Becoming a phlebotomist is a rewarding career choice even with minimal qualifications. If you’ve never worked in healthcare or want to change your career without investing a lot of time in going back to college, phlebotomist salary offers a gateway to new and challenging employment. There may be a few drawbacks to this career for some people since it involves working with needles and blood.
A phlebotomist’s primary job is drawing blood. It requires excellent attention to detail and discipline because most blood looks the same, so you can’t mix it up before labeling it appropriately. A typical day at work for a phlebotomist might include:
While you’re doing all that you must maintain a pleasant attitude and possess the ability to calm people down or at least get them to focus on something else. Most people feel nervous when they have blood drawn. Whether it’s the sight of the blood or the needle, part of your job is helping them through the process.
Most phlebotomists work in medical and diagnostic laboratories and around 37 percent work in hospitals. Less than ten percent of them work in slowly paced environments, so be prepared to hustle all day if you choose this as a career option at any point in your life. The final deciding factor for many people, aside from the blood and busy workday, might be the salary.
How Much do Phlebotomists Get Paid?
Pay is no the only reason to choose a career. However, it’s certainly a good reason, and you should be concerned about the salary since it keeps you fed. The salary for phlebotomists in most areas is not ideal, and you won’t get rich doing it. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average median phlebotomists salary is around $33,000 annually.
While you’d think a phlebotomist might command a higher pay rate at one of the world’s largest diagnostic laboratory companies like LabCorp, they average salary there is only around $31,000 annually. Their phlebotomist salary comes in lower than what the BLS claims are the median pay rates across the nation.
Another large lab company, Quest Diagnostics, barely beats LabCorp by supplying a slightly higher salary to phlebotomists at $32,000 per year. Keep in mind that we’re talking about the average phlebotomist salary at these companies. They do have employees that reported salaries closer to $39,000 and $42,000 annually. However, these phlebotomists are probably in managerial positions.
Again, much of the salary information gets based on regional rates. It’s ultimately up to you to decide if a phlebotomist’s salary is right for your needs. Do some research in your area and see what local labs or healthcare organizations pay their phlebotomists. It’s impossible for us to gauge pay rates across the country with any form of accuracy since everyone has different bills to pay.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Look for positions that might be available at large hospitals or government subsidized companies and labs. The salary for phlebotomists at places like this is after 30 percent higher than the average pay we see on the BLS website. You may need to work at lower pay for a couple of years to get the experience necessary to land a higher paying job, but that’s true in most professions.
For instance, experienced phlebotomists at the University of California San Franciscoearn an average of $29.00 hourly which is well above the median rate of $16.00 an hour as reported by the BLS. At the same time, the average phlebotomist salary around the University of Georgia at Athens is only $13.00 including those at the University Health Center.
The different hourly pay rates show the difference between searching for ways to expand your career options and settling for a job. Keep in mind that circumstances may not allow some people to pick up and move across the country to seek better employment, and that’s not our point anyway. The purpose of these last two paragraphs is to underline the importance of research during your job search.
Career Outlook for Phlebotomists
While the pay rates may seem a little low, phlebotomy is like any other career and experience plays a role in how much money you take home. As of this writing, most experts agree healthcare is an excellent field for you to start building a career. Sadly, there will always be sick people that need healthcare professionals which means job security for you.
According to the BLS, the job growth rate for phlebotomists is set to increase by nearly 26 percent from 2017 to 2025. At that rate, by 2025 there may be up to 35,000 new positions open up for phlebotomists. That’s a lot of new jobs, but you need to get ready to snag one starting now. The average unemployment rate for phlebotomists is less than three percent.
A low unemployment rate for a specific job usually means that the job is either a tiny field or that the demand for people to fill the positions is high. For instance, a doctor that specializes in Martian footcare is an example of a very small field albeit a made-up field as well. However, jobs with a lot of positions across the nation, like phlebotomy, demand new employees and these positions stay filled.
Again, much of the salary information gets based on regional rates. It’s ultimately up to you to decide if a phlebotomist’s salary is right for your needs. Do some research in your area and see what local labs or healthcare organizations pay their phlebotomists. It’s impossible for us to gauge pay rates across the country with any form of accuracy since everyone has different bills to pay.
Do I Need a College Degree?
While we’re not quite there yet, many employers are starting to look at experience, and job performance instead of focusing on education and how many initials follow your name. That said, you need specialized training for any job in healthcare. Phlebotomists rarely need more than a technical certification to get hired as long as they have the proper license or education required in their state.
Check your local colleges, technical schools, and vocational schools to see what kind of courses they offer. One of them, if not all of them, probably provides a course that takes about a year to complete. In some states you don’t need to get certified or licensed to practice as a phlebotomist, but some states require it. Check your state and make sure you get a course that preps you for the state exam.
It’s rare, but some healthcare organizations offer programs that help you get certified while training on the job. You usually have to sign a contract that says you’ll keep working for them for at least two years after you get done with school, but it’s worth it for free education and free certification. Some may offer you training in their labs which means you get paid, at a reduced rate typically, while you’re in school.
The coursework isn’t easy, and you’ll need to study a lot. Anatomy, medical terminology, and physiology will probably be the toughest courses you’ll have to conquer. All three of these courses take up a lot of study time and require an excellent memory. Check out some example coursework online to make sure this is the right field for you
Again, much of the salary information gets based on regional rates. It’s ultimately up to you to decide if a phlebotomist’s salary is right for your needs. Do some research in your area and see what local labs or healthcare organizations pay their phlebotomists. It’s impossible for us to gauge pay rates across the country with any form of accuracy since everyone has different bills to pay.
Overall Job Satisfaction
The thing phlebotomists complain about most is the workload. Unlike other healthcare professionals, phlebotomists rarely save lives directly, so the stress is much lower than that of an emergency room nurse. However, the work is usually constant, and one person often gets saddled with the tasks of two people. So, the stress level in higher paying, higher volume positions is something to consider.
Phlebotomists, depending on where they work, may have the advantage of flexibility at work. If you’re allowed to pick your shift, shift work is usually the most flexible and may allow for a part-time job as well. Check with prospective employers in your area to see what they offer in respect to flexibility and shift work.
A downside to working as a phlebotomist is the lack of upward mobility in the field. In most cases, there is no upward mobility. Unless you work for a blood collection company or a diagnostic lab, you probably won’t have any opportunities to advance to a managerial position. There may be some advancement opportunities if you work for a large company or healthcare organization, but it’ll be rare at best.
That said, overall phlebotomists enjoy their work despite the stressful periods. It’s an excellent career for anyone that wants to pursue other jobs in healthcare but need to pay the bills while they’re in school. Hospitals and physician’s practices often work around college schedules if they believe you’ll stay with them once you finish school. Look for these employers first.
Again, much of the salary information gets based on regional rates. It’s ultimately up to you to decide if a phlebotomist’s salary is right for your needs. Do some research in your area and see what local labs or healthcare organizations pay their phlebotomists. It’s impossible for us to gauge pay rates across the country with any form of accuracy since everyone has different bills to pay.
Some Final Notes
You won’t find any career choices that offer annual salaries between $30,000 and $40,000 that only require a technical certification and state license, in most cases. If you don’t mind the needles and blood, this is a career field that’s going to grow. Before you choose, we urge you to check the laws in your state and the job market around you before you commit to this career field, just to be safe.
Featured Image: Image by Liz Masoner from Pixabay
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