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As a Pharmacy Technician, you’re an invaluable part of any pharmacy team, responsible for everything from the packing and distribution of patient medications to assisting pharmacists with vital tasks like insurance claim processing, inventory management, and recordkeeping. But no matter how skilled you are at fulfilling that role, you may still struggle to land great jobs unless you have the best possible Pharmacy Technician resume.
That’s why we’ve created this Pharmacy Technician resume guide – to help you craft the powerful resume you need to capture any hiring manager’s attention and land interviews and job offers. If you’re looking for great tips to help you write a resume, insight to help you understand what employers are looking for in today’s job candidates, and a resume example that you can use as a template, then you’ve come to the right place.
How to write a resume
Gone are the days when you could just walk into any business, fill out an application, and get called in for an interview. Today’s job seekers need to be able to demonstrate their skills, experiences, and achievements to set themselves apart from rival candidates, and the best way to convey that information is by submitting a compelling resume. But how do you create that document? Below, we have assembled eight of the top tips that can guide you as you create your first resume.
1. Know your purpose
Before you create your resume, understand what you’re trying to achieve. Are you looking for a better job in the same field or a career change from another occupation? Defining your goals can help you focus on delivering the right message to employers.
2. Choose the right format
There are three primary resume formats: reverse chronological, functional, and hybrid. For a Pharmacy Technician role, the reverse chronological is likely to be your best bet. That format enables you to list your entire work history in chronological order, beginning with the most recent job.
3. Use a clear structure
The structure of your resume should be simple and clearly defined. Separate information into distinct sections, with headings where appropriate. With the reverse chronological format, the standard structural outline includes the following sections:
Contact details, including your name, location, phone, email, and LinkedIn URL
Job title that you are seeking
Summary statement, which is just a brief paragraph highlighting your key skills and achievements
Skills section, including both hard and soft skills
Work experience, with bullet point achievements for each job
Education, which should include any degrees, certifications, or other formal training
4. Create a powerful summary statement
The summary statement deserves some special attention since it will be one of the first things any hiring manager sees. This statement should highlight a couple of key skills and achievements to demonstrate your competence and qualifications. Keep it relatively short, using no more than three to five sentences, and focus on showcasing your unique value proposition. Here’s an example of a summary statement to help you understand how they’re constructed:
A highly motivated, knowledgeable bilingual/multilingual certified Pharmacy Technician with experience preparing and packaging medications for patients and managing medical records accordingly. Outstanding interpersonal skills with a track record of establishing positive relationships with customers, pharmaceutical representatives/manufacturers, medical professionals, healthcare organizations, and insurance providers. Dedicated to providing quality patient care and fast and accurate medication dispensing.
5. Focus on quantifiable achievements
As you create the bullet points for your work experience section, select achievements that align with the job you’re seeking. Make sure that you include real numbers to quantify the value that you provided to your employers. That will help hiring managers see how you can add value to their team.
6. Tailor your resume to fit the job
Never send a generic resume to an employer. Instead, take the time to read the job posting and insert some of the keywords and phrases used by the employer into your resume. Using those specific keywords and skills will help to ensure that your resume passes any Applicant Tracking System (ATS) screening that the company might be using.
7. Proofread
Never submit a resume without first proofreading and editing the document. The last thing you want is for an employer to see a resume filled with spelling and grammatical errors – even one grammatical error could cause your resume to be dismissed if your competitors present flawless documents. You may also want to have someone else review your resume just to get a second opinion about its quality.
8. Submit your resume using the right file type
Always be mindful of the file type you use when you save your resume file. The two most common options are to use a Microsoft Word document (.docx) or a PDF file. Most employers prefer a Word document since that format can be scanned by an ATS. Only send the PDF if the employer requests it.
Pharmacy Technician resume example
As helpful as explanations can be, there’s nothing quite like a visual example to enable you to fully digest complex information. The good news is that we’ve prepared a sample Pharmacy Technician resume that you can customize to fit your resume needs. Just substitute your own skills, experience, and achievements in the various sections of this example to create your resume narrative.
Name
Title
City, State or Country if international
Phone | Email
LinkedIn URL
HOSPITAL PHARMACY TECHNICIAN PROFESSIONAL
A highly motivated, knowledgeable bilingual/multilingual certified Pharmacy Technician with experience preparing and packaging medications for patients and managing medical records accordingly. Outstanding interpersonal skills with a track record of establishing positive relationships with customers, pharmaceutical representatives/manufacturers, medical professionals, healthcare organizations, and insurance providers. Dedicated to providing quality patient care and fast and accurate medication dispensing.
CORE COMPETENCIES
Vendor Relations
Record Keeping
Pharmaceutical Calculation
Medication Management
Medication Dispensing
Insurance
Health Outcomes Analysis
Quality Control
Customer Satisfaction
Clinical Experience
FDA Compliance
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Hospital Pharmacy Technician
COMPANY NAME | CITY, ST | YEAR TO YEAR
Responsibilities
Fill bottles with prescribed medications and type and affixed labels.
Assisted customers by answering simple questions, locating items or referring them to the pharmacist for medication information.
Received written prescription or refill requests and verified that information was complete and accurate.
Consistently maintained patient confidentiality and complied with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA).
Retail Pharmacy Technician
COMPANY NAME | CITY, ST | YEAR TO YEAR
Responsibilities
Efficiently collected and entered data into the pharmacy information system and professionally answered telephone calls.
Effectively maintained a working inventory within established department guidelines by reviewing stock levels and recording for order, removing stock from storage areas, and replenishing active use areas, various kit contents, and carts maintained for specialty areas.
Maintained proper storage and security conditions for drugs.
Utilized training to count medication through counter machines or manually.
Demonstrated excellent customer service and verified customers’ information before ringing up prescriptions.
Pharmacy Technician 1
COMPANY | CITY, ST | YEAR TO YEAR
Responsibilities
Charged with receiving new prescription and refilling orders from customers and helping them select over-the-counter medication and/or supplemental vitamins.
Priced and filed prescription that had been filled.
Cleaned and maintained equipment and work areas, and sterilized glassware according to prescribed methods.
Created and maintained patient profiles.
Ordered, labeled, and counted stock of medications, chemicals, and supplies, and entered inventory data into computer.
EDUCATION
Complete School Name, City, St/Country: List Graduation Years If Within the Last Ten Years
Complete Degree Name (Candidate) – Major (GPA: List if over 3.3)
Relevant Coursework: List coursework taken (even include those you are planning on taking)
Awards/Honors: List any awards, honors or big achievements
Clubs/Activities: List clubs and activities in which you participated
Relevant Projects: List 2-3 projects you have worked on
Key hard & soft skills for a Pharmacy Technician
The skills you include on your resume will be a major draw for any employer – or a major turnoff – depending on which ones you decide to highlight. To ensure that you get the right mix of skills in your core competencies section, you should include a balanced array of both hard and soft skills that showcase your qualifications. Below, we have compiled brief lists of some of the most common hard and soft skills employers want to see when they examine your Pharmacy Technician resume.
Hard Skills for a Pharmacy Technician
Hard skills are all those technical and knowledge-based abilities that you need to possess to fulfill your duties and responsibilities as a Pharmacy Technician. Here are six commonly cited skills you should consider including in your own personalized resume:
Pharmacology
Technology skills
Mathematics
Inventory management
Emerging pharma trends
Records maintenance
Key Soft skills for a Pharmacy Technician
Soft skills include all those personal traits and interpersonal skills that you need to deal with employers, colleagues, and customers. These skills are developed over time and are usually acquired through experience rather than formal training. Great ideas for soft skills to include on your resume include:
Communication
Teamwork
Time management
Integrity
Attention to detail
Active listening
Summary & last words
In any serious job search, a resume can be your first and best chance to make a great impression on employers – but only if you take the time to ensure that yours delivers the most compelling message possible. As a Pharmacy Technician, your knowledge of medicines, pharmaceutical best practices, and attention to detail should be front and center in any resume document. Along with that, you’ll need to highlight vital soft skills and key experiences and achievements that demonstrate your ability to bring value to any pharmacy team.
Always remember that the goal is to showcase your unique talents in a way that makes employers want to interview you for their open position. By tailoring your resume to the specific job you’re seeking and highlighting your qualifications in a compelling way, you can more effectively ensure that you stand out from other candidates for the job.
Introduction to ZipJob: Professional resume writers
As demand for Pharmacy Technicians is expected to remain constant over the next decade, you can expect that competition for these positions will continue to be intense. And while the information contained in this guide can help you to craft your own personal resume, it never hurts to rely on experts to provide an even more polished resume product. ZipJob’s team of professional resume writers can help you to take your resume to the next level, fueling even greater career success.
Why you should make use of our resume writing services to land your next job as a Pharmacy Technician
Make no mistake about it; creating a convincing Pharmacy Technician resume is no easy task. Many of your skills, experiences, and achievements will involve complex technical aspects of the job that are not always easy for the average person to convey in writing. Sometimes, you need an expert writer who has experience writing resumes for professionals just like you. The team at ZipJob understands the specific needs of your industry and has insight into what employers want to see when they look at your resume.
Resume writing service for Pharmacy Technicians: Let us write your resume
When you partner with ZipJob’s team, your assigned resume writer will work with you to ensure that your skills and experiences are properly marketed to interested employers. We understand what works in today’s job search environment and know how to craft a truly personalized resume that will help you land more interviews and receive the job offers you need for long-term career success. To get the resume you need to supercharge your career, contact us today.