Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as an assay chemist and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.
An assay chemist examines chemical compounds and elements within various materials in the laboratory to determine their overall composition by following established procedures such as spectrophotometric and chromatographic. He/she also studies these compounds and elements further to determine how they interact with one another, analyses and interprets data ensuring it is accurately recorded as well as reporting the results.
Besides examining of these compounds, they also help in detecting chemical pollutants in the environment and how they can reduce their adverse effect, validating methods and equipment, reporting scientific results, working with cross-functional teams, interpreting data, comparing the obtained data with trend data, developing technique for analysis purposes and making use of analytical lab techniques and instrumentation.
Core Skills Required to be an Assay Chemist
Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.
Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.
An assay chemist should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.
Troubleshooting:
Troubleshooting is solving a problem or determining a question to an issue which is often applied to repairing failed products or processes on a machine or a system.
An Assay Chemist must be able to diagnose any trouble in the management flow caused by a failure of any kind and determine to remedy the causes of the symptoms with the final product being the confirmation that the solution restores the process to an excellent working state.
Motivating others:
Motivating is using persuasion, incentives and mental or physical stimulants to influence the way people think or behave individually or in groups.
An Assay Chemist ought to learn how to tap into the employee's enthusiasm as well as motivate the staff not just with money but with a motivation that comes through the daily relationship with each employee and creating an environment that fosters employee engagement and motivation.
Participative Management:
Participative Management is also known as employee involvement is the participation of all stakeholders at all levels of the organization in the investigation of problems, development of strategies and implementation of solutions.
An Assay Chemist should include the participative management in the enterprise to create open and honest communication, freedom and transparency solicit survey feedback and form self-managed teams that are easy to work with.
Supervisory Skills:
Supervisory Skills is the ability to lead and manage people effectively in a difficult and challenging atmosphere in the day to day life.
An Assay Chemist must cultivate, develop and refine management and supervisory skills to strengthen the present as well as build the future of the business by becoming competent in such roles like problem-solving, communication, managing people, time management, leadership, planning, etc.
Cooperation with colleagues:
Cooperation is the process of working with groups or teams for a common mutual benefit as opposed to working in competition or for selfish ambition.
An Assay Chemist should learn the art of creating a mutually beneficial exchange among the employees that dwells much on cooperation for the same mutual benefit with adequate resources for all to use rather than creating a spirit of competition.
Self Confidence:
Self Confidence is the ability to know who you are and what you are capable of doing which shows in your behavior, your body language, how you speak, etc.
An Assay Chemist must be confident enough to inspire confidence in others while encouraging them to handle daily tasks and their personal lives with self-confidence that will, in turn, produce a well-rounded individual.
Following Directions:
Following Directions is the skill of carefully considering the given instructions and following them closely without fail.
An Assay Chemist must ensure that his workers are paying attention and listening to instructions provided as well as taking careful steps in doing what they are supposed to do and understand what it means to the business and bring satisfaction to their superiors.
Persistence:
Persistence is the refusal to give up or let go of a firm or obstinate continuous course of action despite difficulties or opposition that you may face.
An Assay Chemist should strongly emphasize the need for persistence as the fundamental difference between a successful outcome and a failed one while developing this important quality in each creating happy employees and business.
Business Ethics:
Business Ethics is the ability to learn what is right and wrong in the world of business and choosing to do what is right at all times.
An Assay Chemist must emulate good business ethic that is essential for the long-term success of an organization by implementing an ethical program that will foster a thriving entrepreneurial culture while increasing profitability and personal maturity.
Technology Savvy:
Technology Savvy is the introduction of the digital technology in the workplace as a strategy to make tasks run swiftly against doing them manually.
An Assay Chemist must ensure that the technology he introduces to the workplace integrated seamlessly with the workflow and empowers the users rather than complicates and damages the workflow making sure the employees are well prepared and not overwhelmed with the technology.
Hard Skills Required to be an Assay Chemist
Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.
Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.
An assay chemist should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.