Top 12 Chemistry Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume
Crafting a compelling resume as a chemistry technician means balancing technical depth with sharp communication and teamwork. The right mix of lab techniques and practical know‑how will set you apart. Below, you’ll find the top 12 skills to showcase—each with a quick why, plus how to sharpen them—so your resume doesn’t just pass, it pops.
Chemistry Technician Skills
- Spectroscopy
- Chromatography
- Titration
- Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
- Mass Spectrometry
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
- Electrochemistry
- Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)
- High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
- Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
- Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
- Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)
1. Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy measures how matter interacts with electromagnetic radiation to identify, quantify, and probe the structure or dynamics of substances.
Why It's Important
It enables precise identification and quantification of components, vital for quality control, research, and process development. When you need answers quickly and cleanly, spectroscopy delivers.
How to Improve Spectroscopy Skills
Refine sensitivity, resolution, and interpretation—then guard that consistency like a hawk.
Calibration and Maintenance: Calibrate routinely and follow maintenance schedules to keep baselines stable and peaks honest.
Sample Preparation: Clean, consistent prep. Filter particulates, match concentrations to the linear range, and avoid contaminants that mask or distort spectra.
Optimize Parameters: Tune wavelength, slit width, integration time, and scan rate to balance speed, resolution, and signal-to-noise.
Data Treatment: Apply background correction, baseline fitting, smoothing, and deconvolution judiciously—never overdo it.
Method Validation: Check linearity, precision, accuracy, LOD/LOQ, and robustness. Document everything.
Keep Learning: New detectors, smarter software, better workflows—stay current.
How to Display Spectroscopy Skills on Your Resume
2. Chromatography
Chromatography separates mixtures based on how components distribute between a stationary phase and a mobile phase, unlocking identification, quantification, and purification.
Why It's Important
Separation is the gateway to clarity. It powers purity checks, stability studies, method development, and regulatory confidence across industries.
How to Improve Chromatography Skills
Small tweaks, big gains.
Sample Preparation: Filter, centrifuge, and clean up matrices. Use appropriate diluents to protect columns and improve peak shape.
Column Care: Flush with proper solvents, use guard columns, store correctly, and track backpressure to catch fouling early.
Mobile Phase Control: Adjust solvent strength, pH, and buffer type. For gradients, set realistic slopes; for isocratic runs, optimize composition for resolution.
Temperature Stability: Column ovens boost reproducibility and often sharpen peaks.
Detector Setup: Align wavelengths, response times, and sampling rates with analyte behavior. Validate linear range.
Flow Rate Tuning: Balance run time against resolution and backpressure. Don’t outrun your peaks.
How to Display Chromatography Skills on Your Resume
3. Titration
Titration determines concentration by reacting a solution of known concentration with an analyte until the endpoint is reached—often indicated by a color shift or instrument readout.
Why It's Important
It’s fast, precise, and robust. Perfect for assays, formulation checks, and routine QC where accuracy matters.
How to Improve Titration Skills
Precision isn’t luck—it’s habit.
Standardize Carefully: Use primary standards when possible and document corrections for purity and moisture.
Use Calibrated Glassware: Verify pipettes, burettes, and volumetric flasks regularly.
Pick the Right Indicator: Match pKa ranges or use potentiometric endpoints for ambiguous transitions.
Controlled Delivery: Slow near the endpoint. Swirl consistently. Use fine-control stopcocks or automated titrators for repeatability.
Temperature Control: Work at consistent temperatures to reduce volume and equilibrium shifts.
Replicate and Average: Run duplicates or triplicates and calculate RSD to prove precision.
How to Display Titration Skills on Your Resume
4. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
PCR amplifies specific DNA segments through cycles of denaturation, annealing, and extension, producing millions of copies from tiny starting amounts.
Why It's Important
It enables sensitive, specific detection and analysis of genetic material for diagnostics, research, and contamination control—indispensable in many labs.
How to Improve Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Skills
Clean technique meets smart design.
Primer Design: Aim for balanced GC content, minimal secondary structure, and matched Tm. Check specificity in silico.
Template Quality: Use purified, intact DNA/RNA. Remove inhibitors. Quantify and standardize input.
Reaction Optimization: Tune Mg2+, annealing temperature, and extension time per amplicon length and polymerase requirements.
Hot-Start Enzymes: Reduce non-specific products and primer dimers with hot-start chemistry.
Contamination Control: Separate pre- and post-PCR areas, use filtered tips, include no-template controls, and consider UNG/uracil-dNTP systems.
Cycle Number: Use the minimum cycles that deliver sufficient yield—avoid the plateau.
Challenging Templates: For GC-rich regions, consider DMSO or betaine and adjust annealing ramps.
How to Display Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Skills on Your Resume
5. Mass Spectrometry
Mass spectrometry identifies and quantifies compounds by measuring mass-to-charge ratios of ions, delivering high specificity and sensitivity across complex mixtures.
Why It's Important
It cracks tough problems—trace analysis, unknown identification, structural clues—powering environmental testing, pharma, food safety, and more.
How to Improve Mass Spectrometry Skills
Start clean. Stay tuned. Read the spectra like a story.
Sample Cleanup: Use SPE or LLE to reduce matrix effects. Maintain appropriate concentrations to avoid ion suppression.
Instrument Tuning: Calibrate regularly. Optimize source temperature, gas flows, voltages, and collision energies for signal quality.
Chromatography Pairing: Upstream separation (GC or LC) improves selectivity and sensitivity—optimize injection, column choice, and gradients.
MS/MS Strategies: Employ targeted transitions, product ion scans, or data-dependent acquisition to improve identification confidence.
Data Analysis: Use validated libraries and robust peak integration rules. Inspect spectra manually when results look odd.
Quality Controls: Include blanks, matrix spikes, internal standards, and system suitability checks.
How to Display Mass Spectrometry Skills on Your Resume
6. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
NMR reveals molecular structure and dynamics by probing nuclear spins in a magnetic field, producing spectra rich with structural detail.
Why It's Important
It clarifies connectivity, stereochemistry, purity, and reaction progress—information you just can’t fake.
How to Improve Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Skills
Resolution first, then speed. Signal quality rules.
Sample Preparation: Choose appropriate concentration and deuterated solvent; avoid overfilling. Filter particulates.
Temperature Control: Stabilize temperature to reduce line broadening and chemical shift drift.
Shimming: Optimize homogeneity for sharp peaks; use automated routines, then fine-tune if needed.
Pulse Sequences: Select the right experiment (1D, DEPT, COSY, HSQC, HMBC, NOESY). Adjust relaxation delays and acquisition parameters.
Solvent Suppression: Apply appropriate techniques to reveal low-level analyte signals near strong solvent peaks.
Hardware and Maintenance: Keep probes and consoles maintained; consider cryoprobes when sensitivity is limiting.
Processing: Phase, baseline, window functions, zero-filling—process consistently and document settings.
How to Display Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Skills on Your Resume
7. Electrochemistry
Electrochemistry studies how chemical reactions move electrons and how electrical energy drives reactions—think redox, cells, and interfaces.
Why It's Important
It underlies batteries, corrosion control, plating, sensors, and analytical methods. From energy to materials, it’s everywhere.
How to Improve Electrochemistry Skills
From fundamentals to finesse.
Concept Mastery: Nail Nernst, kinetics, mass transport, and double-layer behavior.
Technique Breadth: Practice CV, LSV, chronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry, coulometry, and EIS.
Electrode Care: Polish, activate, and condition electrodes. Use appropriate reference electrodes and verify their stability.
Solution Control: Prepare fresh electrolytes, adjust ionic strength, degas when needed, and keep temperatures steady.
Instrumentation: Understand potentiostat settings, iR compensation, and cell geometry. Avoid noise and grounding issues.
Modeling and Fit: Use equivalent circuits or simulation tools to interpret complex responses.
How to Display Electrochemistry Skills on Your Resume
8. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)
GC-MS couples gas chromatography separation with mass spectrometric detection to identify and quantify volatile and semi-volatile compounds—even at trace levels.
Why It's Important
It’s a powerhouse for forensics, environmental analysis, and quality control where specificity and sensitivity must coexist.
How to Improve Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Skills
Tighten each link in the chain.
Sample Preparation: Use SPE, LLE, purge-and-trap, or SPME as appropriate. Avoid solvent and matrix overload.
Column Selection: Match stationary phase polarity to analytes. Choose appropriate length, internal diameter, and film thickness to balance resolution and time. (Note: GC capillary columns don’t use particles.)
Carrier Gas and Flow: Set optimal linear velocity. Consider hydrogen for speed with proper safety protocols; helium remains common and stable.
Temperature Program: Design ramps and holds to separate early/late eluters without sacrificing peak shape.
Injection Technique: Pick split, splitless, or on-column based on concentration and volatility. Maintain liners and septa.
MS Tuning: Calibrate masses, set appropriate ion source temps and quadrupole/transfer line temps, and refine collision energies for MS/MS.
System Maintenance: Clean sources, replace filaments and pump oils as needed, and keep the inlet pristine.
How to Display Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Skills on Your Resume
9. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
HPLC separates, identifies, and quantifies components by pushing liquid samples through packed columns under pressure, detected by UV/Vis, fluorescence, or MS.
Why It's Important
It’s the backbone of pharma, environmental, and food testing—high precision, strong selectivity, and solid quantitative performance.
How to Improve High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Skills
Methodical changes, measurable payoffs.
Column Selection and Care: Choose particle size, pore size, and stationary phase suited to analytes. Use guard columns, flush properly, and store in compatible solvents.
Mobile Phase Optimization: Tune solvent strength, pH, and buffer systems; consider ion-pairing when valid. Degas and filter.
Sample Prep: Filter and clean up samples to prevent fouling. Match solvent strength to the initial mobile phase to avoid breakthrough or distortion.
Temperature Control: Stabilize column temperature for reproducibility and improved peak shape.
Flow Rate and Gradient Design: Optimize for resolution versus time. Respect pressure limits and dwell volumes.
Detector Strategy: Align wavelength, bandwidth, and sampling rate; validate response factors and linear range.
Preventive Maintenance: Replace seals, check pistons, and monitor backpressure trends to catch issues early.
How to Display High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Skills on Your Resume
10. Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
FTIR measures infrared absorption/emission to reveal functional groups and molecular fingerprints in solids, liquids, and gases.
Why It's Important
Quick identification, non-destructive testing, and solid diagnostics for materials, contamination, and authenticity checks.
How to Improve Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) Skills
Clear spectra, confident calls.
Sample Prep: For solids, consider KBr pellets or ATR with proper crystal contact; for liquids, use thin-path cells to avoid saturation.
Instrument Calibration: Verify wavenumber accuracy and check polystyrene standards periodically.
Resolution and Scans: Use higher resolution for closely spaced bands; increase scan count to boost signal-to-noise when needed.
Atmospheric Compensation: Correct for water and CO2 interferences or purge with dry air/nitrogen.
Data Processing: Apply appropriate apodization, baseline correction, and spectral subtraction judiciously.
Maintenance: Keep optics clean, check the source and detector health, and protect the interferometer from moisture.
How to Display Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) Skills on Your Resume
11. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) quantifies specific metals by measuring the light absorbed by free atoms generated in a flame or graphite furnace.
Why It's Important
Reliable metal analysis with solid sensitivity—ideal for environmental monitoring, materials checks, and routine QA/QC.
How to Improve Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Skills
Consistency is everything.
Optimize Atomization: Set correct fuel/oxidant ratios and burner height. For furnace AAS, fine-tune drying, ashing, and atomization steps.
Clean Reagents and Labware: Use high-purity acids, freshly prepared standards, and acid-washed glassware to minimize background.
Matrix Matching: Match standards to sample matrices or use standard additions to combat interferences.
Background Correction: Employ deuterium or Zeeman correction where needed.
Routine Maintenance: Keep nebulizers, spray chambers, and burners free of deposits; replace worn tubing and check gas lines.
QA Practices: Run blanks, CRMs, spikes, and duplicates. Track control charts to catch drift early.
How to Display Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Skills on Your Resume
12. Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)
A LIMS manages lab workflows, samples, data, and reporting—tying instruments, people, and processes into a traceable, auditable whole.
Why It's Important
It boosts efficiency, cuts errors, and strengthens compliance with data integrity and regulatory standards. Your lab’s nervous system.
How to Improve Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Skills
Make the system work the way your lab works.
Instrument Integration: Connect instruments for automatic data capture to reduce transcription errors and speed turnaround.
Workflow Configuration: Map real-world processes into LIMS tasks, statuses, and approvals. Keep it lean; avoid unnecessary clicks.
User Training: Provide role-based training and refreshers. Build quick-reference guides for common tasks.
Data Integrity and Security: Enforce access controls, audit trails, versioning, and electronic signatures. Align with GLP/GMP and ALCOA+ principles.
Reporting and Dashboards: Create standardized templates and KPI dashboards for rapid review and release.
Change Control: Use a formal process for updates, testing, and deployment. Gather user feedback and iterate.
Scalability: Plan for growth—additional instruments, higher sample loads, multi-site needs.
How to Display Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Skills on Your Resume
