Lovers of fashion and promoters of health may not think twice before becoming opticians. These highly skilled professionals are also known as dispensing opticians. An optician job description explains a duty to prepare prescriptions for eyeglass lenses, help customers with choosing frames, and they also tailor the frames to fit the customers’ unique facial measurements. For those people who use contact lenses instead, the optician’s job is to adjust the fit of the lenses to their eyes.
As an optician your job is to help your costumer to choose enough comfortable new eyeglass frames or contact lenses and wear them as prescribed. A quick consultation with your costumer is needed to consider the type of lenses. As an optician it is important to find out in which context the consumer will use for the frames or lenses. Not every consumer works in an office, some of them work at a construction site so you will have to make a recommendation that suit’s the individual’s lifestyle.
In some ways the dispensing opticians’ job may be analogous to the pharmacist job. The pharmacist dispenses drugs which are based on prescriptions written from an individuals’ physician. The opticians do not work with written prescriptions for lenses, but they are obligated to understand the science and reasoning behind them. People say that to be an optician is to make the life easier, secure and comfortable for those people who must wear prescriptive lenses throughout their life.
Types Of Optician Work
Many dispensing opticians look for any opportunity to work for an optometrist, who owns an office practice or an eyewear store. Some of them work in different types of stores who sell eyeglasses and contact lenses, specialized shops and department stores in need of opticians.
Opticians who are employed in eyewear stores or department stores work on some evenings and sometimes they work through weekends. Those who are employed in optometrists have more regular hours. Generally they all work full-time.
Optician Job Description Qualifications & certification
You must have a high school diploma to become an optician or be GED equivalent approved. Many opticians choose to finish the two-year college and get an associate’s degree. This includes learning the basic anatomy, algebra, eye-anatomy, optical physics, mathematics and other subjects needed to complete their knowledge and take the two to four years job training to take the apprenticeship. Many opticians choose to qualify for voluntary certification by the American Board of Opticianry or National Contact Lens Examiners. The certification is not mandated but some of the customers prefer to work with an optician who has either an ABO or NCLE certification.
Optician Salary and Job Outlook
The median salary for opticians in 2018 was $37,010 or $17.80/hour, but can range from $21,070 to $50,780. Most opticians who work in hospitals are better paid than those who work in stores or departments. Opticians who are certified have more chances to apply for jobs. However, there are many job opportunities for opticians in the hospitals, stores, ophthalmologists, optometrists, department stores and eye care centers. The employment of opticians is expected to grow by 29% til 2020.
