Top 12 Clinical Laboratory Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume
Crafting a standout resume as a Clinical Laboratory Technician means showing the technical chops and the people skills that keep a lab humming. Below, you’ll find a focused set of skills employers scan for—clear, concrete, and grounded in how real labs run day to day.
Clinical Laboratory Technician Skills
- Phlebotomy
- PCR
- ELISA
- Microscopy
- Hematology
- Biochemistry
- Spectrophotometry
- Flow Cytometry
- Chromatography
- LIS (Laboratory Information System)
- Quality Control
- Immunohistochemistry
1. Phlebotomy
Phlebotomy is the collection of blood via venipuncture or capillary puncture for diagnostic testing—done safely, cleanly, and with patient comfort in mind.
Why It's Important
Accurate blood collection underpins countless tests. Good technique protects sample integrity, reduces recollects, and builds patient trust.
How to Improve Phlebotomy Skills
Sharpen fundamentals: Site selection, angle, order of draw, gentle mixing—practice until muscle memory kicks in.
Prioritize patient experience: Clear explanations, positioning, and distraction techniques decrease anxiety and improve cooperation.
Stay strict on safety: Hand hygiene, PPE, sharps handling, and immediate labeling. Every time, no shortcuts.
Audit yourself: Track hemolysis rates, recollects, and near misses. Fix patterns, not just single events.
Refresh often: Periodic competency checks and simulations keep skills crisp.
How to Display Phlebotomy Skills on Your Resume
2. PCR
PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) amplifies specific DNA or RNA targets. In clinical labs, this includes conventional PCR, RT-PCR, qPCR, and increasingly, digital PCR.
Why It's Important
It delivers rapid, sensitive detection for infectious diseases, genetic variants, and oncology markers—guiding diagnosis and treatment decisions.
How to Improve PCR Skills
Start with clean input: High-quality, inhibitor-free nucleic acids. Validate extraction and check integrity routinely.
Design smart primers/probes: Avoid secondary structures, dimers, and off-targets; verify amplicon length and GC content.
Tune the chemistry: Optimize Mg2+, enzyme choice (hot-start for specificity), and additives for GC-rich templates when needed.
Dial in cycling: Gradient tests for annealing temperature; adjust extension time and cycle number to curb nonspecific amplification.
Prevent contamination: Physical separation of pre- and post-amplification areas, unidirectional workflow, and negative controls every run.
QC the platform: Regular instrument calibration, verification with controls, and consistent lot-to-lot reagent checks.
How to Display PCR Skills on Your Resume
3. ELISA
ELISA detects and quantifies antigens or antibodies in patient samples using enzyme-linked antibodies and colorimetric or chemiluminescent readouts.
Why It's Important
It’s a reliable workhorse for infectious disease serology, hormone testing, autoimmune panels, and therapeutic drug monitoring.
How to Improve ELISA Skills
Optimize concentrations: Checkerboard titrations for capture/detection antibodies and conjugates to hit the sweet spot.
Block wisely: Match the blocker to the matrix; reduce background without clipping true signal.
Wash consistently: Standardize wash cycles, soak times, and volumes—small deviations, big drift.
Guard your curve: Fresh standards, proper diluents, and fit checks each run. No curve, no confidence.
Control the clock and temp: Incubation times and temperatures must be uniform across plates and runs.
Validate thoroughly: Precision, accuracy, LoD/LoQ, linearity, and matrix effects—documented and reviewed.
How to Display ELISA Skills on Your Resume
4. Microscopy
Microscopy enables direct visualization of cells, tissues, and microorganisms—brightfield, phase, fluorescence, or digital imaging—anchoring many diagnoses.
Why It's Important
It reveals morphology, parasites, inclusions, and cellular detail that instruments can’t fully tell—essential checks and confirmations.
How to Improve Microscopy Skills
Master setup: Köhler illumination, correct objectives, clean optics. Routine care prevents fuzzy calls.
Standardize prep: Consistent smears, stains, and coverslips; fresh reagents and verified stain quality.
Train your eye: Regular slide reviews, unknowns, and peer comparisons sharpen recognition and speed.
Document well: Calibrated imaging, scale bars, and clear annotations support clinical correlation.
Maintain equipment: Scheduled calibration, alignment, and service logs keep results reproducible.
How to Display Microscopy Skills on Your Resume
5. Hematology
Hematology involves analysis of blood and its components—CBCs, differentials, cell morphology, coagulation testing—to detect and monitor disease.
Why It's Important
It guides diagnosis and management for anemia, infections, coagulopathies, hemoglobinopathies, and hematologic malignancies.
How to Improve Hematology Skills
Treat analyzers right: Daily QC, maintenance, and calibration verification; troubleshoot flags with reflex tests.
Keep smears sharp: Uniform thickness, proper staining, and systematic review patterns for accurate diffs.
Validate reflexes: Clear rules for manual diffs, retics, ESR, or peripheral smear review based on instrument flags.
Proficiency and QC: Regular proficiency testing, delta checks, and peer comparisons to catch drift early.
Close the loop: Correlate results with clinical info and previous values; question what doesn’t fit.
How to Display Hematology Skills on Your Resume
6. Biochemistry
Clinical biochemistry measures analytes in blood, urine, and other fluids—electrolytes, enzymes, metabolites, proteins—to illuminate physiology and pathology.
Why It's Important
It supports fast, data-driven care in emergencies, chronic disease management, and therapy monitoring.
How to Improve Biochemistry Skills
Own pre-analytics: Correct tubes, prompt processing, proper storage; hemolysis and lipemia checks every time.
Strengthen QC: Multi-level controls, Westgard rules, lot-to-lot bridging, and trending with action limits.
Validate methods: Linearity, carryover, interference studies, and reference interval verification before live use.
Use data smartly: Middleware rules, auto-verification criteria, and delta checks to reduce manual errors.
Safety and sustainability: Chemical handling, waste logs, and spill response—all routine, all documented.
How to Display Biochemistry Skills on Your Resume
7. Spectrophotometry
Spectrophotometry quantifies analytes by measuring absorbance at defined wavelengths—central to many chemistry and enzyme assays.
Why It's Important
It provides precise, reproducible quantitation for biomarkers, drugs, and metabolites when calibrated and controlled well.
How to Improve Spectrophotometry Skills
Verify wavelengths: Use certified standards or internal checks to confirm wavelength accuracy and stray light limits.
Mind cuvettes and wells: Clean, scratch-free optics and proper pathlength; consistent plate type and positioning.
Control blanks: Matrix-matched blanks and reagent blanks to correct background and drift.
Stability checks: Track reagent stability, light sensitivity, and on-board times; replace before decline shows up.
Calibrate routinely: Documented calibration frequency, photometric accuracy checks, and linearity verification.
How to Display Spectrophotometry Skills on Your Resume
8. Flow Cytometry
Flow cytometry analyzes physical and chemical features of single cells or particles in suspension using lasers and detectors—now often with multicolor or spectral systems.
Why It's Important
It parses complex cell populations quickly and precisely for immunophenotyping, minimal residual disease, stem cell counts, and more.
How to Improve Flow Cytometry Skills
Standardize from start: SOPs for sample handling, staining, viability checks, and acquisition settings.
Calibrate daily: Bead-based instrument QC, detector balance, compensation or unmixing verification before patient runs.
Design smart panels: Match fluorophores to antigen density, minimize spectral overlap, and include dump channels where useful.
Gate with intention: Clear gating hierarchies, FMO controls as needed, and cross-checks with known patterns.
Document and version: Save templates, capture voltages and thresholds, and record analysis versions for traceability.
How to Display Flow Cytometry Skills on Your Resume
9. Chromatography
Chromatography separates complex mixtures (e.g., drugs, metabolites, toxins) for identification and quantification—LC, GC, HPLC, and related methods.
Why It's Important
It supports therapeutic drug monitoring, toxicology, endocrinology, and metabolic workups with high specificity.
How to Improve Chromatography Skills
Pick the right column: Stationary phase, dimensions, and particle size aligned to your analytes and matrix.
Tune the mobile phase: Optimize pH, organic composition, and gradient shape for resolution and speed.
Prep samples cleanly: Protein precipitation, SPE, filtration—reduce matrix effects and protect the column.
Control temperature: Stable column temps improve retention time precision and peak shape.
Validate thoroughly: Specificity, accuracy, precision, carryover, recovery, and robustness—locked down before go-live.
How to Display Chromatography Skills on Your Resume
10. LIS (Laboratory Information System)
A Laboratory Information System manages orders, specimens, workflows, results, QC, and reporting—connecting instruments, staff, and clinicians.
Why It's Important
It cuts manual errors, speeds turnaround, enforces standardization, and strengthens data integrity and patient safety.
How to Improve LIS (Laboratory Information System) Skills
Integrate widely: Solid interfaces to EHRs, analyzers, middleware, and billing reduce double entry and delays.
Simplify the screen: Clear, role-based layouts with fewer clicks for common tasks; consistent naming and coding.
Automate rules: Auto-verification, reflex testing, critical value alerts, and delta checks with audit trails.
Train and test: Ongoing user training, sandbox environments for updates, and change control with release notes.
Secure the data: User permissions, strong authentication, downtime procedures, and regular backups tested for restore.
How to Display LIS (Laboratory Information System) Skills on Your Resume
11. Quality Control
Quality control ensures accuracy and reliability of test results through controls, calibrations, maintenance, and continuous monitoring.
Why It's Important
Reliable results drive safe clinical decisions. QC catches drift, error, and bias before patients are affected.
How to Improve Quality Control Skills
Write it down: Clear SOPs, revision control, and staff sign-offs—consistency starts on paper.
Run controls right: Multi-level controls at defined frequencies, rule-based acceptance, and real-time intervention.
Trend everything: Levey-Jennings charts, sigma metrics, and monthly reviews to spot slow creep.
Investigate deeply: Root cause analysis for outliers and errors; corrective and preventive actions documented.
Test competence: Proficiency testing, blind samples, and peer comparisons to verify performance.
How to Display Quality Control Skills on Your Resume
12. Immunohistochemistry
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) uses labeled antibodies to detect specific proteins in tissue sections, revealing patterns tied to diagnosis and prognosis.
Why It's Important
It refines tumor classification, identifies therapeutic targets, and confirms infectious or autoimmune processes.
How to Improve Immunohistochemistry Skills
Tailor retrieval: Heat-induced or enzymatic retrieval matched to antigen and tissue—optimize, don’t guess.
Titrate antibodies: Determine optimal concentrations and incubation times to maximize signal-to-noise.
Control every run: Appropriate positive and negative controls on-slide or side-by-side—nonnegotiable.
Standardize detection: Use consistent detection chemistries; consider polymer systems for weak targets.
Leverage automation: Automated staining improves reproducibility and throughput when validated properly.
How to Display Immunohistochemistry Skills on Your Resume
