Advice needed- How to get less than 10 hours pharmacy tech job

[sagain]

Hello:

I am a full time student with a very heavy load of course work and I was wondering how and where I can get a part time pharm tech job with few hours( less that 10).

Every store I have tried so far including Target, CVS and Walgreens as well as two independent pharmacies they are all telling me they would hire part time only for at least 20 hours per week. I have family and I am not able to work on the weekend so it has to be during the week.

Can you guys tell me where else I should try and even if getting a less than 10 hour pharm tech job is possible ,...in other words does anyone hire for that many hours...please advise. Thank you.

Sagain

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[pharmerjohn]

I'm going to be honest with you and say that there are very few tech jobs out there that will allow you to work less than 10 hours a week. The reason is because you will need to learn the system as well as the ins and outs of the pharmacy, so it will take you a really long time to get up to speed with things. At least that's the reason why I witness people not being hired for less than 10 hours. I personally work 50 to 60 hours a week with full course load, so it's certainly doable if you really want to make it happen. But then again, I don't have a family like you, so it's not a fair comparison. If you really need a job badly at the moment, then I'd recommend getting hired for 20 hours, then slowly cut down on hours when you are up to speed. I can't guarantee that the pharmacist in charge will be happy about it, but it's worth a shot. Good luck! 🙂

 

[68quebec]

hey..think about it. If you were an owner..would you hire somebody just for 10 hours? or anyone else willing to do more than 20~60 hours?

it will be extremely difficult to do that.

 

[Mur7ay]

I work for Kroger and they basically allow me to do anything I want.. If I want twenty, ten, or no hours a week, they give it to me.. But I would rather work somewhere else

 

[ayshi]

Well for Walgreens they say they want someone full time but I know from 6 years of experience we have budget cuts all the time. Depending on the store and how many technicians they have on the schedule they can easily put you on the schedule for 10-15 hours. We just recently hired a girl about 6 months ago and we have no hours for her so she works sundays from 1030 am- 830 pm so it is possible but right now its probably going to be hard to find a place thats hiring. Try a local independent pharmacy they are always looking for help.

Good luck.

 

[pharmacat]

We have some students at my pharmacy (CVS) who only work 1 shift per week, due to availability or just not wanting to work. It can be hard to accommodate staff with very little availability because stores have certain times of the day to work with, and it sounds like you've already eliminated a lot of the "high need" times where many people don't want to work. Most of the students who only work 1 shift work a long shift on a Saturday or Sunday.

The other issue is.. working less then 10 hours per week, you will probably not learn much outside of how to use the cash register in a retail pharmacy. No matter how intelligent you may be, that is just not a lot of time to learn what you are doing and master the computer system, procedures, etc. When I first started at CVS, a lot of my "training" time was more then 10 hours per week, and the hours for the mandatory classes and stuff were not very flexible. Other chains might be easier to work with.

You might need to be willing to make a sacrifice and work a little bit more (15-20 hours/week) until you build a relationship with the Pharmacist and Scheduler at your pharmacy. They might then be a little more willing to accommodate your limited hours or fit you into times that work better for your situation.

 

[Jibby321]

Hello:

I am a full time student with a very heavy load of course work and I was wondering how and where I can get a part time pharm tech job with few hours( less that 10).

Every store I have tried so far including Target, CVS and Walgreens as well as two independent pharmacies they are all telling me they would hire part time only for at least 20 hours per week. I have family and I am not able to work on the weekend so it has to be during the week.

Can you guys tell me where else I should try and even if getting a less than 10 hour pharm tech job is possible ,...in other words does anyone hire for that many hours...please advise. Thank you.

Sagain

This really depends on your pharmacy manager. I worked for my manager through undergrad and worked 30 hrs a week. He knew that I was going to go to pharm school so when I started school he said no problem. Now I work 8 hrs a week.

 

[theSully]

You might perhaps be able to volunteer that for a day a week at a hospital. Maybe.

 

[ciestar]

As a pharmacy tech currently working as a tech to pay the bills, I can't say you'll get a whole lot of luck finding a job for that little hours weekly. I have every intention of going back to school, however, many of the people I work with use this as their actual career. Maybe this is extraneous information, but they will hire these people before you.

You must understand that pharmacies (anywhere for that matter) are looking for commitment and unless it's some kind of on-campus job, this usually isn't very doable unless you were working there long before now. (I work at CVS and we have two girls on staff who work one weekend a month because they're at school, but have been employed for some time which is why they can do it and which is why I even got hired in the first place)

 

[Jibby321]

As a pharmacy tech currently working as a tech to pay the bills, I can't say you'll get a whole lot of luck finding a job for that little hours weekly. I have every intention of going back to school, however, many of the people I work with use this as their actual career. Maybe this is extraneous information, but they will hire these people before you.

You must understand that pharmacies (anywhere for that matter) are looking for commitment and unless it's some kind of on-campus job, this usually isn't very doable unless you were working there long before now. (I work at CVS and we have two girls on staff who work one weekend a month because they're at school, but have been employed for some time which is why they can do it and which is why I even got hired in the first place)

Pharmacy technician positions from what I have seen in the past 3.5 years have very high turnover rate. I don't think that position is meant to be a career. Just IMO

 

[owlegrad]

Yeah I don't know anyone who hires for so few hours per week. Maybe you could be hired in the summer when you can work more and then when school starts up again scale back, but trying to be hired for so few hours to start with is probably going to be rough.

Good luck.

 

[Mur7ay]

I'm telling you.. Kroger will. I took three months off for this semester. That is if you live by one

 

[ciestar]

Pharmacy technician positions from what I have seen in the past 3.5 years have very high turnover rate. I don't think that position is meant to be a career. Just IMO

Not meant to be, I am just not sure how everyone I end up working with makes it so...
It doesn't provide a lot financially. (of course, still living with your parents in your 30s/40s makes it easier)

CVS has a huge turnover. Target seems to not (best pharmacy to work for, according to a few people I met at Jefferson)

 

[owlegrad]

Plenty of career techs at many hospitals. Really it is just retail where you do not see many career techs. I suppose it is because they are paid less and treated worse.

 

[sagain]

Thanks for all the input. I forgot to mention that I just want to get experience in pharmacy as I am currently a pre-pharm student. Money is not the issue. I have even approached many CVS , Walgreens as well as two independent pharmacies asking for just an opportunity to shadow. The only response I get is that they only allow student from pharm tech schools to come and shadow. I got my pharm certificate through exam and didn't go to pharm tech schools. Is there any chance for me to get a shadowing opportunity or I am just wasting my time.
Thanks
S

 

[Jibby321]

Not meant to be, I am just not sure how everyone I end up working with makes it so...
It doesn't provide a lot financially. (of course, still living with your parents in your 30s/40s makes it easier)

CVS has a huge turnover. Target seems to not (best pharmacy to work for, according to a few people I met at Jefferson)

Yea retail really is not meant to be a "career" for a technician. How can one live off of 9 dollars an hour and support a family?



Yea CVS has a high turnover rate because they treat their employees like garbage. That's why I left and won't consider them as a potential employer when I finish school.

 

[pharmacyathlete]

Thanks for all the input. I forgot to mention that I just want to get experience in pharmacy as I am currently a pre-pharm student. Money is not the issue. I have even approached many CVS , Walgreens as well as two independent pharmacies asking for just an opportunity to shadow. The only response I get is that they only allow student from pharm tech schools to come and shadow. I got my pharm certificate through exam and didn't go to pharm tech schools. Is there any chance for me to get a shadowing opportunity or I am just wasting my time.
Thanks
S

The best place to shadow is a hospital. Retail pharmacies are usually not in a position to allow you behind the counter because they are always short staffed due to crappy budgets. I used to work for Walgreens (8yrs in fact) and I quit to go work at Express Scripts. I was so unhappy the last few years of working with Walgreens and their budget shortfalls that I was happy to work for Express Scripts and still am. I started at the bottom and now I am a lead there. I also completed all of my pre-reqs while working full time...no family to support though..

Also you might want to talk to your pre-pharmacy advisor at your school. They usually have contacts that not everyone will have.