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Pharmacist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
Rachael Perry,
Vraj Patel
Pharmacist example skills

One of the most important hard skills a pharmacist can possess is experience or training in patient care because, as medical professionals, their top priority is the wellbeing of patients. It's also important for pharmacists to have the hard skill of experience in reviewing drug therapy treatment regimens.


When it comes to soft skills, pharmacists should have strong customer service skills above all else. pharmacists need to ensure HIPAA compliance, so a strong ability to maintain patient privacy is also crucial.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical pharmacist skills. We ranked the top skills for pharmacists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 22.5% of pharmacist resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a pharmacist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 pharmacist skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how pharmacists use patients:
  • Conducted medication therapy management reviews to patients' drug regimens and recommended solutions based on evidence- based medicine to their physicians.
  • Interpreted laboratory data of patients related to medication safety and effectiveness and communicated relevant issues to physicians and other team members.

2. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how pharmacists use customer service:
  • Manage and coordinate daily operations, including sales, customer service, administrative/accounting functions for a retail drug store pharmacy department.
  • Collaborated on preventative care initiatives with Wellness Ambassador including marketing, event planning, customer service and seamless patient care.

3. Employee Development

Here's how pharmacists use employee development:
  • Led staff education on pharmaceutical concepts and activities, staff training, and employee development.
  • Provided input and recommendations for performance management and employee development.

4. Allergies

Here's how pharmacists use allergies:
  • Monitored drug therapy regimens for contraindications, drug-drug interactions, drug-food interactions, allergies and appropriateness of dose.
  • Followed defined prescribed protocols to recognize inappropriate and/or unclear prescriptions, directions, interactions, and allergies.

5. Patient Care

Patient care entails the diagnosis, recovery, and control of sickness as well as the maintenance of physical and emotional well-being through the use of healthcare providers' services. Patient care is described as services provided to patients by health practitioners or non-professionals under guidance.

Here's how pharmacists use patient care:
  • Participated in multidisciplinary committees to improve patient care, develop clinical programs, standardize pediatric medication practices and decrease medication errors.
  • Provide Medication Therapy Management (MTM) utilizing MirixaPro to minimize drug interactions and improve patient compliance and optimum patient care.

6. Drug Therapy

Drug therapy is a treatment through the application of drugs. It is a medical process by which the drugs upon interacting with the cells and enzymes of the body, boost the body's healing capacity to cure illnesses.

Here's how pharmacists use drug therapy:
  • Conducted medication therapy management, filled prescriptions, compounded medications, counseled patients regarding drug therapy and answered drug information questions.
  • Reviewed existing treatment regimens and identified, prevented and resolved drug therapy problems including inappropriate/ineffective/unsafe therapy and/or issues related to compliance.

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7. Pharmacy Services

Here's how pharmacists use pharmacy services:
  • Assisted in survey preparations; provided urgent pharmacist coverage in multiple hospital pharmacies contracted with Comprehensive Pharmacy Services throughout Southern California.
  • Developed and instituted a decentralized pharmacy services model targeting pharmacist interventions on the nursing floor with patient education and discharge planning.

8. Medication Orders

A medication order is a set of written instructions from a prescribing doctor for the administration of a particular medication to a particular person. A qualified employee, such as a pharmacist, can even be given a prescription order orally by the prescribing physician like a chemist or a nurse.

Here's how pharmacists use medication orders:
  • Evaluated physician medication orders and medical records for appropriateness of drug dosage, potential interactions, route of administration and stability.
  • Obtained, interpreted and evaluated all physician medication orders for therapeutic appropriateness, cost effectiveness, accuracy, safety and completeness.

9. Inventory Management

Here's how pharmacists use inventory management:
  • Improved drug-inventory management system thereby increasing profitability.
  • Carried out inventory management by purchasing pharmaceuticals as well as arranged for the return of outdated and recalled medications and products.

10. PharmD

Here's how pharmacists use pharmd:
  • Act as an HIV pharmacy preceptor to Western University of Health Sciences College of Pharmacy PharmD candidates
  • Assisted in the supervision of PharmD candidates from McWhorter School of Pharmacy on rotation.

11. IV

Here's how pharmacists use iv:
  • Prepared and delivered patient medications, assembled anesthesia trays, observed IV preparation, shadowed clinical pharmacy director
  • Supervised the activities of pharmacy technicians and checked compounded IV medications for accuracy.

12. Pharmacy Operations

Here's how pharmacists use pharmacy operations:
  • Participated in the development and implementation of policies and procedures, and budgetary development to optimize pharmacy operations and company profit.
  • Maintain collaborative teamwork with the Pharmacy Operations Manager, Director and Clinical pharmacists to achieve optimal results in efficacy and cost-savings.

13. Pharmaceutical Care

Pharmaceutical Care is a medical process in which a pharmaceutical entity or one or more medical professionals craft and employ a drug treatment specific to a singular patient with the goal of alleviating symptoms or ridding the patient entirely of said symptoms. This is done for various diseases, health issues, and symptoms and is not unique to any one specific branch of the medical field. The ultimate goal, no matter the issue at hand, is to improve upon the quality of life of the patient in question.

Here's how pharmacists use pharmaceutical care:
  • Work collaboratively to provide comprehensive pharmaceutical care and drug information to nurses, physicians and patients to ensure optimal therapeutic outcomes.
  • Provide comprehensive pharmaceutical care in a time-efficient manner through filling prescriptions, providing clinical services, and counseling patients.

14. HIPAA

Here's how pharmacists use hipaa:
  • Clear daily productivity criteria, required to follow all applicable government regulation including HIPAA
  • Maintained conformance with HIPAA requirements and directed disposal of expired and hazardous materials.

15. Therapy Management

Here's how pharmacists use therapy management:
  • Provide medication therapy management and over-the-counter recommendations.
  • Implemented medication therapy management and administered immunizations.
top-skills

What skills help Pharmacists find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on pharmacist resumes?

Rachael PerryRachael Perry LinkedIn profile

Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, Binghamton University

I think it is important that graduates are able to articulate their skills to employers beyond just listing them generically on a resume or CV. As a pharmacist, communication skills are essential but listing "strong communication skills" is something everyone can put on their resume. Giving specific examples, numbers, or quantifiable metrics to demonstrate that you actually have those skills is much better. You also want to be sure that your CV/resume and cover letter are pristine, free of grammatical and spelling errors, because that is likely going to be the first impression of your communication skills.

What soft skills should all pharmacists possess?

Vraj Patel

Medication Error Pharmacovigilance and Risk Management Fellow, Butler University

-Same as above plus these 2 below:
-Communication skills - learning to have critical conversations with other healthcare professionals, patients, co-workers are vital to be successful
-Personable - very important as a pharmacist as you will be seeing many patients if in a clinical setting, and it is important to be able to connect with your patients

What hard/technical skills are most important for pharmacists?

Vraj Patel

Medication Error Pharmacovigilance and Risk Management Fellow, Butler University

-Clinical knowledge - pharmacists will shine in clinical knowledge and can bring a lot about drug knowledge to the table
-Understanding insurances and payer markets - many times, people rely on the pharmacist to understand this confusing world of insurances and a place where pharmacists can shine
Understanding pharmacy law - other healthcare professionals usually do not have to take a law exam, so this is unique to pharmacists within the pharmacy/drug space, especially since the pharmacy laws change in every state.

What pharmacist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Lawrence Brown

Professor & Associate Dean of Undergraduate Pharmacy Programs and Partnerships, Chapman University

Typically, in pharmacy practice, the highest salaries are in management positions. For example, in community pharmacy that means working your way from a Pharmacist in Charge position, to an Area Manager, and then Regional Manager position. If you don’t feel that management is for you, then you might try to find a company that pays their pharmacists a bonus based on their performance during the year. Another option might be switching from a pharmacy practice position to an office job in a health care or managed care company, that might not only offer a higher initial salary, but also has multiple levels of non-management positions available.

What type of skills will young pharmacists need?

Dr. Kyle Riding Ph.D.Dr. Kyle Riding Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida

They will need to continue to develop strong technical skills to perform the testing required by medical laboratory scientists. Also, they need exceptional critical thinking skills to ensure quality assurance is the underpinning of all the tests they perform. Finally, the need for communication skills is more critical than ever. This is because the profession needs to become more consultative with our healthcare providers in their practices.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about pharmacist

List of pharmacist skills to add to your resume

Pharmacist skills

The most important skills for a pharmacist resume and required skills for a pharmacist to have include:

  • Patients
  • Customer Service
  • Employee Development
  • Allergies
  • Patient Care
  • Drug Therapy
  • Pharmacy Services
  • Medication Orders
  • Inventory Management
  • PharmD
  • IV
  • Pharmacy Operations
  • Pharmaceutical Care
  • HIPAA
  • Therapy Management
  • Immunization
  • State Laws
  • Excellent Interpersonal
  • Physician Orders
  • Medicaid
  • Chemotherapy
  • Federal Regulations
  • Patient Education
  • Compassion
  • Order Entry
  • Medication Reconciliation
  • Rehabilitation
  • Dispense Medications
  • Federal Laws
  • Computer System
  • Home Health
  • Disease State
  • Staff Hiring
  • Retail Pharmacy
  • English Language
  • Disease State Management
  • Drug-Drug Interactions
  • Drug Utilization Review
  • USP
  • Pharmacokinetics
  • Filling Prescriptions
  • BCPS
  • Patient Profiles
  • FDA
  • Pyxis
  • Inventory Control
  • ICU
  • TPN
  • Dosage Forms

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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