Strongly considering Master's level positions given my poor Ph.D experience. Would this look alright for future employment?

Career Opportunities & Internships
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Hey everyone,

I’m hot off the heels of my old panic post in this case. Fortunately, nothing consequential is going to come out of it. I’m currently following up because I finally have the opportunity to do something that’s low stress for me should this upcoming interview go well for me. The position is a Clinical Research Coordinator position. However, it would come at the expense of being potentially underemployed in this case.

Does pivoting to Master’s level jobs look bad when someone has a Ph.D? I was told previously to not worry about overqualification so I’m not concerned about that.

I’m also doing this because everything that could go wrong with my Ph.D has gone wrong and more (low Master’s GPA, funding cuts, no publications, only one manuscript, worked on only one project at a time, developed multiple psychiatric conditions, visiting position going poorly, etc.).

With all of those details out of the way, I’ve been applying for positions with my Ph.D that may as well be an advanced Master’s degree at best. I recently got a conditional job offer for a psychology technician position in a federal prison and am about to interview for a clinical research coordinator position. The former position is one where I’m overqualified because they want someone with “18 credit hours of graduate experience” while I fit the qualifications for the clinical research coordinator position since I don’t have my Ph.D yet.

After my Ph.D, I really want to stick to being a clinical research coordinator (if I get it) given what I’ve developed over the course of the program and need to pivot to a lower stress job so I can avoid the stressors that led to my autistic burnout this year in the first place. It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get any letters of recommendation from this SLAC either given how poorly its gone all throughout this academic year.

Would sticking to a clinical research coordinator position not look favorably to future employers if I ever look for a job in the future? Is there a chance I’d be overqualified if I went to another clinical research coordinator position in the future after my Ph.D is conferred? I’d like to know.

I’m also looking into Research Assistant positions or anything else with similar duties as a Clinical Research Coordinator.

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I thought you were working with someone in terms of a job search. Really, why aren’t you fully accessing the resources they have for you?

IIRC, Vocational rehab was helping you? Is that correct? If so, please work with that person who can help you incentive jobs with your needs.

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Adding…research assistants are usually grad students pursuing a masters or doctoral program. You will be done with that.

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In short, I’m accessing vocational rehabilitation but its less robust than I thought. Still beneficial since they’re sending me 10 job leads a week and can even apply to them for me. They’ve admitted to me that they don’t know much about my field (Experimental Psychology) at all and can point me in the right direction based on keywords and other descriptions I give them. To their credit, they’ve done a fantastic job at pointing me in the direction of jobs that are a fit.

Vocational rehabilitation has kept the ball in my court for the most part as they seem to trust my self awareness given that I already have a Master’s.

As for a research assistant position as a full time job, I actually know an alum who completed the standalone MS portion of Experimental Psychology at my current institution and he’s a full time research assistant for a private company who makes pay that’s around what my visiting position pays me right now. So, those positions exist but I’m thinking they’re hard to come by?