research specialist

clinical research coordinator

research assistant

postdoctoral fellow

postdoctoral researcher

University of Pennsylvania

This is a temporary employment position in which I learned about meeting the customer service of the Chemistry Department at the University of Pennsylvania.  While working for client, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., I provided dedicated service at customer's facility within the University of Pennsylvania's Chemistry Department.  I performed order entry, order management, stockroom services, quote entry and material handling of equipment and materials used for scientific research via answering telephone and email inquiries.  Additionally, I independently made decisions and utilized available resources to meet customer requirements. On a daily basis, I demonstrated proficiency in Fisher Scientific mainframe systems, Fisher Scientific procedures, and customer procedures. Also, I operated Fisher Scientific Mainframe System, Fisher Scientific Internet, SAP, eScout, PeopleSoft, and Arriba. In addition, I executed third party buys as well as Agent buys. I always displayed a high level of confidentiality for both customer and Fisher. I analyzed/maintained/reconciled various customer and Fisher reports to ensure that both company requirements were met. I communicated with direct supervisor any customer issues or potential problems. I promoted personal growth and development by staying abreast of new policies and enhancements. Also, I listened to customer concerns, effectively diffused dissatisfaction, and quickly identified courses of action. Consistently achieved a goal of first call resolution within established turnaround times. I also participated in projects and performed other duties as assigned.

I was recruited for the full-time day shift position as a Pre-Heart Transplant Nurse Coordinator II. I did not apply for this position, the lead Nurse Practitioner pursued me based on recommendations from senior nurse leadership on my unit. 

I had the amazing opportunity to view two consecutive heart transplants performed by the Chief Officer of the Cardiac Surgery Division himself! He was enthusiastic to have me join him and encouraged me to ask him questions during these extraordinary procedures. This was the opportunity of a lifetime and I will never forget it. 

I quickly learned how to run weekly transplant decision meetings which included presenting potential transplant patients' medical and surgical history to a room of 30-45 healthcare providers (nurses, surgeons, physicians, case managers, pharmacists, VAD coordinators, health insurance consultants, etc). This position had the challenge of  having to learn enormous volumes of information in addition to assessing patients in the clinic as well as in the hospital.

I was told by the Director of Nursing Operations in this unit that I was doing exceptionally well! Unfortunately, shortly after accepting this position, I had to resign from HUP to care for my critically ill parent in my home. GSPP afforded me the opportunity to work a flexible schedule as well as provided me financial compensation which allowed  me to successfully adjust to my personal obligations.

Typical day at work included: early morning entrance in personal office where the identification, handling and cataloguing of skeletal remains took place. 
During my stay at the musuem, I had the opportunity to learn about my subject; i.e. physical anthropology within a musuem context (more specifically, the history, managing, observing, and conservation of human remains). Moreover, I understood how the administrative system of a musuem functions in relation to its conservational, educational, exposure, fundraising and recreational aspects. (Having also assisted in the organization of museum initiatives and activities).

My work was especially individualistic, as I spent most of my time working independently on my tasks. However, it would have been rather challenging to start without my supervisor's and her assistant's initial aid. 

As the former is a considerably important institution, the hardest part of the job (especially for someone who came from a private-school background like me), was to singly manage the advancement and progress of my work. This however, made my learning significantly more lucrative, fruitful and worthwhile. 

The most enjoyable part of the job for me was definitely the opportunity of dedicating myself to what is my greatest passion, that is anthropology, in one of the best anthropology and archaeology musuems worldwide. Absolutely enjoyed the atmosphere, the culture, and the divulgation of anthropological knowledge.

A typical day at work at the office entails seeing participants or patients, prepping the proper documents for visits, transferring specimens to the Lab or hospital and entering data for specific visits. I learned a lot at this job when I first started. I learned how to become proficient in phlebotomy, I learned how to talk with patients using strategies from motivation interviewing, I learned how to be more organized and detail oriented and most of all I learned how to be a professional. The management is here at Penn is always great. They set a standard for all employees to provide nothing but the best care for others. They also look out for employees and are very flexible in scheduling vacation time or sick time. The environment here is one that is friendly and challenging. The workplace culture is very accepting of everyone and allows one to grow within the company both professionally and personally. It is challenging as well because there are always situations that require you to adapt and take on more tasks or a bigger role within the office.The hardest part of the job would be trying to balance your workload and not become burnt out. The most enjoyable part of the job is being able to interact with participants and co workers. The possibility of knowing that a conversation you had with a participant may have changed their life for the better is very rewarding as well.

ULAR- University Laboratory Animal Research is the most unprofessional place that I've ever worked for.  The only way a female can advance or get promoted to a higher position is if she have sex with them.  And there are a few managers that are sleeping with the females in this department.  The managerment is very unprofessional and are not properly trained.  There have been previous sexual harassment cases against the managers that works for this company.  They don't care about you as a person, the only thing this place worry about are the animals.  They don't care about your family, whether its a death, someone sick even your own children, THEY DON'T CARE!!!!!!!  There are some good managers within the department( about 2).  If you have any problems you have nowhere to go because Human Resources believe everything these managers say.  Another way you can get promoted is if you are related to the Associate director, or you are a part of his squad.  So most of these reviews arwe very false if they are pretaining to ULAR, and the benefits are horrible, they don't even pay for school nomore.  Most of the managers and supervisor are qualify nor have the exprience for the position that they are in. We as animal care tech don't get a raise, we are under paid and we work hard for the things we do.  I think someone needs to look into this company because there is alot of illegal things going on in this place.

Mirroring what the above review has stated; employment in this company really depends on the team and your supervisors. Like the above poster, I found that my supervisor was more interested in handling personal family affairs then with the training of his employees. Training was utterly non existent unless you consider being in the same room as a manager hunches over his computer and mutters to himself while working and ignores or deflects all attempts at questioning as training.

Utilization of skills and allocation of tasks was another persistent problem, as the job listed became less of an Information Technology professional, and more of a mover, desk clerk, and even personal assistant.  There would be hours of time where no task would be given, and any attempt at asking for further tasks would be met with administrative busy work, office upkeep and cleanliness or routine physical labor. 

With the right management, and a more developed training scheme, this position could have had potential, instead, it led to a disorganized conjunction of work that the manager admitted they had no intention of hiring for, nor any clearly defined idea of what the employee would do once they got there.

The atmosphere and environment are very pleasant, and every client that I had the pleasure of working for were engaging, helpful and kind.

Working as an IT Support Specialist at the Wharton School offered a rewarding balance of technical problem-solving and people-focused support. A typical day involved assisting faculty, staff, and Ph.D. students with a wide range of technology needs, from troubleshooting devices to supporting research projects and events. I learned how to manage competing priorities, strengthen communication with end-users, and work effectively with both academic and administrative staff.

Management was approachable and supportive, encouraging professional development and offering guidance on complex issues. The workplace culture was collaborative and respectful, with a strong focus on teamwork and service excellence. The hardest part of the job was balancing urgent requests during peak times, such as conferences or semester starts, but it was also the most rewarding when everything ran smoothly.

The most enjoyable aspect was building relationships with faculty and staff while gaining hands-on experience with diverse technologies in a world-class academic setting. Overall, it was an excellent environment to grow both technical expertise and interpersonal skills.

Great nursing and ems colleagues. management horrible on nursing end. bad to the point that attending physicians make it known openly that they felt the interim nurse manager was incompentent and also unfair  enforcement of non existent policys towards staff that were not her favorites. the er at hup has become increasingly hostile and . is the worst manager I have had in my 14 year career. she is consistently caught lying and then throws employees under her for disciplinary action. I had two siezures while in work had no incident reports filed, I had er care and was fired 5 days after my second seizure for a call out in regards to the fall from 4 days earlier. your fellow coworkers are great MANAGEMENT IS HORRIBLE. the interim manager fired myself and one other person and in three weeks was bumped up to permanet manger. penn medicince should have brought outside management in. managers in healthcare should never be bumped up within their unit. the most enoyable part was the coworkers i met and the patients i helped during their time of crisis.   also human resources is a joke it is a front that protects management and screws employees, hence the nonexistent policies that i still never recieved.

A typical day for me at HireIT (Upenn) is as follow:

•	Establish stretching performance measures to ensure Service Levels are met and exceeded
•	Generate and analyze ACD data
•	Build dashboard reports to present findings and track performance
•	Manage ticket queues and maintain ‘healthy average ticket age’
•	Solicit direct customer input on service performance through CSAT programs
•	Serve as an escalation point to resolve customer issues and concerns whilst enabling the company sales organization to maintain and grow associated service revenues
•	Manage Global Helpdesk function and team of Technical Engineers (TSE’s)
•	Acts as Escalation Point for Helpdesk events and/or business continuity planning
•	Develop the capabilities of the Global Helpdesk through key skills growth and talent acquisition
•	Build and maintain KPI’s to measure service performance
•	Drive and implement Performance Management culture
•	Establish productive, professional relationships with key personnel in strategic customer accounts
•	Responsible for maintaining and building the level of expertise required to provide industry-leading service as well as maintaining the appropriate levels of training to support our partner accreditations

Penn is truly a wonderful place to work. Everyone there was bright, mutual respect is the norm, and we worked together as a team. It was a shame I had to be let go, but they had no other choice. NIH budget cuts resulted in our researchers winning less grants, so there was not enough work to keep me busy. They could've let me go a lot earlier than they did, but they're good people and kept me as long as they could.

A huge perk is access to Pottruck Fitness Center and Sheer Pool. They're Division 1 athletics facilities. It's the best gym you'll ever experience.

The only con is they can be pretty stingy with pay, but it's a university, not a corporation. There's less money to throw around, but we got paid less than our peers at other universities and labs despite having more skills, responsibilities, and formal education requirements.

I started out low and moved up twice, so that was positive, but for 2 years I worked 40 hrs/week and was denied health benefits despite being extremely sick that left me w/ chronic asthma. That was pretty disrespectful, but my boss really fought the administration to get me the health coverage I needed, albeit to no avail. I appreciated that a lot.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Research specialist 332 salaries reported	$55,108 per year
Clinical research coordinator 230 salaries reported	$52,623 per year
Research assistant 30 salaries reported	$14.19 per hour
Postdoctoral fellow 26 salaries reported	$68,412 per year
Postdoctoral researcher 25 salaries reported	$64,370 per year

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