Department toolkit
The Science & Research Student Toolkit
Everything to set up before you apply — in the order research and lab employers look for it.
Why this order, for science & research
Research hiring runs on specifics: which techniques you actually ran, on what instruments, under whose supervision, and who can confirm it happened. A thesis or lab role becomes real work to an outside reader only when it's described in the plain, precise language a hiring lab or company uses — not the abstract voice of a paper.
Because so much of the proof lives in someone else's memory of your work, a person who can vouch for it — plus a story that translates lab language into industry language — carries more weight here than in most fields; direct postings from labs and companies matter more than a broad job board.
- 1Your three-sentence storyTranslate your research into the plain language a hiring lab or company uses — 'ran daily instrument analysis on production samples' lands harder than restating a thesis abstract.
- 2Set up LinkedIn like a professionalA recommendation from a supervisor or lab manager who can vouch for your technique matters more here than almost any other field — ask for one before you need it.
- 3A one-page resume structure that worksList techniques and instruments by name, not just 'lab experience' — a reviewer scanning for someone who's actually run the work looks for specifics like that first.
- 4A simple personal site you can stand behindA short project or thesis summary written for a general reader, not a paper for reviewers, shows you can bridge research into industry language.
- 5Go straight to the source: company career pagesLabs, research groups, and companies hiring for bench roles mostly post directly on their own pages rather than a broad board — check them on a regular rhythm.
- 6How applicant tracking systems actually read your resumeEven research-adjacent roles at larger organizations get screened by software first — keep technique and instrument names as plain text, not inside tables or images.
Before you apply — the checklist
- Story that translates your research into plain, industry language
- One person lined up who can vouch for your lab work if contacted
- Resume naming actual techniques and instruments, not just 'lab experience'
- Resume saved as PDF, named FirstLast_Resume
- Short research summary written for a non-specialist reader
- Target labs' and companies' career pages bookmarked
- Know where you stand: your free Knock Number