32 Applicants for 1 Community Pharmacist Position!!!

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Quam

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2014
Messages
44
Reaction score
10
Just came from an interview and I was told there were 32 applicants and out of those, 10 got interviews!!! This is a community pharmacy in Minneapolis, Minnesota y'all. What is going on??? I've been looking for a job for 2.5 months. OMG!!!! This is scary.....and no, I don't have a residency. Can't even think of spending any more $$ for schooling right now....sigh...

Members don't see this ad.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
Well, here's to hoping you get the position.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5 users
Members don't see this ad :)
Yeah, Minneapolis never had a major shortage because of being fed by the NDSU, SDSU, and Wisconsin as well as the local UMN. Good luck, and I doubt there are 32 serious candidates, probably about 1/3 those in that pool are just looking from a current job. Still, 20 people more or less seriously looking, well, it's what it is. If you are applying to the North Minneapolis area, there's a club involved as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Just came from an interview and I was told there were 32 applicants and out of those, 10 got interviews!!! This is a community pharmacy in Minneapolis, Minnesota y'all. What is going on??? I've been looking for a job for 2.5 months. OMG!!!! This is scary.....and no, I don't have a residency. Can't even think of spending any more $$ for schooling right now....sigh...
have you thought about taking more loans out to get a in demand degree?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Yeah, Minneapolis never had a major shortage because of being fed by the NDSU, SDSU, and Wisconsin as well as the local UMN. Good luck, and I doubt there are 32 serious candidates, probably about 1/3 those in that pool are just looking from a current job. Still, 20 people more or less seriously looking, well, it's what it is. If you are applying to the North Minneapolis area, there's a club involved as well.
True! I have met a lot of pharmacists from the Dakotas. Wow!! What d'u mean a 'club involved' at North Minneapolis?
 
That's nothing. Boston hospitals routinely get around 400 applications for one position which is usually given to an internal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
Just came from an interview and I was told there were 32 applicants and out of those, 10 got interviews!!! This is a community pharmacy in Minneapolis, Minnesota y'all. What is going on??? I've been looking for a job for 2.5 months. OMG!!!! This is scary.....and no, I don't have a residency. Can't even think of spending any more $$ for schooling right now....sigh...
Better than the 200 applicants for 1 position happening in other areas in the country. Consider yourself lucky there were only 32 applicants...
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Not to be mean, but I’m surprised that you’re surprised.
I’ve been watching corporate pharmacy for years gradually whittle away at boards of pharmacy weakening the profession. It started with allowing pharmacists to supervise two technicians instead of just one, then suddenly there’s no limit to the number of techs we can supervise.
That’s just one example of things that we as group were okay with. I never for one minute bought the line that these changes would “free us up” to perform clinical functions. We’re still responsible for a hurricane of accurately filled prescriptions, but now you must resolve “tips” , perform MTM, and immunize crying children.
MTM is a nice side dish, but it sure isn’t going to feed the whole profession.
And who the heck accredited all these new pharmacy schools?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
Just came from an interview and I was told there were 32 applicants and out of those, 10 got interviews!!! This is a community pharmacy in Minneapolis, Minnesota y'all. What is going on??? I've been looking for a job for 2.5 months. OMG!!!! This is scary.....and no, I don't have a residency. Can't even think of spending any more $$ for schooling right now....sigh...

Well I had two interviews before landing my current job late last year. First interview was at a major hospital in my city. It was for the graveyard shift and the director of pharmacy told me that there were 500 applicants. Granted, it is one of the most prestigious hospitals and applicants were from all over nation i was told. I was one of 10 they picked to interview. Second place was at a LTC and they also told me i was one of 8 thay was picked from a couple of hundred applicants. It was flattering and scary at the same time. Thats when i truly realized how saturated the market is right now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
I had 40 applicants for an MTM pharmacist position I posted on Indeed. Lots of residency trained applicants although I won't hire one. Even when I updated the ad with "residency trained applicants need not apply" they still did. Maybe most were bots?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
I thought residencies paid a salary
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Those are pretty good odds. As others have stated many regions have much more applicants (Literally 10x more). As long as your willing to relocate and gain experience something will come.

However, reality has kicked in and you need to come up with a contingency plan to offset your loans (ie military service or IHS). Doesn’t hurt to look into these with benefit packages and loan forgiveness (to some extent). Plus the extra experience never hurts.
 
I had 40 applicants for an MTM pharmacist position I posted on Indeed. Lots of residency trained applicants although I won't hire one. Even when I updated the ad with "residency trained applicants need not apply" they still did. Maybe most were bots?

Why would you not want to hire a residency trained pharmacist?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Why would you not want to hire a residency trained pharmacist?

For an MTM position? Any/most hospital based residency trained pharmacist will jump on a hospital job the second one opens up. And the you need to rehire.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
If they can't read a job description all the more reason to dump their apps in the circular file
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Why is anyone surprised this is the case? The writing has been on the wall for the past decade and prospective students have repeatedly been warned. This is just the beginning, especially for retail.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Well I had two interviews before landing my current job late last year. First interview was at a major hospital in my city. It was for the graveyard shift and the director of pharmacy told me that there were 500 applicants. Granted, it is one of the most prestigious hospitals and applicants were from all over nation i was told. I was one of 10 they picked to interview. Second place was at a LTC and they also told me i was one of 8 thay was picked from a couple of hundred applicants. It was flattering and scary at the same time. Thats when i truly realized how saturated the market is right now.

I refuse to believe 500 applicants were fighting for a graveyard shift position. I work in Miami (very saturated market) and I know for a fact all of the area hospitals have struggled with keeping their night shifts staffed. Most people cannot physically handle nights or do not have the broad experience required to handle a night position.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
The last hospital I worked for had just under 500 applicants for 2 ED positions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Why would you not want to hire a residency trained pharmacist?
B/c they dont now anything about being a pharmacist. They get the title but throw them in the pit and they are just former retail tryhards
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Have you considered getting your BCPS, PGY5, AMNOP, JKLM certifications?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
Look, OP. You are asking "what is going on???" yourself even as of now.
How can we ever blame the kids who are now pouring into schools to be 2022 and 2023 graduates. We can`t. They have every right to be ignorant.
 
I refuse to believe 500 applicants were fighting for a graveyard shift position. I work in Miami (very saturated market) and I know for a fact all of the area hospitals have struggled with keeping their night shifts staffed. Most people cannot physically handle nights or do not have the broad experience required to handle a night position.

I did not believe until he actually showed me the list...
 
I refuse to believe 500 applicants were fighting for a graveyard shift position. I work in Miami (very saturated market) and I know for a fact all of the area hospitals have struggled with keeping their night shifts staffed. Most people cannot physically handle nights or do not have the broad experience required to handle a night position.

If there's a pharmacy school or two or three nearby, you will reach 500 very quickly. Many of the applicants may already have a retail job they want to leave.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Why would you not want to hire a residency trained pharmacist?

I don't have time to undo a resident's training. I want a certain type of pharmacist and that just isn't a guarantee from a residency trained pharmacist. It doesn't make you a better candidate and from personal experience it sometimes cheapens candidates.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5 users
I don't have time to undo a resident's training. I want a certain type of pharmacist and that just isn't a guarantee from a residency trained pharmacist. It doesn't make you a better candidate and from personal experience it sometimes cheapens candidates.
It may not be a popular opinion, but I completely understand. I've experienced the frustration of working with a pharmacist fresh out of residency who didn't seem to understand the priorities of their staffing job. There was definitely a feeling at that hospital that you are sometimes better off getting a new grad and training them while they are fresh rather than hire a fresh PGY1 who may have come from a bad program. Not to mention the poor souls who seemed to think they needed to act like paragons of healthcare.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
It doesn't make you a better candidate and from personal experience it sometimes cheapens candidates.

What have you been experiencing out there in terms of the quality of residency trained pharmacists? I work with about ten other pharmacists in a facility and none of us have residency background so I’m coming from a place of ignorance here.
 
Top