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

What is a pharmacist aide 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 pharmacist aide. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.02 an hour? That's $33,319 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 22,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePharmacist AideUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $33,319

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.7

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.90%

Asian 8.14%

Black or African American 14.79%

Hispanic or Latino 19.58%

Unknown 6.00%

White 50.58%

Gender

female 71.14%

male 28.86%

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 pharmacist aide

Explore pharmacist aide education requirements

Most common pharmacist aide degrees

Bachelor's

36.2 %

High School Diploma

27.2 %

Associate

16.0 %

Start to develop specific pharmacist aide skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	20.04%
Customer Service	16.85%
Expiration Dates	16.21%
Unit Dose	9.39%
Telephone Inquiries	8.60%

Complete relevant pharmacist aide training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New pharmacist aides 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 pharmacist aide based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real pharmacist aide resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed pharmacist aide usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed pharmacist aide in most of states. 38 states require pharmacist aides 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 pharmacist aide duties and responsibilities

Manage assigned pharmacy workstations and tasks while supporting team members in promptly, safely and accurately filling patient prescriptions.
Follow all HIPPA regulations in relation to patient confidentiality.
Deliver medications or pharmaceutical supplies to patients or nursing stations.
Communicate effectively with patients, staff and medical personnel to delivery prescriptions.

Prepare your pharmacist aide resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your pharmacist aide 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 pharmacist aide resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable pharmacist aide resume templates

Build a professional pharmacist aide 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 pharmacist aide resume.