Advice for switching to hospital after retail and unemployment

[Invokanyetnyet]

Short version:

Retail for 6.5 years (I have good references from that job.), got laid off, then traveled around the world with my wife for more than a year. We came home a month ago. I'd like to work hospital (inpatient), but no luck so far. I'm extremely flexible (any shift, any reasonable salary, willing to relocate anywhere in the US. I have two licenses but can get more.), have put in numerous applications and called on old networking contacts, but no leads after almost a month. Am I job-hunting inefficiently? What next?

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Long version:

This is a follow-up from my original thread: Career Shift - Seeking Your Advice (or Criticism :P )

As mentioned in the original thread, although I thoroughly enjoyed retail, I've always been more intrigued by hospital. I don't think I'll be happy with myself if I look back on my career and see that I never worked hospital (or something like amb care) for at least a few years.

I have two licenses (in southeastern states), and I've applied to almost every full-time inpatient position (and a few part-time and prn positions) in both states that doesn't very explicitly insist that hospital experience is required, including quite a few rural and/or night-shift positions. Where possible, I've tweaked my resume/application to match each position as I applied. I've also called on some pharmacists I know who work in some of the hospitals I've applied to, seeing if they can help me boost my chances. Despite my efforts, so far I've received nothing but silence and rejections.

Because of the employment gap, I mention my travels near the bottom of my resume. I also briefly explain the situation in the job application, emphasizing that my wife and I wanted to travel before having children, that it was a one-time thing, etc.

I have not applied to positions outside the two states I'm licensed in; I doubt they'd seriously consider me if I'm not already licensed. (Maybe they would anyway?) I've also made almost no contact with any pharmacist staffing/placement agencies.

What should I do next? Get licensed in other states, then apply? Apply anyway? Contact a recruiter? Just wait and see in my two current states? I have enough money (and resolve) to keep going for a few more months, but eventually I'll have to cave and give up on hospital.

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[deleted820760]

Why don’t you just find any pharmacist job first? You can continue looking for hospital jobs when you’re employed. That way you don’t have to be worried about money running out.

Does it have to be hospital? What about infusion center, managed care, or mail order? There are other options other than retail and hospital, and some have better hours.

 

[Lnsean]

damn wish i had time to travel for a year...been itching to do that for years. anywayz, if it's only been a month, i'd continue to apply. I agree that they probably will not consider you if you're not currently licensed. So maybe...pick 1-2 states that no one wants to live in...get licensed...and try there. Also, apply PT too. Your problem is that you have 6.5 years of retail...it's a big red flag when someone doing retail that long wants to all of a sudden transition into hospital. I'd be willing to bet that your resume doesn't even make it past their computer screening. You need to get lucky...so apply apply apply to as many postings as you can.

 

[Son_Goku]

6.5 years in retail, then a year off doing nothing pharmacy-related and you expect to work in-patient at a hospital?

Why would anyone hire you?

 

[beautifulrobot]

Don't forget that as long as you're licensed in one state you can practice anywhere with the federal government. This isn't a good quick solution, as getting hired by the federal government can easily take 4-6 months from the moment you submit an application with USAJobs and actually get an offer/start date, but just something to consider. If you are truly willing to relocate anywhere in the United States, then you could look into jobs with IHS. Again, it will take a while to get through HR, even though they have direct hire positions and are desperate to fill certain vacancies. The hiring process might be quicker for a tribal position compared to a federal position (some IHS practice sites are directly managed by the federal government, and others are managed by the tribe).

 

[deleted820760]

6.5 years in retail, then a year off doing nothing pharmacy-related and you expect to work in-patient at a hospital?

Why would anyone hire you?

Why not? He’s had life experiences and is more mature than new grads or people fresh out of residency. People in Europe take a year or two off to travel all the time before settling down. It’s normal there.

Life is more than just work until you die.

 

[PharmDBro2017]

Why not? He’s had life experiences and is more mature than new grads or people fresh out of residency. People in Europe take a year or two off to travel all the time before settling down. It’s normal there.

Life is more than just work until you die.

Agreed.

OP are you searching websites like monster, ihirepharmacy, etc? I get daily emails about job openings through those sites. Def recommend checking out ihirepharmacy


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[Invokanyetnyet]

IHS... I looked into that a little, but most of their openings seem pretty retail-like to me, not inpatient or anything close to it. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what IHS work is really like?

Yeah, I think I'll work on getting licensed in two or three more states then keep applying. Got a particular state in mind?

iHirePharmacy... I mostly have been using LinkedIn and Indeed. I'll give that one a better look.

As for finding a different (non-hospital) job in the mean time... I was hoping that wouldn't be necessary, but I'm starting to think maybe it is. I was trying to avoid it because I'm much rather get straight down to hospital, to get some experience in what I'm really interested in.

Thanks for the advice, guys.

 

[Arjw2]

Do you have any friends or colleagues who currently work in a Hospital?

 

[BidingMyTime]

Why don’t you just find any pharmacist job first? You can continue looking for hospital jobs when you’re employed. That way you don’t have to be worried about money running out.

This. Not being currently employed, especially when you have been unemployed for a year, will make employees leery. Getting into hospital without hospital experience is hard enough, but all things being equal, the hospital will almost always take a chance on a currently employed retail pharmacist, then they would an unemployed pharmacist. For that matter, pretty much any job would take a chance on a pharmacist who was currently employed outside of pharmacy, then they would a pharmacist who has been unemployed for a year.

Definitely it's better to explain your year-long unemployment than to not explain.....but even then most employers won't care. Being unemployed carries a stigma, and nobody wants to be the first person to take a chance hiring the unemployed person. So get any pharmacy job you can.....and if you can't get a pharmacy job, then get any kind of job you can....being able to list that you are currently employed will be a big asset to your job search (although it will still be hard to get into hospital, and may take several months until you find the right locale.)

 

[beautifulrobot]

IHS... I looked into that a little, but most of their openings seem pretty retail-like to me, not inpatient or anything close to it. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what IHS work is really like?

There are a variety of pharmacist positions within IHS, including outpatient and inpatient. The outpatient positions can vary from more ambulatory care/MTM focused to more dispensing focused. Just depends on the site/specific position. I wouldn't say any of them are particularly retail-like (i.e. you rarely deal with third party payors/claims adjudication/money/selling non-pharmacy items/sales metrics), though you may have to clarify your definition of retail-like. If anything, the outpatient pharmacy staffing positions would be more comparable to a closed-HMO system like Kaiser than retail like CVS.

 

[Invokanyetnyet]

There are a variety of pharmacist positions within IHS

Thanks, giga! I sent a message to your inbox.

 

[Apotheker2015]

Short version:

Retail for 6.5 years (I have good references from that job.), got laid off, then traveled around the world with my wife for more than a year. We came home a month ago. I'd like to work hospital (inpatient), but no luck so far. I'm extremely flexible (any shift, any reasonable salary, willing to relocate anywhere in the US. I have two licenses but can get more.), have put in numerous applications and called on old networking contacts, but no leads after almost a month. Am I job-hunting inefficiently? What next?

---

Long version:

This is a follow-up from my original thread: Career Shift - Seeking Your Advice (or Criticism :P )

As mentioned in the original thread, although I thoroughly enjoyed retail, I've always been more intrigued by hospital. I don't think I'll be happy with myself if I look back on my career and see that I never worked hospital (or something like amb care) for at least a few years.

I have two licenses (in southeastern states), and I've applied to almost every full-time inpatient position (and a few part-time and prn positions) in both states that doesn't very explicitly insist that hospital experience is required, including quite a few rural and/or night-shift positions. Where possible, I've tweaked my resume/application to match each position as I applied. I've also called on some pharmacists I know who work in some of the hospitals I've applied to, seeing if they can help me boost my chances. Despite my efforts, so far I've received nothing but silence and rejections.

Because of the employment gap, I mention my travels near the bottom of my resume. I also briefly explain the situation in the job application, emphasizing that my wife and I wanted to travel before having children, that it was a one-time thing, etc.

I have not applied to positions outside the two states I'm licensed in; I doubt they'd seriously consider me if I'm not already licensed. (Maybe they would anyway?) I've also made almost no contact with any pharmacist staffing/placement agencies.

What should I do next? Get licensed in other states, then apply? Apply anyway? Contact a recruiter? Just wait and see in my two current states? I have enough money (and resolve) to keep going for a few more months, but eventually I'll have to cave and give up on hospital.

Congrats on your decision to get out there and see the world. The Maldives are eventually going to sink and some of us may not get there before it happens.
I’d say jump back on the retail horse first. Keep the money coming in. That will protect your professional self esteem and your marriage.
You could also try to get into an outpatient setting within a health system. You’ll get some clinical exposure and you’ll have time refresh your knowledge at a doable pace. But then again, it’s easiest to get a job when you have a job. You always want to have to say that you need to give your two week notice.
If you already paid off your loans, live frugally and take some time to really think about why you want to break into hospital work. You have people with residency training applying for staff positions. Saturation is real.
A lot happened while you were gone. Peruse the forum, you’ll see.

 

[gwarm01]

The Maldives are eventually going to sink and some of us may not get there before it happens.

This place is on my bucket list. I need to stop working so much and actually take a vacation before it's too late.

 

[Sabril]

I don't think I'll be happy with myself if I look back on my career and see that I never worked hospital (or something like amb care) for at least a few years.

I can share this sentiment. I will feel that something is missing if I do not work in a hospital setting for my entire career. I mean it is probably as cut-throat as retail or even more, but I somehow just want to have that feeling of "been there, done that"

My concern is, are there classes that dummies like me can take to be more comfortable dealing with IV meds? I want refund from my pharmacy school because they haven't taught me squat. Why do I have a feeling that when you make a transition from retail to hospital, people will just assume that you can safely handle the IV room?

 

[TimeZero]

I am at an institution that has hired several retail pharmacists for staff positions. Their interview skills and experiences are what resulted in offers.

I don't have to tell you or anyone else on this forum that the market is rough. I recommend getting back into anything, including retail if you have to. Obtaining a position in a hospital's outpatient pharmacy may be a way to get your foot in the door. Look into obtaining BCPS while you search.