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Old 31-08-2017, 11:07 AM
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You should not be applying for Research Coordinator position. These are administrative and coordination work which have little to no use of your degree in Life Sciences. You will be overqualified for it. A Research Coordinator is basically a clerk that does paperwork such as IRB applications, advertising for research recruitment, and doing reimbursement. While some of this overlaps with the role of a Research Assistant (RA), typically in a big research organisation, there will be Research Coordinators to handle the administration while the RA does the statistical analyses, run the research, and interpret the data. Therefore, you should be applying for Research Assistant positions.

What you should instead be pondering is the fact that you have no experience in research at all since you have graduated. It will be challenging to argue that the one year of non-research experience would be transferable unless you are working in a similar sector. My advice to you is to try to argue for the transferable skills from the one year of work experience, and also use your research experience from your FYP/Thesis during your degree program. This should differentiate you from fresh degree holders vying for the same position as you.

Remember that you should be applying for a research assistant position. Below is a rough idea of the ranks in research.

Research Coordinator - Administrative position (Diploma holders) $1.8k - $2.5k
Research Assistant - Research and statistical analysis work $2.6k - $3.2k
Research Associate - Graduate position (Masters) $3.5k - $4k +
Research Fellow - Post-doc/PhD $5k onwards

Below is a list of places where you could try applying:
1. Institutions of Higher Education (NUS, NTU - Go to their taleo portal)
2. Research Agencies (AStar etc)
3. Restructured/Private Hospitals/Polyclinics (NUH, SGH, SingHealth, NHG etc)
4. Private biomedical research firms (Go to Biopolis website and look at the tenants)
5. Public Service (AVA, HSA, NEA)

The difference between a clinical researcher and a researcher is that for the former, you need to have clinical experience. You do research related to human subjects and this tends to be medical/pharmaceutical in nature. It is generally quite tough to enter the clinical research realm unless you did research in the biomedical side during your university.

Finally, remember that if you intend to venture into research, you need to be prepared to pursue further education. Otherwise, there are very limited opportunities for growth and promotion. Your pay progression would be capped eventually. Most people do research with the aim of eventually pursuing a PhD and doing their own research, rather than working under someone's.
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