Should I switch jobs?

[alts98]

Hi there, 

I need advice on what will be best for me. I am planning on applying to graduate programs for next fall (so 2022 Fall admissions) and I wanted to know if it would hurt my chances to switch jobs. 

Background: I graduated with a B.S. in Psych and B.A. Criminal Justice in 2020 and decided to take time off to gather research experience before applying. I had a 3.7 GPA, completed honors program, did an honors project with an honors poster. I have a total of about 25+ poster presentations, a lot of them being school, local, or regional conferences but two posters were submitted/presented to national/international conferences.  I have two 4th author publications and one 1st author paper in my research interest about to be submitted for review soon.

I already had some research experience from undergrad: 2.5 years in a lab closely aligned with some of my research interests; 1.5 years in another lab; 1 year in another lab (coding mostly). I am currently in two labs: the first one is at an R1 university doing part-time data entry remotely (did a couple of interviews before I got my new jobs so looks good on my CV). I have a full-time position at another R1 university and have been here for roughly 7 months. 

I do not like my new job too much- I feel like there is not much to do. There is no direct contact with participants (all remote surveys). Keep asking PI for poster/publications and says they are coming but not sure if I will be allowed 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd author on it or when that will be since we're still in data collection stages. Besides recruitment, there's not much to do and I am not feeling like I am learning any valuable research skills here. For an R1 university this study is actually a mess. 

I did hear about a new position opening up at a lab I had previously applied to. I had gotten to the final stages of interviewing before I was passed up for someone else but they said they were hiring 2-3 new RAs starting immediately and to apply if interested. This lab doesn't align perfectly with my research interests BUT it is at a prestigious, R1 university, closer to my home, research I am interested in, and direct contact with participants. 

 

Here is my concern: If I start this new job in February/March (to allow time for interviewing/onboarding) does that hurt my chances for applying to Clinical Psych PhD programs? Will they down upon me only spending 7-8 months in this one job before leaving and then only spending about 9-10 months in this other job before applying to grad school? I really don't want to put off applying another year because I feel like I am competitive enough to get an interview but don't know if switching jobs might hurt me, even if it might be a more interesting job. But since I was turned down once I am not sure if it worth's applying to this same job (or maybe just look for another job in general?)

 Any advice?

[SocDevMum]

Go for it.  If the lab you are in now isn't giving you the opportunities you need, apply to the other one. It sounds like a much better option for gathering actual experiences you can put on your CV and talk about in interviews. No one will fault you for leaving as long as you aren't burning the project down you are currently working on

 

[alts98]

2 hours ago, Randi S said:

Go for it.  If the lab you are in now isn't giving you the opportunities you need, apply to the other one. It sounds like a much better option for gathering actual experiences you can put on your CV and talk about in interviews. No one will fault you for leaving as long as you aren't burning the project down you are currently working on

 

Thanks for the advice! I feel like if I were to get an offer I would just put in my two weeks and leave but I feel like they would be fine without me because there is another RA who has the same position and could do the work themselves- I don't understand why they needed 2+ RAs for the workload of one.