Has this happened to any other graduate interns to be?
 

I came in to pick up a check from my job the other day. One of the pharmacists said the director told her to tell me and all the other P4 interns to call him. So apparently, all of the P4 (graduating) interns are being let go because they want to cycle in P1s and P2s who have been applying to the place.

P1-P4 makes $14.50/hour, but graduate interns make $29/hour. I guess it's cheaper to hire 3 new P1s instead of doubling the pay of 3 interns. Seriously WTF, is any hospital or retail pharmacy going to hire someone to be an intern/tech for only 2-3 months because once they are licensed we'd be pharmacists.

Graduate intern is a different position than pharmacy intern. Depending on the state you're no longer an intern once you graduate. You're a pharmacist, unlicensed albeit.

So unless there are grad intern positions availanle (and quite frankly why have grad interns for 3 months) you no longer qualify for the position.

This should not have been a surprise unless you were promised a pharmacist position then you should have been retained to train as a pharmacist while as a grad intern.

He's in NY, in NY your are an intern until you permit expires or you get licensed. So grad interns are just like every other intern expect they demand higher pay.

Maybe they just didn't like the bunch of grad interns they had on staff and rebooted hoping for better

Anywhere I have worked people get the "grad intern" title when they have been offered and accepted a pharmacist position with the company. If they aren't planning on keeping you around, it doesn't make sense for them to increase your pay.

Nah, I'm pretty sure its the VP aka the DOP's boss cutting pharmacy budget. They fired a few pharmacists a while back also. Herr Direktor told me he'll write whatever recommendations I want and the last 2 years have been great. :confused:

Right, as the others have said, you are not being allowed to progress to the grad intern level because they do not have any pharmacist positions for you.

You're welcome to join the doom and gloom club however...

yeah welcome to the real world, sounds like every other pharmacy i've heard of. grad intern is reserved for those who have a position waiting for them at the other end. otherwise, total waste of money for the institution. my hospital loves me but since i'm taking a position elsewhere grad intern is not available for me.

Yeah I am a bit confused by your reaction. Of course they are not going to pay for a grad intern that isn't going to be a pharmacist with them. That wouldn't make sense. :confused:

Standard procedure for all the pharmacies I know. Grad intern positions are for pharmacists that haven't been licensed yet that will be pharmacists there once they are.

So let's say I apply to X Hospital because of an opening for a Staff Pharmacist. If they hire me, I'd be a grad intern from May-August?

If they hire you then yes. But when hospitals hire a pharmacist they usually have an immediate need and usually don't have 3 months to dick around with a grad intern who may not get licensed.

Yes, since you don't have your license yet

Yes, after you graduate, and until you get licensed.

Look at it this way: why else would they pay you a pretty high rate ($29/hr) if all you're going to do is intern work and can't verify orders as a pharmacist?

And at the same time, if you apply for a pharmacy tech job, they might not hire you because they know you'll be licensed in 3 months and won't want to be a tech anymore.

Point is, I need $$$$$$$$$$.

Obviously I'm not making these decisions, but I can see hiring as a grad intern so you're only paying 29/hr, rather than full salary, to train somebody and get them up to speed on your system, workflow, etc. By the time they're licensed, you've trained them and they're ready to work.

I guess the hook is that they may not pass exams and get licensed, which would be a big gamble for the institution.

Go bartend or do some construction. Get big bucks in a short period, without long term commitment.

How do you get a job in construction? Just hang around next to Home Depot with mexicans? (not trying to be racist, just wondering)

Well, if you're in a border area, it's probably tough to compete with what the hombres can offer. But if you know anybody who's a contractor, they often can use an extra hand for a certain job here or there. My neighbor growing up used to do roofing, and every now and then I would help with the tear off or carry some shingles around. Painting is another pretty easy one, and that's virtually no commitment, since it's pretty much a house or two per day, so you're not leaving anything incomplete. Blacktop is another good bet, but you'll work your tail off. Major construction like putting up a house is a bit more involved and harder to get into, and also you'll be committing to the length of the project more than likely. This is all coming from somebody in NY, so not much mexican labor around to compete with.

Whoops, I should add at the end to clarify:
Yes the grad intern position is usually used as a pharmacist-in-training position, and the employer does benefit by paying lower than RPh rate.

This makes me feel lucky. I am starting a residency July 1st, but my hospital is allowing me to stay on and work until then. However, I am also not asking for more pay, content with my low 20s/hour versus 0/hour.

If Sparda had to work construction like the Mexicans, he'd cry. No facebook, bro.

Two words: truck driving

Do they have health screening companies in New York? I'm thinking about doing that while I look for a real job. It's all the stuff they taught us to do in pharmacy school anyway. Not sure how much it pays but any $$$ is better than none.

I'm working as a plain ol' bare-bones P4 intern at $18/hr until I start my residency a few days a week, I don't see why you can't do the same w/out demanding they pay you grad intern pay.

Unless your institution really just wants you out and would rather spend those budgeted tech hours on fresh blood so they're up to speed by the end of summer. Even so, I'm training the new interns before I leave.

Don't you need to go to bartending school? I can mix drinks pretty well, but I'm not a female, thus I won't get the $$$.

You could work at a gay bar but I don't know if you'd make the cut :meanie:

In NYC, I would guess that any decent establishment would require this or some kind of experience. You could try getting a job as a bar-back (bartender's assistant), learn the ropes, and maybe they would promote from within.

by the time he learns the ropes he'll be licensed and employed

just rack up some credit card debt on like a 0% intro APR and let it ride

Nah, he's on the Doom and Gloom Express now.

Or I could just do movie extra work for the summer. Last summer I worked for 2 days (25 hours) on the movie, "The Dictator" and made $900. I'm in the restaurant/hookah lounge scene. They used my friend's restaurant/hookah lounge for the scene. Getting paid $900 to sit there and smoke hookah, eat, and pretend to talk.

SAG or non-u?

Non-union. We got crazy pay because the first day was 12PM-230AM. Then the second day was 2PM-530AM. They only had snacks so we got meal bonuses, and they approved the clothing I brought for the set so I got wardrobe pay also since they didn't have to dress me.

You live quite the charmed life, my friend...

It was quite annoying though. After a while, you get tired of smoking hookah or pretending to do the same thing over and over. Not to mention, the filming was happening on a 100+ degree day in July, in a restaurant with a dysfunctional air conditioner.

Working with Borat was quite fun though.

wow you lucked out there

Yeah, I think there was also a night differential since we were filming after midnight, and overtime since it was at least 12 hours each day.

I wanted to be in the movie so I actually was on the set most of the time. There were like 10 guys who were just sleeping in the holding area all day.

So you are actually seen in the movie? If that's not something to throw on a CV, then I don't know what is.

The Dictator? Sure!
Borat? Not so much, as you were probably making an arse of yourself :)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645170/fullcredits#cast

No clue what Sparda's real name is, but that list has a lot of minor characters in it. Forget pharmacy, showbiz pays the real money.

Don't put off getting your license until August, do it as fast as you can and be done with it.

I've heard about this where some stores won't pay you half the pharmacist salary even with your pharmD, and they won't pay you anything near a pharmD salary until you're license. They're just trying to cut back.

I wasn't in Borat. I was just referring to the actor Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat. During breaks we'd be standing around with him trying to see who could do the best impression of him as Borat.

Not on the list. And yes, you probably will see me in the restaurant scene (Sacha Baron Cohen follows some guy (he was in the trailer with him during the helicopter scene) into the restaurant, I believe it's called Wadiyan Family Restaurant. I'm a few tables away from him.

The chance of making it big in Hollywood is like slim to none... getting picked as a starring actor in film/tv series is like 1:50,000. To make A list is even worse... lottery odds, you have better chance of dying in a car crash >_>;

This reminds me of one of the Wags newsletters had a blip about a rph who's "true dream" was to be an actor and they had a pic of him on the set of some movie as an extra. The blip was worded like he did pharmacy to support his acting career :rolleyes:

depends a lot on your skill and networking too. don't forget commercials, voice over acting, stunt work, body doubling, and other niches within acting that we may not think of.

besides, you don't have to be on-screen talent to work/make it big in hollywood. most of my hollywood friends are writers.

I got let go from CVS when I was a fourth year very unceremoniously. In december I just got a call from my pharmacy manager saying he was sorry but the DM told him to call me and that I was written off the schedule for the week and that was that. I didn't even get an email from the DM. nothing. Goodbye don't let the door hit you on your way out.

I also had a friend who came into work for CVS as a 4th year intern and he came to his shift and was told he was written off the schedule and to go home since they weren't offering him a grad intern position.

Blessing in disguise.. I would hate to work there as a pharmacist anyway..

Same thing happened to me and my classmates p4 year at CVs, Rite Aid, and Walgreens. It sucked and they should have given us notice, but it isn't unusual.

Cvs is a disaster to work for anyway. They are usually just looking for H1Bs to abuse. At this point you can repay them never purhasing another item from their overpriced shelves and advising all your friends and family to do the same. Someone would have to have a gun to my head before I would give them a penny of my money.

P4's get paid almost the same as P1-3. Just because you're a 4th year student doesn't warrant a double in salary.

How is a P4 working anyway if it isn't part time?

P4 and grad intern are two different things, but have been used interchangeably in this thread.

After graduation, but before boards is "graduate intern." Since graduation is days to weeks away, it makes sense to be thinking about that transition between intern and pharmacist.

I was let go as of graduation, rehired as a temp, worked for two weeks, then moved. Apparently it was a new policy at USC that P4's were to be canned as of graduation day. The previous years, the interns were able to stay on at P4 pay until they moved on (started residency, PhD program, etc) or until fall semester started. :shrug: