Pharmaceutical Resume Examples, Skills and Keywords
Working in a pharmacy is a challenging and rewarding job. It takes a lot of work and a lot of help from your team members. If you want to work in a pharmacy, here's how to write a pharmaceutical resume for three popular positions.
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Pharmaceutical resume samples
Pharmacies are found in many places, from hospitals to local corner stores. These highly-regulated businesses stay very busy, so it takes a qualified team of specialists to keep it running. Pharmacists and technicians work together, keeping medication in stock and making sure that patients get their prescriptions. To keep up with demand, most locations need multiple professionals, each with their own unique pharmacy skills, on staff.
If you want to work in a pharmacy, you’ll need a resume that meets the hiring team’s expectations. Different pharmacy jobs have dramatically different requirements. If you submit the same resume for a role as a pharmacist and a role as a pharmacy technician, you might lose out on both jobs.
Instead, tailor your resume to the specific position you want. If you’re qualified for a variety of pharmaceutical positions, it’s worth taking the time to create different resumes for each one. Employers can tell when you’re using a generic resume. In a competitive field like the pharmaceutical industry, you need to give yourself every advantage.
If you want to write an excellent pharmaceutical resume, you can start by reading the resumes of successful candidates. These three pharmaceutical resume examples can help you decide what to say when you apply for your next great role.
Pharmacist resume example
Pharmacists are medical professionals in charge of dispensing controlled medications and explaining how to use them. When patients come in with a prescription, the pharmacist gives them the medicine they need, and they make sure the patient knows how to safely take it. They also answer questions the patient might have and talk them through their concerns.
In many cases, patients see their pharmacist more often than they see a doctor. A strong pharmacist’s resume will show that the candidate has excellent customer service skills, strong technical knowledge, and excellent attention to detail.
This pharmaceutical resume example shows how pharmacists can list their education and skills clearly and concisely.
Pharmacy technician resume example
Pharmacists have a lot of responsibilities, so they rely on help from pharmacy technicians. A pharmacy technician takes care of tasks like entering prescriptions into the system, restocking medications, and collecting payments. As they answer the phones and handle the register, they’re often a patient’s first point of contact.
A great pharmacy technician needs an eye for detail so that they can make sure medications are being filled correctly. They also need to understand basic pharmacology and the policies of the pharmacy.
This pharmacist technician’s resume demonstrates how to use experience gained in other fields to show your qualifications for the position.
Clinical pharmacist resume example
Clinical pharmacists are a specific type of pharmacist working in a medical setting like a hospital. Unlike pharmacists who work in stand-alone pharmacies, these professionals work directly with physicians and nurses. They act as a part of the patient’s healthcare team, and may have patient care privileges that allow them to prescribe medication instead of just filling existing prescriptions.
A clinical pharmacist needs more training than other pharmaceutical roles. They need to be able to collaborate with other health professionals effectively. They also need specialist certifications that qualify them for direct patient care.
This clinical pharmacist resume example shows how you can highlight your certifications and demonstrate your qualifications for the role.
Pharmaceutical resume skills and keywords
Pharmacies are busy places, so hiring teams want to bring in new staff as soon as possible. To save themselves time, they’ll use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to filter out unqualified candidates. These systems check your application for resume keywords, and they’ll remove you from consideration if those keywords aren’t found. That’s why it’s so important to include the right pharmaceutical skills in your resume.
Top 30 skills for pharmaceutical roles
- Pharmaceutics
- Verbal and written communication
- Labeling
- Data entry
- Customer service
- Compliance
- Medical immunity
- Automated dispensing systems
- Leadership
- Multitasking
- Endurance
- Computer literacy
- Problem-solving
- Patient counseling
- Inventory management
- Electronic medical records
- Microsoft Office
- Pharmaceutical compounding
- Pharmacy software
- Vaccine administration
- Accuracy
- HIPAA
- Loss prevention
- Quality review
- Delegation
- FDA drug safety
- Patient scheduling
- Conflict resolution
- Active listening
- Empathy
Salaries for pharmaceutical roles can vary dramatically, but in general, roles that require more education will have much higher salaries than entry-level positions. If you’re considering a pharmaceutical career, you’ll have to decide for yourself whether the higher wage is worth the years of additional schooling.
Salary expectations for popular pharmaceutical roles
Pharmacy technician certification programs take nine months to two years. They’ll cover topics like pharmacology, billing, and medical laws, and they culminate in the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE). You can take it further and get an associate’s degree, which takes two years but prepares you more thoroughly for the position.
You’ll need to pursue a Doctor of Pharmacy degree (Pharm.D.) to become a fully qualified pharmacist.
To get your doctorate in pharmacy, you need an undergraduate degree in a relevant field, like biology. A Pharm.D. program usually takes four years and covers the science of medications, basic medical training, and patient management skills. If you choose to become a clinical pharmacist, you may also need a specialist certificate from your state pharmacy board.
