New Laboratory Recruitment Guidebook Offers Recipe for Success for ASCP Ambassadors

ASCP Ambassadors have a new tool to use when they go to schools and career fairs to promote medical laboratory careers: the Laboratory Recruitment Guidebook, developed by Lauren Schiefelbein, MLS(ASCP)CM , under the auspices of the ASCP Workforce Steering Committee.  

The guidebook came about after Ms. Schiefelbein spoke about recruitment during a virtual panel presentation at the 2024 Road to Chicago in August. She was approached by ASCP staff, who asked if she would create a guidebook with directions on how to create the materials she uses for her presentations to elementary, high school, and college students about careers in the medical laboratory.  

“I make craft projects relating to the laboratory and that is what my presentation was about,” says Ms. Schiefelbein, education coordinator at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha. “I do the recruitment for our Medical Laboratory Science program. My position is unique, and I create the materials I use in my presentations.” 

For younger audiences, for example, she paints two-inch plastic balls in different colors, so they look like cells with a nucleus. For college students, she presents a specific science experiment or gives a lecture. The majority of her presentations are for high schools.  

The guidebook is divided into four big laboratory topics: hematology, immunohematology, chemistry, and microbiology. Each section has a selection of activities that lists the materials needed to present a topic, the cost of the materials, and instructions on how to construct it. 

“It’s like a cookbook,” she says, proudly. “It is humbling that people are interested in this and none of the materials are difficult to make. I am excited to share this with others who want to promote laboratory careers to the next generation!”