What Skills Are Needed for Analytical Laboratory Managers?

Over the course of our conversation with Saikat Banerjee, a Senior Scientist and the Analytical Lab Manager at DuPont, he has described the day-to-day rigors of his position, and how his academic background prepared him for his role at DuPont.

However, analytical laboratory managers are needed across many different organizations, and as a result, what these employers are looking for may slightly vary. In our final clip of the “Pathways in Spectroscopy” series with Banerjee, he explains what skills and technical knowledge all aspiring analytical laboratory managers should have.

Spectroscopy: What advice would you give to young spectroscopists who may be interested in pursuing laboratory managerial roles?

Saikat Banerjee: Don't be shy to ask very simple questions that might seem simple, but it's very critical. Not making assumptions that you believe does something because your samples will come from different parts of the business in different ways. Understanding what that sample has seen before it gets to your laboratory is extremely important. So, asking questions, like where the sample came from, is something to get comfortable with. But don’t assume. Just ask to confirm those things.

And secondly, I'd say that you should try to develop one or two technical strengths, and I'm sure your Ph.D training has helped develop this in you. So, master those technical strengths, but also build breadth. Build a large set of tools that you understand and know how to use to solve problems because in industry, I have rarely seen a scenario where one particular tool is the best. There is no best tool. It's always a different combination of tools that are used to solve the problem. So, having that breadth of tools knowledge is very important. And finally, reach out to people who are in roles that you want to get. I have been fortunate to be mentored with a lot of leaders from DuPont, but beyond DuPont, I’m happy to talk to who are interested in laboratory manager roles and also industrial analytical chemistry roles.