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What is a postdoctoral research associate and how to become one
Are you thinking about researching your relevant field after completing your doctorate? And what if you are told that you will be getting paid for doing that research? Don't get surprised as most educational institutes offer Post Research Associate jobs to assist their research department using your skills and knowledge.
Collecting data, analyzing research, and writing research reports are the major tasks that you have to do. And just by doing all this, you can make around $24 per hour. Of course, you got to complete your doctorate before applying for this post. Still, there are a fraction (8-9%) of professionals working as postdoctoral research associates without completing their degrees.
In addition to that, oral and written communications are much required skills to express your work effectively. Excellent grip over knowledge in the relevant field, data collection, data analysis, and working experience over varied research projects is all that it takes to prosper in this field.
What general advice would you give to a postdoctoral research associate?
Dr. Betsy Smith
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Elmira College
Avg. Salary $52,785
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth rate 17%
Growth rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.15%
Asian 38.09%
Black or African American 5.79%
Hispanic or Latino 8.87%
Unknown 3.92%
White 43.18%
Genderfemale 34.27%
male 65.73%
Age - 39American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 39Stress level is manageable
7.1 - high
Complexity level is advanced
7 - challenging
Work life balance is fair
6.4 - fair
Postdoctoral research associate career paths
Key steps to become a postdoctoral research associate
Explore postdoctoral research associate education requirements
Start to develop specific postdoctoral research associate skills
Skills Percentages Python 6.17% Research Projects 6.11% Chemistry 5.72% Data Analysis 5.59% Post-Doctoral 5.34% Complete relevant postdoctoral research associate training and internships
Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New postdoctoral research associates learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a postdoctoral research associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real postdoctoral research associate resumes.Research postdoctoral research associate duties and responsibilities
- Process and manage GIS databases to contribute towards research in human transportation behavior.
- Transfect 293-T cells with CRISPR constructs.
- Execute parallel synthesis on both solution and solid phase to develop library of compounds.
- Diagnose and resolve all instruments during breakdown (GC/MS/MS, GC/ECD, UV-Vis).
Prepare your postdoctoral research associate resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your postdoctoral research associate resume.
You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a postdoctoral research associate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.
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Build a professional postdoctoral research associate resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your postdoctoral research associate resume.
Apply for postdoctoral research associate jobs
Now it's time to start searching for a postdoctoral research associate job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
How did you land your first postdoctoral research associate job
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Average postdoctoral research associate salary
The average postdoctoral research associate salary in the United States is $52,785 per year or $25 per hour. Postdoctoral research associate salaries range between $38,000 and $72,000 per year.
What am I worth?
How do postdoctoral research associates rate their job?
Postdoctoral research associate reviews
Exploring more about reseaching field by building knowledge in a certain subject of research and growing the wisdom and knowledge.
The struggle of not breaking a certain research topic.
What I like is that,you get to interact with different people from various communities.Relationships are formed in the process
work in any field in environment science , like assistant pollution status
nothing
Updated January 8, 2025
