Top 12 Chemist Skills to Put on Your Resume
Crafting an effective resume as a chemist means spotlighting a tight blend of technical depth and soft-skill grit. Show how you think with your hands in the lab, how you wrangle data, how you push experiments from hunch to proof. A sharp skills list signals fluency, flexibility, and the drive to keep moving forward in the field.
Chemist Skills
- Chromatography
- Spectroscopy
- Mass Spectrometry
- Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
- Electrochemistry
- High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
- Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)
- Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
- X-ray Diffraction (XRD)
- Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS)
- Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)
1. Chromatography
Chromatography separates and analyzes components in a mixture by exploiting their different interactions with a stationary phase and a mobile phase.
Why It's Important
It lets chemists split complex samples, identify components, and purify targets. In other words, clean answers from messy mixtures.
How to Improve Chromatography Skills
Dial in the details. Small shifts, big payoffs:
Column selection: Match chemistry, length, ID, and particle size to the job. Smaller particles and longer columns can boost resolution, but watch pressure limits.
Mobile phase tuning: Adjust composition, pH, and ionic strength to sharpen peaks and separation. Gradient elution helps with complexity.
Flow rate: Slower often means better resolution (and longer runs). Find the sweet spot.
Temperature control: Temperature nudges selectivity and diffusion. Higher temps can shorten runs but may change separations.
Sample prep: Filter, dilute, clean up. Protect the column. Improve reproducibility.
Detector setup: Choose the right detector and optimize settings (e.g., UV wavelength, MS parameters) for sensitivity and selectivity.
Method development tools: Use simulation and design-of-experiments to converge faster on stable conditions.
Iterate methodically. Track changes. Lock in what works.
How to Display Chromatography Skills on Your Resume
2. Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy probes what matter does with light. Interactions across wavelengths reveal identity, structure, and environment.
Why It's Important
It’s a backbone technique: identify compounds, map functional groups, track reactions, quantify products, confirm purity.
How to Improve Spectroscopy Skills
Upgrade instrumentation thoughtfully: Seek higher resolution, sensitivity, and stability where it matters for your analyses.
Sample prep: Clean matrices, right solvent, proper path length. Reduce noise before it starts.
Method development: Pick suitable wavelength ranges, slit widths, and acquisition parameters. Validate for your matrix.
Data handling: Use robust software for baseline correction, smoothing, peak fitting, and quantitation.
Calibration and checks: Run standards and controls regularly. Document drift and correct it.
Keep learning: Short courses, workshops, and internal lunch-and-learns sharpen interpretation skills.
How to Display Spectroscopy Skills on Your Resume
3. Mass Spectrometry
Mass spectrometry identifies and quantifies compounds by generating ions and measuring mass-to-charge ratios with exquisite precision.
Why It's Important
It nails down molecular weights, fragments structures, catches impurities, and quantifies trace analytes with confidence.
How to Improve Mass Spectrometry Skills
Sample cleanup: Solid-phase extraction, filtration, or upfront LC reduces background and ion suppression.
Ionization strategy: Match ionization (ESI, APCI, MALDI, more) to analyte polarity, size, and volatility.
Choose the right analyzer: TOF for speed, quadrupole for quant, Orbitrap/FT for high resolution and accuracy—align with the question you’re answering.
Detector and source care: Clean ion sources, check voltages, monitor detector health. Stable signals, stronger data.
Data processing: Use advanced deconvolution, spectral libraries, isotope pattern checks, and rigorous integration rules.
Calibration and QA: Regular tune, calibrate with standards, track system suitability metrics.
How to Display Mass Spectrometry Skills on Your Resume
4. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
PCR amplifies specific DNA segments through cycles of denaturation, annealing, and extension. Tiny template, large signal.
Why It's Important
It enables fast, specific genetic analyses—cloning, detection, genotyping, diagnostics, and more.
How to Improve Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Skills
Primer design: Balance Tm, GC content, length, and specificity. Avoid dimers and hairpins.
Template quality: Purify thoroughly. Remove inhibitors. Quantify and standardize input.
Mg2+ and salts: Titrate magnesium and buffer conditions to sharpen specificity and yield.
Annealing temperature: Use gradient PCR to find the crispest temperature window.
Polymerase choice: High-fidelity for cloning, hot-start for specificity, robust mixes for tough templates.
Cycle number and times: Fewer cycles reduce non-specific bands; adjust extension to amplicon length.
Additives when needed: DMSO or betaine can tame GC-rich regions and secondary structures.
Post-PCR confirmation: Run gels, verify size, consider Sanger sequencing for final confirmation.
How to Display Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Skills on Your Resume
5. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
NMR reads nuclear spins in a magnetic field to unravel structure, dynamics, and molecular environments.
Why It's Important
It reveals connectivity, stereochemistry, conformations, and interactions—often non-destructively and with rich detail.
How to Improve Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Skills
Sensitivity: Use cryogenic probes when available, optimize acquisition parameters, and concentrate samples appropriately.
Sample prep: Choose the right deuterated solvent, remove particulates, aim for clean baselines and well-shimmed lines.
Pulse sequences: Apply 2D and multinuclear experiments (COSY, HSQC, HMBC, NOESY) to solve ambiguity fast.
Temperature control: Variable-temperature experiments can sharpen lines or probe dynamics—stability matters.
Field strength and hardware: Higher fields improve resolution and S/N; maintain probes and gradients carefully.
Data processing: Zero-fill, apodize, phase and baseline correctly; use reliable software for assignments and integration.
Practice interpretation: Regularly work through spectra, assign systematically, and document decisions.
How to Display Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Skills on Your Resume
6. Electrochemistry
Electrochemistry explores how electrical energy and chemical change trade places—redox, interfaces, charge transfer, all the lively stuff at electrodes.
Why It's Important
It underpins batteries, corrosion control, electrosynthesis, sensors, and catalysis. Theory meets hard tech.
How to Improve Electrochemistry Skills
Master fundamentals: Nernst, Butler–Volmer, diffusion, double layers. Build intuition from first principles.
Hands-on methods: Practice cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, impedance spectroscopy. Calibrate electrodes and clean surfaces.
Cell design: Choose reference/counter electrodes wisely, control electrolyte composition, minimize uncompensated resistance.
Data quality: iR-drop compensation, deoxygenation where needed, stable temperature, rigorous blanks.
Stay current: Track advances in solid-state electrolytes, electrocatalysts, and operando techniques.
Apply it: Tackle real problems—aging studies in cells, corrosion mapping, sensor calibration curves.
How to Display Electrochemistry Skills on Your Resume
7. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
HPLC separates, identifies, and quantifies components by pushing liquid samples through packed columns at pressure, exploiting interactions with a stationary phase.
Why It's Important
It delivers high-resolution analyses for purity, potency, stability, and trace-level quantitation across pharma, environmental, and biochemical work.
How to Improve High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Skills
Column care and selection: Pick bonded phase, particle size, length, and ID to fit analytes. Condition, backflush when appropriate, store correctly.
Mobile phase strategy: Control pH and buffer strength; use gradients for complex samples; filter and degas.
Sample preparation: Protein crash, SPE, filtration—keep gunk out of the system and peaks tidy.
Temperature: Column ovens improve reproducibility and often sharpen peaks.
Method development and validation: Define specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, LOD/LOQ, robustness. Document thoroughly.
Instrument maintenance: Replace seals, check frits, verify pump performance, and run system suitability tests.
How to Display High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Skills on Your Resume
8. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)
GC-MS pairs volatility-driven separations with mass-based detection to identify and quantify compounds in complex mixtures.
Why It's Important
It’s a workhorse for environmental testing, forensics, flavor and fragrance, and small-molecule analytics—sensitive, selective, and reliable.
How to Improve Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Skills
Sample preparation: Use SPME, purge-and-trap, or liquid–liquid extraction when appropriate. Dry and clean extracts to protect the system.
Column selection: Choose phase polarity, length, inner diameter, and film thickness to match analytes and matrix. Capillary columns, not particles.
Carrier gas and flow: Optimize linear velocity; hydrogen can shorten runs (mind safety), helium is stable, nitrogen is slower.
Temperature programs: Tailor ramps and holds to separate close neighbors without ballooning run time.
MS parameters: Tune ion source temps, electron energy, and acquisition modes (scan vs. SIM) to hit targets with sensitivity.
Data analysis: Apply deconvolution, match libraries, check qualifier/quantifier ratios, and verify retention index where possible.
Maintenance: Trim columns, change liners and septa, clean sources, and leak-check routinely.
How to Display Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Skills on Your Resume
9. Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
FTIR measures infrared absorption and transforms it into spectra that reveal functional groups and molecular fingerprints.
Why It's Important
It’s fast, versatile, and gentle—great for solids, liquids, and gases, both qualitative IDs and quantitative work.
How to Improve Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) Skills
Sample handling: Use ATR for minimal prep and consistent path length; KBr pellets for powders when needed; ensure uniform contact.
Instrument setup: Verify alignment, pick suitable resolution (often 4–8 cm^-1), and average enough scans to lift S/N.
Atmospheric correction: Compensate for water and CO2 bands; purge or software-correct to reduce interference.
Chemometrics: Baseline correction, derivative spectra, peak deconvolution, and multivariate models tighten quantitation.
Care and calibration: Keep optics clean; check wavelength accuracy with standards like polystyrene film.
How to Display Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) Skills on Your Resume
10. X-ray Diffraction (XRD)
XRD determines crystal structures and phases by measuring how X-rays diffract through ordered materials.
Why It's Important
It identifies phases, refines lattice parameters, reveals polymorphs, and tracks transformations—core insights for materials, pharma, and catalysis.
How to Improve X-ray Diffraction (XRD) Skills
Sample prep: Grind powders finely and evenly; minimize preferred orientation. For thin films, ensure uniform thickness and smooth surfaces.
Instrument parameters: Optimize tube voltage/current for S/N; pick appropriate slit sizes; balance scan speed with resolution; use sensitive detectors for sharper peaks.
Data analysis: Apply background subtraction, accurate peak fitting, and use reliable databases for phase ID. Rietveld refinement tightens quant and structure models.
Calibration and maintenance: Use standard references to verify 2θ accuracy and instrument performance; maintain alignment.
Advanced modes: Consider HRXRD for epitaxial films, SAXS for nanoscale features, or residual stress mapping when relevant.
How to Display X-ray Diffraction (XRD) Skills on Your Resume
11. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS)
AAS quantifies metals by measuring how ground-state atoms absorb element-specific wavelengths after atomization.
Why It's Important
It offers sensitive, selective, and cost-effective metal analysis for environmental, food, pharma, and materials testing.
How to Improve Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) Skills
Sample prep: Digest consistently, match matrices where possible, and use clean labware to minimize contamination.
Flame and furnace tuning: Optimize fuel/oxidant ratios for flame AAS; tailor temperature programs and modifiers for GF-AAS.
Background correction: Apply Zeeman or deuterium background correction to reduce interferences.
Calibration strategy: Use matrix-matched standards, standard additions when needed, and verify with independent checks.
Validation: Establish linearity, LOD/LOQ, accuracy, precision, and robustness. Track control charts over time.
Maintenance: Keep burners, nebulizers, and lamps clean and aligned; monitor lamp intensity and replace when output drops.
How to Display Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) Skills on Your Resume
12. Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)
LIMS software manages samples, workflows, instruments, data, and reports—keeping labs organized, compliant, and audit-ready.
Why It's Important
It boosts traceability, reduces manual errors, speeds reporting, and supports data integrity across regulated and research settings.
How to Improve Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Skills
Streamline sample tracking: Use barcodes or RFID, define clear states, and enforce chain-of-custody.
Instrument integration: Connect instruments for direct data capture; standardize file formats and metadata.
Data analysis inside the system: Embed calculations, QC rules, and dashboards to surface issues early.
Reporting and templates: Build configurable reports with version control; mirror regulatory and client requirements.
Compliance: Align with 21 CFR Part 11 and similar guidance—access controls, audit trails, e-signatures, backups.
Training and SOPs: Document workflows, run refreshers, and keep admin rights tight to prevent drift.
Scalability: Plan for growth—role-based permissions, multi-site deployment, and robust change management.
How to Display Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Skills on Your Resume
