Skills
Pharmacist Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in pharmacists, and how to build and show them.
What skills do pharmacists need?
Pharmacists need technical skills such as pharmacology, drug interactions, and dose calculations, plus people skills like attention to detail and communication. They also use tools such as Pharmacy management systems and Drug information databases.
Technical (hard) skills
- Pharmacology
- Drug interactions
- Dose calculations
- Patient counseling
- Immunization
- Pharmacy law
People (soft) skills
- Attention to detail
- Communication
- Integrity
- Calm under pressure
Tools, equipment and technology
- Pharmacy management systems
- Drug information databases
- Automated dispensing systems
- Sterile compounding hoods
- Vaccine supplies
- Prescription monitoring databases
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how pharmacists put their skills to work:
- How to verify a prescription
- How to counsel a patient on a new medication
- How to give an intramuscular vaccine
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Pharmacology” and “Drug interactions.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “attention to detail,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as NAPLEX near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our pharmacist glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Pharmacist training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.