WANTED: Medical Lab Assistant | First Time Lucky

So, I’ve been applying to many lab assistant positions with no avail. Then, one day the organisation that arranged my laboratory placement emailed me to inform me about an internal position. Now, I should make it clear that I was one of many placement students so a lot of people received this notification and hence a lot of people also applied. The competition was fierce.

Even though the job itself is at an entry level it is one of the best routes to climb the ladder in the Biomedical Science field. The fact that this vacancy was in one of London’s most advanced hospital was also gravely appealing.

I applied with zero confidence in my application. I mean, I tried my best but I felt my lack of experience may be my greatest downfall. But to my surprise, I received an email a week after submitting my application to say I have been selected for the interview process.

Needless to say I was nervous. If you scroll down to see my post on my first graduate level job you will get an idea on how nervous interviews make me.

I am actually typing this up on the day I had my interview (26/01/2016). I had my interview at 9.20am and I arrived early but one of the interviewers was running late due to some trouble on the central line. I guess it was nice knowing I turned up earlier than one of the panel members but that also meant I had to live with the nervousness festering inside me for a little longer. In tough, nerve-wracking situations I just want to deal with it head on and get it over with as quick as possible.

Eventually, the interview panel was ready for me. My interview went fairly well (better than my interview for my last job!) but I was still a little unsure. But I guess you can never be too confident with these things.

My interview took about 20 minutes. I was told that they should call me by 4pm on the same day to let me know. After my interview I returned back to work. I let my manager know about how my interview went and that I will be receiving a call from them later on in the day if I am successful. As you can probably imagine, I was stuck to my phone like glue and I was incredibly nervous.

Finally, (after what felt like forever) I saw my phone ringing. I quickly stepped out of the office to take the call. IT WAS GOOD NEWS! They thought my interview was exceptional and wanted to offer me the job. I can’t describe how happy this made me. Let’s just say, I couldn’t stop smiling all day - in fact I have a massive grin on my face as I type this haha!

God is great and all good things are truly a gift from above and I am eternally grateful. It was my first ever interview and I was suceesfull. I do feel very blessed but I also want to reach out to those who may not get lucky the first time round.

I just want to say, IT’S FINE AND DON’T GIVE UP. I want to study medicine but im still not there yet, sometimes things take time and are not as straight forward as we’d like but its key to keep going and keep trying.

Always remember – “Great works are not performed by strength but by perseverance.” – Samuel Johnson.