Research Assistant Position on Resume - Is it helpful?

(Posted in Job Search b/c no one looks in resume section)

If I held a research assistant (RA) position with my finance professor at my undergrad university, is it worth talking a lot about it on my resume? This was about 2 years ago and my professor has since moved to another university.

Current Resume:

(Current) Auditor at XX Tier-1 Accounting Firm
(Past) President of XX Club at University
(Past) Manager at XX (Fast Food restaurant)

Should I take out the 3rd point and put in the RA position there? Or should I put it under activities section? A one page resume is tough! Any feedback is welcome.

 

I would find space for it. If those are the only things on your resume then you shouldn't have much trouble.

 

I think you have to put it on there. Not that the management is bad, but the research aspect is a plus, as is working with a professor. Use your margins

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. But if talent works hard, you're fucked. I suggest you get some talent."
 

Personally, I would rather keep the fast food manager section than the research assistant one (really not kidding). As an RA, you're in all probability sitting inside a computer lab doing grunt work/bull shit regressions that no one will ever care about. For fast food, I know you've had to put up with a lot of shit, have lots of physical/mental endurance, and put up w/ really difficult people.

Just my two cents though.

 

Yes it is worth putting on your resume. - Were you recommended for this position by a faculty member/did it require a recommendation? - Did you use or learn new equipment/techniques/software? - Did you utilize qualitative or quantitative analysis? - Will the work ultimately be included as part of a lead researcher's paper in a peer reviewed journal? - Did the work demonstrate deeper understanding of a particular field? - Did you work as part of a team or supervise other more junior RAs? Did you work with someone notable or at a major institution?

You can definitely spin this to your advantage.... Better to have something "boring" than a blank summer on your resume. It will at least make you look smarter than someone who spent a summer scooping ice cream.

Make it sound as technical as possible without going too deep into jargon.

 

I was only grabbing graphs and summarizing literature. I'm considering pulling it as I didn't have too much of a hand in actual research...more grunt work. Advice?

 

I was a research assistant during undergrad- the study was really unique, so def highlighted it in interviews. As long as you can speak intelligently about it you're golden

I'm on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shine ain't always gonna be gold. I'll be fine once I get it
 

I had it on my resume (took it off because of other reasons) - people did ask about it in interviews, and an HF manager told me that it was really cool (evidently not cool enough for me to get the role in the end). I did something in the area of illiquidity risk in private equity.

In any sort of research, no matter how monotonous the tasks you're doing, you end up learning a lot about the topic you're investigating, so it's strong experience.

 

Do what you enjoy. It would be even better if the role would allow you to do more than just straight up research. For example if you could also help in the designing, planning, and execution of experiments, that may even look better.

A lot of this is about how you pitch yourself on your resume:

for example, if you were prez of your frat and you had the following on your resume, firms would buy it.:

"Cut damage costs by 50% by implementing new measure to distribute costs evenly across entire fraternity"

 

A research assistant position would look great; of course as the other poster says, it depends on how you frame it. One good way would be to cite any published articles that your professor may publish or be working on at the time (and I mean any little thing, like you checked out a book from the library).

Consulting firms LOVE concrete numbers and data and it would help you tremendously to say "helped with publishing these 3 articles in this and this journal, this issue #".

 
VUFIN:
Yea totally agree was just looking to see if there are any downsides....The constantly being busy might be attractive to firms.
BTW, you must be going to a pretty fancy school. At Illinois, almost all state schools and many private schools, RAs have their tuition requirements waived.

If you have the cash sitting around, BTW, it might be a good tax move to ask the school to apply your stipend to reducing your tuition. Tuition credits and offsets, IIRC, are tax-free, but your stipend will be taxed as income.

 

I can't say I agree with IP. What do you want to do? Do you want to be seen as the nerd who went for the PhD? This MSF is to help you into banking right? (not sure if that really will). In my opinion, you need to get real work experience with a premiere firm before you start getting additional schooling (past undergrad). Don't be the dude who passes up on an IB/PE/HF internship because your an RA. Look for an internship that you can see yourself getting hired full-time. Trust me.

-- "Those who say don't know, and those who know don't say."
 

Agree with nuts here. The incremental cost greatly outweighs the benefit.

I was in the same boat as you and was offered an RA position during my final semester. I chose to focus on marks and boosted my gpa from a 3.4 to a 3.6 and landed an internship / experience to make up for my lack for work exp, which is exactly what employers are looking for: marks and experience, primarily.

 

Thats really not an option right now. The RA position would be during the school year and I don't think getting a IB internship while in school is plausible. With a weak market a Master's degree from a good school should always be a plus....Illini what would be your rebuttal to the others ?

 
Best Response
VUFIN:
Thats really not an option right now. The RA position would be during the school year and I don't think getting a IB internship while in school is plausible. With a weak market a Master's degree from a good school should always be a plus....Illini what would be your rebuttal to the others ?

I worked as an algorithms TA for our PhD program my Junior and Senior year. They do have a bit of a point- the 20 hours/week probably did have an impact on my GPA, but it was on the order of 1/10th of a full point. I think that at the very least, you'll get a little extra handicap on your GPA from most reasonable recruiters who know about research programs. (Pretty common on the trading floor, at least) For me, being a graduate-level algorithms TA while still in undergrad was a huge selling point for recruiters, but you've got to figure out what kind of research you'll be doing and exactly which professor you'll be working with to figure this out.

If you're not in a target program, there shouldn't be any question about this- you NEED this RAship to have a shot if you want to work on the street. When I was applying for jobs from a non-target, you needed a perfect SAT score, national recognition in your field, and be the first guy to land on Mars to get an offer.

How do you feel about the debt you're taking on? Bear in mind that with a weak job market, the last thing you want is more student debt. The RAship will help keep your tuition under control.

 

10 hours a week is nothing-- trust me.

You can still pursue a paid/unpaid, off-campus internship in the meantime (provided you're close enough to local boutiques or other firms). Get the best of both worlds that way.

 

I hate when people say this is a down market. Fact is, companies are hiring. Period. If you want a job, you can get one. Shit I go to a semi-target and know of myself and 5 friends that all got IBD offers.

-- "Those who say don't know, and those who know don't say."
 

Thanks IP. The quality of the RAship will be important. I don't mind taking on the debt. I had no debt for undergrad and with a stipend and half tuitiion....I think the debt from a semi-target is well worth it. 25k can't bee too bad for a Master's degree. For undergrad I went to a non-target/good state school and didn't have the opportunities to land a position in AM/IB. I worked for a year but wanted to get into a AM.

Everyone has to make their own decision, I get a kick out of having a Master's degree and bettering the repertoire.

 

Why not both? It may be a little irrelevant, but I remember reading a story on "The Market Wizard" about a currency trader that did both during his summer.

Consumption smoothing is retarded. If you stay in this game for a handful of years, money will be the least of your worries. Live it up, because this is the one time in your life where you might actually have time to spare.
 

That sounds like interesting stuff: and it really can't hurt. I did research assistant for the Management and Organization department of my school. The research was about cultural variance in negotiations, and my duty was mainly bringing in people and giving them instructions. It was pretty repetitive but the pay was pretty good so I was pretty satisfied.

 

The transition you described is entirely possible and fairly common. But you will have to demonstrate your value and not just wait to be taught. Provided you have the time, you should be using your position to read everything investment-related you can get your hands on: internal write-ups, sell-side research, books on valuation, other investors' ideas, company filings, etc. Try to get as much hands-on experience as possible. Ask questions constantly, without being annoying. Attend meetings and events if you can - try to think of additional ways to be helpful in the research process. As long as you're still getting your core responsibilities done, you can learn a ton even in a menial role at a good firm, just by being smart and observing. If you're allowed to trade a PA, try out your own ideas and learn from what works and doesn't. Talk to your peers about the things they're working on and ideas that interest you. And if you have any specialized knowledge or regional expertise of your own (e.g. from your major or experience), try to leverage that circle of competency in developing some investing ideas or helping with the firm's existing investments.

All this assumes the people you work for are investors you respect, that it's a reasonably research-driven place, and that they're not slave drivers who get pissed off when their model monkey speaks up or does extra work. If you do everything I just described for a few years, you'll have the skillset to be a good research analyst anywhere.

 

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