Job Market in 2020

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prepharmacy123

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I'm planning to graduate from pharmacy school in 2020 and I keep reading about how job prospects keep getting worse every year. Will I likely be unable to find a job as a pharmacist 6 years from now?

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No one knows. Are you charismatic and attractive? Are you competent? Are you willing to live in a town of 5,000 people? Just remember "a job" means nothing, a garbageman has "a job."
 
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....but, it doesn't look good.
the-royal-tenenbaums-550x303.jpg
 
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Are there really people signing up for 6 year programs @ 40K+ a year? Seems insane
 
But what does "not good" mean? Like 80% unemployment for new grads?
 
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No one can tell you what the situation will be in six years. Think about it, it is impossible to predict how bad it will be.

I can tell you that I have spent the last three years working for one of the top two pharmacy stand alone chains, I have worked 23 hrs average per week for nearly two years of the three, I have never called in sick even one time, I have never had a single customer say a negative thing about me even once (noted on my last review), I call around and get 40 hours per week on every week of break time I get (lots of stores call for me since I am a hard worker), I jump through all the metric hoops they put in front of me and am usually at the top of my stores list pushing up our scores, and I have yet to be given an offer. I have informed them that I am willing to move "anywhere" in the US to get an available position and still.....crickets.

I have now put myself on a steady diet of applying everywhere. I apply to at least five positions (anywhere in the country) every 1-2 days. I am going to do this until I get an offer. The jobs listed are in towns of 12,000 or 5,000 never more than 20,000, and I can tell you I will be darn glad if I get one of those spots. The thought of spending the last six years living like a pauper, studying non stop, getting 2-4 hours sleep 2-3 nights a week for years, working like a dog for 1/3 of the pay I use to bring in, disregarding my emotional and physical health in order to grind my way through the grueling gauntlet of exams, reflection papers, busy work that kept you from actually studying the important stuff, etc., putting up with the $#!% some of the less evolved faculty dished out, all to find myself unemployed and with six figures of debt coming at me spurs me on to fill out apps at all hours and as many I can find.

So, what can I say to you? I am bummed out that this seems to be the situation currently. My PIC and other long standing pharmacists can't even imagine the situation such was the fat life they experienced when they were newly graduated. I was told by one highly paid 20+ year veteran not to apply everywhere for fear I would look desperate. HAHAHAHAHA....uhhh, I am desperate. Even so I think I will get a job...why? Because I am going to look under every rock and in every nook and cranny till I find a position from now till July, like my life depends on it. But at some point even this level of intense job hunting won't work because there just won't be very many jobs and there will be scads of pharmacy grads trying to get those few jobs. So when will this be???? Your guess is as good as mine...but I am hoping it is not this year.
 
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Job market is very bad right now. Pharmacist salary is a very low-hanging fruit and a very strong target for budget-minded managers.

Many companies are taking advantage of the situation and hiring lots of on-call/relief pharmacists with no guaranteed hours. After 2 years I still haven't received a full-time job at my 2 relief pharmacist jobs. One retail company I work for is undergoing major budget-cuts right now. I just lost all of my 24hr hours over the last month.

The job postings have been ever-decreasing since I graduated 2 years ago. Now there are barely any full-time job postings in my area. When I graduated many students were able to take the relief and floating jobs until they could land in a regular position. Now even these relief positions are getting really saturated-- floaters are all complaining of too-little work here.

I will say this: be prepared to move. No one wants to move-- if one isn't prepared to move to get a job then they shouldn't go to pharmacy school (unless they have a hookup before they started).
 
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I'm thinking about getting licensed in NJ, CT since they are pretty close to NYC. I could still live in NYC and work in those places. I'd have virtually no traffic heading out of NYC and coming back into NYC if I work a dayshift.
 
Shoot higher on the healthcare hierarchy positions or plan on using your pharmacy degree as a gateway position into another medical discipline.
You've been warned.
 
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If you like uncertainty, go to pharmacy school. Rest assured, you will be uncertain of employment prospects, the number of jobs slashed due to automation and economic market forces, the number of jobs growing due to obtaining 'provider' status (OH WOW - amazing!) and the number of schools that will have opened by 2020.

If you don't like uncertainty, marry a wealthy person. Or choose a career that allows you to shine amongst the crowd. You really can't do that in pharmacy when your bosses impose daily tasks that are both menial and unreasonable in nature. Good luck, this profession really needs it.
 
I have now put myself on a steady diet of applying everywhere. I apply to at least five positions (anywhere in the country) every 1-2 days. I am going to do this until I get an offer. The jobs listed are in towns of 12,000 or 5,000 never more than 20,000, and I can tell you I will be darn glad if I get one of those spots. The thought of spending the last six years living like a pauper, studying non stop, getting 2-4 hours sleep 2-3 nights a week for years, working like a dog for 1/3 of the pay I use to bring in, disregarding my emotional and physical health in order to grind my way through the grueling gauntlet of exams, reflection papers, busy work that kept you from actually studying the important stuff, etc., putting up with the $#!% some of the less evolved faculty dished out, all to find myself unemployed and with six figures of debt coming at me spurs me on to fill out apps at all hours and as many I can find.

Wonder where this person ended up? He/she certainly sounded motivated.
 
Except Nurse Practitioner.

nurse practitioners are quickly going to be on the verge of becoming saturated. Even with the probably move to requiring a doctorate, given the ease of their classes and tha the majority can be taken on-line, there is going to be a big deluge of nurse practitioners (just like pharmacists, they already are saturated in the major cities)
 
I think it might even be more saturated than pharmacy lol (at least down here in South Florida)
Agree.. A family member has been an RN for a few months right now in FL and has no job offer even if she is willing to work night shift... It was not like that 8 years ago. I was hired as a RN before I even took the board...
 
nurse practitioners are quickly going to be on the verge of becoming saturated. Even with the probably move to requiring a doctorate, given the ease of their classes and tha the majority can be taken on-line, there is going to be a big deluge of nurse practitioners (just like pharmacists, they already are saturated in the major cities)
I know two NPs who are working just as floor nurses using their RN license because of better pay (yes better pay)... One is a former nursing school classmates who works in PACU as a floor nurse. She told me she makes 100k+ working 48 hrs/week an average... She was making <80k/year working 50+ hrs/wk for a physician as a NP with crappy benefits... She even said that 2+ years she spent to get her NP license was a waste of time and money. I guess the grass in not that greener for NP like most of us in SDN think...
 
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Agree.. A family member has been an RN for a few months right now in FL and has no job offer even if she is willing to work night shift... It was not like that 8 years ago. I was hired as a RN before I even took the board...

That's crazy. I feel like every hospital career section I look at is hiring 20+ nurses. Maybe they only want experienced nurses, or maybe the jobs are all PRN. I didn't look too far into it. Also I have heard about there being a ton of subpar nursing programs in South Florida pumping at way too many unqualified RNs, but who knows.
 
That's crazy. I feel like every hospital career section I look at is hiring 20+ nurses. Maybe they only want experienced nurses, or maybe the jobs are all PRN. I didn't look too far into it. Also I have heard about there being a ton of subpar nursing programs in South Florida pumping at way too many unqualified RNs, but who knows.
Yes they want experience nurses.... But back then (5+ years ago), they did not care...
 
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