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How to hire a medical laboratory scientist

Medical laboratory scientist hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring medical laboratory scientists in the United States:

  • There are currently 55,897 medical laboratory scientists in the US, as well as 121,913 job openings.
  • Medical laboratory scientists are in the highest demand in Durham, NC, with 88 current job openings.
  • The median cost to hire a medical laboratory scientist is $1,633.
  • It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
  • Human Resources use 15% of their expenses on recruitment on average.
  • On average, it takes around 12 weeks for a new medical laboratory scientist to become settled and show total productivity levels at work.

How to hire a medical laboratory scientist, step by step

To hire a medical laboratory scientist, you should clearly understand the skills and experience you are looking for in a candidate, and allocate a budget for the position. You will also need to post and promote the job opening to reach potential candidates. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a medical laboratory scientist:

Here's a step-by-step medical laboratory scientist hiring guide:

  • Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
  • Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
  • Step 3: Make a budget
  • Step 4: Write a medical laboratory scientist job description
  • Step 5: Post your job
  • Step 6: Interview candidates
  • Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new medical laboratory scientist
  • Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a medical laboratory scientist do?

As a medical laboratory scientist, you will be responsible for analyzing various types of body specimens, including blood, tissue, and urine. You will conduct scientific testing on samples and report the results to physicians. These results play an essential role in the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions or illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. Your duties and responsibilities may include maintaining laboratory equipment such as microscopes and cell counters, tracking patient outcomes, and conducting differential cell counts. You are also expected to oversee the work of laboratory technicians.

Learn more about the specifics of what a medical laboratory scientist does
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    Before you start hiring a medical laboratory scientist, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

    Determine employee vs contractor status
    Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

    You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a medical laboratory scientist to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a medical laboratory scientist that fits the bill.

    This list presents medical laboratory scientist salaries for various positions.

    Type of Medical Laboratory ScientistDescriptionHourly rate
    Medical Laboratory ScientistMedical laboratory technologists (commonly known as medical laboratory scientists) and medical laboratory technicians collect samples and perform tests to analyze body fluids, tissue, and other substances.$19-34
    Histologic TechnicianA Histologic Technician prepares tissue specimens for routine and special procedures to confirm a patient diagnosis. They work in hospital laboratories, government agencies, public health departments, and other institutions.$15-36
    Pharmacist TechnicianPharmacist technicians assist pharmacists in their daily activities. They receive prescription medicine order requests of customers, validate the prescription, prepare the medicines, properly label medicine bottles, and hand them off to customers... Show more$12-23
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • Patients
    • ASCP
    • Clinical Laboratory
    • MLS
    • Proficiency Testing
    • Patient Care
    • CLIA
    • Laboratory Tests
    • Microbiology
    • Hematology
    • Instrument Maintenance
    • Laboratory Procedures
    • QC
    • Urinalysis
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Attain extensive phlebotomy experience with a challenging pediatric patient population.
    • Perform complex laboratory diagnostic tests as medical laboratory scientist in hematology, clinical chemistry, microbiology, urinalysis and blood bank.
    • Evaluate quality control within the laboratory using standard laboratory test and measurement controls while maintaining compliance with CLIA and OSHA.
    • Execute and analyze test in areas including, hematology, urinalysis, serology, bacteriology, chemistry and transfusion services.
    • Assist in Cerner LIS system implementation and resource as super user.
    • Experience in immunology, infectious disease testing, and therapeutic drug monitoring.
    More medical laboratory scientist duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in your medical laboratory scientist job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A medical laboratory scientist can vary based on:

    • Location. For example, medical laboratory scientists' average salary in florida is 43% less than in alaska.
    • Seniority. Entry-level medical laboratory scientists 42% less than senior-level medical laboratory scientists.
    • Certifications. A medical laboratory scientist with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
    • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a medical laboratory scientist's salary.

    Average medical laboratory scientist salary

    $54,377yearly

    $26.14 hourly rate

    Entry-level medical laboratory scientist salary
    $41,000 yearly salary
    Updated December 23, 2025

    Average medical laboratory scientist salary by state

    RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
    1Nevada$71,644$34
    2Oregon$66,483$32
    3Washington$66,111$32
    4Michigan$58,969$28
    5Massachusetts$58,731$28
    6New Jersey$57,901$28
    7Utah$57,868$28
    8Pennsylvania$57,708$28
    9Arizona$57,288$28
    10Maine$56,871$27
    11Colorado$55,756$27
    12Kansas$52,614$25
    13Maryland$52,228$25
    14Texas$52,224$25
    15North Carolina$52,135$25
    16Ohio$51,613$25
    17North Dakota$51,228$25
    18South Dakota$50,690$24
    19Minnesota$49,981$24
    20Illinois$49,960$24

    Average medical laboratory scientist salary by company

  4. Writing a medical laboratory scientist job description

    A medical laboratory scientist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a medical laboratory scientist job description:

    Medical laboratory scientist job description example


    • 6 months of work experience in a clinical laboratory, in a hospital setting

    Our best-in-class benefits are uniquely designed to support you and your family in staying well, growing professionally and achieving financial security. We take care of you, so you can focus on delivering our Mission of caring for everyone, especially the most vulnerable in our communities.


    About Providence


    At Providence, our strength lies in Our Promise of “Know me, care for me, ease my way.” Working at our family of organizations means that regardless of your role, we’ll walk alongside you in your career, supporting you so you can support others. We provide best-in-class benefits and we foster an inclusive workplace where diversity is valued, and everyone is essential, heard and respected. Together, our 120,000 caregivers (all employees) serve in over 50 hospitals, over 1,000 clinics and a full range of health and social services across Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington. As a comprehensive health care organization, we are serving more people, advancing best practices and continuing our more than 100-year tradition of serving the poor and vulnerable.


    About the Team


    Since 1918, Covenant has been driven by a mission of providing a Christian ministry of healing and caring for the whole person through our integrated health network in West Texas/eastern New Mexico. As an expression of our mission, we believe we hold an important Covenant with our patients and try and treat every interaction as Sacred Encounters.


    Our award-winning and comprehensive medical centers are located in the cities of Lubbock, Levelland, Plainview and Hobbs. Our not-for-profit network also provides a full spectrum of care with leading-edge diagnostics and treatment, outpatient health centers, physician groups and clinics, outreach programs, hospice and home care, and even schools for nursing and radiography.


    We are committed to the principle that every workforce member has the right to work in surroundings that are free from all forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment.


    We are committed to cultural diversity and equal employment for all individuals. It is our policy to recruit, hire, promote, compensate, transfer, train, retain, terminate, and make all other employment-related decisions without regard to race, color, religious creed (including religious dress and grooming practices), national origin (including certain language use restrictions), ancestry, disability (mental and physical including HIV and AIDS), medical condition (including cancer and genetic characteristics), genetic information, marital status, age, sex (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, and military and veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status. We will also provide reasonable accommodation to known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified caregiver or applicant for employment, unless the accommodation would impose undue hardship on the operation of our business.


    We are a community where all people, regardless of differences, are welcome, secure, and valued. We value respect, appreciation, collaboration, diversity, and a shared commitment to serving our communities. We expect that all workforce members in our community will act in ways which reflect a commitment to and accountability for, racial and social justice and equality in the workplace. As such, we will maintain a workplace free of discrimination and harassment based on any applicable legally protected status. We also expect that all workforce members will maintain a positive workplace free from any unacceptable conduct which creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.


    Requsition ID: 114740

    Company: Covenant Jobs

    Job Category: Clinical Laboratory

    Job Function: Clinical Care

    Job Schedule: Full time

    Job Shift: Day

    Career Track: Clinical Support

    Department: 8000 CLINICAL LAB TX HOBBS HOSPITAL

    Address: NM Hobbs 5419 N Lovington Hwy

    Covenant Health is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Providence does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, disability, veteran, military status, religion, age, creed, national origin, sexual identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, genetic information, or any other basis prohibited by local, state, or federal law.


  5. Post your job

    To find the right medical laboratory scientist for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

    • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
    • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with medical laboratory scientists they would recommend.
    • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit medical laboratory scientists who meet your education requirements.
    • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.
    Post your job online:
    • Post your medical laboratory scientist job on Zippia to find and recruit medical laboratory scientist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
    • Use field-specific websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
    • Post a job on free websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    Your first interview with medical laboratory scientist candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

    Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

    The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

  7. Send a job offer and onboard your new medical laboratory scientist

    Once you've found the medical laboratory scientist candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

    It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

    After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new medical laboratory scientist. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

  8. Go through the hiring process checklist

    • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
    • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
    • Define job responsibilities and requirements
    • Establish budget and timeline
    • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
    • Write job description
    • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
    • Promote the job internally
    • Process applications through applicant tracking system
    • Review resumes and cover letters
    • Shortlist candidates for screening
    • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
    • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
    • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
    • Conduct background checks on top candidates
    • Check references of top candidates
    • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
    • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
    • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
    • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
    • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
    • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a medical laboratory scientist?

Before you start to hire medical laboratory scientists, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire medical laboratory scientists pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

The median annual salary for medical laboratory scientists is $54,377 in the US. However, the cost of medical laboratory scientist hiring can vary a lot depending on location. Additionally, hiring a medical laboratory scientist for contract work or on a per-project basis typically costs between $19 and $34 an hour.

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