Published January 05, 2022
By Alyssa Suderman
If you are interested in the healthcare field, specifically relating to patient care and medications/drugs, be sure to explore a pharmacy career! In this profession, you will be working with patients on appropriate use of medications. This provides you the opportunity to make a real difference in the health and wellness of your community. There are many types of pharmacy careers, all of which provide plenty of mental stimulation plus a well-paying salary that could start at six figures! One important thing to note is that for most of these pharmacy career choices, a PharmD at an accredited university is needed. With this level of education and certification, graduates have a multitude of options to choose from! Below is a list of the top 10 high-paying types of pharmacy degree jobs:
Typically, when one hears the word ‘pharmacist,’ they tend to think of someone who works at a local Target or Walgreens in community pharmacies. For many, this is a top pharmacy career choice, as around 42% of pharmacists work in a drug store. As a community pharmacist, you will be in interacting with the general public and with other medical professionals on a regular basis.
This pharmacy career role requires you to have training in the following:
This pharmacist career path is extremely rewarding in terms of salary. The average national starting salary is $132,305.
A pharmacy career as a clinical pharmacist requires one to interact with patients on appropriate medication use in hospitals, medical clinics, and other types of health-systems. In this role, you will be working directly with other healthcare professionals and patients and often are part of an integrated team providing direct patient care.
This pharmacist job is very similar to a community pharmacist, but clinical pharmacists have more extensive responsibilities such as:
This pharmacist job has a base salary of $128,520. You could be making six figures really early on in your career!
A hospital pharmacist oversees the administration of drugs to patients. This pharmacy career is also concerned with the practice of using IV-focused medication.
Some of the specific duties required in this particular pharmacy career include:
Although this pharmacy specialty can seem daunting due to its requirements for a detail-oriented individual, you will certainly reap the benefits with a starting salary of $123,614.
A geriatric pharmacist is a specific type of clinical pharmacist job in which you may perform similar duties as #3. or may be in a management role handling elderly patient care. Those with this specialized pharmacist job may work in a healthcare facility, such as a nursing home or assisted living area.
This pharmacist career path has similar responsibilities to some general pharmacist jobs and some clinical pharmacist jobs, with the expectation that they are primarily working with older adults. Some daily expectations include:
On average, a pharmacist job as a geriatric pharmacist will earn you $121,315 per year!
For those interested in a public health career where you can work outside of hospital organizations, a pharmacist job as an ambulatory care pharmacist is the career for you. Ambulatory care concerns providing medical services to outpatients in settings such as doctor’s offices or medical speciality clinics.
This pharmacy specialty has daily responsibilities which include:
The starting base salary for this pharmacist job is $119,801.
An academic pharmacist career path is highly rewarding if you are looking to teach the next generation of pharmacists. In this professional pharmacist job, you will work closely with providing students a high-quality education in pharmacy at schools/colleges. However, this role requires expertise and many years of experience in pharmacy. It is not tailored towards those seeking an entry-level position unless you desire to obtain post-graduate training such as a residency or fellowship. You may also be a great fit for an academic position if you are interested in research after pharmacy school!
This particular pharmacy career requires you to have superb communication skills, as most of your day-to-day duties at a college include the following:
The average salary for this pharmacist career path is $115,149.
Imagine a pharmacy specialty career where you can combine your knowledge of both psychology and pharmacy, wouldn’t that be nice? Well, there’s no need to wait around for your dream pharmacist job anymore because you could become a psychiatrist pharmacist. It is important to note that many professionals complete two years in residency before earning this title.
This pharmacy specialty as a psychiatric pharmacist has the following daily duties:
In this pharmacy specialty, your starting salary will be around $115,426.
For those who possess strong communication and analytical skills, a pharmacist job as a drug information specialist could suit you well. You will be doing lots of research on a computer assessing unique drug information requests, so if learning excites you, we have the perfect job for you!
On a daily basis in this pharmacy specialty role, you are responsible for:
When starting out as a drug information pharmacist, you can make $115,426. This job is in high demand because new drugs are always being researched and discovered.
Looking for an adrenaline rush in a fast-paced pharmaceutical industry? The pharmacy specialty career of being an Emergency Room pharmacist could be a perfect fit.
This pharmacy specialty role as an ER pharmacist requires you to be quick on your feet because when working in emergency medicine, things happen quickly. No two days are the same in this field, but a range of some regular duties include:
This pharmacist career path is quite rewarding, as you could be earning $106,785 annually.
Interested in a science and engineering job? Stop your search because being a pharmaceutical scientist could be the perfect role for you! You will be working in a laboratory researching how different compounds interact with each other, other organisms, and disease-causing cells. The goal is to determine how these compounds impact the human body and if there is potential for it to become a new drug.
There are many specific responsibilities involved with this pharmaceutical career option. You will be doing the following:
The average salary of a pharmaceutical scientist is $91,857.
It is clear to see that different types of pharmacists each have their own specific responsibilities, but each of the types of pharmacy jobs you can select from also has its own unique benefits. But first, you must complete your undergraduate degree or pre-pharmacy program requirements, and then your pharmacy education before entering the workforce, which can seem like a long time. However, remember that many of the pharmacy careers options have a starting salary of six figures! These pharmacy specialty jobs require you to put in some hard work, but it certainly pays off, as you will have many rewarding opportunities and resources with any of these positions.
