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If you are someone looking to kick start your career in the clinical industry by writing an outstanding lab assistant resume, you’ve come to the right place.
After getting the necessary education, certifications, and some experience in the field, it is time to present all these expertise and analytical skills in your lab assistant resume so that you get hired by your ideal company.
It does take a lot of understanding and attention to detail to curate a perfect lab assistant resume and this blog is here to help you with just that.
Here’s what you’ll be learning from this blog:
- What are the responsibilities of a lab assistant?
- What is the salary of a lab assistant?
- How to write a resume for lab assistant with detailed information on each resume section?
- What is the list of basic laboratory skills to put on a lab assistant resume?
- How to write a lab assistant resume with no experience?
Lab Assistant Job Description
Lab assistants are part of the diagnosis process on which the doctors and patients depend.
The importance of a correct diagnosis is extremely important for a patient’s recovery.
If health professionals are unable to detect what exactly is wrong with the patient’s health, they can't prescribe the needed medications and hence, recovery is not possible.
This is where the role of medical lab technicians and lab assistants comes to play.
General lab assistants help the lab technicians to prepare experiments, collect specimens, maintain the lab equipment, sanitize the lab, and so on.
Take a look at some of the common lab assistant duties:
- Preparing samples and laboratory equipment for experiments
- Maintaining laboratory records and preparing reports based on accurate data
- Classifying data and correctly labeling samples
- Cleaning and sterilizing lab equipment and work areas
- Staying up-to-date with the latest methodologies and best practices
- Performing administrative tasks like receiving phone calls and answering e-mails
- Keeping an accurate track of all experiments and records
- Ensuring compliance with standard operating procedures, policies, and health and safety regulations
- Maintaining inventory of various laboratory supplies
- Performing regular quality control checks
- Collecting and preparing research material and information required for studies
- Assisting in preparation for laboratory requisition for outpatients
- Coordinating with lab technicians, lab managers, and phlebotomists for smooth work operations
Salary of a Lab Assistant
The basic salary of a lab assistant is determined by many factors.
Such as your location, the company you are planning to work for, and also the level of your expertise and experience.
For instance, in the United States, Rhode Island is one of the highest paying states for a lab assistant while the state of Georgia pays much less for a position of lab assistant.
| STATE | AVG. SALARY | HOURLY RATE |
|---|---|---|
| GEORGIA | $23,760 | $11.42 |
| ALABAMA | $24,908 | $11.97 |
| FLORIDA | $25,071 | $12.05 |
| CALIFORNIA | $33,627 | $16.17 |
| RHODE ISLAND | $36,060 | $17.34 |
How To Write a Lab Assistant Resume?
First things first, a lab assistant resume has to have the following sections that segregate all the information in a tidy format:
- Header
- Contact Information
- Profile Title
- Summary/Objective
- Key Skills
- Professional Experience
- Educational Background
- Certifications (if any)
- Additional Information (if any)
Besides this, you can use any one of the three resume formats while writing your lab assistant resume.
Now, let's go ahead and understand what to write in each of the sections in your lab assistant resume.
Lab Assistant Resume Header
The header of your lab assistant resume must always be your full name.
The font size can range from 14 to 16 points and if you have a middle name, you can initialize the same.
The following is a sample of the lab assistant resume header:
Contact Information in a Lab Assistant Resume
The contact information section is an important part of your lab assistant resume.
In this section, you must provide your current address, a reachable phone number, your professional email id, and any links to your LinkedIn or any other professional online portfolios.
You must write the ISD code and put a '+' sign before your contact number.
Hiration Pro Tip: Do not mention your race, sex, marital status, or your religion in the contact information section of your lab assistant resume to avoid any biased judgments.
Also, it is not required for you to write your house number or a detailed address on your lab assistant resume.
The name of the city you currently reside in is enough to give the recruiters an idea about your location preference like in the following personal details sample for lab assistant resume:
Profile Title for Lab Assistant Resume
The profile title in your lab assistant resume is the title of your current designation.
This gives the recruiters an idea about your previous role and work.
Take a look at the following profile title sample for lab assistant resume:
Key Skills for a Lab Assistant Resume
It goes without saying that it is very important to list the correct skills in your lab assistant resume.
Given the fact that most of the companies these days use the ATS software to scan through the resumes, using ATS-friendly keywords is essential to get shortlisted.
So what ATS software?
ATS stands for Application Tracking System and is a software used by majority of the companies to simplify the hiring process and filter resumes based on the experience and skills section.
Some of the basic laboratory skills (ATS-friendly) to mention in your lab assistant resume is mentioned in the following infographic.
Remember to read the job listing and include the skills that are mentioned as requirements in the listing.
Doing so will boost your chances of getting hired.
Here's a sample of key skills section for your lab assistant resume:
You can get a more in-depth understanding of what to put in the skill section of your lab assistant resume here.
Educational Background for Lab Assistant Resume
In order to qualify as a lab assistant, you need to have a certain educational background.
You must at least have a high school diploma and/or training specific to medical or clinical laboratory assistants.
With this education criterion fulfilled, you can proceed further.
When writing your education background, you must always mention the starting and completion date along with the name and location of the institute you studied in.
Like in this sample of education section of a lab assistant resume:
Certifications for Lab Assistant Resume
Some of the states in the USA require lab assistants to have the Clinical Lab Assistants (CLA) certification, issued by the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science.
Meanwhile, in Canada, recruiters prefer to hire candidates who are certified by the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Assistants.
It's always good to have extra certifications under your belt to polish your skills and gain more expertise in your field.
Being certified certainly helps increase your chances of being hired by your dream company.
While writing your certifications in your lab assistant resume, you must mention the name of your certificate or training.
Followed by the name of the certifying authority or institute and the time period.
Professional Experience for Lab Assistant Resume
While writing the professional experience section in your lab assistant resume, always remember the following points:
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Use the reverse chronological format while mentioning your past roles i.e. your most recent role followed by the older ones
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Remember to mention only your recent roles to ensure that your lab assistant resume is only a page long (unless you have 10+ years of experience)
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Use bullets points to present your experiences
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Frame one-liners using the STAR format to make your lab assistant resume stand out from the rest
| S | Situation: The background of your role |
| T | Task: The task that was assigned to you or your team |
| A | Action: How you completed the task |
| R | Result: The outcome of your efforts |
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Use power verbs to begin your one-liners and include figures and percentages to quantify the results of your efforts
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Group and highlight information to create more impactful one-liners as shown in the following sample:
Summary of Lab Assistant Resume
When writing your lab assistant resume, you must always write the summary section at the very end.
The reason is, this will help you to get a better understanding of what to mention and skip in your summary.
Ensure that the summary in your lab assistant resume is not more than a few lines and includes keywords that are ATS friendly.
Your summary must include all the highlights and achievements of your career and make sure that it showcases your analytical and lab skills.
Begin your summary with the years of experience that you have and highlight the keywords.
Take a look at this sample of the lab assistant resume summary for more clarity:
Lab Assistant Resume Sample
To put everything in perspective, here is a lab assistant resume sample for your reference.
- Collecting 50+ medical samples of blood and urine on a daily basis to conduct disease analysis
- Managing the record of sample collection and laboratory equipment for optimizing the testing experience
- Conducting regular equipment checks in coordination with 5+ lab assistants as part of maintaining optimal quality standards
- Preparing monthly reports of 10+ patients to ensure the delivery of proper treatment
- Conducting frequent quality checks on tasks assigned to interns as part of enhancing their skills
- Training 5+ interns with the latest laboratory management guidelines and testing procedures
- Created and managed 100+ patient records to minimize complications and increase patient satisfaction by 50%
- Ensured the maintenance of 100% hygiene in the laboratory as part of reducing the risk of contamination
- Organized inventory and prepared lab chemicals to minimize testing time and maximize service standards by 40%
- Assisted Laboratory technician in the maintenance of 20+ laboratory instruments for generating error-free reports
- Coordinated with 5+ lab assistants to deliver 50+ medical sample reports every day as part of providing better treatment
- GPA: 3.5/4.0
- Languages: English (native), French (fluent), and German (intermediate)
Writing an Entry-level Lab Assistant Resume
Even if you are a fresher who is just starting out, you can still apply for the position of lab assistant.
You can make up for the lack of experience with voluntary work, extracurricular activities, and certifications.
When you lack professional experience that you can talk about in your lab assistant resume, you must focus on your skills and potential that can make up for it.
You must showcase the skills that you have perfected during training or while obtaining your certifications and tell the recruiter how you intend to put these skills to use.
The summary in your lab assistant resume must be written as objective and should present the highlights of your educational background and certifications.
Similarly, other changes have to be made while writing an entry-level lab assistant resume.
Lab Assistant Cover Letter
Whether you are a fresher or an experienced candidate, having a cover letter to go with your lab assistant resume will double your chances of getting hired.
Through your cover letter, you can present yourself as the best candidate for the position of lab assistant by making up for any drawbacks that you may have had in your career.
Our AI-powered cover letter builder will help you write a perfect draft that is sure to get you hired by the company you've been dreaming about.
Points to Remember from the Blog
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Segment all the information in your lab assistant resume with proper sections
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Write your full name as the header of your lab assistant resume
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Skip writing your house number, race, sex, marital status, or religion on the contact details section of your lab assistant resume
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Use ATS friendly keywords and skills from the job listing while writing the key skills section of your lab assistant resume
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Ensure that you have the necessary educational background and certifications to qualify as a lab assistant
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Use the reverse chronological format to list your professional experience and present it as bullet points
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Use the STAR method to frame one-liners that begin with power verbs
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Limit your lab assistant resume to a page if you don't have 10+ years of experience
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Begin writing your summary with the years of experience you have.
If you need expert guidance to write your lab assistant resume, you can use our AI powered resume builder and you can also write to us at support@hiration.com.
