Where a medical laboratory assistant can go next
12 destinations recorded, ranked by how much of the target role a medical laboratory assistant already meets. The closer to the top of Table 1, the less there is to learn.
Medical laboratory assistants work under supervision of the biomedical scientist and carry out basic laboratory procedures. They work in the pre-analytical handling of samples such as checking the details of specimens received for analysis, maintaining analysers, loading reagents, and packaging specimens. They also perform clerical tasks such as monitoring the stock levels of reagents used in analysis.
Also known as biomedical laboratory research assistant, clinical research assistant, assistant clinical researcher, assistant in medical laboratory, medical lab assistant, medical laboratory research assistant, biomedical laboratory assistant, assistant in biomedical laboratory.
Technicians and associate professionals 72 skills on file 12 career moves 1 above 60% overlap Closest: scientific laboratory technician, 80%
- 70% and above · short step
- 50 to 70% · real move
- Below 50% · substantial retraining
Table 1 · Within reach
Table 2 · A bigger jump
Possible, but expect real retraining rather than a sideways step.
- bacteriology technician 38% covered · difficulty 63.8
- biochemistry technician 37% covered · difficulty 67.2
- medical laboratory manager 34% covered · difficulty 67.5
- biology technician 33% covered · difficulty 70.4
- phlebotomist 30% covered · difficulty 72
- cytotechnologist 29% covered · difficulty 78.6
- zoology technician 28% covered · difficulty 71.9
- chromatographer 24% covered · difficulty 80.5
- biomedical scientist 23% covered · difficulty 86.3
- chemistry technician 22% covered · difficulty 81.9
- biomedical scientist advanced 21% covered · difficulty 82.6
Table 3 · What the job itself asks for
A medical laboratory assistant needs 29 required skills and areas of knowledge. These 10 are the ones fewest other jobs share, so they say the most about the work.
- blood type classification health and welfare
- check the received biological samples handling and moving
- label blood samples handling and moving
- transport blood samples handling and moving
- automated analysers in the medical laboratory health and welfare
- examine cell specimens microscopically working with machinery and specialised equipment
- perform cerebrospinal fluid analysis information skills
- conduct routine blood testing information skills
- techniques of blood-sampling health and welfare
- maintain medical laboratory equipment working with machinery and specialised equipment
Table 4 · Jobs that lead here
The reverse view: occupations whose skills already cover much of what a medical laboratory assistant does. The figure is how much of this job each one brings.
Look up another occupation
Medical laboratory assistant is filed under Technicians and associate professionals, ISCO major group 3. The full index lists all ten groups.
How these figures were compiled
Overlap is how much of the target role is already part of a medical laboratory assistant’s work. It is directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. Every entry above opens the full comparison for that move: what carries over, what is missing, and where to start. The full method.