Poll: Sample of employment "rate" after graduation in 2010?

[xJadedx]

Please mark how long it took to obtain your first job after graduation (including residencies and other certifications) after 2010.

Additionally, please mark your status as of 03/27/2014 (currently employed or unemployed).

Hi everyone! First time poster, long time lurker here.
I really hope this poll does not offend anyone or is against the forum rules. It is not my intention to spread negativity on these forums.

As many of you may notice while scouring the pre-pharmacy and pharmacy class threads for advice, there are countless threads projecting a "doom and gloom" employment outlook for future pharmacists. With some posters claiming data (from BLS outlooks for past years, US World News, CNN, and every other site predicting positive growth) as flat-out BS, it becomes difficult as to which source to trust -- those with real life experiences in job hunting or theoretical job analysts. After reading posts to get out now and switch to PA, NP, PT, etc., it becomes really disheartening to pursue pharmacy as a career.

As a result, I want to conduct this poll to get a glimpse of where pharmacy is concentrated. Understandably, this poll will be biased towards the demographic of pharmacists who are active on this site only and who have been job hunting since 2010. Thus, this does not capture the job market as a whole nor as "accurately" as some of these analysts. But, I hope to have some sample data that could visually show a small proportion of the job market for prospective pharmacy students. Hopefully, this will become useful information to other prospective pharmacy students.

If there is anything I can add to the poll or rephrase the question to capture an improved objective response, please do not hesitate to comment. Unfortunately, the poll only allows for possible 10 choices.

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[type b pharmD]

You could consider changing this to <3 months to improve its specificity. I think a majority of people are still getting employment offers within a month or two of graduating. I would think 99% of the people who are going to GET a job , have one within 6 months, so this poll option for >6 months is likely capturing unemployable people only, not people who are getting jobs at 7 months out (extreme minority , may not be worth wasting poll options on)

 

[xJadedx]

You could consider changing this to <3 months to improve its specificity. I think a majority of people are still getting employment offers within a month or two of graduating. I would think 99% of the people who are going to GET a job , have one within 6 months, so this poll option for >6 months is likely capturing unemployable people only, not people who are getting jobs at 7 months out (extreme minority , may not be worth wasting poll options on)

I was actually considering making it less than 4 months, but this is my mistake. I wanted to have a little bit of optimism because the threads I have seen make it seem like it's impossible to get any job. Unfortunately, I think I cannot edit the poll after votes have been casted? If anything, I will try to remove this thread and bring up better options.

 

[BMBiology]

Put together a pharmacist resume and apply to locations where you are planning to work. Talk to recent graduates. Go to pharmacist association meetings. Doing all of these things would give you a better idea.

Speaking of the BLS outlook, it reduced its 10 year pharmacist job growth outlook from 25.5% to 12.5% in just 2 years: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...th-from-25-4-to-14-5-in-just-2-years.1056738/

There are still jobs out there in rural areas like where tybe b currently works but when you graduate, those areas will be saturated too. Does this mean you can't get a job? Certainly not but it means:

(1) you may have to move to some undesirable location
(2) you may not get full time work (already happening to new grads). You may just get 5 hour shift and expect to drive 50 miles.
(3) you may not get health benefits since you don't meet the minimum of hours worked per week (I think Target and Walmart require you to work at least 30 hours)

It is not just employment. It is also about how employers will treat you knowing there's a line of new pharmacists who are willing to work just as hard as you but for less.