Skills You Need to Flourish in the Lab
Posted October 9th, 2019
Once you earn a scientific degree, you usually have a strong foundation that can help you excel in a lab. However, there is also a range of soft skills that are critical for your success in a laboratory role, ensuring that you can thrive in the job and keep your career moving forward.
Without the right soft skills, you might struggle to work well with your team, handle challenges, or handle your workload in the proper fashion. In all of those cases, you might fail to meet expectations or to stand out from the crowd, both of which can hinder your scientific career.
If you are wondering which skills can ensure that you’ll flourish in a lab, here are a few that you need to add to your repertoire.
Communication
Effective written and verbal communication skills are essential in nearly every professional environment, and labs are no exception. You need to be able to discuss complex concepts with peers as well as stakeholders, some of whom may not be as well versed in your scientific area of expertise. Otherwise, you might struggle to work well as part of a team or provide critical insights to professionals in other departments.
Time Management
Scientific work can be incredibly time-sensitive. Not only do you have to meet deadlines, but some of your tasks might have very small windows where they can be completed. Otherwise, the experiment or project might fail.
Strong time management skills ensure you can meet deadlines and properly time your work. It helps you determine priorities and align your schedule appropriately, allowing you to complete your duties in the right order.
Problem-Solving
Many lab employees face complex problems as part of their duties. You need the ability to break large projects or ideas down into actionable steps as well as find solutions when the unexpected occurs. Otherwise, you might have trouble thriving in a lab environment.
Adaptability
Adaptability is critical for laboratory employees. Not only will it assist you when communicating with a diverse group of project members or stakeholders, but it also ensures that you can adjust when priorities change or use a non-traditional approach to solve a problem with great ease.
Critical Thinking
When you work in a lab, critical thinking is essential. Often, you need to evaluate the task at hand, identify any potential problems, develop a hypothesis, and select an appropriate methodology to complete your work. Plus, since data collection is a fundamental part of the job, the ability to determine the ideal approach for capturing important information is also vital. Without critical thinking skills, you might not flourish in a lab.
Ultimately, all of the skills above are vital if you want to flourish in a lab. If you are looking for a new scientific job opportunity where you can develop those skills and put them to work, the staff at Bayside Solutions can help. Contact us to learn more about our open scientific jobs today and see how our services can benefit your career today.
