How to become a lab technician

How to become a lab technician

With a keen eye for details, commitment to accuracy and the ability to stand on your feet for hours, you could be a vital addition to the world of science.

You may have a specific idea of what a laboratory looks like – lots of white coats, bubbling beakers, bunsen burners… but there are many different types of laboratories in the world. “It could be a pathology lab, a lab in a hospital,” says Tracey Salter, Program Manager of Sciences and Allied Health at RMIT. “It could be a lab in a school. It could be a pharmacy lab. Some pharmacies, like compounding pharmacies, have labs.”

This broad variety of labs means a broad variety of jobs available, she explains: “Anywhere there’s a lab, they’ll need a technician to receive samples – whether they’re blood, urine, whatever – and actually analyse them.”

How do you become a laboratory technician?

There are two main paths to finding a job as a lab technician. The first is through vocational education (VE).

“In terms of vocational outcomes, we’re the market leader,” says Tracey. “We’ve got a big portion of the market, for the Diploma of Laboratory Technology and the Certificate IV in Laboratory Techniques. Industry actively recruits our graduates, and we also do placement work where our students do 80 hours with a lab. Quite often they get jobs from that as well.”

The second path – the Bachelor of Laboratory Medicine (Honours) – is a course you can go straight into, and it’s also accessible when you’ve started on the VE track.

Roula Kyriacou, Associate Dean, Clinical and Professional Education at RMIT, explains the further roles you can land via this path: “Our students generally go and work in in the hospital labs or the private pathology labs. That encompasses different subdisciplines like your clinical biochemistry, your anatomical pathology – which comprises again two different areas, histopathology and cytopathology. Then there's medical microbiology. There's haematology and there's transfusion and transplantation science. All the blood banking where they test the donated blood so that it's suitable for patients. They're the general areas that students get into in our degree. They get exposed to all of those that I've just mentioned and then they specialise in three of the five and we find a placement for them.”

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Certificate IV in Laboratory Techniques

Using the latest industry-standard equipment, you’ll build the knowledge and skills required to work under supervision to become a technician in laboratories in hospitals, research institutes, pharmaceutical companies, private pathology and testing laboratories.

A student working with chemicals in a laboratory filled with chemistry equipment

Diploma of Laboratory Technology

Work with the latest industry-standard equipment, gaining plenty of hands-on, practical experience and build upon your foundation of scientific knowledge to develop a deeper understanding of scientific principles and wider range of laboratory skills.

Young people wear lab coats in a laboratory classroom

Bachelor of Laboratory Medicine (Honours)

Play a vital role in the detection, diagnosis and treatment of disease, and work alongside doctors, pathologists and scientists in the healthcare field. Study in purpose-built facilities, allowing you to learn in an environment that reflects current industry practice.

Master of Laboratory Medicine

Learning from practising industry professionals with extensive experience, you'll build the skills and knowledge to perform and oversee a range of diagnostic procedures in a clinical pathology laboratory, while honing your skills in problem solving and critical thinking.

What does a laboratory technician do?

In addition to receiving and analysing samples, lab technicians assist scientists in their research. They are responsible for maintaining equipment, recording data and looking after relevant paperwork, among other duties.

“If someone’s working in a school lab, usually they're setting up experiments for the classes and making sure all the equipment's working,” Tracey explains. “In a hospital or pathology lab, they receive the samples from couriers, making sure their documentation's all correctly filled out and they've got the right patient's name. That's a really critical part of the job. They would start analysing the blood or urine, then once they've got the results they need to document all of that. Obviously that gets sent back to the doctor or whoever’s requested that actual test.”

What skills does a successful laboratory technician need?

As you might expect from any science-based role, it’s important to have certain personal qualities such as logical thinking, meticulous attention to detail and fine motor skills in order to be precise with equipment, but there are some other attributes you might not have expected.

“They’re on their feet a lot of the day,” says Tracey, “so they have to have quite good stamina. Which sounds odd, I know! We went into one of the labs in the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. And when we looked at what they had to do, it was like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ They had to be in full PPE, which is the gown, the mask, the whole works. And you know, it's hot in PPE, and then they go into a lab which is basically vacuum-sealed because it has to be sterile, and they have to stay in there. It's not easy. It's not an easy job.”

Roula adds: “What we say to all of our students, especially when they’re out on placement, is to make sure they come across as a good team player. They have to work effectively with their colleagues, but also with the pathologists and the other healthcare professionals that they come into contact with. They have to be able to work autonomously, but they need to be a good team player as well. I get a lot of employers calling and asking me about graduates or students that want part-time work. One of the things they always ask is, ‘Will they be a good fit for our labs?’”

Lab research

What is the industry like?

Speaking of that collective ethos, there are a few different associations worth joining, such as the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Australian Society for Microbiology and the Australian Institute of Medical Scientists. Each association will have a different criteria for membership as well as varied relevance to your career, but all can help grow your network as well as giving you access to career workshops and guest lectures.

As for the industry itself, our experts remain bullish.

“There are more and more labs popping up because obviously health is a big issue for people, and it's a growing sector,” says Tracey. “Pathology labs are supporting that. So yes, I would say it's growing.”

Where do lab technicians work?

As a lab technician you will be able to work in a variety of laboratory settings including food and materials testing, diagnostic or educational laboratories, hospitals, research institutes, pharmaceutical companies, private pathology laboratories, commercial laboratories and government departments. 

How much do lab technicians earn?

The median full-time weekly earnings for lab technicans in Australia is $1,322 per week*, while the median hourly earnings are $35 per hour*.

Learn more about your laboratory medicine study options

Whether you're a Year 12 student weighing up your options or thinking about switching careers, RMIT has a range of vocational, undergraduate, and postgraduate courses for domestic and international students that give provide a comprehensive and industry-focused education that can help you succeed as a lab technician in Australia.

*Source: www.jobsandskills.gov.au 2023

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RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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aboriginal flag
torres strait flag

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.

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