Explaining a masters in education after pharmacy school

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baronzb

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I finished a one year masters of education right after pharmacy school. (I graduated in May 2014.) Now I am looking for work in pharmacy. Is there anyway to spin the masters in education in a positive strength for looking for pharmacy work? Will this be seen as a negative or a neutral degree? Should I just keep it off the resume? Please stick to the questions listed. Thank you for your support.

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1. Depends on what type of job you are looking for. 2. Probably neutral, in most instances. 3. If you didn't have it on there, I would wonder what you had been doing for the last year.
 
Counseling is patient education. . .therefore you have earned a masters in counseling.

Worth a try anyway.
 
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Well, why don't you explain it to us... Why did you decide to get one? Were you trying to get into academia?
 
If you don't include it then there would be a gap in your resume and people would wonder what you were doing.

But really, why did you earn a master in education?
 
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Well, why don't you explain it to us... Why did you decide to get one? Were you trying to get into academia?
Even if you weren't, just say you were "planning on it until you heard about this new great opportunity at [company interviewing you]."
 
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I assumed a potential employer would ask why did you do it and question pharmacy dedication??...
 
I assumed a potential employer would ask why did you do it and question pharmacy dedication??...

Might depend on the person who's looking at your resume. Personally I believe people try all different kinds of things in their lives and that's okay. Plus it was only a year off and a master's in education is easily relatable to pharmacy...just make sure you have a good story to tell about it that makes sense when someone asks!

Now if you had gone to medical school or something like that afterwards...then yes, that would be questionable as to your dedication because you would be striking off on a completely different career path.
 
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Again: what work are you looking to do? Your destination makes a big difference here- some settings will find this to be a bonus, some will be neutral, and some will see this as a wasted year where your skills slowly rotted away.
 
It was only about six months to get the degree. What breakdown do you see with 'destinations' in relation to jobs and their perception?
 
It was only about six months to get the degree. What breakdown do you see with 'destinations' in relation to jobs and their perception?
What work are you looking to do? Pharmacy school must have been cheap for you to take a little hiatus vs searching for a job asap or studying for the board exams....
 
Other than counseling, any other constructive input on explaining it (as opposed to keeping it off) during an interview? I was also thinking of teaching on line classes, adjuncting for pharm tech programs, etc.
 
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Why do you keep avoiding the question?
WHY did you get the masters degree?

This would be helpful to know, and your answer will influence the suggestions I provide.
 
I'm inquiring about the perception and job interviews in general. Thank you for your concern, but if you would like to converse about a separate matter, I'd be happy to entertain it via the mail function. Thank you, and I'd be much obliged if we can stay on task.
 
I'm inquiring about the perception and job interviews in general. Thank you for your concern, but if you would like to converse about a separate matter, I'd be happy to entertain it via the mail function. Thank you, and I'd be much obliged if we can stay on task.

I don't think a Master's in Education will influence your job application one way or the other (unless you are applying for a job that may have some teaching component to it.) If asked about it, I think you need to be honest about why you got it. I'm not sure why it would be some secret, nobody is going to shun you if you admit you planned to open up another pharmacy school or something, you might even get some people willing to invest in your venture. If its some nefarious reason like, you couldn't get license because you failed the test repeatedly, or you were arrested for selling dope....well, you might not want to tell your employer about that, but your employer would still be able to see that it was a year after your graduation before you got license. In that case, you might just want to say that you were studying so hard for your Master's, that you didn't have time to take the Naplex.
 
I am having trouble explaining the gap.
Is philanthropy a pitch--like I want to work with under privileged kids in after school programs?
How about I always had an interest in it and wanted to learn more?
I want to teach online classes in my spare time as a hobby, make extra money?

any help would be great!
 
jerk.jpg


Why do you keep avoiding the question?
WHY did you get the masters degree?

This would be helpful to know, and your answer will influence the suggestions I provide.
Quoted for truth. You have a masters in education, but you think this question is off-task? You might want to remove the masters from your CV in case anyone else asks you hard or off-topic questions about it.
 
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I've been advised by a recuriter to keep it off the CV, but then there is a gap...
I didn't think a quick masters of interest would be so damaging?
 
can a guy/gal with experience hiring go over the statements i listed in my earlier post?
 
i still have references. if i were to get a few months under my belt with an intership, would there no longer be a gap issue?
 
this guy is a jerk/troll. demanding answers from an online community without providing enough info so people can offer to help. answer the question, why did you want to do a masters in education??

to me it seems like you had a change of heart in careers and you were like "f this" to pharmacy and wanted to become a teacher but then changed your mind on that. i wouldn't hire a fickle person like that, unless you can provide me with a solid reason why you did a master's.

it's clear youre hiding something....
 
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Yup. OP, your question has been answered to the best of our limited ability, because of your unwillingness to provide context.
 
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I am having trouble explaining the gap.
Is philanthropy a pitch--like I want to work with under privileged kids in after school programs?
How about I always had an interest in it and wanted to learn more?
I want to teach online classes in my spare time as a hobby, make extra money?

any help would be great!

Any input on some of the ideas above? Further context is not applicable to my dilemna, but for those with a personal interest, just message me. Lets stay on task please.
 
You should pull it from your CV and mention in passing that that you spent a year as a captive on the mothership.
 
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Any input on some of the ideas above? Further context is not applicable to my dilemna, but for those with a personal interest, just message me. Lets stay on task please.

It absolutely is applicable, in order to help you craft a believable message. I think your recruiter is completely wrong. I think it hurts your application much more having a gap year, then putting a year of education on your resume. And I have assisted in the hiring process before, I would not recommend someone with a gap year over someone who got their masters (even if the master's was in underwater basketweaving!), unless there was a very good explanation for the gap year. Even when there is a good explanation for the gap year (say took off a year to take care of a dying relative), well, most people don't take off a year to take care of a dying relative, so as an employer, I would question their commitment to work. I highly recommend you put your master's on your resume. Whatever explanation you come up with for getting your master's (and ideally it would be the truth), is going to be better than explaining a gap year. Even saying that you couldn't find a job so you decided to go back to school would be better then having a gap year. But really, it shouldn't be that hard to explain a master's in education, just say that you hope to teach at your local community college some day, and that you thought it would be best to get your master's when you could solely focus on it, before getting you started working.

BUT, considering your other post, were you fired from this internship/job before or after getting your master's? That answer will help you craft the appropriate response. Omitting an internship or job is also a bad idea, better to be honest up front, then lie and get caught later.

If you were doing both at the same time (as seems to be the case, but I don't know for sure since you insist on being so obtuse), then craft a story about how you were totally unprepared for the amount of work required to do both, unfortunately you let the work at your internship slide, but you have your master's complete now and are 100% committed to focus your attention solely on your job.

I have known several pharmacists who were hired after being fired from other jobs ( ...in most of these cases, the pharmacists were just in general, bad employees, and still managed to get hired again!-in 1 case, it involved a retail pharmacist who was hired into a hospital and she had an extremely tough time adjusting to the different job responsibilities-that was exacerbated by her family situation, she easily picked up a new retail job) Jobs/Internships can be bad fits, even leaving a job before you are fired, can still get you marked as "not eligible for rehire" and make a new employer question you, so rather then lying about your employment history (of having a gap year, in which case the absolute worse will be assumed by the interviewer), its better to be upfront. You need to be honest about what the problems was, and why a new employer can be confident that they won't have that same problem with you.

I get the feeling that you don't like the answers people are giving you, but the answer you want to hear, isn't going to get you a new job.
 
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Any input on some of the ideas above? Further context is not applicable to my dilemna, but for those with a personal interest, just message me. Lets stay on task please.

We are staying on task. If you want more detailed answers, you need to provide more details about your situation, including why you got that master's. Without those details, the only advice we can give is to relate the master's to the job you're applying for.

To put it another way: I like to tailor advice to posters' specific situations, and I can't do that if I don't know what their situation is.
 
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It absolutely is applicable, in order to help you craft a believable message. I think your recruiter is completely wrong. I think it hurts your application much more having a gap year, then putting a year of education on your resume. And I have assisted in the hiring process before, I would not recommend someone with a gap year over someone who got their masters (even if the master's was in underwater basketweaving!), unless there was a very good explanation for the gap year. Even when there is a good explanation for the gap year (say took off a year to take care of a dying relative), well, most people don't take off a year to take care of a dying relative, so as an employer, I would question their commitment to work. I highly recommend you put your master's on your resume. Whatever explanation you come up with for getting your master's (and ideally it would be the truth), is going to be better than explaining a gap year. Even saying that you couldn't find a job so you decided to go back to school would be better then having a gap year. But really, it shouldn't be that hard to explain a master's in education, just say that you hope to teach at your local community college some day, and that you thought it would be best to get your master's when you could solely focus on it, before getting you started working.

BUT, considering your other post, were you fired from this internship/job before or after getting your master's? That answer will help you craft the appropriate response. Omitting an internship or job is also a bad idea, better to be honest up front, then lie and get caught later.

If you were doing both at the same time (as seems to be the case, but I don't know for sure since you insist on being so obtuse), then craft a story about how you were totally unprepared for the amount of work required to do both, unfortunately you let the work at your internship slide, but you have your master's complete now and are 100% committed to focus your attention solely on your job.

I have known several pharmacists who were hired after being fired from other jobs ( ...in most of these cases, the pharmacists were just in general, bad employees, and still managed to get hired again!-in 1 case, it involved a retail pharmacist who was hired into a hospital and she had an extremely tough time adjusting to the different job responsibilities-that was exacerbated by her family situation, she easily picked up a new retail job) Jobs/Internships can be bad fits, even leaving a job before you are fired, can still get you marked as "not eligible for rehire" and make a new employer question you, so rather then lying about your employment history (of having a gap year, in which case the absolute worse will be assumed by the interviewer), its better to be upfront. You need to be honest about what the problems was, and why a new employer can be confident that they won't have that same problem with you.

I get the feeling that you don't like the answers people are giving you, but the answer you want to hear, isn't going to get you a new job.

thank you for being helpful. more posts like this, please.
 
thank you for being helpful. more posts like this, please.
Coma year.
Undercover hunting Bin Laden (depends on the year?)
Fugue state.
Winning world hide and seek record.
"Laying the groundwork for my top secret end game" [diabolical laughter for 2-3 straight minutes]
"What was I doing? Why? What have you heard?"
I was researching your organization full time for a year.
I thought the M.Ed involved a talking horse.
A one-armed man killed my wife so I was running from Tommy Lee Jones.
Hunting Bigfoot.
Following Phish's tour.
 
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Here is the thing, you will either be asked about gaps in employment or why you went and got the M.Ed. Since you must have had an actual reason, I would suggest you go with that unless the reason is detrimental to your job hunt. As for how to relate it to your job, it would depend on the job. For retail, you probably can't.
 
Here is the thing, you will either be asked about gaps in employment or why you went and got the M.Ed. Since you must have had an actual reason, I would suggest you go with that unless the reason is detrimental to your job hunt. As for how to relate it to your job, it would depend on the job. For retail, you probably can't.
It could be related to counseling/patient education in retail.
 
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