Pharmacology Laboratory Research Assistant
(Female, Age 25) from Brooklyn, NY
This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 25 who works as a Pharmacology Laboratory Research Assistant in Brooklyn, NY. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.
At a Glance
Current Job
Basic data on your current job
| Job Title | Pharmacology Laboratory Research Assistant |
|---|---|
| Salary | $25,000 |
| Other Compensation | None Set |
| Hours/Week | 35 |
| Company Size | (not answered) |
| Location | Brooklyn, NY |
| Years Experience | 3 years |
Career Ratings
Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)
| Years in Career | 0 |
|---|---|
| Education | (not answered) |
| Income Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Interest Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Work-Life Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Fulfilment Rating | 0 / 10 |
Current job Q&A
Describe the type of organization you work for.
I currently work for a large research/teaching hospital.
Describe your job role and responsibilities.
I plan and conduct research experiments, analyze data, write journal articles, assist others in the lab.
Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
2 weeks vacation. I have health, dental, vision insurance. No retirement plan.
Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
Under compensated.
Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
I am surrounded by others in my lab on a daily basis; however, I only have to work with them on projects occasionally. Most often I am working independently on my own projects, which is nice because I like to see that things are done the way in which I think they should be.
Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Yes
Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes
Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 2
Benefits: 4
Hours: 5
Co-Workers: 8
Supervisors: 3
Job Title: 6
Level of Responsibility: 7
The Actual Work: 1
A day in the life of…
Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:
| 5am to 6am | |
| 6am to 7am | |
| 7am to 8am | |
| 8am to 9am | |
| 9am to 10am | |
| 10am to 11am | Arrive at work, assess what needs to be done for the day. This is a slow period – I am not conducting any of my own experiments at the current time. |
| 11am to 12pm | Begin to work on journal article I am writing. |
| 12pm to 1pm | Help co-workers with an experiment involving assessing the working memory of rats given cocaine. Lunch |
| 1pm to 2pm | Work on paper/analyze data. |
| 2pm to 3pm | Work on paper. |
| 3pm to 4pm | Work on paper. |
| 4pm to 5pm | Work on paper. Leave at 5. |
| 5pm to 6pm | |
| 6pm to 7pm | |
| 7pm to 8pm | |
| 8pm to 9pm | |
| 9pm to 10pm | |
| 10pm to 11pm | |
| 11pm to 12am |
Table of Contents
How you got your job
How did you get your current job?
Graduate school
What was the application process?
Paper application, phone interview, visit to the site.
Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
Yes, I had a phone interview, and then came to visit the lab to see if it would be a good environment for myself.
If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
What previous work in research I had done, if I minded working with animals.
Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes, I was able to shadow the other employees of the lab before setting off to do my own experiments.
Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
Training was on-the-job.
Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes, I have a bachelor’s degree and I am in graduate school.
If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
Yes, I interned in several different labs prior to working in this one – helped me to know that research was something I am interested in.
If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
You can either attend graduate school and work in a lab like mine while in graduate school or after (at a higher pay rate), or obtain an associates or bachelor’s degree and become a lab technician.
What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
Ability to work independently – need to stay on top of your own projects, be self-motivated – need to meet deadlines with sometimes no direct supervision, be organized – need to keep experiments/dates in order, have good communication skills – to relate the findings of your research at meetings/in journals.
Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
You need either an associates/bachelor’s degree in animal research to be sucessful as a lab tech, or a graduate degree to be sucessful as an independent scientist (with your own lab).
What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Make sure you actually enjoy science or else you will not enjoy the sometimes repetitive nature of the job.
Long-term career plans
Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
Yes – this will help me to prepare to conduct my own research.
What are your current career goals?
Research into childhood learning disorders.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
No
Prior work history
Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:
| Title | Length | Salary | Description | |
| Prior Job 1 | Analyst | 6 months | 35k | Conduct research into the properties of different real estate markets. |
| Prior Job 2 | After School Supervisor | 4 years | 11/hour | Tutor/supervise children in an after-school program. |
Educational background
Please list your educational background:
High School GPA:
| GPA | School | Degree | |
| College (Undergraduate) or Technical/Vocational |
Washington University in St. Louis | Psychology, Neuroscience | |
| Graduate or Professional (Masters or Doctorate) |
SUNY Downstate | Behavioral Neuroscience |
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