I've been offered a research assistant position but I've just finished my PhD. I'm concerned that this is not favorable for my career and would be questioned at future interviews. Also will I always be a stage behind so my next job will count as my first post doc. I have been offered pay at a similar level as a new post-doc but within the research assistant grade band.

Equally with the current financial climate... a job is a job.

What would you do? Take this job and deal with the issues in a couple of years or decline this job and keep looking?

funny thing is, i actually WANT to just do a RA job after my phd, (if i ever pass) because its less hassle. i hear post docs are really stressful. i just like doing lab work, and dont like writing papers or grants or want the extra responsibilities.

my sup once told me, he had so many applications from newly qualified phd'ers for RA positiions. so its not too crazy of an idea. when you do a post doc, you're like thrown into the deep end.

if you like the project idea, then i dont see why not, and the pay is good. i would advise to take it :)

how long is it for?

======= Date Modified 02 Apr 2009 13:07:36 =======
Its 2 and a half years and they were very clear in the interview that they would not think kindly of me if I took the job but carried on looking for a postdoc position... then left before the end of the RA job if I was offered a postdoc.



I do want a postdoc though... I do want the writting papers and applying for grants lark... I'd like the climb the academic ladder so this is quite an important decision for me.

I'm a little confused about the difference between an RA and a Post-doc. I'm in humanities and the project I work on has two post-docs but they are called research assistants. Is it different in the sciences.

Pamw's right, in the Arts we tend to have postdoc RA positions.
It's very difficult to evaluate, basically because none of use know how likely a Postdoc is to come up in a field relevant to you as well as you do! What's clear is if you take the RA position and carry on looking for a postdoc the damage to your career could be irreprable.

======= Date Modified 03 Apr 2009 11:24:53 =======
In science, a research assistant would be an assistant to a post doc and would perform the more mundane experiments. Depending on the supervisor and post doc, the research assistant may or may not be involved in data analysis and interpretation, direction of the project. Typically they would be acknowledged/named on published papers but have little involvement in writting and they don't tend to be involved in composing grant applications.



Mainly RAs are people who don't have a PhD in science but speaking to postdoc friends they've said that RA after PhD is fine if you don't want to stay in research too long but ill advised if you want to make a career out of research starting in the lab.