Top 12 Histotechnician Skills to Put on Your Resume
A standout histotechnician resume doesn’t just list instruments and assays. It signals care, steadiness, and sharp pattern recognition. Technical precision stitched together with timing, labeling discipline, and clean documentation. Spotlighting these core skills shows range and reliability—and helps hiring teams see you as the steady set of hands they want on their bench.
Histotechnician Skills
- Microtomy
- Immunohistochemistry
- Cryosectioning
- H&E Staining
- Specimen Processing
- Digital Pathology
- Quality Control
- Laboratory Safety
- LIS (Laboratory Information System)
- Fluorescence Microscopy
- Tissue Embedding
- Molecular Techniques
1. Microtomy
Microtomy is the art of cutting tissue blocks into ultra-thin sections with a microtome, mounting ribbons on slides, and preserving morphology for crisp microscopic review. It sits at the center of histology—quiet, exacting, unforgiving in the best way.
Why It's Important
Accurate sectioning yields uniform thickness, intact architecture, and diagnostically useful slides. Clean cuts enable reliable staining and confident interpretation, which directly affects patient care.
How to Improve Microtomy Skills
Blade quality: Use sharp, appropriate blades; change them at the first sign of chatter, compression, or scoring.
Specimen preparation: Ensure proper fixation, processing, and embedding orientation so the target plane faces the knife edge.
Microtome maintenance: Keep the instrument clean, aligned, and calibrated. Loose parts or debris will show up on the slide.
Technique refinement: Standardize hand motion, feed rate, and ribbon handling; practice consistent section thickness (often 3–5 µm for routine H&E).
Temperature control: Match block temperature to tissue and paraffin type; gentle chilling can reduce compression, while over-chilling can cause shattering.
Documentation and learning: Track issues (wrinkles, chatter) and the fixes you applied; build a quick-reference log for recurring tissue types.
Mastery here shows in the slides. Smooth ribbons, tidy water bath work, minimal artifacts.
How to Display Microtomy Skills on Your Resume
2. Immunohistochemistry
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) detects specific proteins in tissue using antibody-based staining and visual labels, mapping cellular identity and signaling patterns straight on the slide.
Why It's Important
IHC supports tumor classification, prognostic and predictive marker assessment, and targeted therapy decisions. Right antibody, right protocol, right interpretation—high stakes, high value.
How to Improve Immunohistochemistry Skills
Antigen retrieval: Select heat-induced or enzymatic retrieval tailored to the epitope and fixation history; titrate time and pH.
Blocking strategy: Reduce non-specific binding with serum or protein blocks aligned to your detection chemistry.
Primary optimization: Titrate antibody concentration and incubation time; validate lot-to-lot changes before go-live.
Detection choices: Use low-cross-reactivity secondaries or polymer systems to boost signal while keeping background quiet.
Stringent controls: Include positive tissue controls, negative reagent controls, and where appropriate, internal controls on each run.
Equipment consistency: Keep ovens, incubators, and autostainers maintained; drift in temperature or timing shows up as variability.
Record-keeping: Document clone, lot, dilution, retrieval, and timing—traceability makes troubleshooting fast.
Small tweaks, tested methodically, pay off with reproducible, clean signal.
How to Display Immunohistochemistry Skills on Your Resume
3. Cryosectioning
Cryosectioning prepares frozen tissue in a cryostat for rapid microscopic evaluation. It preserves water-soluble components and enzyme activity, critical when time and biochemistry matter.
Why It's Important
Frozen sections enable quick intraoperative decisions and support assays where paraffin processing would distort or destroy targets. Speed without surrendering morphology—that balance is the craft.
How to Improve Cryosectioning Skills
Tissue and OCT handling: Embed cleanly with full OCT support; minimize trapped air and frost to avoid chatter and tears.
Temperature tuning: Adjust chamber and specimen temperatures by tissue type (often about −20°C to −30°C). Fatty tissues prefer warmer; fibrous, a touch colder.
Thickness and blade: Match section thickness to downstream work (5–20 µm). Keep a sharp edge; tweak blade angle for smooth glide.
Anti-roll plate finesse: Set close, parallel, and clean to prevent curling and wrinkles.
Troubleshooting: Compression? Warm the block slightly or decrease thickness. Chatter? Cooler block, fresh blade, slower advance. Wrinkles? Adjust anti-roll and cutting speed.
Clean workflow: Control humidity and frost; wipe down surfaces regularly to keep ice and debris at bay.
Practice makes the sections behave. Your slides will tell you when the temperatures are right.
How to Display Cryosectioning Skills on Your Resume
4. H&E Staining
Hematoxylin lights up nuclei in blue-purple; eosin washes cytoplasm and extracellular matrix in pinks and reds. Together, they reveal architecture at a glance—foundational, familiar, powerful.
Why It's Important
H&E provides the first, broad read on tissue: orientation, cellularity, inflammation, necrosis, margins. If this base layer is excellent, every subsequent interpretation is easier.
How to Improve H&E Staining Skills
Reagent quality: Fresh, correctly prepared hematoxylin and eosin; monitor oxidation and replace on schedule.
pH discipline: Keep hematoxylin slightly alkaline; eosin slightly acidic to maintain clean contrast.
Deparaffinization and hydration: Xylene (or substitute) to remove paraffin, then graded alcohols to water before staining. After staining, dehydrate through graded alcohols, clear, and coverslip. This order matters.
Timing and differentiation: Standardize times, and fine-tune differentiation and bluing to tissue thickness and fixative.
Rinses: Use adequate, clean water between steps to curb background and carryover.
QC review: Microscopic checks of control slides per run; adjust promptly if nuclei look muddy or cytoplasm goes flat.
Equipment care: Clean stainers, fresh baths, labeled stations—consistency prevents drift.
When hues snap into place, pathologists notice. So do QA metrics.
How to Display H&E Staining Skills on Your Resume
5. Specimen Processing
Processing shepherds tissue from fixation through dehydration, clearing, infiltration, and embedding—preserving structure while preparing it for sectioning and staining.
Why It's Important
Good processing prevents hard-to-fix errors later: incomplete infiltration, brittle tissue, mushy cores. It sets the stage for everything downstream.
How to Improve Specimen Processing Skills
Standard operating procedures: Clear, current SOPs with defined schedules for common tissue types; verify new protocols with controls.
Right-size fixation: Proper fixative volume, time, and tissue thickness; over- or under-fixation haunts sectioning and staining.
Automation with vigilance: Use processors, stainers, and coverslippers to boost consistency, then audit their performance routinely.
Quality control and assurance: Include check slides, log deviations, and review trends; corrective actions should be documented and shared.
Pre-analytical rigor: Specimen ID, labeling, cold ischemia times, and container checks—all verified before loading the processor.
Lean flow: Map the workflow, trim motion and waiting, reduce rework; simple layout tweaks often save hours a week.
Consistency in, consistency out. That’s the aim.
How to Display Specimen Processing Skills on Your Resume
6. Digital Pathology
Digital pathology converts glass slides to whole-slide images for review, collaboration, and archiving—unlocking remote sign-out, consultation, and algorithmic assistance.
Why It's Important
It streamlines case sharing, supports standardized measurements, and enables scalable QA. With validated workflows, it bolsters turnaround and consistency.
How to Improve Digital Pathology Skills
Scanner quality and upkeep: High-resolution scanning with routine calibration and color profiling keeps digital slides faithful to glass.
Standardized prep: Clean slides, even coverslips, and stain consistency prevent focus and color issues at scan time.
LIS integration: Tight links between WSI viewers and LIS reduce relabeling risk and speed case navigation.
File management: Use clear naming, versioning, and storage policies; plan for large file sizes and backups.
Algorithm awareness: Understand where image analysis can help (e.g., quantification) and where human review must lead.
Validation and training: Validate use cases locally, document performance, and keep users trained on updates and new features.
When the pipeline hums, digital fits in naturally—another lens to see the tissue clearly.
How to Display Digital Pathology Skills on Your Resume
7. Quality Control
Quality control in histotechnology verifies that reagents, instruments, and processes produce consistent, accurate slides. It’s the guardrail that keeps variability from creeping into diagnoses.
Why It's Important
Reliable results underpin patient management. QC catches drift early—before it reaches the report.
How to Improve Quality Control Skills
Procedure discipline: Maintain current SOPs; change control for any adjustment to reagents or timing.
Preventive maintenance: Scheduled service for processors, microtomes, stainers, cryostats; document checks and fixes.
External comparison: Participate in proficiency testing and external quality assessment to benchmark performance.
Robust controls: Use control tissues per run for major stains and IHC markers; review and sign off.
Blameless reporting: Encourage incident and near-miss reporting; analyze roots, then standardize fixes.
Audit cadence: Internal audits and readiness for inspections (e.g., CLIA/CAP/ISO) keep compliance sharp.
Make quality visible: dashboards, trend charts, and swift feedback loops.
How to Display Quality Control Skills on Your Resume
8. Laboratory Safety
Lab safety means controlling risk—biological, chemical, mechanical—through training, PPE, engineering controls, labeling, and emergency readiness.
Why It's Important
Protecting people and specimens preserves both health and data integrity. A single lapse can harm staff and compromise results.
How to Improve Laboratory Safety Skills
Training that sticks: Initial and refresher training on chemical hygiene, bloodborne pathogens, and equipment use; practice drills, not just slides.
PPE without shortcuts: Gloves, eye protection, coats, and respiratory protection when warranted—placed where they’re needed, in sizes that fit.
Chemical stewardship: Up-to-date SDS access, proper storage segregation, secondary containment, and spill kits at hand.
Equipment checks: Guards, interlocks, ventilation, and emergency stops verified regularly; document failures and fixes.
Emergency readiness: Clear routes, marked kits, eyewash/shower checks, and posted response steps; brief new staff early.
Labels and signs: GHS-compliant labeling, hazard signage, and waste containers clearly marked and used correctly.
Waste handling: Segregate biohazard, sharps, chemical, and solvent waste; dispose per local regulations and schedules.
Culture matters. If people speak up about hazards, safety lives.
How to Display Laboratory Safety Skills on Your Resume
9. LIS (Laboratory Information System)
A Laboratory Information System tracks specimens, links orders to slides and blocks, manages workflows and QC, and supports reporting—binding the lab’s data together.
Why It's Important
Strong LIS use reduces mislabeling risk, speeds turnaround, and improves transparency across accessioning, processing, and sign-out.
How to Improve LIS (Laboratory Information System) Skills
Barcode everything: Specimen, block, and slide barcoding with scanners at each workstation to cut transcription errors.
Templates and rules: Build standardized order sets, stain panels, and reflex rules; reduce manual clicks.
Digital pathology links: Integrate viewers so users jump from case to image with a single click and maintain chain-of-custody.
Security and compliance: Role-based access, audit logs, encryption, and multi-factor authentication protect PHI.
Training and super-users: Short, targeted training and local super-users keep adoption high and tickets low.
Continuous improvement: Track bottlenecks with LIS timestamps; adjust workflows and measure the before/after.
When the LIS mirrors reality on the bench, errors fall and calm rises.
How to Display LIS (Laboratory Information System) Skills on Your Resume
10. Fluorescence Microscopy
Fluorescence microscopy uses fluorophores to highlight specific molecules or structures, revealing patterns invisible to brightfield. Spectral choices and careful imaging are everything.
Why It's Important
It enables precise localization of targets in tissue, supports multiplexed panels, and pairs naturally with frozen work and many molecular assays.
How to Improve Fluorescence Microscopy Skills
Specimen prep: Use fixation compatible with your fluorophores; keep sections thin, flat, and clean.
Thoughtful staining: Select bright, specific dyes or conjugates; block thoroughly to cut background; protect from light.
Imaging settings: Match filter sets to fluorophores; balance exposure, gain, and illumination to reduce photobleaching while keeping signal strong.
Control bleed-through: Minimize channel overlap; consider sequential imaging and proper filter separation.
Tame autofluorescence: Use quenching strategies or spectral unmixing when tissues glow on their own.
Clean post-processing: Apply gentle deconvolution and noise reduction; avoid over-processing that invents detail.
Protect the signal, respect the noise, and document settings for reproducibility.
How to Display Fluorescence Microscopy Skills on Your Resume
11. Tissue Embedding
Embedding seats tissue in paraffin (or resin) at the right orientation so the target plane sections cleanly. Alignment here decides tomorrow’s microtomy.
Why It's Important
Correct orientation and full infiltration prevent tissue loss, chatter, and distortion. Good blocks make good ribbons; good ribbons make good slides.
How to Improve Tissue Embedding Skills
Complete dehydration: Ensure graded alcohol steps remove water fully; residual moisture fights infiltration.
Thorough infiltration: Verify paraffin penetration; vacuum processing helps with dense or fatty tissues.
Temperature balance: Keep paraffin warm enough to flow, not so hot it harms tissue. Avoid drafts that cause uneven solidification.
Orientation discipline: Place epithelium, margins, and cores so the first cuts hit the diagnostic face.
Rapid, controlled cooling: Cool blocks quickly to set crystal structure but avoid thermal shock that causes cracks.
Tool hygiene: Clean forceps and molds; avoid cross-contamination and paraffin debris.
The best embedding looks boring—and cuts like butter.
How to Display Tissue Embedding Skills on Your Resume
12. Molecular Techniques
Molecular methods in histology probe DNA, RNA, and specific targets within tissue—think in situ hybridization (ISH/FISH), PCR/RT-PCR on microdissected areas, and related assays that complement morphology.
Why It's Important
They detect mutations, fusions, pathogens, and expression patterns that guide prognosis and therapy—precision layered on top of slides.
How to Improve Molecular Techniques Skills
Pre-analytical control: Standardize fixation times and tissue handling to protect nucleic acids; document variables.
Meticulous prep: Prevent cross-contamination, measure reagents accurately, and time steps precisely.
Controls and validation: Use positive/negative controls and validate new targets, probe sets, and extraction kits before routine use.
Automation where it helps: Leverage automated extraction or staining to boost reproducibility; monitor with routine QC.
Data literacy: Understand Ct values, signal thresholds, and probe behavior; collaborate closely with molecular pathology for interpretation.
Keep learning: Track updates in ISH chemistry, fixation-friendly protocols, and multiplex panels; refresh competencies regularly.
Precision starts long before the assay—at grossing, fixation, and block selection.
How to Display Molecular Techniques Skills on Your Resume
