Optician job description: duties, skills and qualifications.

Core duties

16

O*NET task statements

Preparation

Job Zone 3 of 5

medium preparation

Typical entry education

High school diploma or equivalent

BLS 2025–35

Median pay

$47,260

BLS May 2025

Data Government data groups this job as Opticians, Dispensing (O*NET-SOC 29-2081.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

1. Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices. importance 5.0 of 5
2. Verify that finished lenses are ground to specifications. importance 4.9 of 5
3. Evaluate prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements. importance 4.8 of 5
4. Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs. importance 4.8 of 5
5. Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions. importance 4.8 of 5
6. Maintain records of customer prescriptions, work orders, and payments. importance 4.7 of 5
7. Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands. importance 4.7 of 5
8. Show customers how to insert, remove, and care for their contact lenses. importance 4.7 of 5
9. Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses. importance 4.6 of 5
10. Prepare work orders and instructions for grinding lenses and fabricating eyeglasses. importance 4.6 of 5
11. Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist. importance 4.5 of 5
12. Sell goods such as contact lenses, spectacles, sunglasses, and goods related to eyes, in general. importance 4.5 of 5
13. Fabricate lenses to meet prescription specifications. importance 4.5 of 5
14. Perform administrative duties, such as tracking inventory and sales, submitting patient insurance information, and performing simple bookkeeping. importance 4.4 of 5
15. Assemble eyeglasses by cutting and edging lenses, and fitting the lenses into frames. importance 4.4 of 5
16. Instruct clients in how to wear and care for eyeglasses. importance 4.3 of 5

Work activities O*NET rates most important here: Performing for or Working Directly with the Public, Documenting/Recording Information, Selling or Influencing Others, Getting Information and Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards.

Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, Sales and Marketing, Mathematics, Production and Processing and Administrative.

Software O*NET lists for this occupation: Intuit QuickBooks, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Word, Compulink Eyecare Advantage, Cygnet Infotech Optifocus. These are examples O*NET records for the job, not a list of tools every employer uses or a checklist of what you must know.

• Education: BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education.
• Experience: BLS lists no work experience in a related occupation as typical to enter.
• Training on the job: BLS lists long-term on-the-job training as typical once hired.
• Preparation: O*NET places the job in Job Zone 3 of 5 (medium preparation). Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations.
• Licenses and certifications: not listed here. A license is a legal requirement set by a state; a certification is a credential from a private or professional body. Rules vary by state and employer, and a missing entry on this page does not mean none is required: check with your state's licensing board and see how to become an optician.

The most common answer among O*NET's occupation experts for this occupation is a high school diploma or equivalent (46%).

Job title: Optician
[Company] · [City, State] · [Full-time or part-time] · [Pay range, where your state requires one]

About the role
[Company] is hiring an Optician to design, measure, fit, and adapt lenses and frames for client according to written optical prescription or specification.
[One sentence on your team and why this role matters.]

What you will do
- Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices.
- Verify that finished lenses are ground to specifications.
- Evaluate prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements.
- Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs.
- Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions.
- Maintain records of customer prescriptions, work orders, and payments.
- Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands.
- Show customers how to insert, remove, and care for their contact lenses.

What we are looking for
- [Education: BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as typical for this occupation; set the level this role truly needs]
- [Experience: BLS lists no related work experience as typical to enter; set what this role needs]
- Strength in speaking, active listening and reading comprehension
- Working knowledge of Customer and Personal Service and Sales and Marketing
- [Software your team uses, e.g. Intuit QuickBooks or Microsoft Excel]
- [Any license or certification your state or company requires]

[Schedule, benefits and how to apply]

Illustrative: every name, employer, school, date and number in these samples is fictional or a bracketed placeholder. Replace each bracket with your own true details; never copy a result you did not achieve.

Not a real job posting. This template is TryHired's illustration built from government occupational data. It is not an opening at any employer, and no employer wrote it.

The median annual wage was $47,260 in May 2025. The median hourly wage was $22.72. BLS estimates about 73,530 jobs in this occupation in the U.S.

BLS projects employment of opticians to grow 4.2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 5,600 openings a year over that period, including openings to replace workers who leave.

See the full optician salary breakdown by percentile, state and metro.

• Read a real optician posting next to the core duties above. Duties it repeats, such as “Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance…”, tell you what that employer weighs most; anything it adds is specific to that team.
• Tailor your resume to the posting, not to this page: describe only optician work you have actually done, with your own results.
• Prepare a story for each of the top-rated skills (speaking and active listening); optician interview questions turns them into practice questions.