Lab assistant role

I was wondering is it possible to become a lab assistant at 16/17? Like label bottles , find apparatus etc in a lab for someone as work experience? And would this be possible in a hospital? Or university. Anyone has experience of being a lab assistant in high school ( it doesn’t bother me if it’s an unpaid internship or volunteering).

Thank you

Reply 1

Tformosus

If you're interested in working in hospital labs, take a look on NHS jobs for a role called a "Medical Laboratory Assistant". The nature of role will probably differ depending on what specialty e.g. Blood Science, Microbiology, etc, but given the amount of automation its probably going to less hunting for lab equipment and more booking in samples and stock control.

At least locally its a band 2 role and the entry requirements are low, typically they just want GCSEs. While booking in samples isnt the most exciting of jobs its a foot in the door and if you dont want to go down the university treadmill you could an NVQ while working and then look for an Associate Practitioner job, basically a hospital lab tech.

If you want to progress further and to become a biomedical scientist at that point you'd need to either consider university or a degree apprenticeship. If you do go down the university route make sure that do a degree which is accredited by the governing body, the Institute of Biomedical Science. And if possible take a look at NHS sponsored degrees (typically called "Healthcare Science" but double check) which included a "portfolio" (some extra training) so you can skip having to compete for a Training BMS job and go straight to a full Biomedical Science job. By the way, its not the only route to working in Science in the NHS, there is the NHS scientist training programme, where people with specific degrees can then go on to work in that field in the NHS e.g. genetics.

But that's all off in the future, take a look at Medical Laboratory Assistant jobs for now.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 2

Felynalanine

I don't understand why you would want to do this if it's unpaid. It's unlikely any lab would accept you as it's just a hindrance to have you there. They have to train you, and why would they want to if you're only going to be there for a few weeks?
It's not possible to do a 9 to 5 job at the NHS while at school.
If you're going to university, wait until then to find a university lab to do a summer project in.