Career Overlap Transition record Edition 1 · ESCO v1.2.1
Table 1Transition record

medical laboratory assistanttomedical laboratory manager

A medical laboratory assistant already meets 34% of what the medical laboratory manager role asks for. The move turns on 17 required skills not yet in the profile.

From medical laboratory assistant
34%
Overlap1
To medical laboratory manager
20 Skills carried over
17 Required, not held
67.5 Difficulty2
Career overlap Distant match

34%

Learning distance Substantial retraining

67.5/ 100

1 Share of the medical laboratory manager role’s weighted skill requirement already met by the medical laboratory assistant profile. Required skills count in full, supplementary skills at 0.35. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. 2 Combines what is missing with how specialised it is, so a gap of general skills scores easier than the same number of narrow ones.

Why

Why this move works

A medical laboratory manager role treats 3 of its required skills as things a medical laboratory assistant already does. These are the ones it depends on most.

  • apply safety procedures in laboratory
  • interpret medical results
  • maintain medical laboratory equipment

What stands in the way is 17 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 20 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A medical laboratory manager role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a medical laboratory assistant background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held paediatric phlebotomy procedures health and welfare
  • already held sterilise medical equipment handling and moving
  • already held clinical biochemistry natural sciences, mathematics and statistics
  • already held histopathology arts and humanities
  • already held microscopic techniques natural sciences, mathematics and statistics
  • already held interpret medical results information skills

All 20 carried skills, including the 3 the medical laboratory manager role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you would need to learn

The 18 missing skills fall into 8 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered below in the order worth working in: the areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the supplementary ones.

Skill to acquire Tier
01 management skills 9 required
  • required, not held arrange equipment repairs required
  • required, not held develop project schedule required
  • required, not held manage inventory required
  • required, not held manage budgets required
  • required, not held manage schedule of tasks required
  • required, not held manage staff required
  • required, not held plan schedule required
  • required, not held supervise laboratory operations required
  • required, not held supervise staff required
02 health and welfare 2 required
  • required, not held diagnostic methods in medical laboratory required
  • required, not held medical laboratory technology required
03 business, administration and law 1 required, 1 supplementary
  • required, not held project management required
  • optional, not held healthcare administration optional
04 assisting and caring 1 required
  • required, not held manage health and safety standards required
05 communication, collaboration and creativity 1 required
  • required, not held provide test results to medical staff required
06 constructing 1 required
  • required, not held supervise equipment required

2 further areas in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a medical laboratory manager role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 20 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held apply safety procedures in laboratory skill
  • already held interpret medical results skill
  • already held maintain medical laboratory equipment skill
  • already held assist in the production of laboratory documentation skill
  • already held biological chemistry knowledge
  • already held clinical biochemistry knowledge
  • already held clinical cytology knowledge
  • already held cryopreservation knowledge
  • already held data protection knowledge
  • already held histopathology knowledge
  • already held immunology knowledge
  • already held maintain healthcare user data confidentiality skill
  • already held microscopic techniques knowledge
  • already held monitor stock level skill
  • already held order supplies skill
  • already held paediatric phlebotomy procedures knowledge
  • already held stem cells knowledge
  • already held sterilise medical equipment skill
  • already held virology knowledge
  • already held work with chemicals skill
The 2 learning areas not shown above
Skill to acquire Tier
07 information skills 1 required
  • required, not held interpret medical images required
08 services 1 required
  • required, not held health and safety regulations required
1 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to acquire Tier
  • optional, not held healthcare administration optional
52 held skills the medical laboratory manager role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role analyse blood samples skill
  • not needed by the target role analyse cell cultures skill
  • not needed by the target role archive healthcare users' records skill
  • not needed by the target role automated analysers in the medical laboratory knowledge
  • not needed by the target role blood collection on babies knowledge
  • not needed by the target role blood donation knowledge
  • not needed by the target role blood transfusion knowledge
  • not needed by the target role blood type classification knowledge
  • not needed by the target role calibrate laboratory equipment skill
  • not needed by the target role carry out flow cytometry skill
  • not needed by the target role carry out quality control in microbiology laboratories skill
  • not needed by the target role check the received biological samples skill
  • not needed by the target role collect biological samples from patients skill
  • not needed by the target role communicate in healthcare skill
  • not needed by the target role conduct cancer screening tests skill
  • not needed by the target role conduct routine blood testing skill
  • not needed by the target role densiometry knowledge
  • not needed by the target role dermapathology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role dispose medical waste skill
  • not needed by the target role electroencephalography knowledge
  • not needed by the target role examine cell specimens microscopically skill
  • not needed by the target role examine samples in dermatology skill
  • not needed by the target role explain the molecular basis of a disease to patients skill
  • not needed by the target role fine-needle aspiration knowledge
  • not needed by the target role identify patients' medical records skill
  • not needed by the target role interpret hematological test results skill
  • not needed by the target role interpret urology diagnostic tests skill
  • not needed by the target role label blood samples skill
  • not needed by the target role laboratory techniques knowledge
  • not needed by the target role maintain laboratory equipment skill
  • not needed by the target role microbiology-bacteriology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role mix chemicals skill
  • not needed by the target role operate scientific measuring equipment skill
  • not needed by the target role perform PCR covid test skill
  • not needed by the target role perform bone marrow transplant skill
  • not needed by the target role perform cerebrospinal fluid analysis skill
  • not needed by the target role perform fertility laboratory procedures skill
  • not needed by the target role perform laboratory tests skill
  • not needed by the target role perform reconstructive microsurgery skill
  • not needed by the target role perform sample testing skill

12 further entries not listed here

5 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to acquire Tier
  • required, not held diagnostic methods in medical laboratory required
  • required, not held project management required
  • required, not held health and safety regulations required
  • required, not held medical laboratory technology required
  • optional, not held healthcare administration optional
Index
Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.