Overview
Research assistant positions are competitive because they sit at the entry point of an academic or industry research career. Every applicant has a science degree. The difference between the ones who get interviews and the ones who do not often comes down to how clearly they can describe what they actually did in the lab.
Callum Fraser graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a Biomedical Sciences degree and two research placements. His resume stands out because he lists specific techniques, quantities, and outcomes rather than vague descriptions of "laboratory experience."
What Makes This Resume Work
Technical skills are embedded in context. Callum does not just list "flow cytometry" in his skills section and leave it at that. In his job descriptions, he explains that he performed flow cytometry analysis on 12 tissue samples, gating for specific markers. This tells a PI or lab manager that he has genuine hands-on experience, not just a lecture's worth of knowledge.
The research placements tell a story. His summer placement at the Roslin Institute involved DNA extraction from 120 bacterial isolates and preparing sequencing libraries. His honours project at the Centre for Inflammation Research involved cell culture, qPCR, and flow cytometry. Together, these show a progression from following protocols to running independent experiments.
Teaching experience adds depth. His role as a biology tutor demonstrates communication skills and a solid understanding of fundamentals. Helping 22 students improve their grades shows he can explain complex ideas clearly, which matters in any lab where collaboration is part of the work.
Key Takeaways
For lab roles, your resume needs to show what techniques you can do, not just what subjects you studied. Count the assays you ran, the samples you processed, the instruments you used. If your project contributed to a publication or a poster, mention it. If you won a scholarship or award, include it. Research PIs are looking for candidates who can walk into a lab and start producing reliable results with minimal training.
