10 Steps for Writing a Pharmacist Resume (+ Example)

Without any pharmacists around, we will be clueless on medication prescriptions and usages.

Some of the duties of a pharmacist include: 

• Instructing patients on the medication dosages, side effects, and suitability.
• Preparing patient prescriptions correctly and timely.
• Confirming with the patient on prescription accuracy to ensure no allergies.
• Answering any questions regarding medication prescription or patient health.

With a very similar name, pharmacologists are often confused as pharmacists. Though both roles pertain to working with medication, a pharmacist works to distribute medicine accurately for usage while a pharmacologist handles the research side of testing and developing new drugs. 

To officially administer prescriptions for patients, you will need to plan out a professional pharmacist resume (often referred to as a pharmacist CV) for the drugstore or the employer.

First of all, you need to know the basic layout of a CV to develop a successful pharmacist CV. 

The standard length of a pharmacist resume is one page long, and the ideal text font should be tidy, such as Arial and Calibri, in a 10 to 12 pt text size. 

Set the margins of your pharmacist CV to one inch on four sides and the line spacing between 1.2 to 1.5. 

Save your pharmacist resume as a PDF file before sending it out.

You will want to strategically choose a pharmacist resume format from one of the three below to display your background of experience and skills effectively. 

• Chronological resume format:
  - the most preferred format for a pharmacist CV
  - not a recommended resume format for pharmacy freshers who lack experience

• Functional resume format:
  - suitable for a pharmacist CV with interrupted work history
  - not recommended for most pharmacy applicants

• Combinational resume format:
  - recommended resume format for pharmacists with both extensive work experience and broad skills
  - the resume can be quite lengthy and repetitive

In any pharmacist CV, whether a hospital pharmacist CV or a clinical pharmacist CV, you will want to include your main contact information: 

• Essential:
  • Your Full Name
  • Professional Title
  • Email Address
  • Phone Number 

• Optional:
  • Address
  • LinkedIn URL 
  • Personal Website

• Avoid:
  • Date of Birth
  • Sexual Orientation 
  • Race
  • Religion
  • Marital Status
  • Salary

A well-made headline for your pharmacist CV can be the key to landing an interview, even in a CV for a pharmacist fresher.

✅ 3 tips to keep in mind when creating a headline/title for your pharmacist CV:

• The title of your pharmacist CV should be concise and accurate, just like the label of a drug product.   
• Capitalize the words in your pharmacist CV headline to catch the eye. 
• Paint yourself in a positive light by featuring the most impressive qualities in your pharmacist CV title.

A summary statement in a pharmacist CV can further explain to the employer what specialties and qualities you have that can support the pharmacist position. 

Although you will want to have an informative summary for the employer to review, try to feature just a brief portion of what will later be covered in your pharmacist CV. Make sure the contents in the summary of your pharmacist CV are relevant to the pharmacist job description.  

Also, create a flourishing summary for your pharmacist CV by starting with a fascinating adjective that accurately describes you.    

Alternatively, you can create a career objective for your resume if you are a fresher in pharmacy. The pharmacy resume objective explains your goals as a pharmacist while also providing a few of the best pharmacist skills in your CV. 

The pharmacy skills for resume will show the employer a list of specific knowledge you have gained from past work experience, internships, or educational experience. 

• ✏️ Bullet lists:
  a brief overview of your pharmacy CV skillsets
  
• ✏️ Expanded bullet lists:
  a detailed overview of your pharmacy CV skillsets
  
• ✏️ Integrating skills with work experience:
  showing the relationship between your pharmacy CV skillsets and work experience
  
• ✏️ A categorized skill section:
  an organized overview of your pharmacy CV broad skillsets
  

Example Pharmacist Skills for Resumes: 

The experience included in your pharmacist CV should help promote that you have a suitable background and exposure for the pharmacist position.

✅ Mention the following details when writing the work history section of your pharmacist resume:

1. Title of the healthcare facility, hospital, retail, etc. 
2. Location of the healthcare facility, hospital, retail, etc.
3. Your professional title
4. Month and year of employment
5. Examples of your duties and work accomplishments

✅ 3 tips for adding work experience to your pharmacist CV:

• Pharmacist job postings can be completely different; therefore, you will want to tailor your pharmacist CV to the specific pharmacist position.
• Upgrade your pharmacist CV with measurable achievements, such as the number of prescriptions you handle daily. 
• Polish your pharmacist CV by using action verbs to provide the employer with a refreshing application.  

The education section of your pharmacist CV can help increase your chances of getting an interview, especially if you are writing a resume for a pharmacist fresher position.

✅ Include the following information in the education section of your resume.

1. Type of degree 
2. Major 
3. Month and year of education 
4. Name of university 
5. Additional information, such as awards or extracurricular

If you are creating a student pharmacy resume, you will want to place your educational background after your objective statement section.

Otherwise, you will want to promote your work experience by locating your education qualifications after your experience section in the pharmacist CV. 

In some situations, you may have a unique educational background that you will want to include in your pharmacist CV, similar to these examples below: 

• High school education:
  - Omit high school if you have higher education.
  - Example: Wilson High School of Pharmacy (NC, U.S.) | 2005 - 2009
  
• Education in proces:
  - Include “in progress” or “expected to graduate in [year]”.
  - Example: PharmD Program, UNC School of Pharmacy (Expected to graduate in 2028)
  
  
• Incomplete education: 
  - Include credits earned or experience earned. 
  - Example: PharmD Program, UNC School of Pharmacy (2011 - 2013)
  

Five items to incorporate into your pharmacist resume to stand out:

• Hobbies and interests: 
  - Include in the “areas of interest” section.
  - Example: Blogging  
  
• Volunteer work:
  - Include in the “work experience” section.
  - Example: Volunteer at American Pharmacists Association (APhA)
  
• Certification and awards:
  - Example: APhA Awards & Honors Program   
  
• Projects:
  - Example: Sustainable Pharmacy Project
  
• References:
  - Example: Ms. Kami Davis - Head of Department of Pharmacy Services

With the addition of a pharmacist cover letter, you can amaze the employer further, even if you are writing a cover letter for a pharmacist with no experience. 

Include the following necessary information in your cover letter.

• Contact Details:
  • Full Name
  • Email Address
  • Mobile Number
  • Address 

• Introduction:
  Begin your pharmacist cover letter with a polite greeting, such as dear, good afternoon, or good evening.

• Motivation:
  Allow the employers to understand the reason behind your application for this pharmacist job role. 

• Qualification: 
  Elaborate on the examples mentioned on your pharmacist CV and on what makes you a suitable applicant for the pharmacist job role. 

• Closing:
  Conclude your pharmacist cover letter courteously by thanking the employer for their consideration and time. 

As an applicant within the pharmacy field, you will find these strategies and resources, such as our pharmacist CV tips, a pharmacist CV template, or our pharmacist CV sample, useful when developing your professional pharmacy CV.