Relevant jobs?

[kaister]

The most common and desired job to boost our CV is a paid RAship or lab manager. Are there any other jobs that would potentially help out your resume? I already am volunteering as an RA (there aren't any paid raships or lab manager positions avail as of now) and working part time as a skills trainer. My focus is on social psych research. I'm just curious as to what other possible jobs would look nice on a resume. Or are all things irrelevant besides core research type jobs such as RA, etc. This is all in the context of the gap year, but could be relevant to anyone.

[_kita]

That is definitely your best bet. Though, the paid positions are few and far between, so don't worry if you need to take an unpaid position as a RA.

Also, to fill out your CV, you can look at direct care jobs in your research area. For instance, if you're researching geriatric, work in a nursing home or a group home with the elderly. Or in a particular disorder, there are probably jobs working with that population. It demonstrates a knowledge in the applied aspect of your research interests.

[lewin]

Grad schools usually want academic references, so anywhere you can work that will produce a letter written by somebody with a PhD. It really should have a research component.

Volunteer doesn't matter. If I were writing a letter for an RA I might not even mention that they were volunteer instead of paid. Or I would highlight that they were so intrinsically interested in research that they were willing to volunteer. (Poorly hidden secret: Sometimes the grad students write the letters because they work directly with the RA's, then the profs tweak and sign them.)

ETA: I worked at a social services agency in their program evaluation department, which is a type of research. My supervisor there (a clinical psych PhD) was one of my letter writers.

Edited November 2, 2012 by lewin00

[kaister]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know volunteer doesn't really matter as much versus paid. The lab I'm volunteering at is really great and I have formed a good relationship with the PI (who I am going to apply to work with as a grad student) so I'm not too worried about that. I guess I'm just looking for an excuse to find another job other than my current part time work, as I'm not interested in clinical work, that type of applied work is really not my thing lol. But it does involve collecting data and tracking behaviors, so I guess it could be of some benefit if I spin it that way...