Graduated, Taking a Year Off, Can't Get a Job

[BigBear123]

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Is anyone else in the same boat?

I was looking for a biomedical research assistant job. I graduated with a great GPA and have quite a bit of research experience from undergrad. I applied to ~100 jobs (and internships) in my area and only got 3 interviews, and at 2 of the interviews they said they require a 2+ year commitment. 🙁 I'm currently doing an unpaid internship at a cool lab, but honestly it just feels like a step down even from the work I was doing in undergrad. My old lab couldn't afford to take me on as an RA or tech, so I had to move back home. I also feel pressured to help my parents financially so being an unpaid intern makes me feel really guilty. One of my friends who is in a similar situation got an RA job in our area even though he has almost no research experience. He probably used his connections, but even so I still felt pretty jealous given all the effort I've put into job searching. >____<

I've looked into medical scribe/medical assistant job but I've similarly had limited success, probably because of the high # of premeds from my undergrad and surrounding area.

Anyone have any tips?

And thanks for reading my rant. Now off to the job hunt!

 

[lobo.solo]

Sorry about that! The job market is tough right now. I would suggest applying to different kinds of jobs... I know, this will be a pain since you have research experience and whatnot, but......you need a job. I have a job right now, but if I was looking I would take anything that pays....

 

[MrBrightside167]

How about AmeriCorps? They have a ton of heath-care related jobs. The pay isn't great (I think you get around $200-$250 per week working full-time), but you gain valuable clinical experience and some programs even offer an educational award after completing one year. I was also having a hard time finding a job so I decided to apply to AmeriCorps. Just waiting to hear back from them.

 

[NeuralNetwork]

Considering that you are fresh out of college and are looking for only a one year commitment, my advice to you would be to look for jobs anywhere you'd be OK working with (expand the horizons into non-science or medically related jobs). Secure whatever finances you can get from this job, and then use your off time to volunteer at medically/science related activities so that you have something else to work with when discussing what you did for your gap year.

I would also advice you to never consider yourself above an honest paying job - the way the economy is right now, you should be thankful to get any paying job

 

[NonTraditional3]

Is anyone else in the same boat?

I was looking for a biomedical research assistant job. I graduated with a great GPA and have quite a bit of research experience from undergrad. I applied to ~100 jobs (and internships) in my area and only got 3 interviews, and at 2 of the interviews they said they require a 2+ year commitment. 🙁 I'm currently doing an unpaid internship at a cool lab, but honestly it just feels like a step down even from the work I was doing in undergrad. My old lab couldn't afford to take me on as an RA or tech, so I had to move back home. I also feel pressured to help my parents financially so being an unpaid intern makes me feel really guilty. One of my friends who is in a similar situation got an RA job in our area even though he has almost no research experience. He probably used his connections, but even so I still felt pretty jealous given all the effort I've put into job searching. >____<

I've looked into medical scribe/medical assistant job but I've similarly had limited success, probably because of the high # of premeds from my undergrad and surrounding area.

Anyone have any tips?

And thanks for reading my rant. Now off to the job hunt!

Could you give some insight to what area you live? I know of a few 1-year kind of things, but idk if they're relevant depending on location.....

 

[BigBear123]

Bay Area.

Thanks for your help so far everyone!

 

[virtuoso735]

I'm in the same boat. Graduated 2011 took the 2011-2012 year to volunteer and study for MCAT (both of which were necessary because I decided on medicine in senior year), and now I want to work while completing applications and waiting to hear back.

How competitive is Americorps? I should look into it.

 

[Latuza]

Perhaps get a part-time, shift job for part of the day and then the other part volunteer in labs and in clinical settings.

AmeriCorps is a good idea, it pays at least something and demonstrate your altruistic quality of service. And a lot of the positions are only a year-long commitment, which fits into your time frame. Others like Teach for America requires 2-year commitment.

Bio isn't really good for any job and any healthcare jobs require some time in community college schooling to get certification (EMT, medical assistant, phlebotomist, etc.)

 

[Life Eternal]

You should apply for a mcat instructor job at princeton review or kaplan.

 

[NonTraditional3]

Bay Area.

Thanks for your help so far everyone!

San Francisco Bay Area?

 

[BigBear123]

San Francisco Bay Area?

Yep.

 

[von Matterhorn]

The job market is lean, take what you can get

 

[Qpwo26]

Hi! I was in the same boat last year. I ended up spending this year working at a residential school for kids in the MR range with severe behavior problems. It definitely hasn't been a cakewalk, but I've learned a ton, made a little money, and my interviewers seemed very impressed by the work that I was doing.

Find a job where ever you can. If you can think of ways to transfer the skills you'll develop at the job to your future career in medicine it can only help you in the application process!

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Looks like you have a future in North Dakota! (Clicky)

Feels almost like the "Welcome to the Caribbean" meme nowadays.

 

[RiceOwl85]

I would also advice you to never consider yourself above an honest paying job - the way the economy is right now, you should be thankful to get any paying job

+1

Unfortunately sometimes the only way to gain this perspective is to experience it first hand. Regardless of your past accomplishments, nothing should be taken for granted in today's economy.

I agree with what most of the other posters have said. Regardless of what you end up with, you can always supplement with volunteering (or something else related to medicine) on the side. I understand how frustrated you must feel, but try to stay positive and keep an open mind. There is always an opportunity to learn and grow as a person.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Widen your job search:



Research positions are few and far between, especially due to state and federal budget cuts that have negatively impacted research funding (the prior source of research assistant salaries). Unless you're interested in Prop 29 funded cancer research, the future in research looks dismal. Start looking for clinically related positions. The Bay area has a number of great hospitals. If you can't find a relevent (not perfect, but relevant) job, you're not looking hard enough.



Current AmeriCorps service member here. Very few of the AmeriCorps jobs are actually health related (disaster preparedness with the Red Cross is NOT health related). AmeriCorps is a great experience and a wonderful way to spend a gap year, but you'd be wise to first consider your interest in working for a non-profit since that's what you'll be doing if you are a State/National or VISTA service member (NCCC program members spend most of their time on environmentally-oriented projects). I wouldn't trade my service year for anything, but I wouldn't encourage those looking for clinical experience to join AmeriCorps. Feel free to PM me with additional questions.



Good one. 👍 But, most of the state's new jobs are in oil in the sparsely populated West (8+ hours drive through wheat fields to the medical school and all related job opportunities). 👎

It doesn't even take nearly 8 hours to drive across the entire state of ND 🙄
Thanks be to the 75 mph speed limits, cheap speeding tickets, and lack of highway patrol, of course. 👍

But actually oil field jobs pay a huge amount of cash, and would be an interesting thing to put on your med school application and give you a tie to ND for UND's medical school

But you're right, the market is open, but it's inflated and is only temporary 👎

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Oops. I meant 4+. Being a roughneck is a great way to save for medical school, if you manage to escape with your limbs, digits and full lumbar mobility. 😉

[YOUTUBE]uPsbDUZvfFo[/YOUTUBE]

 

[lobo.solo]

Yep.

There is always research assistant positions at UCSF. They always hired new grads with some relevant experience in dealing with patients.

 

[notbobtrustme]

If you don't need a LOR from the lab you'd join, why not "commit" to 2 years and then just leave when accepted. This is not uncommon. They can't force you to stay for 2 years even if that's what was agreed upon.

 

[Xiao]

If you don't need a LOR from the lab you'd join, why not "commit" to 2 years and then just leave when accepted. This is not uncommon. They can't force you to stay for 2 years even if that's what was agreed upon.

This is highly unethical and can come back to bite you hard professionally. i.e. future employers want to check your past professional experience. Especially for upper management hires, companies run very, very through checks.

Like others said, it's a tough job market. Unemployment among recent college grads is high. I think a lot of pre-med students don't realize that people looking to go into career jobs after graduation typically start their hunt/networking as early as the Fall semester of their last year.

Since it's June already, I think your best bet of making some $$$ is to start part-time tutoring (could be full time if you want to leave your research internship). From your username, I'm guessing you went to Cal? You got the Cal name and I'm assuming good standardized testing scores going for you. SAT/MCAT/high school tutoring can pay very well in the Bay Area -- generally $20-30 if you work for a prep company, and some people can swing $40-60+ if you work privately.

If you are looking for a research/career job. It'll be very tough -- especially since you are going off to school in 1 year. A lot of job hunting is leveraging your networks and pinging people to help you out. Cold resume sending may not be your most effective strategy.

 

[kestralray]

You should apply for a mcat instructor job at princeton review or kaplan.

seconded. I know someone who moved to seattle last winter and is going to med school this fall (so not much time off) and is already employed as an mcat instructor

edit: or, if you don't want to teach for the mcat, there's SAT prep too. 🙂

 

[MT Headed]

Good luck! Entry level jobs basically don't exist for youth anymore.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/06/12/national/w094504D73.DTL&type=politics

except in North Dakota, the article says...

 

[notbobtrustme]

This is highly unethical and can come back to bite you hard professionally. i.e. future employers want to check your past professional experience. Especially for upper management hires, companies run very, very through checks.

ROFL, like Yahoo's CEO eh? He was able to get away with straight up lying about his education and wasn't caught until some goofus in HR decided to google his name.

And if you get into medical school, what you've done in your past life pretty much doesn't matter. The chances of it coming back to haunt you is essentially nil. Is it unethical? That's debatable. However, the notion that you have to commit to any employer, even if agreed upon, is ludicrous.

 

[Shmemifly]

.

 

[BigBear123]

There is always research assistant positions at UCSF. They always hired new grads with some relevant experience in dealing with patients.

My interviews were at UCSF. They do hire new grads, given that you can commit 2+ years.

 

[BigBear123]

I guess this doesn't help OP, but to other college students out there --- don't expect to get a lab job for less than 2 years. That is standard across the board, and you should expect to put applying off an extra year or else get a job outside of science. This expectation should be more well-known in the undergrad community, so people like OP don't plan to be able to get tech jobs for their 1 year off. It simply won't happen. This rule came as a shock to me too.

And whatever you do, don't leave a lab after only 1 year of the 2-year commitment. People who have done that where I am are still spoken about with almost a comic-book viciousness 5 years later. And yes, of course, when old techs come to apply to residency here, our PI weighs in to the PD.

I knew it was going to be hard to find a one-year position, but I didn't know just how hard. I was hoping that my high GPA and experience would at least allow me to get something, but nope. Learn from me everyone! haha

 

[NonTraditional3]

I guess this doesn't help OP, but to other college students out there --- don't expect to get a lab job for less than 2 years. That is standard across the board, and you should expect to put applying off an extra year or else get a job outside of science. This expectation should be more well-known in the undergrad community, so people like OP don't plan to be able to get tech jobs for their 1 year off. It simply won't happen. This rule came as a shock to me too.

And whatever you do, don't leave a lab after only 1 year of the 2-year commitment. People who have done that where I am are still spoken about with almost a comic-book viciousness 5 years later. And yes, of course, when old techs come to apply to residency here, our PI weighs in to the PD.

I would like to provide my insight regarding this. While the above quoted IS in fact the norm, it is not the case everywhere. I worked in a lab, and a recent college grad came for an interview as a lab tech. I was shocked when they mentioned at their interview that they were currently (at the time) in the application cycle, and were hoping to begin medical school in less than a year. I thought, who says this at a lab interview? Totally flabbergasted. What I was surprised at even more though, was when this individual was hired over other candidates who expressly said they were looking for something in the range of 2-3 years. All equally qualified as this person, if not more-so. They were with our lab for 8 months and then left for medical school.

So, while what I have quoted is a typical case, if the lab is maybe working on a project that will terminate/finish within that year and just needs to hire someone to get things accomplished in a given time-frame, you may luck out. When interviewing with a basic science lab, I wouldn't address intended time-commitment unless specifically asked or if told that you are expected to commit for X number of years. It is important to be honest though, because if at a hospital or a department you want to apply to for residency, if the PI has clout or influence and you underhandedly join the lab on the premise of 2 year commitment and then do not fulfill that commitment, you may have shot yourself in the foot.

 

[coughsyrup]

That happened to me, too. I live in a really small town/city where there are close to no jobs that require a biology degree (or even a science degree). Just do stuff to keep yourself busy, and hope you get in the first time!

 

[Xiao]

ROFL, like Yahoo's CEO eh? He was able to get away with straight up lying about his education and wasn't caught until some goofus in HR decided to google his name.

And if you get into medical school, what you've done in your past life pretty much doesn't matter. The chances of it coming back to haunt you is essentially nil. Is it unethical? That's debatable. However, the notion that you have to commit to any employer, even if agreed upon, is ludicrous.

It is unethical to be intentially deceibtful going into an agreement. The agreement, of course, is not lawfully binding -- and it is debatable whether it is ethical for the employer to ask for a prior committment. But the point about being intentially deceitful is pretty certain. 🙄

Let me give you an example of how this may bite you: I worked in a VC firm before going to medical school. Before investing in any company, we would check, among other things, the founding team's backgrounds. Past employment/startup history is something we would look very carefully at. We will contact all of their professional references and get independent sources to verify all information. If something like intentially lying to land a job comes up, it's a clear no-no. I don't know what the hiring process for professors are like, but my guess is that they would check references with your past contacts in your field of study. Depends on what you want to do, OP, but to keep your options open, I would avoid burning bridges with anyone important.

Yahoo failed to do their HW when hiring their CEO. Most probably because the CEO had strong relationships with Yahoo's executives and board members, and knows important players in the field to get his job done -- his resume in itself was not a big consideration in his hiring. This is a big embarassment for Yahoo. And plus, I would hardly say Yahoo is the model company these days...

EDIT: yeah, the chances of this biting you are pretty low. depends on how much you care about these agreements i guess

 

[circulus vitios]

That happened to me, too. I live in a really small town/city where there are close to no jobs that require a biology degree (or even a science degree). Just do stuff to keep yourself busy, and hope you get in the first time!

Me too. I'm trying to get a job at a local hospital as some sort of a lab tech, but I'll probably end up working in a factory. 🙁

 

[kestralray]

I would like to provide my insight regarding this. While the above quoted IS in fact the norm, it is not the case everywhere. I worked in a lab, and a recent college grad came for an interview as a lab tech. I was shocked when they mentioned at their interview that they were currently (at the time) in the application cycle, and were hoping to begin medical school in less than a year. I thought, who says this at a lab interview? Totally flabbergasted. What I was surprised at even more though, was when this individual was hired over other candidates who expressly said they were looking for something in the range of 2-3 years. All equally qualified as this person, if not more-so. They were with our lab for 8 months and then left for medical school.

So, while what I have quoted is a typical case, if the lab is maybe working on a project that will terminate/finish within that year and just needs to hire someone to get things accomplished in a given time-frame, you may luck out. When interviewing with a basic science lab, I wouldn't address intended time-commitment unless specifically asked or if told that you are expected to commit for X number of years. It is important to be honest though, because if at a hospital or a department you want to apply to for residency, if the PI has clout or influence and you underhandedly join the lab on the premise of 2 year commitment and then do not fulfill that commitment, you may have shot yourself in the foot.

I think that some PIs (maybe especially MDs that run labs?) are eager to help out aspiring med students and more lenient about how much time you have. Maybe?

 

[pre med 2014]

Is anyone else in the same boat?

I was looking for a biomedical research assistant job. I graduated with a great GPA and have quite a bit of research experience from undergrad. I applied to ~100 jobs (and internships) in my area and only got 3 interviews, and at 2 of the interviews they said they require a 2+ year commitment. 🙁 I'm currently doing an unpaid internship at a cool lab, but honestly it just feels like a step down even from the work I was doing in undergrad. My old lab couldn't afford to take me on as an RA or tech, so I had to move back home. I also feel pressured to help my parents financially so being an unpaid intern makes me feel really guilty. One of my friends who is in a similar situation got an RA job in our area even though he has almost no research experience. He probably used his connections, but even so I still felt pretty jealous given all the effort I've put into job searching. >____<

I've looked into medical scribe/medical assistant job but I've similarly had limited success, probably because of the high # of premeds from my undergrad and surrounding area.

Anyone have any tips?

And thanks for reading my rant. Now off to the job hunt!

medical assistant generally requires a year at a technical college, not sure about a medical scribe though. I have applied to about 100 positions and still nothing, though I have had 4 interviews and a couple of 'quasi-interviews' from temp agencies screening for candidates.

to some other posters: there's nothing wrong with working at a restaurant, however, when you have a science degree from a prestigious university it is pretty depressing having to serve pizza.

You could look into insurance agent positions, it could be a good way to learn about how health insurance policies work. I ultimately am not pursuing that option because I hate selling stuff and most positions only pay commission.

 

[pre med 2014]

Me too. I'm trying to get a job at a local hospital as some sort of a lab tech, but I'll probably end up working in a factory. 🙁

what kind of factory work could one apply for? I am giving up hope for a lab tech or research position, and am ready to run a fork lift for $12/hour in some warehouse.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

Is anyone else in the same boat?

I was looking for a biomedical research assistant job. I graduated with a great GPA and have quite a bit of research experience from undergrad. I applied to ~100 jobs (and internships) in my area and only got 3 interviews, and at 2 of the interviews they said they require a 2+ year commitment. 🙁 I'm currently doing an unpaid internship at a cool lab, but honestly it just feels like a step down even from the work I was doing in undergrad. My old lab couldn't afford to take me on as an RA or tech, so I had to move back home. I also feel pressured to help my parents financially so being an unpaid intern makes me feel really guilty. One of my friends who is in a similar situation got an RA job in our area even though he has almost no research experience. He probably used his connections, but even so I still felt pretty jealous given all the effort I've put into job searching. >____<

I've looked into medical scribe/medical assistant job but I've similarly had limited success, probably because of the high # of premeds from my undergrad and surrounding area.

Anyone have any tips?

And thanks for reading my rant. Now off to the job hunt!

Pro tip: Don't say you will be leaving in a year if you get accepted to med school. Most jobs won't hire somebody they know will leave. Don't feel bad about leaving out the truth because these companies will lay you off without a thought when they don't need you.

 

[Slack3r]

 

[redpanda]

While it would not be looked upon favorably to leave in the midst of a 2 year commitment if things are set in stone, there are two points I see here:

1. In general, I would not reveal anything to any employer about my medical school application plans unless absolutely necessary. If you are in a job, especially the corporate world, there's no point in marking yourself as someone planning to leave (passed over for promotion, opens self to perception of poor work ethic, first to get tagged on a layoff). If asked something to the effect about "what do you what to do when you grow up?", you can always answer something vague about going on to further graduate training. If you must pull a rec out of your job, see if you can pull it out a a TRUSTED supervisory person, not your direct line management and make sure this person knows that you do not want this shared with your (or other) line management.

2. Until admitted, you don't even know that you will matriculate to medical school next August. It is conceivable that you may not get in on your first cycle. Therefore, why torpedo what could actually be a full (though inadvertent) two year commitment?

My personal experience in large corporate industry (pharma) is that everyone always has their feelers out for new positions, in and out of the company. You are under no obligation to tell anyone until you have to put in whatever minimum notice is and most people keep their new job/move/school to themselves until then. It is not considered an act of disloyalty to jump for any other company or leave the industry and you should need feel guilty for wanting to leave.