Good afternoon,
I wanted to vent a little and ask for some advice. For some quick background info: I graduated in 2020 but had to postpone my interests in grad school and research for a few years. I started trying to get back into research in 2023 after working as a teacher for a while. My main interests are disease ecology and conservation. After I transitioned to trying to get into grad school again I worked as lab assistant at a community college for a while, and even was lucky enough to get a research internship with a prestigious institution last year. However, the internship wasn’t in my chosen field or even one I’m interested on continuing in, and the publications resulting from my work won’t be submitted for a long time.
Since my internship ended, I’ve been unable to find any additional opportunities, and I wasn’t really able to leverage any of the connections I made at my internship. I’ve applied for countless Lab tech and research assistant jobs across several job boards with no luck. I know the job market is tough right now, but I’m beginning to lose hope. As it stands, I’ve gained 0 experience this past year, and so I doubt my applications will be any better received than last time. I just don’t really know what to do, and I feel like I’m wasting away throwing my heart and soul into this and getting nowhere. Maybe my cover letters and resume suck, or maybe I’m just not good enough for my application to merit a second look. I don’t know. Every single professor I’ve reached out to with the interest of joining their lab either ghosts me or ultimately chooses other applicants.
I’m sorry this is mostly venting. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a win, and I’m really considering giving up. I know the mistakes that lead me here, I just don’t know how to move forward, and I feel like I’m running out of time.
Does anyone have any advice for standing out in applications and cold emails, beyond showing an interest in someone’s past and present research?
The few interviews I’ve had have all gone really well, but I just don’t get the position. I’ve told multiple times I’m the second or third best applicant, so how do I actually move past that step?