Pharmacy Assistant job description: duties, skills and qualifications.

Core duties

16

O*NET task statements

O*NET occupation

Pharmacy Aides

O*NET-SOC 31-9095.00

Preparation

Job Zone 1-2 of 5

very little to some preparation

Typical entry education

High school diploma or equivalent

BLS 2025–35

Median pay

$37,680

BLS May 2025

Data Government data groups this job as Pharmacy Aides (O*NET-SOC 31-9095.00). O*NET 31.0 lists “Pharmacy Assistant” as a job title for this occupation only (evidence: O*NET's Sample of Reported Titles (titles job holders report), O*NET job-incumbent data, the SOC Index and employer job postings). Figures on this page are for that occupation. TryHired has no separate career page for this title yet.

1. Process medical insurance claims, posting bill amounts and calculating copayments. importance 4.8 of 5
2. Answer telephone inquiries, referring callers to pharmacist when necessary. importance 4.8 of 5
3. Prepare prescription labels by typing or operating a computer and printer. importance 4.7 of 5
4. Operate cash register to process cash or credit sales. importance 4.5 of 5
5. Prepare, maintain, and record records of inventories, receipts, purchases, or deliveries, using a variety of computer screen formats. importance 4.5 of 5
6. Receive, store, and inventory pharmaceutical supplies or medications, check for out-of-date medications, and notify pharmacist when inventory levels are low. importance 4.4 of 5
7. Accept prescriptions for filling, gathering and processing necessary information. importance 4.4 of 5
8. Maintain and clean equipment, work areas, or shelves. importance 4.2 of 5
9. Calculate anticipated drug usage for a prescribed period. importance 4.2 of 5
10. Perform clerical tasks, such as filing, compiling and maintaining prescription records, or composing letters. importance 4.2 of 5
11. Restock storage areas, replenishing items on shelves. importance 4.1 of 5
12. Greet customers and help them locate merchandise. importance 4.1 of 5
13. Unpack, sort, count, and label incoming merchandise, including items requiring special handling or refrigeration. importance 4.1 of 5
14. Compound, package, and label pharmaceutical products, under direction of pharmacist. importance 4.0 of 5
15. Provide customers with information about the uses, effects, or interactions of drugs. importance 3.8 of 5
16. Operate capsule or tablet counting machine that automatically distributes a certain number of capsules or tablets into smaller containers. importance 3.4 of 5

Work activities O*NET rates most important here: Getting Information, Working with Computers, Processing Information, Making Decisions and Solving Problems and Assisting and Caring for Others.

Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Administrative and Sales and Marketing.

Software O*NET lists for this occupation: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word. 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 short-term on-the-job training as typical once hired.
• Preparation: O*NET places the job in Job Zone 1-2 of 5 (very little to some preparation). Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience.
• 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.

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

About the role
[Company] is hiring a Pharmacy Assistant to record drugs delivered to the pharmacy, store incoming merchandise, and inform the supervisor of stock needs.
[One sentence on your team and why this role matters.]

What you will do
- Process medical insurance claims, posting bill amounts and calculating copayments.
- Answer telephone inquiries, referring callers to pharmacist when necessary.
- Prepare prescription labels by typing or operating a computer and printer.
- Operate cash register to process cash or credit sales.
- Prepare, maintain, and record records of inventories, receipts, purchases, or deliveries, using a variety of computer screen formats.
- Receive, store, and inventory pharmaceutical supplies or medications, check for out-of-date medications, and notify pharmacist when inventory levels are low.
- Accept prescriptions for filling, gathering and processing necessary information.
- Maintain and clean equipment, work areas, or shelves.

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 active listening, service orientation and speaking
- Working knowledge of Customer and Personal Service and English Language
- [Software your team uses, e.g. Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Office software]
- [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.

For Pharmacy Aides, the median annual wage was $37,680 in May 2025. The median hourly wage was $18.12. BLS estimates about 39,530 jobs in this occupation in the U.S.

BLS projects employment of Pharmacy Aides to decline 0.7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 5,100 openings a year over that period, including openings to replace workers who leave.

• Read a real pharmacy assistant posting next to the core duties above. Duties it repeats, such as “Process medical insurance claims, posting bill amounts and…”, 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 pharmacy assistant work you have actually done, with your own results.
• Prepare a story for each of the top-rated skills (active listening and service orientation): a real situation, what you did and what changed.