# Lab Rat Appreciation / Job Seeker Support crossover. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 8, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-rat-appreciation-job-seeker-support-crossover/448524 "2008-05-08T03:41:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-rat-appreciation-job-seeker-support-crossover/448524/1 "2008-05-08T03:41:40Z")
Both the Lab Rat Appreciation Day and Job Seeker Support threads have fallen off the front pages, and I didn’t have any luck seeking the latter, so here’s a postscript to let those following in those threads where I mentioned applying for to be a Laboratory Assistant at the mental hospital that I was invited for an Oral Examination next week. This would be a cool job for me to get. Just the right sort of niche for me to fester in. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-rat-appreciation-job-seeker-support-crossover/448524/2 "2008-05-08T16:33:06Z")
[QUOTE=The Sonoran Lizard King] Both the Lab Rat Appreciation Day and Job Seeker Support threads have fallen off the front pages, and I didn’t have any luck seeking the latter, so here’s a postscript to let those following in those threads where I mentioned applying for to be a Laboratory Assistant at the mental hospital that I was invited for an Oral Examination next week. This would be a cool job for me to get. Just the right sort of niche for me to fester in. [/QUOTE] Cool, good luck. I’ve never heard of an interview referred to as an “Oral Examination”; I was wondering briefly why they cared that you see a dentist. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-rat-appreciation-job-seeker-support-crossover/448524/3 "2008-05-09T02:44:02Z")
This is California, they do _everything_ just a little different here. I think it’s a point of pride. Or maybe they are going to look into my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-rat-appreciation-job-seeker-support-crossover/448524/4 "2008-05-09T03:17:31Z")
Missed the edit window. Any Doper Lab Rats have any advice for me? I don’t have any laboratry experience, just general competency and science literacy. ---
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-rat-appreciation-job-seeker-support-crossover/448524/5 "2008-05-09T17:25:17Z")
Play up the experience you do have. You’ve gotten some lab experience in school, so if it comes up, rattle off a list of procedures you’ve done and/or understand in principle. For me, when I had no experience, my interviewers were less concerned with what I hadn’t done (lab work) and more concerned with what I had. They asked me a lot of questions like “Give us an example of a time when you found that your workload was too heavy for the time allotted to complete it. What did you do and what was the result?” And not all of the examples I gave to questions like that related to a lab in any way-- many of them were from waiting tables, or working at Pizza Hut, or just being a college student. Basically, they want to know that you can work quickly, efficiently, and accurately, that you are a professional person who acts with integrity, and that you will exhibit courtesy and cooperativity when dealing with your co-workers and/or customers. Be prepared to give many examples of specific times when you have done things demonstrative of those types of qualities. Mostly, anyone can learn to perform simple laboratory tasks. It’s the “being a good employee and a trustworthy person” part that’s important, until you get to much higher levels. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-rat-appreciation-job-seeker-support-crossover/448524/6 "2008-05-10T02:43:45Z")
Thanks, Nevermore. That’s good. The literature they gave me says I’ll have an opportunity to present letters of recomendation and reference, and I have examples of those that you have to open like the Malibu’s trunk from ‘Repo Man’. OK, maybe I exaggerate a little. “_The Sonoran Lizard King has recently been cannonized, and spends his spare time polishing his halo with a kleenex box he keeps stuffed with his Nobel Prizes_.”