If you are like me, then you probably check out all the pharmacy technician salary guide benchmarks when trying to find out whether or not you’re being paid enough. (hint: you’re probably not)
I know when I first saw that a tech with my experience could be earning up to $45,000 a year, I felt like I wasn’t getting paid anywhere near enough for what I bring to my pharmacy. So, I set about trying to figure out how I could get more money. Here are the three best ways I found that I used to get a 25% pay spike, and many of my colleagues have used to get a raise too.
- Get certified. Seriously, if you are not a certified tech yet then get it done as soon as you can. In the next five years, I think it will be mandatory if you want to be a tech so get ahead of the curve. You get paid a lot more anyway so it is definitely worth it.
- Apply for new jobs. Even if you have no intention of leaving, you can go to interviews at rival pharmacy’s or hospitals to see what the going rate is for a qualified tech. If nothing else, you can use it as bargaining chip to negotiate a raise in your current job.
- Become a pharmacist. Honestly, it doesn’t take a lot more to train to become a pharmacist and you will see your income explode if you do this. Yeah, you’ll have more responsibility but it’s often less actual work and a lot more money than even the highest of tech salaries.
Just by following 2 of these tips, I got my income back in line with what I should have been making and the next step is to go from pharmacy technician to full pharmacist.
What will you do to earn more money?