Market Research Jobs
If you’re going into the field of market research, you’ll be focusing on learning more about the markets for advertising and sales. You may find yourself working for a large company in conjunction with their marketing or development department, working to find out more about the groups of consumers you’re targeting. With this information, the company in question can create or advertise their products in the best ways possible.
Generally, these positions are going to require at least a bachelor’s degree in either marketing or business. Having both of these degrees or an additional degree in advertising could give you an advantage over the competition. You may also want to get some experience in a marketing department to learn how to find out more about customers. This experience can help you get marketing research job or possibly a research analyst job.
Clinical Research Jobs
If you’re going to be doing clinical research, you should know that this term could be applied to several different fields. Clinical research is normally reserved, however, for the hard sciences and social sciences which use this type of research to learn more about their subjects. In order to secure one of these jobs, you will need a degree in a relevant field. If you are working on such a degree, you may be able to assist in clinical research.
One example of clinical research might be a study of how memory is affected by stress. The experiment might include placing the participant’s arm in ice cold water while showing them a show or slides to remember. Then their memory could be tested against control figures to determine the cold’s affect. If you were working in clinical research, you might help set up and conduct this type of experiment.
Clinical research can be done in a wide variety of settings. Today, some people take part in prescription medication studies that would be another example of clinical research you could work on. However, you would need a degree in either medicine or nursing to do so.
Internet Research Jobs
One of the newest forms of employment entails working as an Internet researcher. The title doesn’t mean you’ll be looking for information about the Internet -- instead, the web will be the primary tool for your work. However, many Internet researchers do conduct other types of research as well, although they tend to work in a freelance capacity and transmit their work via online channels.
While freelance work in this area is booming, you can also find part-time and full-time positions working for companies requiring a great deal of research. Print-on-demand publishers, for example, sometimes need researchers on staff to help writers document the facts in their books. You could also do Internet research for marketing companies and businesses interested in launching new products.
Doing this type of work will not necessarily require a degree, but most employers would expect a high school diploma and some college. You’ll also need to demonstrate experience using the Internet in an advanced capacity.
Finding Positions
Regardless of which of the above types of research jobs you are interested in, the bottom line is that you’ll need to find the available jobs in order to do them. Because of the nature of research work, you aren’t likely to find the positions advertised in local want ads. Most are going to need to reach a much broader audience and are more likely to be found via the Internet.
If you’re going to be doing a job search online, you should know where to look. First, you should consider using a site that allows you to enter and save criteria desirable job descriptions. This makes your search easier because you can then be notified any time a position meeting your needs is added to the site. That also gives you an advantage because you can apply quickly and get a leg up on the competition.
Another idea is to look for a job site that specializes in these types of positions. Although you won’t find many, some do exist and can make finding what you want much easier.
Other Job Hunting Tips
When you start your search, be sure to have a solid resume that really does give potential employers a good reason to hire you for their needs. Don’t be vague about your experiences. Use concrete examples and numbers to express your accomplishments in the most glowing terms.
Additionally, you need to have some idea of how far you’d be willing to travel for an available position. Either that, or ask yourself if telecommuting would be a good choice for you.
