Hi,
Longtime lurker of this forum. I have gained a lot of comfort from the posts by jojo, lara and anthropologa on their write ups and everyone else's phd woes as I've only been doing an MSc and it gave me some perspective.

I need some advice on getting a laboratory job. I did a MSc in neuroscience part-time and due to work commitments I couldn't do a lab based project. I find myself yet again in the position of not having any practical laboratory skills, I do have some positives in that I have a 2.1 in biochemistry, a distinction in my masters and my advisor wants us to write a paper on the work I did.

All the jobs I have been looking at want the applicants to have experience in molecular biology and genetic techniques. In your experience will I even be looked at without relevant laboratory experience? would a good MSc and reference even count in this situation?

I desperately don't want to go back to the monotony of what I was doing before, doing this MSc was an attempt at getting back into research and I really don't want to fall off again.

Thanks in advance and wishing you all the best in your PhDs.

Hi Lab_Rat,

I think you probably will find it quite difficult to get onto a lab based PhD without previous research experience as your previous experiences often form a substantial part of the interview. Have you considered enquiring about the possibility of doing an MRes in a group you are interested in with working with? Occasionally these can be funded and it will be a good chance for you to get some experience in a lab environment. They normally last for one year full time and you do not normally have to complete a taught component.

It may also be worth checking the research council websites to see if you are eligible for any of their short term funding schemes. I know that several councils including the MRC and BBSRC will sponsor undergraduates to undertake 6-8 weeks of lab work, although I am not sure about the eligibility of masters students in these programs!

Failing all this it may well be worth contacting universities/supervisors local to you with the aim of simply getting some voluntary experience, I know of several students who have also gained experience through this route.

Hope these suggestions help!

Jon

With your qualifications there is hope of getting a job as a research assistant/technician. In my experience most molecular/cellular techniques are easy to pick up and so it shouldn't be too much of an issue. After my undergrad degree and while deciding whether or not to do a PhD i was applying for some research assistant/lab technician jobs and due to the nature of my undergrad degree I had very little practical lab experience. For the positions I was applying for it wasn't much of an issue as I would get on the job training; I knew the theory and the basics so that was fine for most potential employers. Saying that while I was looking at jobs I found that most of the jobs I really liked the sound of required a PhD which was one of the things which swayed me over to doing a PhD. So here I am now doing a PhD, the stipend is more or less comparable to the money I would get as a lab tech or research assistant, and a PhD in theory should help my career/salary progression.

Just out of interest if you want to learn more techniques etc. have you considered doing a PhD?