Boston Children's Hospital

[gahjah]

First time poster here.

Is anyone here working/has worked at Boston Children's Hospital? I am trying to get a position there and have a few questions for current/former employees.

How long was your hiring process? Do you know how many interviews they give out? How many jobs at Boston Children's did you apply for before you got a call/email for an interview?

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[Ruhroh]

When I applied for research jobs after college, I applied to basically all the big hospitals in Boston. In order of generousness with interviews for me, MGH > Harvard Medical > BWH > Dana Farber > BIDMC > Children's Hospital > Tufts. I ended doing ~15 interviews I think before something panned out after about 200 job applications and 4-5 months of full-time job searching. I had no previous research experience. Good luck.

 

[gahjah]

Two hundred jobs? I can't imagine writing 200 cover letters. I do have research experience and would really like to do research at Boston Children's. It looks like BCH is on the selective side for interviews.

Do you remember what the ratio of apps you sent to BCH to interviews received from BCH was?

Also please let me know if anyone has any helpful pointers to successfully getting a job there as far as applications/interviews go. Thanks

 

[kpcrew]

When I applied for research jobs after college, I applied to basically all the big hospitals in Boston. In order of generousness with interviews for me, MGH > Harvard Medical > BWH > Dana Farber > BIDMC > Children's Hospital > Tufts. I ended doing ~15 interviews I think before something panned out after about 200 job applications and 4-5 months of full-time job searching. I had no previous research experience. Good luck.

Jesus. It's probably a lot easier if you know someone who can vouch for you.

I meant someone like a professor or a resident in the hospital.

 

[gahjah]

Jesus. It's probably a lot easier if you know someone who can vouch for you.

hmm

 

[Ruhroh]

Two hundred jobs? I can't imagine writing 200 cover letters. I do have research experience and would really like to do research at Boston Children's. It looks like BCH is on the selective side for interviews.

Do you remember what the ratio of apps you sent to BCH to interviews received from BCH was?

Also please let me know if anyone has any helpful pointers to successfully getting a job there as far as applications/interviews go. Thanks

Children's didn't have many job openings for technicians/assistants, I think maybe 10 in the entire time I was looking. And most of them wanted someone with a master's degree.

I honestly wouldn't set your sights on 1 particular institution, you don't have the credentials to be that picky at this stage in the game. There are world-class labs for all the institutions I mentioned above. I don't think there is any intrinsic advantage to working at Children's as opposed to any of those other places.

Also, my cover letter was the same for all my job apps. I changed 1-2 sentences for each job to make it sound unique, but the rest stayed the same. In all honestly I was very glad to get somewhere with only 5 months of job searching, I had classmates from college who were still trying to find work after a year. If you don't get in by knowing someone, it is tough work getting a job anywhere.

 

[gahjah]

Children's didn't have many job openings for technicians/assistants, I think maybe 10 in the entire time I was looking. And most of them wanted someone with a master's degree.

I honestly wouldn't set your sights on 1 particular institution, you don't have the credentials to be that picky at this stage in the game. There are world-class labs for all the institutions I mentioned above. I don't think there is any intrinsic advantage to working at Children's as opposed to any of those other places. I ended up working at BWH and I am EXTREMELY happy with my current lab. Publications, posters, etc. in just over a year of work.

Also, my cover letter was the same for all my job apps. I changed 1-2 sentences for each job to make it sound unique, but the rest stayed the same. In all honestly I was very glad to get somewhere with only 5 months of job searching, I had classmates from college who were still trying to find work after a year. If you don't get in by knowing someone, it is tough work getting a job anywhere.

Yes you're probably right. I was looking into working in boston primarily because of BCH. I'll look into BWH. I've been writing up new cover letters for each one. But I think it's really impractical to continue to so. Are you doing clinical research or bench work?

EDIT: Good call on BWH. Amazing opportunities and EXACTLY the stuff I want to do. I'm overjoyed. Now to apply and wait...

 

[gahjah]

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[gahjah]

Children's didn't have many job openings for technicians/assistants, I think maybe 10 in the entire time I was looking. And most of them wanted someone with a master's degree.

I honestly wouldn't set your sights on 1 particular institution, you don't have the credentials to be that picky at this stage in the game. There are world-class labs for all the institutions I mentioned above. I don't think there is any intrinsic advantage to working at Children's as opposed to any of those other places. I ended up working at BWH and I am EXTREMELY happy with my current lab. Publications, posters, etc. in just over a year of work.

Also, my cover letter was the same for all my job apps. I changed 1-2 sentences for each job to make it sound unique, but the rest stayed the same. In all honestly I was very glad to get somewhere with only 5 months of job searching, I had classmates from college who were still trying to find work after a year. If you don't get in by knowing someone, it is tough work getting a job anywhere.

Thanks so much for the info...I decided to stay on the west coast to cut back on transport costs...so applying mostly to state u's.

 

[gumbyj]

Thanks so much for the info...I decided to stay on the west coast to cut back on transport costs...so applying mostly to state u's.

This is probably a good call. I work at one of the big Boston hospitals and I am responsible for hiring new RAs and let me tell you it is brutal.

Last year we received 170 resumes for an RA I position that paid $28,000/year (which is about the going rate for a new RA I in Boston, give or take).

I do know that BWH recruits new Research Assistants from Boston area colleges so that generally makes it much easier.