Pharmacy Technicians
Prepare medications under the direction of a pharmacist. May measure, mix, count out, label, and record amounts and dosages of medications according to prescription orders.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Mathematics
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Law and Government
- Administrative
- Production and Processing
What the work involves
- Receive written prescription or refill requests and verify that information is complete and accurate.
- Maintain proper storage and security conditions for drugs.
- Answer telephones, responding to questions or requests.
- Assist customers by answering simple questions, locating items, or referring them to the pharmacist for medication information.
- Price and file prescriptions that have been filled.
- Clean and help maintain equipment or work areas and sterilize glassware, according to prescribed methods.
- Establish or maintain patient profiles, including lists of medications taken by individual patients.
- Order, label, and count stock of medications, chemicals, or supplies and enter inventory data into computer.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Realistic, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Post-Secondary Certificate (42% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (38.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (44.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Pharmacy Technicians 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 | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 63% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 66% of occupations compared | 72% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 93% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 79% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 89% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 97% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 89% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- 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: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 6.44%
- Contact with others most of the time: 3.6%
- Constant contact with others: 89.96%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 23.15%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 7.85%
- Very important: 17%
- Extremely important: 51.99%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 10.2%
- Important: 6.18%
- Very important: 11.98%
- Extremely important: 71.64%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 6.94%
- Very little freedom: 12.32%
- Limited freedom: 35.13%
- Some freedom: 36.93%
- A lot of freedom: 8.68%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 16.27%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 10.56%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 4.29%
- Every day: 68.88%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 8.34%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 21.45%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 6.28%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.99%
- Every day: 36.93%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 4.8%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1.16%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 3.89%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 39.51%
- Every day: 50.65%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 8.69%
- Fairly serious: 2.92%
- Serious: 10.76%
- Very serious: 34%
- Extremely serious: 43.64%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 29-2052.00 · SOC 29-2052 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8