Research opportunities
How to get a research position with no experience
Almost every researcher got their first position with no research experience, so professors do not expect it. What they want is evidence that you will show up, follow instructions carefully and stay long enough to be worth training. Your coursework, other jobs and schedule can show all of that.
- Experience expected
- None for most volunteer and entry roles
- What replaces it
- Relevant courses, projects and reliable hours
- Good first tasks
- Data entry, literature searches, running sessions
- Don't open with
- An apology for having no experience
What to offer instead of experience
Training a new student costs a lab hours of someone's time, so taking you on is a bet that you will stay and be useful. You make that bet easier with things you already have:
- A course that taught a method the lab uses, such as statistics, a chemistry lab or research methods
- A class project, even a small one, where you finished something with data or code
- A job that proves reliability: retail shifts, tutoring, childcare, a campus job
- Tools you can use today, like spreadsheets, R or Python, or a reference manager such as Zotero
- A clear number of hours per week and the terms you are available
Roles that don't need experience
Every lab has work that needs care more than skill, and that is where new students start. In a psychology or linguistics lab it might be running participants through a set script or coding video recordings. In a wet lab it is washing glassware, making up solutions, labelling samples and tracking inventory. In almost any field it includes entering data, checking spreadsheets for errors and gathering papers for a literature review.
None of this is glamorous. Doing it well for a term is how you get handed a real piece of a project.
Reframing your email
Students without experience often open with an apology for it. Cut that line. The professor can see your year and your resume. Use the space for the paper that brought you to their lab and the one skill you can use in it.
Then ask for an entry-level role by name. Offering to run sessions or enter data is easier to say yes to than asking to join the research. More on structure in how to email a professor for research.
Example email to a professor
The names and papers are made up. Swap in your own details and a real paper from the professor's page.
Subject: First-year student hoping to help run your toddler word-learning studies
Dear Professor Delgado,
I'm a first-year psychology student at [your university]. Your lab's finding that two-year-olds learn new words from conversations they overhear about as well as from words spoken to them is why I'm writing.
I've worked two summers as a day camp counsellor, where I kept attendance and incident logs for 40 campers each week, so I'm used to keeping young children engaged while sticking to a set routine. This term I'm taking introductory statistics.
Would your lab have room for a volunteer to help run sessions or code videos? I can give 6 to 8 hours a week starting next term, including weekday mornings when families tend to visit.
Thank you, Jordan Lee BA Psychology, Year 1
Common questions
How do I get research experience if every position asks for experience?
Look past posted positions, which are the ones that ask for it. Emailing professors directly, taking a research methods or directed studies course, and helping a graduate student are all routes that expect beginners. Your first role becomes the experience the next one asks for.
What do I put on my resume with no research experience?
List relevant courses and the methods they taught, class projects, technical skills and any job that shows reliability. Keep it to one page. A professor mostly wants to see that you can learn and that you will show up.
Is it worth volunteering in a lab unpaid?
For a first position it is common and often worth it, because it leads to paid roles, course credit and letters later. Agree on hours and a rough end date at the start, and ask whether the work can count for credit.
Should I email a graduate student instead of the professor?
Start with the professor, who usually decides who joins. If the lab page names a graduate student or lab manager who handles undergraduates, copy them, since they often supervise students day to day.