Career Overlap Transition record Edition 1 · ESCO v1.2.1
Table 1Transition record

medical laboratory assistanttobacteriology technician

A medical laboratory assistant already meets 38% of what the bacteriology technician role asks for. The move turns on 12 required skills not yet in the profile.

From medical laboratory assistant
38%
Overlap1
To bacteriology technician
14 Skills carried over
12 Required, not held
63.8 Difficulty2
Career overlap Distant match

38%

Learning distance Substantial retraining

63.8/ 100

1 Share of the bacteriology technician role’s weighted skill requirement already met by the medical laboratory assistant profile. Required skills count in full, supplementary skills at 0.35. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. 2 Combines what is missing with how specialised it is, so a gap of general skills scores easier than the same number of narrow ones.

Why

Why this move works

A bacteriology technician role treats 8 of its required skills as things a medical laboratory assistant already does. These are the ones it depends on most.

  • apply safety procedures in laboratory
  • assist in the production of laboratory documentation
  • calibrate laboratory equipment
  • laboratory techniques
  • maintain laboratory equipment
  • microbiology-bacteriology

What stands in the way is 12 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 14 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A bacteriology technician role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a medical laboratory assistant background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held perform fertility laboratory procedures working with machinery and specialised equipment
  • already held assist in the production of laboratory documentation information skills
  • already held clinical cytology natural sciences, mathematics and statistics
  • already held immunology health and welfare
  • already held stem cells natural sciences, mathematics and statistics
  • already held analyse cell cultures information skills

All 14 carried skills, including the 8 the bacteriology technician role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you would need to learn

The 25 missing skills fall into 10 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered below in the order worth working in: the areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the supplementary ones.

Skill to acquire Tier
01 information skills 4 required, 1 supplementary
  • required, not held analyse experimental laboratory data required
  • required, not held apply scientific methods required
  • required, not held collect biological data required
  • required, not held perform scientific research required
  • optional, not held keep task records optional
02 natural sciences, mathematics and statistics 3 required, 3 supplementary
  • required, not held laboratory equipment required
  • required, not held biology required
  • required, not held molecular biology required
  • optional, not held botany optional
  • optional, not held parasitology optional
  • optional, not held life sciences optional
03 communication, collaboration and creativity 1 required, 2 supplementary
  • required, not held write technical reports required
  • optional, not held assist in clinical trials optional
  • optional, not held write research proposals optional
04 handling and moving 1 required, 2 supplementary
  • required, not held collect samples for analysis required
  • optional, not held label samples optional
  • optional, not held preserve samples optional
05 education 1 required
  • required, not held scientific research methodology required
06 management skills 1 required
  • required, not held manage inventory required

4 further areas in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a bacteriology technician role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 14 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held apply safety procedures in laboratory skill
  • already held assist in the production of laboratory documentation skill
  • already held calibrate laboratory equipment skill
  • already held laboratory techniques knowledge
  • already held maintain laboratory equipment skill
  • already held microbiology-bacteriology knowledge
  • already held perform laboratory tests skill
  • already held stem cells knowledge
  • already held analyse cell cultures skill
  • already held biological chemistry knowledge
  • already held clinical cytology knowledge
  • already held immunology knowledge
  • already held perform fertility laboratory procedures skill
  • already held virology knowledge
The 4 learning areas not shown above
Skill to acquire Tier
07 working with machinery and specialised equipment 1 required
  • required, not held use laboratory equipment required
08 health and welfare 2 supplementary
  • optional, not held communicable diseases optional
  • optional, not held pharmaceutical industry optional
09 working with computers 2 supplementary
  • optional, not held maintain freelance database optional
  • optional, not held prepare visual data optional
10 services 1 supplementary
  • optional, not held hazardous waste storage optional
13 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to acquire Tier
  • optional, not held botany optional
  • optional, not held label samples optional
  • optional, not held parasitology optional
  • optional, not held assist in clinical trials optional
  • optional, not held communicable diseases optional
  • optional, not held hazardous waste storage optional
  • optional, not held keep task records optional
  • optional, not held life sciences optional
  • optional, not held maintain freelance database optional
  • optional, not held pharmaceutical industry optional
  • optional, not held prepare visual data optional
  • optional, not held preserve samples optional
  • optional, not held write research proposals optional
58 held skills the bacteriology technician role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role analyse blood samples skill
  • not needed by the target role archive healthcare users' records skill
  • not needed by the target role automated analysers in the medical laboratory knowledge
  • not needed by the target role blood collection on babies knowledge
  • not needed by the target role blood donation knowledge
  • not needed by the target role blood transfusion knowledge
  • not needed by the target role blood type classification knowledge
  • not needed by the target role carry out flow cytometry skill
  • not needed by the target role carry out quality control in microbiology laboratories skill
  • not needed by the target role check the received biological samples skill
  • not needed by the target role clinical biochemistry knowledge
  • not needed by the target role collect biological samples from patients skill
  • not needed by the target role communicate in healthcare skill
  • not needed by the target role conduct cancer screening tests skill
  • not needed by the target role conduct routine blood testing skill
  • not needed by the target role cryopreservation knowledge
  • not needed by the target role data protection knowledge
  • not needed by the target role densiometry knowledge
  • not needed by the target role dermapathology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role dispose medical waste skill
  • not needed by the target role electroencephalography knowledge
  • not needed by the target role examine cell specimens microscopically skill
  • not needed by the target role examine samples in dermatology skill
  • not needed by the target role explain the molecular basis of a disease to patients skill
  • not needed by the target role fine-needle aspiration knowledge
  • not needed by the target role histopathology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role identify patients' medical records skill
  • not needed by the target role interpret hematological test results skill
  • not needed by the target role interpret medical results skill
  • not needed by the target role interpret urology diagnostic tests skill
  • not needed by the target role label blood samples skill
  • not needed by the target role maintain healthcare user data confidentiality skill
  • not needed by the target role maintain medical laboratory equipment skill
  • not needed by the target role microscopic techniques knowledge
  • not needed by the target role mix chemicals skill
  • not needed by the target role monitor stock level skill
  • not needed by the target role operate scientific measuring equipment skill
  • not needed by the target role order supplies skill
  • not needed by the target role paediatric phlebotomy procedures knowledge
  • not needed by the target role perform PCR covid test skill

18 further entries not listed here

10 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to acquire Tier
  • required, not held laboratory equipment required
  • required, not held biology required
  • required, not held molecular biology required
  • required, not held scientific research methodology required
  • optional, not held botany optional
  • optional, not held parasitology optional
  • optional, not held communicable diseases optional
  • optional, not held hazardous waste storage optional
  • optional, not held life sciences optional
  • optional, not held pharmaceutical industry optional
Index
Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.