Pharmacy Aides
Record drugs delivered to the pharmacy, store incoming merchandise, and inform the supervisor of stock needs. May operate cash register and accept prescriptions for filling.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Reading Comprehension
- Social Perceptiveness
- Critical Thinking
- Coordination
- Judgment and Decision Making
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Administrative
- Sales and Marketing
- Law and Government
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Medicine and Dentistry
What the work involves
- Accept prescriptions for filling, gathering and processing necessary information.
- Answer telephone inquiries, referring callers to pharmacist when necessary.
- Greet customers and help them locate merchandise.
- Unpack, sort, count, and label incoming merchandise, including items requiring special handling or refrigeration.
- Prepare prescription labels by typing or operating a computer and printer.
- Operate cash register to process cash or credit sales.
- Restock storage areas, replenishing items on shelves.
- Perform clerical tasks, such as filing, compiling and maintaining prescription records, or composing letters.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (61.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (57.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (45.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Pharmacy Aides is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 88% of occupations compared | 90% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 89% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 97% of occupations compared | 90% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 99% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 81% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 98% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 98% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 92% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 2.94%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 6.71%
- Constant contact with others: 90.35%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 6.67%
- Fairly important: 1.61%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 24.94%
- Extremely important: 66.77%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 1.53%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 8.89%
- Extremely important: 89.58%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very little freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Limited freedom: 28.88%
- Some freedom: 29.62%
- A lot of freedom: 0.66%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 20.48%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.66%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 21.39%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 1.55%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.7%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 11.31%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 14, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0.69%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 7.43%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 0%
- Fairly serious: 5.16%
- Serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very serious: 20.48%
- Extremely serious: 50.84%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 31-9095.00 · SOC 31-9095 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8