Gap Year Research Jobs

[The Cinnabon]

So this year is particularly brutal in the NIH's IRTA for my specific discipline. I was told COVID-19 is really making spots harder to come by due to a backlog of post-baccs. So I figured it would be wise to have "other fires burning." I'm looking into clinical research positions at med schools nearby or just in areas I think would be cool to live. When should I be applying to these jobs? I hear the strat is to just cold email PI's for these clinical research positions, does this still hold up?

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[JimKimSlim]

Monster.com, INDEED, or school-specific job portal.

don’t work somewhere because you want to go to their medical school (It will likely not affect your chance of admission that much). Move somewhere where you’re actually interested in. I hear Texas and Colorado have nice weathers.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Monster.com, INDEED, or school-specific job portal.

don’t work somewhere because you want to go to their medical school (It will likely not affect your chance of admission that much). Move somewhere where you’re actually interested in. I hear Texas and Colorado have nice weathers.

My wife did research at the med school she attended. Can't say if it helped or not, she was accepted at all the schools she applied to.

 

[The Cinnabon]

Monster.com, INDEED, or school-specific job portal.

don’t work somewhere because you want to go to their medical school (It will likely not affect your chance of admission that much). Move somewhere where you’re actually interested in. I hear Texas and Colorado have nice weathers.

Thanks that was thinking too, move somewhere for two years because I'm interested in the area and wouldn't have been able to regardless.

 

[RapidEyeMovementLearning]

You'll be able to find these positions in the school or hospital's job portal.

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

Current research assistant here--I found my job on LinkedIn originally. At my institution, there is a hiring freeze, meaning the PI will need to do lots of paperwork if they want to hire someone. BUT, remember that the PI =/= the institution. A PI may want/need to hire someone even if institution makes it difficult. So in that sense, cold emailing PIs is worth a shot. You miss all the shots you don't take!

 

[darkeon]

RA here, our medical center puts ads on LinkedIn and Glassdoor but there was a hiring freeze at the start of the pandemic , heck there was even another one in the past when I came on board and so that was a shocker to my coworkers there. but anyways, our dept just hired one new ra but that will be it for now. I'd say cold calling is ok but you'll likely still have to go through the formalities (starting on LinkedIn or Glassdoor to apply).

As for help into med school admissions, I'd say it doesn't really. Granted, it's one of the top med schools with its near perfect GPAs and MCAT score fever. to be frank, more of the rcs and RAs there that I've met have gone carib but I do know of one who got interviewed by the school despite being lower in stats when compared to the average.

 

[foreverlearner02]

Top 3 places to look from my experience: 1. hospital portals (ie search up "x hospital careers" and look at the research postings. 2. local school portals (this didn't work for most universities but for the large research ones or those connected to hospital systems it did) 3. linked in.
Indeed/glassdoor/ziprecruiter might have some research positions tied to local private practices/pharma but in my experiences, no hospital based jobs really showed up there. This obviously might just be the case in my locality.