INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Research Associate positions are at a 7% growth rate, which is as fast as average. With that said, there are currently 87,600 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 5,900 to 93,500 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Research Associate jobs was $46,340 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $30,440, and the highest 10% more than $74,600.
Our conclusion? The Research Associate job market is wide open for candidates.
Top Research Associate sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a Research Associate resume experience section
Research Associate Resume’s Job Experience Checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Research Associate resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Covering cotton and sugar (soft commodity sector)
- Building and updating various databases and models maintained by the team
- Wrote up morning brief and weekly updates to trading team, produced research reports;
- Performed clinical manufacturing in a GMP manufacturing facility, following batch records and SOPs
- Conducted research and troubleshooting regarding optimal equipment use for different process steps
- Wrote standard operating procedures (SOPs) regarding use of process equipment
- Performed research for the Biophysical Characterization Group in the analysis of final formulation stability and efficacy
- Trained in the use of Dynamic Light Scattering and Light Scattering in tandem with analytical chromatography
- Provided clients with formal reports discussing the analysis of their products
- Recognized for 4 separated ACES awards for outstanding performance
- Included as a co-author in the publication of the group's work
- Drafted and executed strategic plans to establish and further existing projects
- Executed proof of concept implementations to validate product feasibility
- Monitored team progress, developed presentations, timescales and led meetings with department executives to review project status and future steps
- Provided experimental and design support to teams of undergraduates and graduates, managed three projects from start to completion
- Trained 3 interns for six months in biochemical procedures to guarantee consistent quality of reactions while maintaining GLP
- Collect, Collate, Organize and Analyse the market research data
- Conduct interview of customers for their feedback.
- Arrange and coordinate Business and customer face to face.
- Participated in the post launch market research of CNN IBN, Times Now.
- Successfully managed multiple upgrades of a key web-based enterprise software system, as well as providing technical support, bug ticket triage, and end-user training.
- Provided maintenance and troubleshooting services for legacy applications.
- Implemented custom web-based applications to support laboratory information retrieval and process automation needs.
- Researched and designed lab automation data integration workflows.
- Sucessfully collaborated with external vendor partners to implement custom software enhancements and system integration solutions.
- Conceptualized, planned, designed, and implemented a suite of automated processes and services to support corporate research goals.
- Wrote custom software applications to support laboratory workflows.
- Successfully managed business relationships with colleagues across multiple departments and multiple sites.
- Successfully provided customer-side management of sales and support relationships with multiple technology platform vendors.
- Acted as Lead CRA for assigned site, including mentoring Jr CRAs.
- Trained inexperienced site staff in protocol and study-related activities.
- Mantained close relationship with the client while being exclusively assigned to service that account.
- Responsible for reviewing all regulatory dossiers before submission to Regulatory Agency.
- Created and assisted in developing monitoring control tools, protocol reviews and user's guidelines for clients eTools.
- Created templates for study protocols, informed consent forms (ICF) and case report forms (CRF).
- Planned and lead update meetings with client and Investigators to discuss progress, key challenges and alignments.
- Evaluated the quality and integrity of study data and adherence to applicable regulations.
- Exceeded sponsor's expectations developing teamwork within 8 other CRAs assigned to the same site.
- Performed blinded/unblinded activities.
- Provided assistance to less experienced clinical staff in Good Clinical Practices.
- In charge of company's and client's systems completion and trainings.
- Administered protocol and study-related trainings to assigned sites and established regular lines of communication with sites to manage ongoing project expectations and issues.
- Managed the progress of assigned studies by tracking regulatory submissions and approvals, recruitment and enrollment, case report form (CRF) completion and submission, and data query generation and resolution.
- Synthesized and analyzed nano-scale semiconductor materials with controlled sizes and shapes
- Fabricated thin films from nano-scale semiconducting materials using solution processes
- Fabricated photovoltaic devices from nano-scale semiconductor materials and analyze efficiencies
- Studied the surface effect of various ligands on film’s efficiencies using multiple optical techniques
- Reported findings at technical conferences and in peer reviewed publications
- Filter content of interest from mainstream media sources, law enforcement, regulatory enforcement and financial regulatory agencies
- Accurately assess high-risk individuals from the region of responsibility available in the various company datasets
- Data processing and research activities
- Implementation and assessment of greenhouse and field studies for mine tailings re-vegetation using different soil amendments and native plant species.
- Conduct analysis of Neutrophilic heterotrophic bacteria, DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Real-time PCR.
- Soil and plant tissue sample collection and analysis.
- Researched machine learning techniques for automated design space exploration on the full software-hardware stack for embedded SLAM.
- Researched ideas for tight integration between 3D object localization and SLAM.
- Led the computer vision efforts on a large UK EPSRC project, to produce an opensource benchmark suite SLAMBench, which is used by major players including Google, ARM, Samsung, Movidius, Codeplay etc.
- Supervised MSc theses on a variety of topics include sparse coding for object detection, object learning in real-time on GPUs, SLAM design space exploration.
- Designed research approaches and led evaluation methodologies to meet the clients’ needs given the available quantitative and qualitative data sources
- Conducted key informant interviews and focus groups for qualitative analysis on client satisfaction, health outcomes, accessibility, and caregiver burden
- Utilized policy analysis skills to inform clients of the impacts and opportunities of the policies on the programs and their outcomes
- Market Research , Data Analysis & Financial Forecasting
- Business Strategies, Market Trends and Current Scenario
- Market Estimates, Forecasts, Insights & Strategies
PRO TIP
Include quantitative data throughout your Research Associate resume to impress the hiring manager. Real facts and figures that show off your competency as an audit manager go a long way. Did you reduce the costs of audits? Manage a large team? Boosted efficiency? Show off the real numbers!
Action Verbs for your Research Associate Resume
Recommended reads:
Research Associate Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume Skills Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Skills for your Research Associate resume
- Industry-orientated approach
- Reporting
- Research
- Project Management
- Business Process Improvement
- C++
- Python
- Critical thinking
- Problem Solving
- Creativity
- Innovation
- Organisation
- Attention to details
- Caution
PRO TIP
When picking skills to feature in your resume, make sure they'll be relevant to the position you’re applying to. The point of listing skills is for you to stand out from the competition. Stay away from repetitive, meaningless skills that everyone uses in their resumes. Or else, they’ll backfire and make you look like an average candidate.
Recommended reads:
Research Associate Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
CHECKLIST For Your Research Associate Resume Header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have policies about identifying information like photos on your Research Associate resume. Be sure to check all the relevant rules before submitting yours. If you’re in doubt, you can always try contacting the company’s HR department to ask for their policy.
Research Associate Resume Summary Best Practices
Checklist: What to include in your Research Associate resume summary:
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume Summary Formula:
PRO TIP
Your summary should act as an elevator speech, briefly promoting how you will benefit the employer if hired. Pitch your strengths in the summary and expand on them in your Research Associate experience section. Give examples like how your work benefited each employer.
Recommended reads:
Listing Your Education, Certifications and Courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Certifications for your Research Associate resume
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
There are dozens of certifications that you can claim as a Research Associate. But, some are more effective than others. That’s why you mustn’t include every certificate other applicants might have. Try instead to earn and list a few of the difficult ones.
Research Associate Resume: Additional Writing & Formatting Tips
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Research Associate Resume Summary best practices
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Test your draft Research Associate resume by sending it out to peers and mentors in your circles. Ask them to review it as if they are hiring you for a project and implement the feedback afterwards.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Research Associate resume:
Research Associate Resume: How to Make Yours More Creative & Stand Out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Research Associate resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What Makes a Great Research Associate Resume: Key Takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
