So what is a 'research specialist' anyway?

Tucson Trekker asked "... what does a 'Research Specialist' do and how do you go about finding such a job?"

Since I find that I often miss some of the comments on any given post by forgetting to check on it, I decided to just make a separate post with more details about the job I'll be starting soon.

At University of Pennsylvania, a Research Specialist is simply someone who carries out research - generally under the direction of a professor or some other type of senior researcher. There are four "grades" of research specialists, and although it might make sense if A was the best/most senior, A is actually the entry-level. So is 'Research Specialist A' just a fancy name for a lab tech? Kinda, but there's a few differences. Penn also has a 'Laboratory Technician' designation, and the difference is that lab tech positions are non-exempt: they're paid an hourly wage. Research specialists are exempt, i.e. they're paid a regular salary. Generally, they have more independence and responsibility, though this varies from one position to another.

In my particular job, my main duties are going to involve developing and maintaining cell cultures, performing experiments on them, doing other miscellaneous molecular bio lab work, and helping with data analysis and manuscript writing. I'm still in shock that I was offered the position, since I've never done cell culturing or taken a cell biology or molecular biology class.

So how did I find it in the first place? I originally set out to find whatever I thought I might stand a chance to get hired into. There aren't many jobs around here for ecologists, and though I did apply for the few I found, I didn't hear anything back. So I looked at anything that would use a biology background, and wasn't so specialized or advanced to be totally out of reach. In my meanderings around the various job websites like Careerbuilder and Monster, I noticed that sometimes if you follow the link back to the actual company website, they'll have more job postings than they put on the outside sites. Somehow I stumbled across the University of Penn website, and found all sorts of research-related job postings. I think most universities of any size have such positions posted online.