grad skool rulz – finding a research assistant
Viewer mail! With her permission, Valerie from New Hampshire wrote the following:
I’m a reader of orgtheory and I enjoy the grad school rulz stuff from your blog (I love professional development type things). I have a question to pose for a next edition– how do you find and hire good research assistants? I’m particularly interested in non-PhD student RAs, but I assume there are similar principles. Basically, if you have a resume, writing sample, and time to interview, how would identify people who are bright, hard working, can finish tasks in a timely manner, have a good nose for research, etc? I’m finding myself at a loss, since you can’t exactly get much out of asking, “So… are you hard working?”
Good question. Here is what I wrote back:
For undergrads, I use the following rules: They need to have taken a course from me and get a B or higher, or they need a reference from another prof and a 3.0 GPA or higher.
The thresholds vary. Then, I usually assess the student. I give them some simple task to do. If they do it well, they move on to more ambitious things. Otherwise, I phase them out by giving them very easy tasks.
I find people by talking about RA’ships in my courses. I have lectures, so many potential recruits. The undergrad coordinator also knows I need people. That brings 2-4 people a semester.
Another tactic: I look for students who have done “nitty gritty” work of some type, like working in a biology lab. They know profs are looking for hard working people who need boring work done. If they are willing to do it again, they’re probably good workers.
Write your own tips in the comments and don’t forget to check out the Grad Skool Rulz book (it’s cheap).
Adverts: From Black Power/Grad Skool Rulz
I have cultivated an ally in recruiting talented, highly productive undergraduate RAs: the undergraduate teaching coordinator for my department. Because he is responsible for nominating students for various awards and fellowships, for coordinating with faculty advisors, and managing student transfers, he is uniquely positioned to identify RA candidates to send to me. (The implicit contract is that I treat them well or I’ll lose my privileged access.) I schedule a 20 minute interview with the students, followed by a reading assignment the requires abstracting and tracking down 3-5 references to be abstracted as well. If they can show enthusiasm for the subject and the process a week later, they are hired. Last year, I interviewed a sophomore transferring in from biochemistry. I assigned Obstfeld’s 2005 ASQ paper on tertius iungens and she tracked down Simmel (in translation) and showed skill in abstracting the pieces. I hired her on the spot. Subsequently, she taught herself UCINet and completed a research poster.
I never use résumés for choosing undergrad and MS students. They are completely useless as information sources. I don’t care that they are recruiting VP for their Greek house… I am also unconvinced of the value of my colleagues’ evaluations of students in their courses. Most of them are sorting on other attributes than I seek in my RAs. I have found, instead, that participants in undergraduate research internships and fellowships are easy to identify through the sponsoring office or at the research fair where they present papers and posters.
Randy
November 5, 2011 at 5:48 pm
I have had some luck with students who are very very good in research methods courses but otherwise do not have super-high GPAs. They are more motivated to work hard on the project, as they know they have fewer other opportunities to stand out.
Mikaila
November 6, 2011 at 5:03 pm