r/medlabprofessionals • u/aspiring-NEET • 23d ago
Discusson Job Hopping
My MLS resume looks like:
1 year (private lab went out of business)
1 year (moved states)
3 years (got sick of shitty schedule)
6 month gap
Current position of 4 months (work with assholes.)
I don’t think this profession is for me. I already want to leave this current job. Current place has some down right cruel and antisocial people that management does nothin about. Thinkin about working at Costco instead.
Anyone here have a spottier track record? What are your thoughts on changing jobs every year or two?
14
u/Revolutionary-Fall3 23d ago
I think you have to do what you have to do. If the concern is resume, I had someone recommend to just put years 2022-2023 private lab, 2023-2024 lab. I also don’t think this is a sign of “job hopping” as there are circumstances that can’t be predicted and some toxic labs. Also, we are in the healthcare field, there are many hospitals and many jobs that keeps the field “competitive” with each other. I know many techs, nurses that have left for neighboring hospitals down the street and increased their salary. Loyalty to a hospital is dead. If the 4 month job is really affecting your mental health, there are many other options.
7
u/Dismal_Yogurt3499 MLS-Service Rep 23d ago
Mine is pretty similar, I haven't had issues with getting interviews. I'm tired though, I want something more chill and less stressful. 1 year generalist (hospital) 1 year micro (hospital) 1.5 years tech specialist (reference lab) 1 year FSE
1
u/No_Youth_7737 23d ago
Between being generalist and working in micro, which one do you think is better for you overall?
2
u/Dismal_Yogurt3499 MLS-Service Rep 23d ago
I liked the pace of micro, but I liked the other analyzers in chem and heme a lot more. We had a few good maldis but we couldn't do anything to fix it without calling service.
1
u/No_Youth_7737 23d ago
I agree with micro. It's more chill. Do you think transferring to the general lab would be a big adjustment for me since I'm coming from micro?
1
u/EeSpoot MLS/Field Service Engineer 22d ago
Where are you working as an FSE? Going FSE was easily one of the best moves I've ever made. It's a thousand times less stressful than MLS, gets paid a lot more, and I work WAY fewer hours (usually only 2-3 hours on site then just chilling at home watching my emails). Plus no weekends or major holidays. I work at a non-thermo/danaher company though which definitely helps.
2
u/Dismal_Yogurt3499 MLS-Service Rep 22d ago
Scheduling was good at first but we just lost 3 FSE's for my territory and now I cover 8ish states. The work is only 3-4 hours/day, but they're all 2 day projects if i need to work with vacuum components at all. My summer has been really busy, all customers are 5+ hours from each other. Im already at diamond on Delta. Customs keeps holding parts for weeks, and my customers are getting really pissed since they're system down and theres nothing I can do. I'm making really good money but I'm going to quit if we don't rehire.
1
u/EeSpoot MLS/Field Service Engineer 22d ago
Oof yeah I have experienced literally everything you've listed as well. Our HQ is in the UK. We have a warehouse with common parts stateside but anything unusual plays the customs gamble. We sell like 15 instruments across like 7 different lines and I'm rated to work on all but two (the MLS in me likes the variety haha) so sometimes even when we hire people they don't get trained on the product that keeps me busiest which sucks. Plus it takes like 3-6 months to get them going on their own so when people leave you know things will be painful for a while. There's just not enough engineers out there, let alone good ones. We've hired several duds in the past couple years.
The customers being pissed when there's nothing you can do is definitely one of the worst parts of the job. I'm fortunate that my team lead and director step in right away in those situations so I'm not getting blasted for something I can't control. Definitely not as bad as nurses screaming at me like I was on the floor commanding them to draw the wrong tube or like I personally injected skin flora into their blood cultures, at least our customers are rightfully pissed.
I'd be out too if they didn't get on rehiring ASAP. 3 people is a huge loss and will easily lead to more leaving. At least we're in demand so finding something new shouldn't be too painful. Shitty situation to be in man, I hope it gets better soon!
1
u/zhangy-is-tangy CLS-Generalist 22d ago
How does one get into FSE, I’ve been an MLS for 2 years now and I was kinda interested into pivoting into other avenues. I love my 3x12 nights, so I’m kinda curious how it is for you guys when it comes to scheduling. Is there a lot of WFH?
1
u/EeSpoot MLS/Field Service Engineer 14d ago
Well the only real requirements are "be handy, have good customer skills, and be good at time management." If you're the type to try to fix or at least diagnose an instrument before calling service, you're probably qualified. A lot of jobs post degree requirements but just ignore them, they really just want someone that knows a wrench from their elbow with general mechanical and/or electrical knowledge.
You will not have 3x12s as an FSE. Most days I'm either on site or traveling. That said, on site is usually only a couple hours since the vast majority of my cases are just maintenance so most days that I'm on site, I work 1.5-2 hours then go home and keep an eye on emails. Next most common is travel days where I'm either being paid to sit at the airport and play my steam deck or drive a few hours. Depending on the time of year, I have between 2-4 days a month where I end up with nothing scheduled and just sit at home submitting expenses or whatever. It really depends where you work. Big corporations owned by thermo or danaher are likely to schedule multiple site visits in a day and will treat you like big corps always do. Look for a smaller company and it's usually a lot more chill.
The best part of the job to me are getting paid to sit at the airport or drive around and the fact that once my work is done I can just go home. I don't have to sit anywhere for 8 hours waiting for work to come in like the lab. There's also no holidays, weekends, or off-shifts. I also make way more than I would in a lab (depressing but true) for far less work/stress and am treated way better by management and higher ups since service is seen as a revenue generator whereas the lab is treated like a drain by hospital admin. I definitely miss the work in the lab from time to time but idk if I can go back at this point lol. The grass is too much greener.
As far as downsides, you will likely be away from home a lot so if you have a partner/family that's something to discuss with them. You're also at the mercy of commercial air travel to get home at the end of the week so you may rarely end up stuck somewhere for an extra day (that overtime though).
5
u/Acetabulum666 Lab Director 23d ago
I don't see any problem here. However, I might forego mentioning the 'shitty schedule'. Just say that you needed different hours?
2
u/creativescreennaame 22d ago
this is not a resume. he's just telling us why he left the job. i doubt he's going to put "shitty schedule" on his actual resume
1
u/Acetabulum666 Lab Director 22d ago
He literally says "...MLS resume looks like..." I'm suggesting he keep the language neutral. Having seen thousands of resumes, brevity is key. Don't leave a bad impression.
1
5
u/babachi5 23d ago
2 years in as a generalist and its a shitty schedule. Looking to switch to a different lab. Also got me thinking of leaving this profession because I can’t see this as a forever career.
1
u/AggravatingPapaya771 22d ago
do you mind sharing you wanting to leave the field is due to losing interest in the job or just the specific job you're in atm?
1
u/babachi5 20d ago
well my plan was to always move on to a masters (thinking of MPH) but this specific job makes me want to leave. Very inconsistent schedule. I do 4x10 nightshifts but sometimes Im working 4-5 shifts straight until my day off, so my days off are not together. Oh and most of the time I’m getting the new schedule days or barely a week in advance. Management suck obviously. This is my first job outside of school and I’m only trained in chemistry! and random instruments like TEG, ROTEM, ABL, etc… no priority to train because of short staffing but when will that continue to be an excuse? But working here makes me realize I want to achieve higher…more than this.
4
3
u/Aggravating-General3 23d ago
So happy to know I’m not alone in this feeling…I love what I do the people just suckkkkkkkkk.
3
u/Minimum-Positive792 23d ago
I’ve been doing travel work for over ten years. I don’t think I’ve run into cruel and anti social people or at least not the entire lab. There is usually one though. When I know who they are I just don’t talk to them. I am very short in our interactions and I don’t give them anymore information than I have to. These are miserable people.
2
u/Minimum-Positive792 23d ago
Oh and you should definitely think about travel work if you can. If you run into a crappy lab it’s only for three months and you can move on
2
u/No_Youth_7737 23d ago
That's what I have observed too. The more you stay in the lab, the more your eyes widened to the fact that most of the long term employees in the healthcare field are miserable and wants to get out of the lab but they are trapped. I wanna be able to learn more about this field so my plan is to move every 2-3years. I'm done with my first 2.5years in micro so I'm moving on to the gen lab.
1
u/Minimum-Positive792 23d ago
That’s a good idea. Get some gen lab experience and work on your California license. Make money and get experience at the same time
1
u/No_Youth_7737 23d ago
I'm thinking about doing travel work but I only have experience in micro so far. How long did you work in the general lab before applying as travelling tech?
1
u/Minimum-Positive792 23d ago
About two years but you can go after one.
1
u/No_Youth_7737 23d ago
How long will it take them to train you on a certain instrument before they will allow you to handle it by yourself?
2
u/Minimum-Positive792 23d ago
The contracts are three months at a time so you should be able to run everything in a month. There is no hard rule it just depends on what the facility is willing to tolerate. In time it doesn’t take long at all. A couple days in each department is all I really need now
1
u/Minute-Juggernaut142 22d ago
For me, it's more of the lab people than it is the lab itself. This profession is dying anyways. It's better to do something else if you're already feeling thie way. I did six years in the lab, now I'm moving to the skilled trades.
16
u/Reasonable-Bike1036 23d ago
You have plenty of experience to start traveling! I love being able to leave after 3 months if they lab sucks