How To Become A Certified Pharmacist Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a certified pharmacist assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a certified pharmacist assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.48 an hour? That's $38,438 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 22,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCertified Pharmacist AssistantUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,438

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.7

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.83%

Asian 10.14%

Black or African American 15.19%

Hispanic or Latino 14.81%

Unknown 6.14%

White 52.89%

Gender

female 64.39%

male 35.61%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

7.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.4

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a certified pharmacist assistant

Explore certified pharmacist assistant education requirements

Most common certified pharmacist assistant degrees

Bachelor's

43.4 %

Associate

15.5 %

Doctorate

14.7 %

Start to develop specific certified pharmacist assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	25.51%
IV	17.00%
Drug Inventory	10.89%
Customer Service	9.36%
Inventory Control	7.86%

Complete relevant certified pharmacist assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New certified pharmacist assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a certified pharmacist assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real certified pharmacist assistant resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed certified pharmacist assistant usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed certified pharmacist assistant in most of states. 38 states require certified pharmacist assistants to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	-	-	Licensed Pharmacist Technician
Alaska	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Pharmacist
Arkansas	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	Pharmacist
California	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	Pharmacist, Registered
Connecticut	Degree required	State exam required	Pharmacist

Research certified pharmacist assistant duties and responsibilities

Manage assigned pharmacy workstations and tasks while supporting team members in promptly, safely and accurately filling patient prescriptions.
Maintain the national HIPAA compliance regulations at all times.
General counseling of patients on maintaining medication adherence, and medication/diet interaction.
Prepare chemotherapy medications exercising all safety requirements necessary.

Prepare your certified pharmacist assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your certified pharmacist assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a certified pharmacist assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable certified pharmacist assistant resume templates

Build a professional certified pharmacist assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your certified pharmacist assistant resume.