Voluntary/Unpaid Clinical Research

[lblock209]

I have a verbal agreement to do unpaid clinical research but want to see if I can get a paid position before starting. I agreed to it simply because I might not find any paid positions.

For those who have had any experience with voluntary research, how bad are the hours? Are you really going to be working full time hours not for a single penny?

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[deleted393595]

I have a verbal agreement to do unpaid clinical research but want to see if I can get a paid position before starting. I agreed to it simply because I might not find any paid positions.

For those who have had any experience with voluntary research, how bad are the hours? Are you really going to be working full time hours not for a single penny?

I work 10-15 hours unpaid in a lab.

 

[kami333]

Shouldn't you have discussed hours before you agreed?

At my first lab I worked full time (40+hrs/week) for a month before I was hired. I had also already graduated and didn't have any research experience at that point (career change, though I was a bio major).

 

[deleted393595]

One more thing. Is this more of a lab tech kind of job?

 

[lblock209]

Shouldn't you have discussed hours before you agreed?

At my first lab I worked full time (40+hrs/week) for a month before I was hired. I had also already graduated and didn't have any research experience at that point (career change, though I was a bio major).

My bad, I should have clarified. This was by email and I haven't met with him yet. The doctor all but guaranteed me an unpaid position but said he wasn't able to find me a paid position at this moment.

The hours have not been negotiated yet. I just heard from a lot of people that it's rare to find clinical research positions for less than full time hours.

A question for you. Did you discuss the possibility of getting paid in the future during your interview? (I know it's a stupid question and I'm assuming yes.)

Secondly, you said you volunteered at first? So you really volunteered 40+ hours a week without getting paid?

 

[btown8908]

Is this at your school or an actual hospital? I worked about 25-30 hour weeks one summer (with some 40 hr weeks in there too) at my university, albeit it wasn't clinical research. Is this person a big time researcher? That plays a part in deciding whether or not to ask. If it's a well known person, I would take it as it is w/o pay (aka looks good on apps/resume).

 

[BiopsychStudent]

I would be very careful about this sort of thing, especially if you work 15+ hours/week unpaid for more than a few months... anything beyond that is exploitation. Be sure to check out the lab first and see what kind of opportunities you'll really have there:
-Is there any chance of you to do a project of your own? Does it look like you're going to get to hang out with the PI and get an LOR out of it? The intellectual component of research is what medical schools want.
-If you're going to be doing more lab-tech type work will you at least get to do science stuff? If you do need to look for a better, paid, more involved position having been the PCR Boy for a few months might help you in that at least.

If you're going to be volunteering your time to do phone surveys and be a data entry monkey... tread carefully and don't let yourself get taken advantage of. Interviewers will want to know what you did in the lab; its a waste of time if all you did was menial office work.

 

[lblock209]

Is this at your school or an actual hospital? I worked about 25-30 hour weeks one summer (with some 40 hr weeks in there too) at my university, albeit it wasn't clinical research. Is this person a big time researcher? That plays a part in deciding whether or not to ask. If it's a well known person, I would take it as it is w/o pay (aka looks good on apps/resume).

This is at a hospital.

 

[gmcguitar4]

I volunteer and do clinical research. For about 6 months I did almost full time unpaid. I coordinated 2 studies myself! They wanted to hire me but they wanted a 2 year commitment. They knew I was potentially going to medical school so I couldn't lie about it either and just work there for a year. I would say just take the job until they offer you something which they usually. If it is a big hospital, they probably get new studies all the time.

The problem is, they usually want more long term commitments in clinical research b/c many projects are greater than a year. So if they know you are premed they also know you will jump ship as soon as you get in somewhere. As a result, they will be less inclined to hire you.