Skills
Medical Laboratory Technician Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in medical laboratory technicians, and how to build and show them.
Medical Laboratory Technicians need technical skills such as clinical chemistry, hematology, and microbiology, plus people skills like attention to detail and accuracy under pressure. They also use tools such as Automated analyzers and Microscopes.
Technical (hard) skills
- Clinical chemistry
- Hematology
- Microbiology
- Blood banking
- Quality control
- Analyzer operation
People (soft) skills
- Attention to detail
- Accuracy under pressure
- Communication
- Integrity
Tools, equipment and technology
- Automated analyzers
- Microscopes
- Centrifuges
- Laboratory information systems
- Pipettes
- Biosafety cabinets
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how medical laboratory technicians put their skills to work:
- How to run daily quality control
- How to call a critical value
- How to evaluate a specimen for acceptance
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Clinical chemistry” and “Hematology.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “attention to detail,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as ASCP Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our medical laboratory technician glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Medical Laboratory Technician training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.