Getting a campus lab position may be very important to your future career success. Lab experience can further lay the groundwork of your previous lab experience. Lab experience also can help you decide your future path in science, leaving you with a new passion for finding the cure for cancer or telling yourself you do not want to be in a lab looking through a microscope all of your life. Lab experience is also a must for your future employers. That lab experience can show employers you are ready to become a professional in the science world. The problem is though, how in the world do you get a lab position?
Lab positions are a little tricky. They often do not present themselves on a website or so handily on your way to class. Lab positions are much more interesting to find. Finding a lab position requires you to be alert and to knock on some doors. Sometimes the best way to find a lab position is through a class you are taking because a professor might have a lab with a staff. It does not hurt to ask your professor if he or she has any open lab positions. If he or she does not, your next question should be, “Do you know anyone that does?” Knocking on doors like this may be the best way to find yourself in a lab.
Networking is very important when trying to find a lab position. Networking with other lab students, professors, CALS faculty and more can help you get a lab position. The more people that know your name and you can impress, the more likely these contacts are to remember your name and recommend you for a lab position.
The next thing that could help you get a lab position is keeping your eyes open. There are not a lot of lab position postings, but they are out there. Use the student job center. Watch out for lab positions posted on a bulletin board. Use the resources available to you because you never know what could work out.
A great way to begin looking for a lab position would be coming to the CALS Undergraduate Lab Fair today. We will have several labs from the CALS campus all looking to fill lab positions. The event will be at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery today, Wednesday April 13th, from 1-4 p.m. We hope to see you there.
Useful info as per usual, thank you very much. I certainly hope this sort of thing gets more exposure.