research assistant

postdoctoral fellow

teaching assistant

research associate

graduate researcher

University of Alberta

A typical day at work would be working with the Compliance officer on appeals.  Using Peoplesoft to look up student information and entering appeal information into the database; preparing material to send to panel members; meeting students who come into the office for inquiries about how to submit an appeal and also ensuring that students and all panel members receive all of their material before each hearing; making nameplates; responding to emails from Faculties who inquire about previous offences for students; Closing appeal files after deadline dates have passed.

Processing invoices on a daily basis for the Department was also a big part of my job; reconciling accounts every month; reconciling the mastercard at certain periods of the month; printing off financial reports and checking them to ensure we are not overcharged; assisting staff with planning events and how to pay for the events;

For new staff it was my duty to enter all of their personnel information into Peoplesoft to ensure they got paid;  Getting staff set up for the security system in our office; Entering staff leave reports for vacation and days off; entering hours for part-time staff to ensure they get paid.

I also looked after all of the equipment in our office.  I had to make sure that all computers were kept up to date including office equipment.

I was the Resource Person in our office for all inquiries.

Multi-tasking was key and I was very used to this.  It was done on a daily basis.  Prioritizing work had to be done always.

Typical Day at work:
Walk arounds
Type procedures
Run random errands
Develop PowerPoint
Train employees
What I learned:
How to take out a fire
Communicate with workers when issues arise( not following procedures)
Management
Needs to learn how to work together as a team. I felt management spent more time figuring out how to give their job to someone else rather then taking 5 minutes out of thier non-busy schedule to simple complete the task. Management requires more training.
Co-workers:
When needed they are very helpful if you are confused or have any questions
All training is provided without hesitation
At times, great guidance
Don't have enough work to do ( sleep during the day)
Push their work on others
Don't respect employees privacy
Hard to build a relationship
Hardest part of the job
Dealing with the safety coordinator and the safety supervisor
Not feeling important at work
Safety coordinator only gave me 6 small tasks for 5 months, not enough work! I needed more responsibility, exposure and trust.
At times safety coordinator and supervisor would be insulting towards me
What I enjoyed at work
Meeting knew people in the different divisions
Reviving great feedback from co-workers
Divisions respected me
Diversity
Educating people

Typical days were never typical. There were always challenges and something new to consider or learn. Things could be very hectic at times, but everything came together with the team surrounding you. The learning curve could be very steep, and expectations very high so could be very stressful. While I had opportunity to work alongside the Study Coordinators as a research assistant (preparing lab kits, ensuring lab results reviewed by coordinators and the principal investigator, prepping for study visits, assisting with blood draws, etc.), my real forte was in the attention-to-detail administrative work required to submit trials to the ethics board, prepare for site initiation, organize support services, and get trials up and running. I appreciated attending investigational meetings, conferences, meetings and obtaining SoCRA designation. The physicians and management were always very encouraging about learning opportunities. Expectations were definitely high and could be stressful at times. Research/clinical trials is not for everyone. It is very structured, and needs to be - there was high staff turnover as a result. Position was very fulfilling if you can work within a tight and highly structured environment.

Verifying all remote sites are connected
Going through a cheat sheet with all sites
i.e., giving examples of protocol
Setting up Polycom equipment
Maintain ongoing coordination between all live sites
Trouble shooting technical glitches
reconnecting lost connections

Technical Set up
Calling Videoconference operators throughout the world in a timely manner.  

Administrative duties
Booking and set up - maintaining and updating calendar in accordance with cancellations and new requests.

This position required an ability to think on ones feet at all times, and to be able to juggle 9 balls in the air and catch them .

The ability to act as public relations officer on behalf of The University of Alberta, and maintain a high degree of integrity and professionalism throughout the conference.

To project a sense of confidence on camera, and have the ability to direct participants in a cordial manner.

The hardest part of the job was to control unnecessary rambling, and to intervene in order to bring focus back toward the topic.

The learning curve of this position was high, but once mastered, it was a fast paced, and very rewarding career.

The UofA is a bustling workplace with ongoing opportunities to enjoy professional and personal development opportunities. Management of our research project works from a collaborative approach and utilizes best practices to move into next practice.

This position has taught me the importance of interactive approaches which facilitate participation at all levels. This position has taught me additional skills in team leadership and conflict management. The most influential learning I have experienced has been 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

The most difficult part of the job is working with diverse staff with various cultural backgrounds, differing values and being in remote locations..

Co-workers are dynamic, positive and forward thinking where the most enjoyable aspect of the job is the team collaborative approaches to training, networking and meetings.

The University of Alberta (also known as U of A and UAlberta) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president.

The university has been recognized by the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings as one of the top five universities in Canada and one of the top 100 universities worldwide. According to the 2014 QS World University Rankings, the top Faculty Area at the University of Alberta is Arts and Humanities (ranked 89th in the world), and the top-ranked Subject is English Language and Literature (22nd in the world).

UAlberta is not merely a place to study or where finding the perfect job is the singular focus of post-secondary institutional learning.

UAlberta is a pioneering and progressive environment where faculty, students, and staff come together to embrace the values of learning, share knowledge, and find solutions for our ever-changing complex world.

(https://www.ualberta.ca/)

(Worked as admin in both Fam Med and Pediatrics) Salary ranges and benefits are available online so it's easy to see that compensation is fair and NASA staff have awesome benefits/pension. The work in any administrative position here is predictable and fairly reasonable. Team leadership was almost nonexistent as hiring/promotions appear largely based on favouritism and office politics. The only individuals that were interested in, supportive of, or even willing to hear new ideas were peers who have also struggled with the brick wall that is leadership. Process is standard, established, inefficient, and unchanging.

As an upside, every physician I provided direct support for was passionate, respectful, and supportive. In fact, many admins are only able to modify their own workflows/processes by keeping it between themselves and their physicians. It is also commonplace for tech/hardware to be funded by the physicians as department funding for workplace quality of life improvements is apparently 0. 

At moment I work in a small office for a manager who is easy to work for and open to everyone ideas as the office is in a state of rebuilding, lots of change. The hardest part of the job is dealing with all the change within the faculty and university in general as many people have been laid off due restructuring or moved to different positions so I am often dealing with someone who is at the bottom of what is sometimes a very steep learning curve. There are many upgrades to the People soft system and things that we done a certain way a year ago have changed and process to access help is cumbersome and less than ideal That being said working in an educational setting with students around at all times make for a vibrate and sometimes noisy, crowded (HUB Mall) environment. Over the years I have met some very talented people and made some life long friends.

The position began with a lot of autonomy, requiring market research to develop target countries/cities/schools, etc. in addition to travelling to promote the university to prospective international students. Aside from answering emails, I would be writing market and strategy reports and worked for a manager that was interested in helping me grow professionally. Unfortunately, organisational changes within the office have removed most of the duties from this position to management, so most of my daily activities when not travelling are answering emails only. The most enjoyable part of the job is the travel, but it's also the hardest part of the job because it requires a lot of energy. It's a fun job for a while, but due to lack of PD opportunities and no opportunity for advancement, it is difficult to build and learn new skills.

I loved my position and the duties of my role. The job itself was great but the environment was something I’ve never experienced with any of my previous employers. I would have loved to retire with the UofA but unfortunately the environment not what I was expecting. 
The coworkers in my department constantly spoke about how ‘dumb’ and ‘useless’ their colleagues were. I spoke to HR multiple times and gave my manager my concerns but this group seemed to be exempt from the code of conduct expectations. 

Daily, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and it made me very uncomfortable. The final straw for me - Someone they used to work with committed suicide and the comment was made that the person ‘milked the system’. This made me sick. This person had children and clearly needed help- Multiple people in this office voluntarily told me this story and it made me sick that they could treat someone like that.  If that were a family member of mine, I would absolutely be upset.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Research assistant 16 salaries reported	$24.50 per hour
Postdoctoral fellow 22 salaries reported	$51,318 per year
Teaching assistant 13 salaries reported	$21.69 per hour
Research associate 5 salaries reported	$67,226 per year
Graduate researcher 3 salaries reported	$30,000 per year

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