1. What is the Junior Researcher Program?
The Junior Researcher Program is for entry-level market researchers who may be stuck in that vicious circle of, “how do I get work experience when I need work experience to get work experience?” The program is designed so you can gain that initial experience and do so with a flexible schedule.
Our Junior Researcher Program is part of our Rent-a-Researcher (RAR) temporary staffing service. Our business clients often have entry-level research projects that may be a little junior for our regular RAR consultants. And you need “real-world” work experience. Let’s put you together with our clients and have everyone benefit!
2. What is Rent-a-Researcher?
The RAR service provides highly-skilled market research contractors to our clients for short-term engagements. Sometimes the client needs temporary access to a special skill that they may not have on staff (such as dashboard design, SPSS, or text analytics). Other times the client simply has an excessive workload, and they want to temporarily expand their market research team with project managers or specialists. We also help fill temporary roles due to family and medical leaves.
3. What companies use the Rent-a-Researcher program?
Our client base includes many Fortune 500 companies as well as market research agencies and marketing consultancies. Often our clients have a market research team, and they need temporary expert help to execute quantitative or qualitative market research projects.
4. Do I qualify to be a Junior Researcher?
You can apply to be a Junior Researcher if you:
- Are you a currently enrolled senior or recent graduate (within 5 years) of a 4-year university?
- Have completed coursework specifically related to Market Research, Consumer Behavior, Consumer Psychology, Customer Analytics, Data Analysis, Statistics, or related fields.
- Have a serious desire to learn about survey research, qualitative research, or multi-mode research.
- Have communications and time management skills that will impress our business clients, who are managers and executives at large companies. Hint: if you have trouble meeting deadlines, this program is not going to be a good fit.
- Have less than 5 years of market research-related work experience.
5. How do I apply to be a Junior Researcher?
Simply fill out the application form to be considered for the Junior Researcher Program. We will let you know if your application has been accepted within about 2 weeks after we receive your application.
6. If I get accepted, then what?
Junior Researchers are welcomed into the program with a 3-step process. This provides the information we need to understand your skills and appropriately promote you to potential clients. And gives you insight into what knowledge our clients expect you to have as a Research Rockstar Junior Researcher.
-
- Take our Market Research 101 and Client Management 101 final assessments. You may take them directly or you may choose to prepare by taking the related courses. We do not compensate you for taking the courses, as taking them is not required. The assessments are necessary so that we can be sure that you, as a Junior Researcher, are client-ready. Note: if you choose to take the assessments without first completing the courses, and are unable to pass the final assessments, you are welcome to use the courses to prepare and retake the assessments.
- NOTE: If you are selected to move forward in our process, we will send you free access to the courses. Please do not create your own account on our Training Portal; we will send you a free signup link, and do not want you to pay for your account.
- Confirm specific skillset(s), if applicable, through passing assessment tests that will be available to you on our Training Portal.
- Participate in one 90-minute Client Management onboarding session, which is scheduled monthly. These small group sessions are an opportunity for you to learn how to meet client expectations while managing your own time efficiently.
- Take our Market Research 101 and Client Management 101 final assessments. You may take them directly or you may choose to prepare by taking the related courses. We do not compensate you for taking the courses, as taking them is not required. The assessments are necessary so that we can be sure that you, as a Junior Researcher, are client-ready. Note: if you choose to take the assessments without first completing the courses, and are unable to pass the final assessments, you are welcome to use the courses to prepare and retake the assessments.
7. What entry-level market research gigs are available to Junior Researchers?
Typical Junior Researcher gigs include:
-
- Coding open-ended responses from surveys
- Coding qualitative research transcripts
- Conducting desk research (secondary research)
- Creating charts & graphs from survey data
- Note-taking (such as transcribing video/audio to text from qualitative research)
- Questionnaire programming (if you know platforms such as Alchemer or Qualtrics)
- Screening & scheduling of research participants
8. How much will I get paid as a Junior Researcher? I will get paid, right?
Oh yes, these are paid gigs. We promote your skill-set to our business clients who have short-term, junior-level gigs. Should you be a fit, they may select you as an independent contractor to do their entry-level market research gig. Junior Researchers who are selected by our clients can expect to earn between $20 and $40 an hour (USD). Your specific pay rate will depend on your education and skill set. While you are working on gigs, you will be paid for hours worked and submitted via our timesheets process every two weeks by Research Rockstar.
9. What are the benefits of being a Junior Researcher?
-
- Gaining real-world experience
- Networking with potential future employers
- Flexible scheduling (many gigs are 10 to 40 hours total, and are sometimes spread out over a few weeks)
- Free training (Junior Researchers receive periodic invitations to Research Rockstar training programs)
10. What if I’m unhappy with a project I am working on?
Please bring it to our attention right away. We’ll see if we can resolve the situation; but if not, we’ll arrange to transition you out as quickly as possible.
11. What if a client wants to hire me as an employee?
“Temp-to-perm” is a great way for you and a future employer to get to know each other. If you and a client have a match and want to move to employee status, just let us know. The client knows that they will owe us a one-time fee per their agreement with Research Rockstar, but this will not affect you in any way.
12. Will I be subject to a background check?
Possibly, but not usually. Research Rockstar has non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with all freelancers. Background checks are conducted upon the request of a client and are usually only requested by government clients. If a client requests one, you will be notified and offered the option of declining.
13. Will clients expect me to be available for phone or Zoom meetings?
Yes. While many also use email, they will absolutely expect you to be available for phone or Zoom meetings that may relate to project planning, status updates, or project reviews.