At the heart of an organisation is its people. By investing in the career development of our team at LABTEC, we are working together to create new opportunities for our employees' professional interests and capabilities and to help them meet current and future business needs.
“An investment in knowledge always
pays the best interest.”
- Benjamin Franklin
Graduation from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) studies, that enable you to begin your career as a professional, is a major learning milestone and achievement. It is also the start of another exciting learning journey – your continued development as a professional.
We recently spoke with our team member Amy about her journey as a graduate at LABTEC to upskilling and making continuous learning a part of her everyday work.
Tell us a little about yourself
Amy graduated from the University of Waikato, with a Bachelor of Chemistry in 2015. Shortly after graduating, Amy joined the LABTEC team.
“I’ve always been a bit of sponge and I’m driven to seek and absorb new techniques. From day one, LABTEC has provided a challenging yet supportive environment where I was able to quickly learn many key techniques, including HPLC, GC, physical testing, FTIR, and XRF. Over time, I gained responsibility in the development of methods for new products and the validation of methods that I developed, which has been really rewarding.”
What a typical day at LABTEC looks like
As an Analytical Chemist at LABTEC, Amy’s work changes day-to-day and is dependent on the unique needs of our clients she is working for.
“It’s the most interesting job in the world because no day is the same. We test a wide variety of samples, such as agricultural products, animal drugs and even methamphetamine.”
An opportunity to upskill and cultivate continued learning
Identifying areas of improvement as part of your professional development is sometimes as simple as looking at past performance reviews or just having a chat with your manager, colleagues or HR department. From discussions with her manager, there was opportunity for Amy to enhance her skills.
“My manager and I discussed improving my understanding about how our lab is structured and managed. By better understanding and coming from the angle of seeing the bigger picture, I could further develop as a team member here at LABTEC.”
Taking the next step
Studying the Laboratory Quality Management course offered by New Zealand Quality College (NZQC) provided Amy with training in the skills needed to develop and implement an effective laboratory quality management system. The course is based on NZS ISO/IEC 17025:2017, the standard used for accrediting laboratories, including our LABTEC laboratory in New Zealand.
“The three days of the course were quite intensive. However, it was rewarding to receive the latest updates relating to the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 national standard, which is significant to our laboratory’s processes in ensuring quality and competence of our testing services. It was also great to make meaningful connections with a range of peers in the science sector and be taught by an experienced International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) Assessor."