Pharmacy Technician Salary
If you are thinking about becoming a Pharmacy Technician and have been looking to find out how much money you can make, then you’ve come to the right place.
Pharmacy Technicians are in high demand, and with high demand comes a high salary too.
So, whether you choose to work in a hospital, a grocery store pharmacy, or a retail drug store, you’ll find everything you need to get started.
What Does a Pharmacy Technician Do?
Your job as a Pharmacy Tech will be to work with the Pharmacists to get patients their drugs. This can involve everything from filling prescriptions, managing patient records and handling the cash register.
There are no formal qualifications you need to start — and the Pharmacy Technician salary is very good too. It’s the perfect job for you to decide whether a career in medicine is for you!
While you could find a Pharmacy Technician job yourself, you will have better luck and earn more money if you go through a high-quality Pharmacy Technician training course first. The training is very short and will make your resume stand out to employers looking to pay top dollar for the best staff possible.
What Skills Do I Need to Earn The Best Pharmacy Technician Salary?
Working as a Pharmacy Tech is fast-paced and very rewarding. A good Tech — the ones that earn the most money — will have the following skills:
- Analytical and well organized. You will be dealing with phone calls, faxed prescriptions, patient enquiries and complaints, and paperwork. You need to manage this workload and be comfortable at multitasking.
- Friendly and happy. A large part of being a Pharmacy Technician is good customer service. This means being friendly and happy to the patients. Always bear in mind that they may be feeling sick, in pain or frustrated by their condition.
- Able to handle pressure. There will sometimes be tight deadlines that need to be met to get patients their drugs quickly. You’ll need to be a quick thinker and able to handle the pressure, taking it in your stride.
How Much Money Can You Earn As a Pharmacy Technician?
There are a number of factors that will determine what level of pay you will receive. The Pharmacy Technician salary in a grocery store or retail drug store will be less than the Pharmacy Technician salary if you were to work in hospital.
Also, your salary will significantly increase after you’ve had 4-6 years experience in the job. Senior Pharmacy Technicians earn very good money indeed!
Find out exactly how much you can earn with our Pharmacy Technician salary chart:
| Average Pharmacy Technician Salary | Per Hour | Per Year | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low End | High End | Low End | High End | |
| Entry Level (0-3 Years Experience) | $7.40 | $10.90 | $15,390 | $22,670 |
| Intermediate (3-6 Years) | $11.20 | $16.30 | $23,290 | $33,900 |
| Senior/Supervisor (6+ Years) | $17 | $23.10 | $35,510 | $48,450 |
What Are The Best Ways to Increase Your Pharmacy Technician Salary Quickly?
There are quite a few ways to increase your pharmacy technician salary, and many of them can be done pretty quickly too. A huge amount of pharmacy technicians have never taken their certification, mostly because they got the job through work experience by working their way up from a cashier.
If you did this, or had planned to do this, you can increase your pharmacy technician salary by almost 30% just by taking the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB). Once you pass this exam, you can command a higher salary than many non-qualified pharmacy technicians. Note: you could take the Institute for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians (ICPT) exam, but the PTCB is more well known and will open more doors for you — resulting in a much better pharmacy technician salary.
The reason why you can earn a higher salary as a certified technician — aside from the qualification — is that you have to spend a little time every few years renewing it. This shows dedication and commitment to the profession, and the people who do this are those who are paid the very top pharmacy technician salary of $30,000 and more.
How Long Does it Take to Become a Qualified Pharmacy Technician?
Okay, now the question everyone wants the answer to: exactly how long does it take to become qualified so that you can be paid the highest pharmacy technician salary possible?
It can take anything from 6 months to a full 2 years to become qualified, depending on how you take your certification. Personally, I took the course online and passed it within a year. Had I gone to my local college, it would have taken longer because I would have had to travel, fit in classes around work and could only learn when the college classes were available.
Because I did it online, I was able to do my current pharmacy tech job and study in the evenings (when college classes were not available).
Becoming a pharmacy technician is very popular right now because you can get qualified so quickly and because the average pharmacy technician salary is very good too. This is why I would advise anybody to get qualified as soon as possible to start getting the benefits.
Now, there is a ceiling on the pharmacy technician salary, and once you reach it you won’t be able to progress much further. However, this is when most people take a few extra certifications and become qualified pharmacists! You’ve already got into the mindset of studying and taking exams from the pharmacy tech course, so it’s only logical to keep going and start earning a pharmacists salary — which can be upwards of $70,000.
If you want to find out more about the average pharmacy technician salary, or how to become one, check out the links below to find some of my most popular articles.
How to Become a Pharmacy Technician
Pharmacy Technician Certification
Pharmacy Technician Online Schools
Pharmacy Technician Training