

MedPR, yeah... I did it for 10yrs at the one place, imagine how bitter I was F'ing SUUUUUCKKKS!!!

Hate to tell you all this, but if you want to be a doctor, you're not going to like working in a lab. Or most likely you will not. The reason is "research lab" people are bitchy and unfriendly. They tend to be introverts and we tend to be extroverts, we tend to piss them off because we want to be chatty, they want us to STFU... anyway, lets put it this way, the thought of working another 2 years, let alone 30, in a research lab was enough to propel me to take FT classes and pull a 4.0 while working FT...

 

[Flim Flam Man]

I think a lot of it has to do with having connections, beyond that, try cold emailing a bunch of professors at nearby universities, you might even need to offer to volunteer in the lab at first before they will give you a paid position