Looking for job in NC, need help

[MarzMD]

I just graduated in May, and have yet to find a job since then. I took the August MCAT, so I started seriously looking after that. You would think living in the Research Triangle would mean there would be plenty of jobs...well, not for me. I have recently given up on finding a laboratory job. I am a psych major/chem minor with no previous laboratory work experience. All of the entry level positions are reserved for work study students. On the rare occasian that I find a job that does not require previous experience, it always says "not required, but helpful" which I have found to mean you have no chance at the position if someone else seeking the job has experience(which there will always be).
As far as health care jobs, Im not really sure what I can do in the hospital that does not require some sort of certification. So, does anyone have any advice on what sort of jobs/places I should be looking at in order to find a lab/research or health care setting job(any productive job at this point)? I have been using the Duke and UNC HR website, monstertrak, e-leads, and newspaper ads. Im starting to think I am destined to be a bumb for the next year. Any suggestions are appreciated.

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[MrBurns10]

I just graduated in May, and have yet to find a job since then. I took the August MCAT, so I started seriously looking after that. You would think living in the Research Triangle would mean there would be plenty of jobs...well, not for me. I have recently given up on finding a laboratory job. I am a psych major/chem minor with no previous laboratory work experience. All of the entry level positions are reserved for work study students. On the rare occasian that I find a job that does not require previous experience, it alwasy says "not required, but helpful" which I have found to mean you have no chance at the position if someone else seeking the job has experience(which there will alwasy be).
As far as health care jobs, Im not really sure what I can do in the hospital that does not require some sort of certification. So, does anyone have any advice on what sort of jobs/places I should be looking at in order to find a lab/research or health care setting job(any productive job at this point)? I have been using the Duke and UNC HR website, monstertrak, e-leads, and newspaper ads. Im starting to think I am destined to be a bumb for the next year. Any suggestions are appreciated.

I realized when I was looking for a job at Duke and UNC that their HR websites suck...if people get back to you, it's after a few months. At least this was the experiences for my roommate and me. My suggestion is to e-mail people directly. I don't know UNC's equivalent website, but I went to faculty.duke.edu and just did a general search for whatever I was interested in (you could type in neurology, surgery, clinical, anything like that). I think your best bet is to e-mail them directly and hope someone has something available; it takes a lot of e-mails, but people usually respond quickly. I think I know of a job opening for you...it was open as of a couple weeks ago, it just wasn't really my thing. I'll PM you. Good luck!

 

[MarzMD]

Thank you MrBurns for the heads up. I just emailed them now with my resume. Yes, it has been my experience that the Duke HR website is pretty useless. I also looked up professors on the Duke site and emailed about 30, and got maybe 3 replies, all saying they do not have any positions. I guess I should try UNC now.

 

[xraygray]

I graduated with no research experience also and found it pretty difficult to find a job in a lab also. i ended up finding a PI that would let me do volunteer research in his lab. It worked out pretty well because I got to work on my own independent project instead of just doing tech work and make my own schedule. Of course the downside was that I didn't get paid. I also found a job in a hospital in the radiology transport department. No previous experience or certification is necessary and it was pretty cool in that I got a lot of patient interaction, worked alongside doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and was able to get a good feel for the day-to-day inner workings of a hospital. However, the pay was pretty bad ($7.00/hr). It was enough to pay rent but I had the luxury of getting some help from my parents also. This was in Charlotte, by the way.

 

[NapeSpikes]

In the same boat as the OP: August mcater, applying now, desperately needing a job, striking out left and right. I used all the above suggestions, and still no luck.

I may just have to resort to temp work just to make ends meet, and then volunteer in a research lab and/or clinical setting.

 

[MarzMD]

In the same boat as the OP: August mcater, applying now, desperately needing a job, striking out left and right. I used all the above suggestions, and still no luck.

I may just have to resort to temp work just to make ends meet, and then volunteer in a research lab and/or clinical setting.

Yea, I signed up for DukeTemps at the start of the summer. I havent heard a word from them since. I think I will find better results with TarheelTemps, so I will give that a try this week. I have just recently expanded my search to include UNC, since Duke does very little.

 

[NapeSpikes]

I feel your pain, MarzH05. I'm in the metropolis of Los Angeles, and still no love from any of several med schools and universities around here. I've emailed at least 200 professors, and less than ten replied with a "Sorry." I'm now resorting to larger employment agencies, like AppleOne and Addeco Scientific (not sure if these are national). They probably recruit for more pharmaceutical/biotech jobs, but at least it'll be in a lab and somewhat medically related. At this point, I'm willing to take almost anything.

 

[MarzMD]

I feel your pain, MarzH05. I'm in the metropolis of Los Angeles, and still no love from any of several med schools and universities around here. I've emailed at least 200 professors, and less than ten replied with a "Sorry." I'm now resorting to larger employment agencies, like AppleOne and Addeco Scientific (not sure if these are national). They probably recruit for more pharmaceutical/biotech jobs, but at least it'll be in a lab and somewhat medically related. At this point, I'm willing to take almost anything.

Ha, good to know someone else is feeling my pain. Its kind of disheartening to know that I am not qualified for any jobs after graduating from Duke. In a moment of weakness, I went to P.F. Chang's to try to be a waiter. The manager told me that they dont hire anyone without prior waiting experience, but that I could be a bus boy or something. It took a lot to not break out with hysterical laughter. Good luck to you.