In the state of Arizona, there are no official licenses to acquire or fees to pay the state in order to work as a medical lab technician.

However, this doesn’t mean that any Tom, Dick or Harry has the qualifications to enter the field. We examined a sampling of job postings of lab technicians and technologists and found that there are a number of qualifications that make this a career with required standards, experience, and proper education.

For a lab technician, most employers require an Associate’s Degree with one (1) year of medical laboratory experience or Bachelor’s of Science and applicable laboratory experience. Another option is that you successfully completed military training of 50+ weeks and served as a medical laboratory specialist.

If you are a student, it’s definitely possible to be hired as well. You’ll need to be enrolled in a recognized MLT program with clinical work in the core area.

To work as a  medical technologist, a Bachelors degree from an accredited medical lab technologist school is standard in addition to certification or eligibility to be certified from the ASCP (0r some equivalent).