how helpful it is to join fraternity/pharmacy related org. for landing a retail job

[CMUchicka]

Just like title says, does anyone have experience with it? Do you think it's helpful or complete waste of time?

P1 here, plan on working in retail after graduation!

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[WVUPharm2007]

Waste of time.

 

[SadPharma]

I'd say it is mildly helpful in that it will expand your social circle in Pharmacy school. This will lead to more people who can refer you early in your career.

 

[Wickett]

Just like title says, does anyone have experience with it? Do you think it's helpful or complete waste of time?

P1 here, plan on working in retail after graduation!

It helps to serve as a more casual atmosphere for events to meet people in all sorts of careers/fields. It didn't directly land me a job, but going to state and regional frat conferences during school did provide me a network of people to go to for possible jobs down the line. I recommend it just because of the social atmosphere/provided most of the fun I had while in school.

 

[Amicable Angora]

Just like title says, does anyone have experience with it? Do you think it's helpful or complete waste of time?

P1 here, plan on working in retail after graduation!

Useless and perhaps damaging to our career. Why? Imagine you got a position later on with your "friend." Sounds good initially but what happens if when working with said friend without all the beer and partying you realize that they are either an ass or negligent or a horrible coworker?

 

[lord999]

Useless and perhaps damaging to our career. Why? Imagine you got a position later on with your "friend." Sounds good initially but what happens if when working with said friend without all the beer and partying you realize that they are either an ass or negligent or a horrible coworker?

Frat membership is specifically something that has caused problems with even public trust investigations for the civil service. You have a frat background, great! We're going to talk with all your fratmates about the one where you're the life of the party. It used to not be a problem until lately, but with even the government being more choosy, it's a big headache as you want to make an offer to a candidate but can't because they fail that basic check.

For retail, probably not going to make a big difference either way. You have to understand that one of the original intentions for frats is to prepare a male WASP pharmacist for the more mature societies with secrets. If you wanted to own a pharmacy and you were not a member in good standing in a particular building trade association back in the old days, good luck getting a business loan. That also applied to employment in such a firm. This is not the case at present (unless you want to join the executive suite), but there's still those sorts of vestigial memories.

 

[BenJammin]

Clearly none of the people that have posted in this topic do what most professionals do which is called "networking". Pharmacy school is tough. Exams, labs, clinicals, etc. Student organizations are a blast and take the edge off of a tough curriculum. You get to meet other people in your class and the classes above/below you. Going to regional and national meetings gets you great contacts with people all over the country. These people who say "waste of time" are usually people who wish they had social skills that don't resemble bears in hibernation. Join a pharmacy fraternity, join NCPA, join ASHP, don't join APhA, and have a great time.

 

[lord999]

I'm saying that from a FASHP standpoint, lol, but I separate professional memberships from fraternity membership. APhA and ASHP are pharmacy organizations. I have different opinions about NARD (NCPA) in terms of it being a TRADE ORGANIZATION which has historically been very loyal and gets loyalty from their members, but ownership and entrepreneurship aren't really popular topics with most pharmacy students. ASHP has elements of that in terms of clinical pharmacy at the moment, but have mostly seen their agenda through in terms of ensuring a future for institutional pharmacy (for the moment). APhA...if it were not for BPS, they would be out of business by now.

No, I think joining frats at this point are if you want to have a good time with people around you, but in terms of their impact in the mid to late career, I have seen that it turns out to be mostly derogatory unless they are academic. If you are a Protestant male though, you might want to consider joining that building organization. That organization does deliver results in a tangible way which still surprises me with their actual fraternity.

 

[Dalteparin]

Frat membership was helpful to me during school because I made a lot of friends and had some leadership opportunities I wouldn't have otherwise enjoyed. (And I'm not even a WASP, lol.) In terms of my career, it's had very little effect (positive or negative) since I now live in a region where my frat doesn't have many chapters.

 

[CMUchicka]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I am in 3 year program so not much time to have fun but i see how joining frat can be fun in 4 year programs. I would say i have my sources to get information on classes, exam and stuff.. And i am also friends with most of my classmates and some upper classmen, so meeting new people isn't issue. I was just wondering if not joining all this will hinder my chances to get job but thank you for clearing that up..

 

[5minites2016]

A complete waste of time. Kappa psi fraternity in my school is a complete bully. They talked down to people who is not their members. They walked around the school with their cocky face thinking that they are the best. Every year, they tried to recruit all the best young looking girls to their club. It is not about networking, it is about gaining power in school to show how good they are. Do not join a fraternity. There are plenty of opportunities for networking without joining fraternity.

 

[aznkukuboi]

What's funny is that I got my hospital job through my fraternity brothers. HOWEVER, because one of the members were kappa psi, their fellow brother got the job that I wanted. But it doesn't make a difference to me since I have a job and what not.

Does joining a fraternity matter? IMO: yes. It creates connections with people and that is what you need.