2 answers
andrew
Student
South Gate, California
1
Question
Updated
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How would I go about getting, let alone applying for a job in the biochemistry field?
I'm a High School senior with no experience wondering this so I have relatively no issues when I eventually am qualified for such jobs.
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2 answers
LaTausha Myers
Medical Laboratory scientist
55
Answers
Manassas, Virginia
Updated
LaTausha’s Answer
As a high school senior, your main focus should be maintaining good grades and make plans to get a degree. You can shadow a professional. Once your in college, there will be a number of resources to help you get ready for the professional world. As you get further and take certain classes or get various certifications, internships will be available... sometimes as early as your first year. You may ask professors, advisors, check job boards or career counselors. Joining student /professional organizations is a great way to network with others to be in the know.
All the best
All the best
Joseph Neilson
Radiation Detection Physicist
244
Answers
Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Updated
Joseph’s Answer
Most jobs in biochem require at least an undergraduate degree. There may be occasional exceptions - I know in some lab work (medical labs, environmental chemistry etc), there can sometimes be high-school entry roles for some of the more basic sample handling and preprocessing tasks, However, all the actually interesting jobs that you'd want to do long-term generally require at least a degree, if not Masters or PhD.
Therefore, your immediate next steps are focusing on your schoolwork, particularly mathematics and sciences subjects, and researching college options to study for a degree in biochem (or straight biology/chemistry if you prefer or if options are limited - I think they're all relatively equally good stepping off points for biochem careers.
In terms of applying, when you get to that stage, it's a bit of a balance between playing the numbers game and tailoring applications to the role as best you can. The market for entry-level roles can be pretty difficult - you need to tailor applications and CVs to stand out, but also you have to accept that a lot of jobs will pass over newly-qualified grads in favour of those with more experience, so you are likely to see a lot of rejections - and therefore it's a numbers game of applying to lots of roles - but try to avoid scattergunning untailored applications too much - you'll have the most luck with tailored applications.
Therefore, your immediate next steps are focusing on your schoolwork, particularly mathematics and sciences subjects, and researching college options to study for a degree in biochem (or straight biology/chemistry if you prefer or if options are limited - I think they're all relatively equally good stepping off points for biochem careers.
In terms of applying, when you get to that stage, it's a bit of a balance between playing the numbers game and tailoring applications to the role as best you can. The market for entry-level roles can be pretty difficult - you need to tailor applications and CVs to stand out, but also you have to accept that a lot of jobs will pass over newly-qualified grads in favour of those with more experience, so you are likely to see a lot of rejections - and therefore it's a numbers game of applying to lots of roles - but try to avoid scattergunning untailored applications too much - you'll have the most luck with tailored applications.