Recruitment Activities - for Laboratory Educators

Contact alumni and ask them to attend career fairs at their high school or college; send them materials to use such as career brochure, CD, video, slides, etc. (See Multimedia Resources section)

Require current students to participate in an outreach program each semester to publicize clinical laboratory science to the general public; examples include

• Career days where students explain the profession and present an activity via an interesting case study or demonstration (microscopes with normal & abnormal cells, microorganisms, practice phlebotomy arms, etc.)
• Volunteer to provide an informative lecture/discussion to the local AARP chapter about common diseases/testing (diabetes, anticoagulant monitoring, etc.)
• Serve as a judge for a local science fair
• Volunteer at a health fair

Create lesson plans for science classes at elementary, middle or high school science classes and volunteer to teach or assist in presenting with the teacher

Build a professional relationship with high school counselors and/or biology and chemistry instructors in the area by corresponding with them 1-2 times/year; provide information about the shortage and predicted job needs, resources your program has available for presentations/demonstrations, science fair projects/judges, etc.

Develop a summer course for middle or high school teachers teach simple lab experiments to use with their students that will promote the profession as a career path

Create a joint initiative with clinical sites & laboratory education programs

• Encourage hospitals to set up tuition reimbursement plans or scholarships in exchange for employment for a set period of time after graduation
• Set up joint recruitment efforts with clinical site

Collaborate with other health profession educational programs within your institution in recruitment activities

Increase public awareness of laboratory professionals

• Write an article for the local newspaper or university/college newspaper
• If local newspaper classified ad section publishes articles about jobs/career opportunities, contact the section editor and offer information for an article
• Contact local TV station to provide information about the worker shortage; invite local reporter/camera person for interviews and taping for feature story

Contact your state chapter of the following organizations to develop personal relationships via exhibits or presentations at state meetings:

• National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) -- www.nsta.org/index.html
• National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) -- www.nabt.org
• American School Counselors Association (ASCA) -- www.schoolcounselor.org

Partner with Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) to help disseminate information about the profession; for more information or to locate a center in your state, visit http://www.nationalahec.org/main/ahec.asp or http://www.nationalahec.org/members/listing.asp

Establish a website website to assist grade school and middle school science teachers who want to show examples of careers in science. An excellent example is this website, created by the Medical Center of Louisiana in New Orleans: www.mclno.org/labpartners/index.htm

Create a "summer camp" for grade or middle school students to give them "experiential learning" along with exposure to the lab; the Iowa Society for Clinical Laboratory Science has done this successfully for a number of years

Attend career fairs at high schools and colleges offer to exhibit, present information or a demonstration about clinical laboratory science

Speak at local student clubs such as Health Occupations Students of America, Beta Beta Beta for biology majors, pre-professional clubs, or at middle school or advanced high school science classes

Schedule open house events in the laboratory during National Medical Laboratory Week (4th week in April each year); invite prospective applicants from nearby high schools to participate

Create & print bookmarks with brief information about clinical laboratory science and distribute to local public libraries or junior/high school libraries

Create and distribute tear-off posters for distribution to local colleges and universities for bulletin board display

Create programs for non-traditional students and biology and chemistry majors with B.S. degrees that allow more flexibility (part-time programs, CLT articulation programs, etc.)

Create a 1 or 2 semester hour course (Health Careers or CLS Introductory Course) to publicize the profession and career opportunities with open enrollment for any science major

Develop a measurement system for the different recruitment strategies and periodically evaluate effectiveness (ie - number of applicants, web statistics, number of students requesting applications; number of students seeking personal advising)

Labtestsonline website, www.labtestsonline.org this site is a collaborative effort of 15 laboratory organizations and 20+ laboratory companies; it provides a wealth of information to the public and other health professions educators.

Laboratory Careers Toolbox developed by the ASCLS-Minnesota society, is a collection of recruitment materials and activities that can be loaned out for presentations. This is an example of how state societies, educational programs or laboratories can collate information to make available for use. Click here to view a pdf file of the Toolbox.

Career Recruitment Lists click here to view a pdf file of some "Top 10" reasons to choose clinical laboratory science as a major/career; these lists could be printed on a business card, bookmark, handout or website

The Amazing Pull Out Pop Up Body in a Book This book, by David Hawcock, illustrates the human skeleton and organs. Use as a demo to show how laboratory tests relate to the human body. Designed for children 11+ years old. Dorling Kindersley, http://us.dk.com, 212-213-4800. ISBN 0-7894-2052-X

Magic School Bus This is a series of books designed to engage and instruct children in different science topics. Three of interest are:

• Magic School Bus Inside Ralphie - A Book About Germs, by Joanna Cole, ages 5-7, Item # NPS40025, $3.50
• Magic School Bus Chapter book #6: The Giant Germ, by Anne Capeci, ages 7-9, Item # NPS920420, $3.99
• Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body - by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degan, ages 6-9, Item# NPS41427, $4.99

Glo-Germ Enlightening demonstration to show how germs are passed from person to person and how to wash hands properly; www.glogerm.com or 800-842-6622; Kit 1002 - includes Battery operated UV lamp; oil and powder, $49.95

Activities for Immunology EThese activities may be used in high school biology classes as part of a unit in immunology, the circulatory system, or the virus or bacteria unit to enhance student learning. Visit this website for more information, www.aai.org/committees/education/Curriculum/activities.htm. Activities include a variety of activities based on age group including: crossword puzzles, word find puzzles, and group activities. The agglutination activity includes a template for antibodies and students get to find the "mates" like antibody-antigen binding.