Pharmacy Technician resume skills. The words recruiters search for.
The 17 skills, tools and credentials that come up in pharmacy technician job posts, sorted by type, and how to put them in bullets a recruiter believes.
By Nazir Elmurodov, Founder, LaunchCV · Updated
/ The list
Keywords by type. Use only the ones that are true for you.
Hard skills · 13
- Prescription filling (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- Medication dispensing (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- Sterile compounding (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- IV admixtures (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- USP <797> (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- Aseptic technique (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- Controlled substances (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- Inventory management (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- Insurance claims (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- Prior authorizations (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- NDC (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- Pharmacy calculations (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- HIPAA (used in Kevin's sample resume)
Tools & software · 1
- Pyxis (used in Kevin's sample resume)
Licenses & certifications · 2
- Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) (used in Kevin's sample resume)
- PTCB (used in Kevin's sample resume)
Soft skills · 1
- Customer service (used in Kevin's sample resume)
17 of 17 appear in Kevin's sample resume. See where
/ How to use them
Put keywords in bullets, not just in a skills list.
A skills list tells the software you have a skill. A bullet shows a recruiter what you did with it.
Pyxis
Weak: Skills: Pyxis
Strong: Restock Pyxis automated dispensing cabinets on 9 nursing units; nurse-reported stockouts fell 40% after I reworked par levels
IV admixtures, USP <797>, Aseptic technique
Weak: Skills: IV admixtures, USP <797>, Aseptic technique
Strong: Prepare IV admixtures in a USP <797> cleanroom using aseptic technique, about 60 doses a shift for pharmacist verification
Controlled substances
Weak: Skills: Controlled substances
Strong: Count and reconcile controlled substances with the pharmacist and resolve discrepancies before the end of each shift
Inventory management
Weak: Skills: Inventory management
Strong: Pull expired and recalled drugs during monthly unit inspections as part of inventory management
Strong bullets come from Kevin's sample resume and our pharmacy technician bullet examples. Names and figures are illustrative.
/ Use them honestly
Keywords get you found. Proof gets you hired.
Mirror the job post's wording for skills you really have. If a pharmacy technician post asks for Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) and you've used it, say Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT), in the post's spelling, and show where.
Mirror the job post's wording
If a pharmacy technician post says "PTCB", write "PTCB", not a near-synonym — as long as it's accurate. Recruiters search for the post's exact term.
Only claim what you can back up
Expect to be asked about every term you list. If you couldn't spend two minutes on Prescription filling — what you did and what changed — leave it out.
Show it in a bullet
A skills list says you know Pyxis. A bullet like the one under Pharmacy Technician II, Inpatient Pharmacy in the example above shows what you did with it.
No stuffing, no hidden text
Repeating a word or hiding keywords in white text doesn't make you a better match. A person reads the resume in the end.
Which of these does your resume say?
Free ATS score and missing keywords in about 10 seconds.
Applying to one post? Scan its keywords against your resume.
Keep going
/ Questions
Pharmacy Technician keywords, answered.
Something else? support@launch-cv.com
How many keywords should a pharmacy technician resume have?
There's no magic number. Kevin's sample resume uses all 17 terms on this page, because each one fit that job. Cover what your post asks for that you can back up, each where it fits; repeating a keyword doesn't help.
Should I copy keywords exactly from the job post?
Use the post's wording for skills you really have. If a pharmacy technician post says "Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT)", write "Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT)" rather than a synonym, so a recruiter searching for that term finds you. Don't add skills you don't have just because the post lists them.
Where should keywords go on my resume?
In your summary, a short skills section and, above all, the bullets under each job, where you show what you did with the skill. In Kevin's sample, PTCB is in the summary and Pyxis shows up in a bullet under Pharmacy Technician II, Inpatient Pharmacy. Plain text in the body of the page is easiest for applicant tracking systems to read.
Which tools should I list on a pharmacy technician resume?
The ones you've used and the post mentions. Common ones in pharmacy technician posts include Pyxis. Name the tool in the bullet where you used it, not only in the skills list.
How should I list Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) and PTCB on my resume?
Spell them the way the job post does, and include both the abbreviation and the full name if you have room. Put licenses and certifications in their own section or next to your education, and only list ones that are current.
Keywords for related roles
All 88 rolesSee which of these your resume already says.
Free ATS check — no sign-up, about 10 seconds.