Climbing up the ladder

[wsbkp08]

Hello, everyone
I am a P3 who has about an year left till graduate.
I currently work at a hospital as a pharmacy student/intern.
I just fell into a dilemma that I am not so sure about my future career.
I really want to go into an industry setting, but I know that is really difficult to get into especially without no experience (things can change I guess when rotation starts and I luckily get industry rotation)
Anyways,
I just had this thought that working up the ladder to the corporate level of retail pharmacy could be stressing but at the same time could be fun. I'm type of a person who likes challenges and constantly wish to have a goal to achieve. However, as a hospital pharmacist, only thing you can do is basically to become a dop.
Now, I feel like I am not clinically oriented enough to become a clinical pharmacist after years of residency. I feel like my resume would be good enough to do a residency but not a fellowship.
So I was wondering as a pharmacist who already was in my shoe, what are your recommendations?
I know ppl have been telling about how suck to be a retail (esp. CVS) pharmacist/ DM only just get paid little more with alot more stress level/ etc kind of stuff. but other than that, what do you think?
Also, other than industry, what are good non-traditional pharmacy jobs where you can climb up the ladder so to become a like a manager?
Thank you so much for inputs!

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[BidingMyTime]

Climbing up in any field is very difficult. Certainly a pharmacist could climb higher than DOP in a hospital, you would just have to be extremely good at smoozing, get a MBA, and have a fair amount of luck. Here is a success story for you, http://www.pharmacist.com/pharmacy-intern-hospital-president
You don't hear about as many pharmacists becoming CEO, because the competition is so intense, you aren't just competing against pharmacists, you are competing against top people from all kinds of fields....but this is true for any top management position.

MoAs for retail, it is more pay for performance, your base salary won't be much more than staff, but you can get huge bonuses based on performance.

There aren't any fields where its "easy" to become a manager (and generally its easier to get the manager job, than to actually be a good manager and hold onto that job)

I wouldn't stress about it at P3. Just get a broad range of rotations, be extremely personable, go above & beyond at your first pharmacist job, and then keep your eyes our for opportunities. (you might even decide the tradeoff in lifestyle isn't worth being a manager.)

 

[xiphoid2010]

In a hospital setting there are actually at least two tracks up above DOP. The hospital CEO route, and there is the corporate pharmacy director route (negotiating system wide contracts and overseeing all of the DOPs). And above them are corporate VPs and president positions, if you are that awesome. Obviously MBA is a big help, so when my wife's done with hers I am planning to do mine.

 

[TLAD123]

Hello, everyone
I am a P3 who has about an year left till graduate.
I currently work at a hospital as a pharmacy student/intern.
I just fell into a dilemma that I am not so sure about my future career.
I really want to go into an industry setting, but I know that is really difficult to get into especially without no experience (things can change I guess when rotation starts and I luckily get industry rotation)
...
Thank you so much for inputs!

I suggest looking to see if you can do a rotation in industry/at a PBM - does your school offer one? Can you set one up if they don't offer it? And have you already selected rotations? If you have already selected rotations and this is not one of them, switch with someone or talk with your APPE advisor.

Doing a rotation in industry/at a PBM could open up doors to complete a residency/fellowship with that industry/PBM, or any of them for that matter. There is a fellowship I know of with Eli Lilly and the FDA which would prepare you for the industry world. There is also one at Rutgers university in New Jersey. Checke these out and see where it takes you. Industry is an exciting field that is always changing.