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How much experience is needed to become an MLA and the future

Hello, this is my first post on the Student Room. I'm not even sure I should be asking advice on here since I've already graduated uni a year ago, but I need some help regarding work.

So I graduated uni with a First Honours in Biomedical Science. The idea was to use BMS as a stepping stone to enter into medicine, but laboratory work hasn't been looking too bad as of late. My course was IBMS-accredited, however, the year where we were supposed to do our placement was the same year Covid struck, so I never managed to complete (start I should really say) my IBMS registration portfolio in order to become HCPC registered.

I've applied to several low band NHS jobs in the labs, but most have rejected me. The one interview I got also ended in failure, but I managed to get feedback basically saying I needed more experience. I replied back asking how would I be able to get said experience and they suggested I try volunteering at a lab. Thing is, I've looked around a bunch on the web and there's barely anything related to laboratory volunteers, and the few that there are are not local. I should mention that I volunteer at my local hospital already, in the emergency department. I help the nurses with other tasks so that they can fully focus on the patients, but that would look better in a medicine CV rather than biomedicine (I think).

My plan was basically get hired as an MLA so that I can complete my IBMS portfolio, become HCPC registered, and then apply for a biomedical scientist position, however, if the MLA jobs are rejecting me, I don't really know what to do, I figured that was where you'd get all your laboratory experience.

This brings me to my actual question and predicament. I'm in the process of getting hired as an MLA at a private hospital, however, it's a bank position. Moreover, because the lab is so small they don't have the means to help me with my IBMS portfolio. So I'm wondering, how much laboratory experience is required in order to apply for an MLA position at an NHS hospital? Because I'm thinking maybe I can tough this out until I get enough experience to apply to the NHS and complete my portfolio that way. Plus, I would rather be paid and gain experience than just gain experience with no pay.

I've just about finished my National Volunteer Certificate (I've got one shift left), so I might inquire my volunteer coordinator if he knows about any local laboratory volunteer roles, that way I could do the bank job and lab volunteering and get double the experience (if that's even a thing).

Thank you for reading all this and for the help :smile: