Applying to staff pharmacist jobs as a PGY-1

[monkieez]

I'm in process of applying to jobs (most of them through the Taleo application system) and many positions have a yes or no question of "Have you completed your residency?" with no room for explanation or other option. I'm not sure what to put because on one hand I have not as I am in the process but I will finish residency by the time I get a job and do not want to be filtered out on the basis of this question (or else I would not look qualified enough). What do you think is the best answer, yes or no? Has anyone ran into this situation before? Many of the hospitals do not have contact info to HR, so nobody to ask. I have been on the side of extra honest..and worried it has been hurting me thus far.


Background: I went to school on the West Coast but am completing my residency on the other side of the country. I am planning to move back to the area and unfortunately do not have too many direct contacts (other than classmates who are completing residencies in the area/potentially competing for the same jobs). I know online apps are a crapshoot but am I being unrealistic/impatient to hear anything yet? How long is typical after applying to a job? Any other advice for a far away job search? Thanks!

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[monkieez]

Also, on a related note. Should I put a relative's local address (where I receive mail) or my current out-of-state address in the online apps profiles?

 

[holymolys]

Yes for residency, no one would bother verifying any of that until you are interviewed.
Local address, because it doesn't matter as you'll most likely be contacted via email/phone.

2-3 week is how long I'd give employers before I start tracking them down

 

[Dalteparin]

Yes for residency, no one would bother verifying any of that until you are interviewed.
Local address, because it doesn't matter as you'll most likely be contacted via email/phone.

I agree with this, but bear in mind that if they think you're local they might not give much notice for your interview. (On the other hand if they think you're not local, they might just chuck your application.

As for when you'll hear back, it varies a lot. I had some employers ask me about an interview within 48 hours of my application, and some took months.


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[MrBonita]

You can submit a resume saying you are in the process of one. They can see that and you mark yes.

 

[bacillus1]

Yes for residency. Put local address, and set up mail forwarding when you leave.

 

[monkieez]

Yes for residency. Put local address, and set up mail forwarding when you leave.

Sorry, I said it in a confusing way. By local I meant local to the job. Is that what you also meant?

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[bacillus1]

Sorry, I said it in a confusing way. By local I meant local to the job. Is that what you also meant?

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Just put your current address, set up mail forwarding when you leave.

 

[confettiflyer]

Being local isn't really an issue, contrary to popular belief, it's exceedingly difficult finding inpatient pharmacists that fit your institution. If we were pressed for a body, we would have hired a temp by now (or pressed our per-diem/short hour staff). We struggle to find good applicants.

The big issue is licensure, if you're not licensed in our jurisdiction, it's a variable we really don't want to deal with.

As for the "yes/no" nature of that question, I'm afraid that's going to be an HR filter that will kick off your application. I've seen it happen for pharmacy and nursing. The DOP probably put down in their FTE requisition that residency is a requirement and someone from HR turned it into a yes/no question. They don't understand that 99% of the applicants in March will be rejected even though anyone in pharmacy understands that all the PGY-1's will wrap up in time for this position.

My RN friend marked "6-12 months" experience as a box and someone from HR accidentally set the automatic rejection to "<12 months" when the position called for minimum 6 months experience. I solved by that by directly asking the hiring manager and she had to make a call to fix it.

You're forced to mark "no" for honesty sake, but you should absolutely forward your CV/resume to the hospital's director and put a little line in your email/cover letter that a "no" mark on that question may have kept the application from his or her desk.

Just my $0.02, every place is different.

PS if you're california licensed and interested in a night shift position about an hour-ish outside of san francisco, my recruiter friend is looking. PM me.

EDIT: Hemming and hawing here, but put yes for residency completed to overcome the auto reject.