Top 12 Chemical Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume

Breaking through the noise as a chemical technician takes a resume stacked with sharp, real-world skills. The right mix signals you can run instruments without baby-sitting, write clean data, and keep a lab humming. Below, you’ll find a focused set of capabilities that employers keep reaching for—technical, practical, and proven.

Chemical Technician Skills

1. Chromatography (HPLC)
2. Spectroscopy (FTIR)
3. Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)
4. Titration (Karl Fischer)
5. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
6. Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE)
7. Microscopy (SEM)
8. Calorimetry (DSC)
9. Rheometry
10. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
11. Quality Control (ISO 9001)
12. Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)

1. Chromatography (HPLC)

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography separates, identifies, and quantifies components in a mixture by pushing a sample through a packed column under high pressure. Different analytes interact with the stationary phase to different extents, so they elute at distinct times—clean, measurable, repeatable.

Why It's Important

HPLC anchors purity checks, assay work, and stability studies across pharmaceuticals, environmental labs, food testing, and beyond. It drives decisions on release, rework, and root cause—where precision is non‑negotiable.

How to Improve Chromatography (HPLC) Skills

1. Column care: Use guard columns and inline filters. Flush after harsh matrices. Store in proper solvent. Track backpressure and plate count.
2. Mobile phase tuning: Adjust pH, ionic strength, and organic ratio. Try gradient profiles for complex matrices. Degas consistently.
3. Sample prep: Filter and, when needed, SPE or dilute to tame matrix effects. Keep injection solvent weaker than the mobile phase.
4. Temperature control: Keep column oven stable; small shifts change retention and selectivity.
5. Detector setup: Match detector to analyte (UV/Vis, FLD, CAD, MS). Calibrate and verify linearity and sensitivity routinely.
6. Method development: Systematically vary column chemistry, particle size, and pH. Lock in with robustness and system suitability tests.
7. Data integrity: Use validated processing methods, audit trails, and peak integration rules that everyone follows.

How to Display Chromatography (HPLC) Skills on Your Resume

2. Spectroscopy (FTIR)

FTIR measures how a sample absorbs infrared light across wavelengths to reveal functional groups and chemical fingerprints. Solids, liquids, gases—ATR, transmission, or gas cells—quick, non‑destructive, telling.

Why It's Important

It’s fast ID and verification. You can confirm raw materials, monitor reactions, spot contamination, and support failure analysis without elaborate prep.

How to Improve Spectroscopy (FTIR) Skills

1. Sample handling: Use consistent pressure and contact on ATR. For solids, polish or press evenly. For liquids, aim for thin, uniform films.
2. Instrument checks: Verify wavelength accuracy and resolution. Run background often, clean optics, and track performance with standards.
3. Spectral quality: Apply baseline correction and smoothing carefully. Average scans for better signal-to-noise when time allows.
4. Libraries and methods: Build internal libraries and verify hits with secondary peaks and derivative spectra.
5. Documentation: Standardize parameters (crystal type, pressure, scans, resolution) for reproducible results across operators.

How to Display Spectroscopy (FTIR) Skills on Your Resume

3. Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)

GC-MS couples gas chromatography (to separate volatiles) with mass spectrometry (to identify by mass-to-charge). You get retention time plus spectral fingerprints—powerful specificity, even in messy matrices.

Why It's Important

From environmental trace analysis to forensics and pharma impurities, GC‑MS nails both identity and quantity with confidence, supporting compliance and defensible data.

How to Improve Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Skills

1. Prevent contamination: Replace septa and liners routinely. Trim columns when tailing or bleed creeps up. Keep the source clean.
2. Column selection: Match stationary phase, film thickness, and dimensions to analyte volatility and polarity.
3. Carrier gas quality: High‑purity gas with traps. Leaks are the enemy—pressure test often.
4. Method tuning: Optimize oven ramps, split ratios, and injection temps. Balance resolution with runtime.
5. MS calibration: Calibrate mass accuracy and tune sensitivity. Verify with check standards before runs.
6. Smart processing: Use spectral libraries carefully, apply qualifiers, and confirm with ion ratios and retention windows.

How to Display Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Skills on Your Resume

4. Titration (Karl Fischer)

Karl Fischer titration quantifies water—precisely. Volumetric methods suit higher moisture; coulometric methods excel below ~1%. It’s the go‑to for oils, APIs, polymers, and more.

Why It's Important

Moisture shifts potency, stability, flow, and shelf life. KF gives hard numbers you can trust for release testing and process control.

How to Improve Titration (Karl Fischer) Skills

1. Control ambient moisture: Use sealed vessels, dry solvents, and desiccants. Minimize sample exposure time.
2. Choose the right mode: Volumetric for ≥1% water; coulometric for trace levels. Match reagents to matrix (alcohols, ketones, amines need special blends).
3. Standards and calibration: Verify with certified water standards. Run blanks; correct for drift.
4. Sample integrity: Homogenize viscous or heterogeneous samples. Use ovens for solids prone to side reactions.
5. Instrument upkeep: Replace reagents on schedule, maintain electrodes, and check endpoints regularly.

How to Display Titration (Karl Fischer) Skills on Your Resume

5. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

PCR amplifies targeted DNA regions through cycles of denaturation, annealing, and extension. From microbial ID to QA in biotech production, it turns faint signals into readable results.

Why It's Important

It enables sensitive detection and confirmation—quality checks, contamination tracing, and method development—without waiting on culture growth.

How to Improve Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Skills

1. Primer design: Balanced Tm, limited secondary structure, and specific targets. Validate in silico, then in practice.
2. Template quality: Purity matters. Remove inhibitors; quantify DNA accurately.
3. Magnesium and salts: Start around 1.5 mM MgCl2 and titrate. Buffer composition can rescue borderline assays.
4. Thermal program: Use gradient annealing to find the sweet spot. Adjust extension time (about 15–60 s per kb depending on polymerase).
5. Controls and contamination control: No‑template controls, positive controls, and UNG/dUTP strategies to thwart carryover.
6. Enzyme selection: High‑fidelity for cloning; hot‑start to cut nonspecific amplification.

How to Display Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Skills on Your Resume

6. Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE)

SDS-PAGE separates denatured proteins by size through a polyacrylamide gel under an electric field. Smaller proteins run faster; clean bands tell a story.

Why It's Important

It checks purity, confirms expression, and flags degradation. In QC and research alike, it’s a workhorse for protein characterization.

How to Improve Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) Skills

1. Sample prep: Use fresh reducing agent, proper loading buffer, and consistent heating. Quantify protein before loading.
2. Gel choice: Match acrylamide percentage or use gradient gels to span sizes without losing resolution.
3. Running conditions: Stack at lower voltage, resolve higher. Keep buffers fresh and temperatures even to prevent smiling.
4. Staining: Select sensitivity to match your needs—Coomassie for routine, silver or fluorescent dyes for low abundance.
5. Reproducibility: Standardize lane loads and include molecular weight markers every run.

How to Display Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) Skills on Your Resume

7. Microscopy (SEM)

Scanning Electron Microscopy scans a focused electron beam across a surface to deliver high‑resolution images and compositional clues. Texture, morphology, and micro‑features jump into focus.

Why It's Important

It reveals defects, coatings, and particle structures that optical tools miss—vital for failure analysis, materials selection, and process tuning.

How to Improve Microscopy (SEM) Skills

1. Sample prep: Mount cleanly, ensure conductivity (coat non‑conductors), and avoid charging. Good prep saves time later.
2. Imaging parameters: Tune accelerating voltage, spot size, and working distance to balance resolution with beam damage.
3. Signal selection: Use SE for topography, BSE for compositional contrast; add EDS for elemental analysis when needed.
4. Environment control: Variable pressure modes help with insulating or hydrated samples without heavy coating.
5. Documentation: Record conditions with every micrograph for reproducibility and comparison.

How to Display Microscopy (SEM) Skills on Your Resume

8. Calorimetry (DSC)

Differential Scanning Calorimetry measures heat flow to track transitions—melting, crystallization, glass transitions, cure reactions. A thermal roadmap for materials and formulations.

Why It's Important

DSC informs processing windows, stability, and compatibility. In QA, it’s a quick diagnostic; in R&D, it shapes formulation choices.

How to Improve Calorimetry (DSC) Skills

1. Calibration: Verify temperature and enthalpy with standards (e.g., indium). Check regularly, log results.
2. Pan selection: Choose hermetic pans for volatiles or moisture‑sensitive samples; crimp consistently.
3. Heating rates: Slower ramps boost resolution; faster ramps speed screening. Match to your question.
4. Baseline and purge: Run empty‑pan baselines under identical conditions. Use consistent inert gas flow to limit oxidation.
5. Advanced modes: Consider modulated DSC to separate reversing and non‑reversing events.

How to Display Calorimetry (DSC) Skills on Your Resume

9. Rheometry

Rheometry measures how materials flow and deform—viscosity, storage and loss moduli, yield stress. It translates into how a product pumps, coats, extrudes, or feels.

Why It's Important

Formulation and process decisions hinge on rheology: set specs that match real‑world use, catch drift early, and optimize texture or processability.

How to Improve Rheometry Skills

1. Geometry and gap: Pick cone‑plate, parallel plate, or cup‑and‑bob to fit the sample. Set gap precisely; trim excess.
2. Temperature control: Stabilize sample temperature; rheology is temperature‑sensitive.
3. Pre‑conditioning: Pre‑shear thixotropic systems for a consistent starting state.
4. Test design: Map linear viscoelastic range before frequency sweeps. Use flow ramps for viscosity curves and stress sweeps for yield points.
5. Data interpretation: Tie G′/G″, tan δ, and shear thinning back to processing and end‑use behavior.

How to Display Rheometry Skills on Your Resume

10. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

NMR probes nuclei (commonly 1H and 13C) in a magnetic field using radiofrequency pulses to reveal structure and environment. Signals decode connectivity, dynamics, and purity.

Why It's Important

It confirms identity beyond doubt and spots impurities that hide from other methods—gold for synthesis support and QC confirmation.

How to Improve Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Skills

1. Sample prep: Use deuterated solvents, correct concentrations, and clean tubes. Remove particulates; they broaden lines.
2. Shimming and locking: Optimize field homogeneity for sharp peaks. Check lock stability before long runs.
3. Pulse programs: Start with 1D; add 2D (COSY, HSQC, HMBC) when assignments get tangled.
4. Temperature control: Stabilize for exchange‑sensitive systems and to improve reproducibility.
5. Processing discipline: Phase and baseline correctly, apply appropriate window functions, and calibrate chemical shifts carefully.

How to Display Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Skills on Your Resume

11. Quality Control (ISO 9001)

ISO 9001 (current core requirements from the 2015 edition) lays out a quality management system emphasizing risk‑based thinking, process control, and continual improvement. In a lab context, it pairs well with ISO/IEC 17025 for competence in testing and calibration.

Why It's Important

Structured QC reduces defects, anchors traceability, and safeguards compliance. Customers get consistent product; your team gets clear processes and fewer surprises.

How to Improve Quality Control (ISO 9001) Skills

1. Own the procedures: Write clear SOPs, keep them current, and train against them. Close the loop with read‑and‑understand records.
2. Measure what matters: Define KPIs for quality (OOS rates, turnaround, complaints). Review trends and act.
3. PDCA mindset: Plan changes, do pilots, check outcomes, act to standardize or adjust. Small cycles, steady gains.
4. Audit readiness: Run internal audits, fix root causes (not symptoms), and verify effectiveness of CAPAs.
5. Calibration and traceability: Maintain metrology schedules, certificates, and histories for instruments and standards.
6. Data integrity: Enforce ALCOA+ principles across paper and electronic records.

How to Display Quality Control (ISO 9001) Skills on Your Resume

12. Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)

LIMS software tracks samples, manages workflows, stores results, and strengthens quality oversight. It reduces manual entry, tightens traceability, and ties instruments, people, and data together.

Why It's Important

With LIMS, labs move faster and make fewer mistakes. You get clean chains of custody, searchable history, and reporting on demand—crucial for audits and operations.

How to Improve Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Skills

1. Automate capture: Barcode everything and connect instruments to cut transcription errors.
2. Tailor workflows: Configure statuses, approvals, and dashboards to mirror how your lab really runs.
3. Quality features: Build in SOP versioning, training records, control charts, and lot tracking.
4. Security and compliance: Role‑based access, audit trails, and e‑signatures aligned with 21 CFR Part 11 where applicable.
5. Integrations: Link LIMS with ELNs, ERP, and document control systems for seamless data flow.
6. Training and governance: Provide role‑specific training and define data standards so everyone enters information the same way.
7. Maintenance cadence: Schedule updates, backups, and validation checks to keep uptime high.

How to Display Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Skills on Your Resume