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

What is a pharmacist associate 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 associate. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.21 an hour? That's $37,873 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 22,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePharmacist AssociateUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $37,873

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.5

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.80%

Asian 10.11%

Black or African American 8.65%

Hispanic or Latino 14.49%

Unknown 5.72%

White 60.23%

Gender

female 75.21%

male 24.79%

Age - 36

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 - 36

Stress level

8.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.0

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a pharmacist associate

Explore pharmacist associate education requirements

Most common pharmacist associate degrees

Bachelor's

38.0 %

High School Diploma

24.4 %

Associate

22.9 %

Start to develop specific pharmacist associate skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	26.50%
Pharmacy Inventory	17.26%
Customer Service	14.81%
Hippa	6.02%
Telephone Calls	3.08%

Complete relevant pharmacist associate training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New pharmacist associates 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 associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real pharmacist associate resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

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

Handle sales, including cash, credit / debit cards; manage insurance / Medicaid / Medicare documentation as needed.
Manage assigned pharmacy workstations and tasks while supporting team members in promptly, safely and accurately filling patient prescriptions.
Help in filling Rx's as needed.
Check out prescriptions using POS system.

Prepare your pharmacist associate resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your pharmacist associate 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 associate 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 associate resume templates

Build a professional pharmacist associate 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 associate resume.