Lab Technician Resume Sample (With Skills & Job Description)

When it comes to your laboratory technician resume, the most important things to highlight are your training and accreditation. A medical laboratory technician (MLT) will often be required to handle highly sensitive material safely and efficiently. You must let employers know that you have the necessary experience in this regard.

There are several key sections that a hiring manager will expect to see in the ideal resume format. If you leave out one of these sections, then recruiters may miss vital information about you that would have otherwise secured the interview.

 

In general, your resume should be standardized in terms of font and size. You should look to use bullet points where possible and avoid using large blocks of text. Balancing text with white space on a page makes your resume instantly more appealing and readable.

 

Here are the key sections you should include in your medical lab technician resume. 

 

 

In your header, you provide your primary contact information. This includes your full name, email address, phone number and location. You may wish to include your LinkedIn profile here as well. Make sure you use a sensible, professional font for your header, and stick to the same font throughout. Avoid the temptation to use fancier fonts to try and stand out; it will simply come across as gimmicky and unprofessional. 

 

 

 If you have a lot of experience working as a lab tech, then you will need a resume summary at this stage. As the name suggests, this is a short summary of the years of your best skills and experiences to date and acts as an “elevator pitch” for who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and what you can bring to a company.

 

You will need a resume objective if you have just completed your training or are a first-time job seeker. Here you will state your primary goals and what you want to achieve with the position, along with the important skills and qualifications you already have. Study the job description carefully and include a few essential skills you feel you possess. 

 

 

Your skills section is a vital part of your resume. Use it to list the most important skills and aptitudes that will make you the best fit for the role. You should look to mention both soft and hard skills.

 

Soft skills aren’t specific to a particular job or field – they’re usually intangible qualities and abilities that reflect your personality. As a lab technician, some of the major soft skills a hiring manager will expect to see include troubleshooting, interpersonal and communication skills and attention to detail.

 

Hard skills are those specific to the field or job and require specific training. The hard skills you mention should be tailored to the field you are applying for. Examples of hard skills that you may find on a lab technician resume include:

• Recording test results
• Handling laboratory equipment
• Conducting laboratory tests
• Disposing of body fluids
• Understanding testing procedures
• Labeling and quality assurance
• Assembling and mixing reagents
• Specimen collection
• Conducting a urinalysis

You may also wish to include a technical skills section that will detail your experience with specific lab equipment and laboratory procedures, as well as operating procedures and tests exclusive to your field. For example, what Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) do you know for work in microbiology? 

 

 

Your work experience section will include the most relevant professional roles in reverse chronological order. For each role, you should list the job title, the place of work, the major duties and accomplishments at the job, and the dates of employment. Even if you have little professional experience, look to include any job titles with skills relevant to the position you are applying for. 

 

 

Your education section will list the qualifications and certifications that make you suitable and accredited for the position. For each entry, you should list the qualification gained, and the name and location of the institution you got it. As with the work history section, you should work backward from the most recent credit.

 

Do:

• Study the job description carefully to pick out keywords (e.g., skills and experiences) to include in your resume; this will make your resume more appealing to applicant tracking systems (ATS) that employers use to scan resumes.
• Focus on achievements over duties, particularly if you have data and numbers that support these achievements (e.g., “Tested 500 samples a week for research project…”).
• Proofread your resume before submitting it.

Don’t:

• Use the same resume for each job you apply for. Every job will have different needs, so tailor your resume to meet those needs as much as possible.
• Forget to include any awards you may have earned during your training or professional experience.
• Use extended blocks of text for your sections. Go with short phrases and bullet phrases for an easier reading experience.