Pharmacy Technician Skills: Top Must-Haves to Land a Job of Any Level

So, you are thinking about becoming a pharmacy technician. How do you jump-start your career?

In order to get into this career field, you will certainly need to craft a winning resume that showcases all your work experience, accomplishments, professional training, etc. But, first of all, you will need to ensure that you have all the essential qualities and skills a good pharmacy technician needs to have.

In this guide, we will tell you about the top pharmacy technician skills employers are seeking, how to acquire them, and much more!

And if you want to put pharmacy skills on a resume, think about this: your resume matters! it has to be written professionally and tailored to the job description. Address our professional resume writing services. Our resume experts will handle the task quickly and even adjust your old resume to a new job position if need be.

What Is Pharmacy Technician?

What do pharmacy technicians do? In a nutshell, a pharmacy technician is a specialist registered in accordance with relevant regulatory laws, who works closely with a pharmacist, doctor, or nurse and assists them in various operations, including tracking inventory, locating, packing, and labeling medication, filing paperwork, etc.

Where do pharmacy technicians work? Traditionally, these specialists work in pharmacies and drugstores. However, they can also be found in other work environments, such as care organizations, the military, prisons, veterinary facilities, etc.

Pharmacy Technician Technical Skills

What skills does a pharmacy technician need? Specialists who occupy such positions are expected to have a rather broad qualification. Namely, here is a list of the top-ranked pharmacy technician technical skills you will need to get employed:

• Filing prescriptions;
• Checking the accuracy of prescriptions;
• Pharmaceutical stock management;
• Thorough knowledge of different drugs;
• Knowledge of key medical terms;
• Pharmacy equipment maintenance;
• Records maintenance;
• Labeling;
• Monitoring inventory for medicine quantities and outdated drugs;
• Payments processing;
• Proficiency in relevant software and technology.

Pharmacy Technician Non-Technical Skills

Apart from the technical (hard) skills, there are also soft skills of pharmacy technician you will need to get hired by the company of your choice.

In this list, we’ve gathered the most crucial soft skills for a pharmacy technician:

• High accuracy;
• Adaptability;
• Dependability;
• Continual learning;
• Math skills;
• Problem-solving;
• Time management;
• Stress management;
• Ability to collaborate efficiently with other staff members;
• Listening skills;
• Customer service;
• Communication;
• Exceptional attention to detail;
• Following directions;
• Positive outlook;
• Multitasking;
• Organizational skills;
• Prioritizing tasks.

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Key Skills to Be the Best Match for the Job

To land an interview, job seekers must show recruiters through a resume that they can handle the job duties well. Here is a list of the core pharmacy technician qualifications that will help you impress recruiting firms:

• Communication;
• Scientific aptitude;
• Math skills;
• Pharmaceutical literacy;
• Excellent customer service;
• Administrative skills;
• Leadership;
• Attention to detail;
• Organizational skills;
• Listening;
• Problem-solving;
• Automation tools (to ensure you won’t have to spend much time on basic tasks), such as Meditech, BAXA Pump, Health Vision, etc.

Go here for more information on resume skills.

Interpersonal Skills

Among other vital proficiencies, the interpersonal skills of a pharmacy technician play one of the biggest roles. In their work, pharmacy technicians often have to deal with customers, providing them with the right medication and helping them feel well cared for. Therefore, a good employee should possess strong interpersonal skills.

Namely, some of the main interpersonal skills you will have to acquire include:

• The ability to identify customer questions and concerns;
• Answering questions;
• Providing clear directions and explanations;
• Preserving confidentiality, etc.

Organizational Skill

The next one of the most crucial skills needed for pharmacy technician jobs is organizational skills. As you already know, some of the main pharmacy technician job duties include managing inventory, keeping records, and handling prescriptions. All these tasks require having an eye for detail and solid organization in order to ensure that all customer details, drugs, records, and other things are in store, accurate, well-organized, and up-to-date.

Therefore, this is one more skill you should acquire and develop.

Fast Decision Making

Although pharmacy technicians work closely with pharmacists, this doesn’t mean that they always perform tasks under careful supervision. That is, sometimes, you will be responsible for prioritizing and handling job tasks on your own, which is why fast decision making is among the top skills for pharmacy technician.

This skill is required to help you ensure that whenever you face a problem in the workplace, you will be able to come up with an effective solution and predict the outcome.

Communication Skill

Pharmacy technicians are responsible for handling questions and concerns of patients, as well as for providing an adequate level of customer service. That’s where strong communication skills come in handy.

Apart from this, these specialists are working closely with pharmacists and other staff members, which is one more occasion where written and oral communication skills are crucial.

Thus, being able to express your thoughts effectively, both written and verbally, is among the top skills needed to be a pharmacy technician.

Critical Thinking

Whether while communicating with customers to identify their needs and concerns, when analyzing the data to ensure it is accurate and relevant, or when filing prescriptions - pretty much every process in the pharmacy technician job requires critical thinking.

The top critical thinking skills required for pharmacy technician occupations include analysis, inference, interpretation, explanation, open-mindedness, self-regulation, and problem-solving. Together, all these abilities enable individuals to assess information critically in order to make better and faster decisions backed up with relevant data.

How to Improve Pharmacy Technician Skills

Are you now wondering how to improve pharmacy technician skills? The best way to develop them is to get a job and start performing relevant responsibilities, carefully following instructions, and asking for clarification when necessary.

But, to land a job, you will need a great resume that gets past the applicant tracking process (ATS). Luckily, SkillHub can help you write a resume that meets the demands of the ATS system!

Sample of Pharmacy Technician Resume Skills Section

If you want to write a resume yourself, pay special attention to your skills section in order to get past the applicant tracking system. The key tip for beating the ATS bots is to tailor your skills list to the pharmacy technician job requirements. And, don’t forget about resume keywords.

Pharmacy Technician Skills in a Resume Skills Section

In order to highlight your pharmacy technician qualification in the skills section of your resume, read the job description first to identify the key needs of a particular employer. Highlight the main keywords from the job description and list them in bullet points in the right section of your resume to show that you are a qualified candidate.

Here is a real-life example:

Skills

• Payment processing
• Inventory management
• Teamwork
• Written and verbal communication
• Compassion
• Accuracy
• Attention to detail
• Time management
• Math skills
• Organizational skills
• Listening
• Pharmaceutical literacy
• Critical thinking
• Problem-solving

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Pharmacy Technician Skills in a Work Experience Section of a Resume

One more place where you can indicate your pharmacy technician skills is the work experience section. Under your past experiences, you can include 3-5 bullet points highlighting the responsibilities you handled and the abilities that helped you handle them.

Let’s look at an example:

• Received numerous commendations and 97% positive feedback for compassion and excellent customer service;
• Decreased inventory mistakes by 32%, thanks to excellent organizational skills and accurate observation.

To Sum Up

Now you know about the core skills of a pharmacy technician that will help you engage the recruiters and potential employers with a flawless resume. Each of the skills discussed in this guide is among the ones that companies are seeking in their potential employees. So, don’t hesitate to use this guide to land a job with ease!

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