Clinical laboratories offer great careers, but lack of awareness and other barriers can prevent excellent candidates from pursuing laboratory science professions. In this interview, Isak Schmidley, MLS(ASCP), explains how he first stumbled across medical laboratory science while attending community college in his early teens and then persevered past age stereotypes to land his first hospital laboratory job at the impressive age of 16. He shares advice for laboratory leaders on what his generation expects from employers and tips on how to recruit the next generation.