Writing a great position description is a fundamental element of recruiting the ideal candidate for your business. As a recruiter or hiring manager, the last thing you want is to spend hours of your time sorting through applications from unqualified candidates or those who didn’t understand what the role entails. A well-written position description enables you to weed out the people who are not qualified or are not truly interested in employment with your organization. Taking the time to write an accurate position description before the resumes start appearing can save you countless hours of sorting through unqualified candidates. To help you write a good job description, we have included a Laboratory Manager job description sample below.
Laboratory Manager Job summary
You’ll be tasked with mentoring and disciplining lab staff and training lab technicians and assistants on the correct use of lab equipment. You will also ensure your staff follows industry standards and safety regulations for handling and disposing of test samples. It is your job to schedule lab or equipment use time for the staff. In addition, you are responsible for purchasing lab supplies and preparing ordering lists. You will often handle security documents and must ensure that all information and data collected in the lab is kept safe.
Laboratory Manager Job Responsibilities and Duties:
- Manage BSL2 and BSL3 virus laboratories
- Assist with and supervise various research projects
- Assist others with and perform lab techniques
- Manage reporting, monitoring, resources, and laboratory personnel
- Work closely with team members to provide effective solutions to support business and quality objectives
- Facilitate effective communication across internal departments by trending and reporting data
- Ensure adherence to regulatory requirements, budgets, and schedules
- Establish and improve procedures and processes by addressing issues and risks
- Utilize proven employee management solutions to improve productivity and efficiency
- Ensure the lab establishes and maintains a calibration program for testing equipment that affect quality results
- Ensure that environmental requirements are met at the federal, state, and local government levels
Laboratory Manager Skills and Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in science or related discipline
- 3+ years of progressive management or supervisory experience
- COLA/CLIA regulatory expertise
- Effective data trending, document control, and technical bench skills
- Strong problem-solving, training, team building, and mentoring abilities
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Company Profile
NessMed is an internationally recognized leader in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, bringing to market promising new drugs by merging effective clinical trial management with extensive regulatory interactions. This enables us to provide supporters with outstanding support throughout the drug development process. Our team consists of industry-proven leaders in scientific and medical researchers who strictly monitor every project. We are a science-based organization committed to combining the drug development process with our vast background in clinical research. This focused strategy provides us with an intimate mastery of the clinical trial issues in diverse areas, delivering expertise and knowledge to all phases of the drug development technique. We seek to be recognized for our innovative spirit, entrepreneurialism, integrity, and passion throughout the drug development process as we strive to achieve continually our vision. These values are the foundation of our organization and lead us in all our endeavors.
Writing a Job Description Best Practices
- The above is a good Laboratory Manager job description sample, but there are situations where you do not have an example to follow. For those instances, here are some basic best practices and dos and don’ts to make sure your job description is correct. It will save you from the chore of sorting through stacks of unqualified candidates.
- Do be cognizant of your target audience viewing the job description.
- Don’t use vague descriptions because they can result in inaccurate interpretations by the job seekers and lead to unqualified applicants.
- Don’t artificially inflate levels of experience or education necessary to perform the essential functions of the role.
- Do base the position description on the demands of the office and ensure that the posting is correct and complete.
- Do maintain consistency when using terms to describe tasks performed infrequently.
- Do group together compatible responsibilities requiring similar skills.
- Don’t use words subject to differing interpretations.
The Laboratory Manager job description sample above is an excellent example of how to structure a job description that will attract and retain the best performers for your organization. A good investment in taking time to craft the perfect job post now turns into a solid return later when you hire fresh talent on your team.
Laboratory Manager Job Responsibilities
A common assumption among many is that when looking for a new manager, it is best to place an emphasis first and foremost on managerial skills. Some believe that the industry in which one acquired those skills is unimportant. However, for a specialized role like a lab manager, one has to have industry specific knowledge to effectively direct laboratory operations. Thus, your job in creating a laboratory manager job description is to list the roles and responsibilities this position entails so you identify a candidate who can step in and excel right away.
How do you do this? By ensuring that the laboratory manager job responsibilities section clearly states the most important duties. A prepared candidate should be able to walk into an interview and tell you why he or she is the best person to fill this role based on your laboratory manager job description. It is still important, however, that you are succinct in your details so you do not risk losing a reader’s interest.
Consider the following examples as guidelines to follow when preparing this portion of your job posting:
- Oversee day-to-day laboratory operations, including technician scheduling, resource allocation, cleanup and maintenance
- Audit daily workflow to ensure that all operations are in compliance with regulatory standards
- Monitor the receipt, storage and withdrawal of all laboratory specimens and tools
- Review industry news and research to help consistently implement current best practices into laboratory operations
Laboratory Manager Job Specifications
Previous leadership or management experience is highly valued when searching for candidates to fill a managerial role. Why should such experience be so influential? It is significant because understanding laboratory compliance and safety standards is one thing while being able to direct others in fulfilling them is another. You can find an applicant that possesses both strong lab operational knowledge as well as excellent leadership skills by listing those as basic requirements in your laboratory manager job description.
Your qualifications and skills section of the laboratory manager job description should provide the benchmark all applicants must meet to warrant serious consideration. Therefore, consider the elements you feel you must see in a candidate and those that are your own preferences. Use the delineation to establish a baseline qualification, and then compare applicants’ skills to your preferred standards. Handling the process in this manner should ultimately leave you with a manageable number of candidates to consider.
Review the list below to get an idea of how to format the skills list in your laboratory manager job specifications:
- Bachelor of Science in Clinical Laboratory Science, Chemistry or Biology
- Minimum two years of experience as a manager, supervisor or team leader
- Demonstrated knowledge of federal laboratory compliance standards
- Excellent organizational skills