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National Careers Service

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Woman sat at a laptop and wearing a headset in an office.
Woman sat at a laptop and wearing a headset in an office.

Welcome to the National Careers Service

We provide careers information, advice and guidance. We can help you make decisions at all stages in your career.

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Meet Will

Pharmacy technician Will trained through an apprenticeship.

1 minute 30 second watch

View transcript

Hiya, my name is Will. I'm an accuracy checking technician, having recently qualified, and I'm working at Wicker Pharmacy in Sheffield.

I always had an inkling I wanted to work in healthcare, but I ended up going to uni to do engineering. Quickly realised it wasn't for me and left to find something different. Found a job in community pharmacy. Discovered I enjoyed it. That's when I decided to continue working in pharmacy and start an apprenticeship.

So it involved one day at college each week. I spent 3 days in a community pharmacy, and I also had one day working in a GP surgery.

I found it really good to be able to apply what I was learning in college to work the next day. It really helps build your confidence in your role.

So I dispense medications, check they've been prescribed safely. Giving advice to patients on their conditions and the medications they're taking. I also provide public health care initiatives. So I've administered thousands of vaccinations.

Being compassionate is a very big part of my role. You meet a lot of people, and you don't know what they're going through. So it's important to you know, treat everyone the same.

So the good thing about pharmacy is there's so many different career paths you can take, which is what I discovered when I first started the course. You know you can work in community, hospital, prison. You can go into teaching, manufacturing. There's so many options.

Personally, I've just been offered a place at university to do an MPharm degree and become a pharmacist, which I've accepted and will be starting next year, which I'm looking forward to.

British Science Week

Find out more about careers in science this British Science Week.

Speak to an adviser

Wherever you are with your decisions, you can contact us to get advice from a careers adviser.
Call 0800 100 900 or use webchat to talk online.