Ryan/Tegan: Did you get your “something like thirty times lower” estimate from any particular research organization(s)?
This is an order-of magnitude estimate based on experience at various orgs. I’ve asked to be a research assistant for various top researchers, and generally I’m the only person asking at that time. I’ve rarely heard from researchers that someone has asked to research-assist with them. Some of this is because RA job descriptions are less common but I would guess that there is still an effect even when there are RA job descriptions.
This isn’t really comparing like with like however—in one case you’re doing cold outreach and in others there are established application processes. It might make more sense to compare the demand for researcher positions with e.g. the Toby Ord’s Research Assistant position.
But if your point is that people should be more willing to do cold outreach for research assistant positions like you did, that seems fair.
Were any of the RA positions advertised or were they exclusively cold outreach? I can’t think of times when I’ve seen this sort of position being advertised (context being that I’ve mostly looked at effective animal advocacy research positions, and very occasionally positions at meta EA orgs)
I’m interested if these sorts of “assistant” roles crop up very often, be it in research or otherwise.
If they aren’t formally advertised, do you think that people have to accept very low salaries to have a decent chance of securing a role? If an org/researcher has a need for an assistant, why wouldn’t they have advertised for it?
I hear more people do cold outreach about being a researcher than RA, and my guess is that 3-10x more people apply for researcher than RA jobs even when they are advertised. I think it’s a combination of those two factors.
My recommendation would be that people apply more to RA jobs that are advertised, and also reach out to make opportunities for themselves when they are not.
I think about half of researchers can use research assistants, whether or not they are currently hiring for one. A major reason researchers don’t make research assistant positions available is they don’t expect to find one worth hiring, and so don’t want to incur the administrative burden. Or maybe they don’t feel comfortable asking their bosses for this. But if you are a strong candidate, coldly reaching out may result in you being hired or may trigger a hiring round for that position. Although often strong candidates would be people I have met at an EA conference, that got far in an internship application, or that has been referred to me.
I don’t think the salaries would be any lower than competitive rates.
This is an order-of magnitude estimate based on experience at various orgs. I’ve asked to be a research assistant for various top researchers, and generally I’m the only person asking at that time. I’ve rarely heard from researchers that someone has asked to research-assist with them. Some of this is because RA job descriptions are less common but I would guess that there is still an effect even when there are RA job descriptions.
This isn’t really comparing like with like however—in one case you’re doing cold outreach and in others there are established application processes. It might make more sense to compare the demand for researcher positions with e.g. the Toby Ord’s Research Assistant position.
But if your point is that people should be more willing to do cold outreach for research assistant positions like you did, that seems fair.
Were any of the RA positions advertised or were they exclusively cold outreach? I can’t think of times when I’ve seen this sort of position being advertised (context being that I’ve mostly looked at effective animal advocacy research positions, and very occasionally positions at meta EA orgs)
I’m interested if these sorts of “assistant” roles crop up very often, be it in research or otherwise.
If they aren’t formally advertised, do you think that people have to accept very low salaries to have a decent chance of securing a role? If an org/researcher has a need for an assistant, why wouldn’t they have advertised for it?
I hear more people do cold outreach about being a researcher than RA, and my guess is that 3-10x more people apply for researcher than RA jobs even when they are advertised. I think it’s a combination of those two factors.
My recommendation would be that people apply more to RA jobs that are advertised, and also reach out to make opportunities for themselves when they are not.
I think about half of researchers can use research assistants, whether or not they are currently hiring for one. A major reason researchers don’t make research assistant positions available is they don’t expect to find one worth hiring, and so don’t want to incur the administrative burden. Or maybe they don’t feel comfortable asking their bosses for this. But if you are a strong candidate, coldly reaching out may result in you being hired or may trigger a hiring round for that position. Although often strong candidates would be people I have met at an EA conference, that got far in an internship application, or that has been referred to me.
I don’t think the salaries would be any lower than competitive rates.