How To Become A Clinical Microbiologist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a clinical microbiologist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Rachael French

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a clinical microbiologist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $32.89 an hour? That's $68,410 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 1,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a clinical microbiologist?

Rachael French

Professor and Chair, San Jose State University

The Biology Department does not generally provide content for for-profit websites.

ScoreClinical MicrobiologistUS Average

Salary

5.3

Avg. Salary $68,410

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.6

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 14.97%

Black or African American 2.93%

Hispanic or Latino 8.24%

Unknown 5.25%

White 67.91%

Gender

female 58.06%

male 41.94%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

5.6

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a clinical microbiologist

Explore clinical microbiologist education requirements

Most common clinical microbiologist degrees

Bachelor's

75.6 %

Master's

10.6 %

Associate

7.3 %

Start to develop specific clinical microbiologist skills

Skills	Percentages
Clinical Laboratory	25.00%
ASCP	11.27%
Laboratory Procedures	10.07%
Clinical Microbiology	8.34%
Chemistry	6.05%

Complete relevant clinical microbiologist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New clinical microbiologists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a clinical microbiologist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real clinical microbiologist resumes.

Research clinical microbiologist duties and responsibilities

Job duties begin in a general microbiology/ infectious disease laboratory focuse on cultivating and managing infectious strains of microbes.
Volunteer to work in the chemistry department as needed.
Perform serological procedures like ELISA, VDRL, IFA, micro agglutination.
Coordinate, integrate, and articulate long-range scientific goals and strategies of the program to LRN members and partners.

Prepare your clinical microbiologist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your clinical microbiologist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a clinical microbiologist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable clinical microbiologist resume templates

Build a professional clinical microbiologist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your clinical microbiologist resume.