Best time to start an internship?

[desklamp]

So we received an email for a retail internship from the school that's pretty far of a commute. At this point, since i am not in state yet, and not in possession of an intern license, I don't know if it's worth calling in about it (I don't want to waste their time). However I am worried that if I wait until I actually go to school, it will be too late.

When did most of you get your internships? Summer before P1? P2? Is it possible to wait and look for one in the fall/winter? Or are they mostly filled at that point?

Also is it better to start with a retail internship before moving to a hospital one?

Thanks and sorry for all the newbie questions

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[Trankuil]

I have an internship lined up for me right as school starts and i get my liscence in a retail pharmacy chain. You can always look for some after school starts, but I dont know what the market is like where you are going to school so you may want to find that out. Your rotations in school will give you a chance to experience retail and hospital so that is up to you, I plan on rotating in as many different areas as I can to get a feel for what I want to end up doing.

 

[bacillus1]

I started my internship at Rite Aid right when I started my P1 year. My intern registration didn't go through until one month after, but I still got paid as an intern during that month (in PA you have to have a preceptor to even apply for your intern registration). If an interhship is actually recruiting through the school, call about it ASAP as many people will be applying for it.

I think the times that most retail jobs are open are May (when P4s are graduating) and late August, when the school year starts and people that were around in the summer want less hours. For a hospital job, you should usually apply around early March (or in some cases earlier) to start in May, and there don't seem to be too many hospital jobs at other times of the year.

And to answer your retail vs. hospital question, this may vary by region, but in many areas of the country hospital intern positions are near impossible to get. If you can get your hands on a hospital job, take it as early as possible and hold on to it as if your life depended on it. Then again, if you're not at all interested in hospital pharmacy, there isn't much of a point in being a hospital intern.

 

[pearljam5a1]

I started applying for an internship about one month after starting my P1 year. It took me about a month of applying to every hospital in town to get a job. I've been a technician at a hospital in a different state for around 6 years so I had some experience prior to applying. It depends on the area you are going to school at but it's pretty competitive for internships nowadays. Apply early and apply often. I should have my 400 required intern hours before I start my P2 year in about a month which is a huge relief.

The best time to apply is when the P3.5's or P4's start going off on rotations. Make some friends with some upperclassmen at school and snatch up their internship when they go off on rotations. I just kept checking the employment websites for the local hospitals here and applied for every position that came open.

 

[desklamp]

I started applying for an internship about one month after starting my P1 year. It took me about a month of applying to every hospital in town to get a job. I've been a technician at a hospital in a different state for around 6 years so I had some experience prior to applying. It depends on the area you are going to school at but it's pretty competitive for internships nowadays. Apply early and apply often. I should have my 400 required intern hours before I start my P2 year in about a month which is a huge relief.

The best time to apply is when the P3.5's or P4's start going off on rotations. Make some friends with some upperclassmen at school and snatch up their internship when they go off on rotations. I just kept checking the employment websites for the local hospitals here and applied for every position that came open.

Did the hospitals actually post positions that said "pharmacist intern" or did you just apply for pharm tech positions? Thanks for the responses, everyone.

 

[bacillus1]

Did the hospitals actually post positions that said "pharmacist intern" or did you just apply for pharm tech positions? Thanks for the responses, everyone.

It depends on the hospital. Some say "intern" while others say tech but as qualifications list either a tech license or going to a pharmacy school.

 

[pearljam5a1]

Did the hospitals actually post positions that said "pharmacist intern" or did you just apply for pharm tech positions? Thanks for the responses, everyone.

Like Bacillus1 said, it depends on the institution. I initially applied for every prn tech position that got posted. Eventually there was an intern position posted and I applied to that as well. I'm sure they got tired of seeing my name come up on everything but I guess it worked.

 

[charfdorn]

So we received an email for a retail internship from the school that's pretty far of a commute. At this point, since i am not in state yet, and not in possession of an intern license, I don't know if it's worth calling in about it (I don't want to waste their time). However I am worried that if I wait until I actually go to school, it will be too late.

When did most of you get your internships? Summer before P1? P2? Is it possible to wait and look for one in the fall/winter? Or are they mostly filled at that point?

Also is it better to start with a retail internship before moving to a hospital one?

Thanks and sorry for all the newbie questions

A lot of internships open up in the spring and summer as interns get ready to graduate or go on rotations. Many other students get one by working as a tech and just changing job titles (sometimes taking a pay cut in the process ) after getting a license. I thought I had an intern position lined up as soon as school started, but the manager of the pharmacy was never able to actually hire me. I finally got mine toward the end of P1 (I interviewed in March; started in June because of my own schedule - they'd have taken me in March).

 

[mustang sally]

So we received an email for a retail internship from the school that's pretty far of a commute. At this point, since i am not in state yet, and not in possession of an intern license, I don't know if it's worth calling in about it (I don't want to waste their time). However I am worried that if I wait until I actually go to school, it will be too late.

When did most of you get your internships? Summer before P1? P2? Is it possible to wait and look for one in the fall/winter? Or are they mostly filled at that point?

Also is it better to start with a retail internship before moving to a hospital one?

Thanks and sorry for all the newbie questions

I started summer after P2 year. Personally, I would say this is not the best time to do an internship but this is just how it has worked out for me.

On the one hand, the job market is tight in a lot of places so I would say start looking for an internship ASAP if you want to work during school. On the other hand, there is another part of me that thinks it's best to wait for a little bit until you see how school goes, then look for a job.