advice needed

[007rx]

Hey there all of you pharmacists/future pharmacists. I have a dilemma. I luckily got hired at pharmacy X as a technician last week, but it is only 20 hrs/wk. Yesterday I got a call from Pharmacy Y saying they'd hire me part-time as well. (I forgot I even applied at this pharmacy.) Anyway, without even thinking, I said yes I'm still interested. I'm sure all of you know, it is against many pharmacy company policies to work for a competing company. However, it is unbelievably difficult to get a job in my city, and I really need more work.

So anyway, what are the chances I will get caught working at two different pharmacies? (There's not like a designated city-wide pharmacy sweep every week or anything by different companies is there? haha.) And if I get caught does anyone out there know what the consequences are? (A warning? Termination?)

All advice is appreciated, I still have a few days to decide. Feel free to even call me an idiot as well , I know I shouldn't even consider this, but times are rough, and as I said it is really tough getting a job in my city, so I don't want to reject any if they are going to hire me.

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[nnguyenc]

you have to eat....so just work at both places

 

[ShannonIV]

Pretend you are dating two people and you don't want them to know about each other. Don't talk about them to each other.

 

[Twins fan]

Alls I's gotsta say is good nickname for your first post....007rx: "top-secret undercover two-timing pharm tech"

 

[Rumplestiltazepam]

Hey there all of you pharmacists/future pharmacists. I have a dilemma. I luckily got hired at pharmacy X as a technician last week, but it is only 20 hrs/wk. Yesterday I got a call from Pharmacy Y saying they'd hire me part-time as well. (I forgot I even applied at this pharmacy.) Anyway, without even thinking, I said yes I'm still interested. I'm sure all of you know, it is against many pharmacy company policies to work for a competing company. However, it is unbelievably difficult to get a job in my city, and I really need more work.

So anyway, what are the chances I will get caught working at two different pharmacies? (There's not like a designated city-wide pharmacy sweep every week or anything by different companies is there? haha.) And if I get caught does anyone out there know what the consequences are? (A warning? Termination?)

All advice is appreciated, I still have a few days to decide. Feel free to even call me an idiot as well , I know I shouldn't even consider this, but times are rough, and as I said it is really tough getting a job in my city, so I don't want to reject any if they are going to hire me.

If you are a pharmacy student why aren't you taking a job as a pharmacy intern? It is the end of school for most people so all p1s should be able to be interns now

 

[007rx]

If you are a pharmacy student why aren't you taking a job as a pharmacy intern? It is the end of school for most people so all p1s should be able to be interns now

Even getting an intern job is really hard, I talked to pharmacists everywhere in my town and they offered their "congratz on getting into pharmacy school!" with a smile. I know they would really want to hire me as an intern but they just can't, it's a "poor" city I live in and most places are full, and no place can offer extra hours. I'm amazed I was offered these two jobs to begin with.

Anyway, I made up my mind, I'm just going to stick with my current job. I'm gonna follow company policy.
Maybe I'll just get lucky again and a place will offer me a job that isn't a competitor. The comments were funny, thanks guys.

 

[janeno]

I know you mentioned that job market is not the best in your city, but maybe you can try looking for pharmacy jobs in 2 different settings. If you work for retail, keep looking for a hospital position.

I think you made the right decision. I live in a relatively big city, but I am still amazed how the majority of pharmacists know each other. So you don't want to be caught working against company policy, fired, and then creating a bad reputation for yourself so that you won't be able to find a job anywhere in that city. You are sacrificing money now by working for one store but it will be better to keep good reputation of yourself.

 

[Pianopooh]

I know how you feel 007rx... I have an internship this summer only because I'm doing my IPPE rotation and my interning hours are unpaid and doesn't count against the pharmacy. I'm from NYC, and most pharmacies tell me they are 1) fully staffed with techs who are certified, 2) are affiliated with one of three schools in the area thus I would never be considered, and 3) hospitals would not hire me because I am not here year-round and they consider it a waste of training me. It's not that I don't want to work, it's just that no one would hire me. I have contacted five different retial pharmacies (2 independent, 3 chains), and 3 hospitals. Some of them are nice enough to get back to me, some of them just doesn't even respond (I love my "receipt of email" option that I have when I email from my school address). Overall, I have grown tired of job search, and it seems NYC is just tough luck in terms of treatment of interns who are not from LIU, St. John's or Rutgers. Having the intern license doesn't mean much here it seems..

 

[007rx]

I know you mentioned that job market is not the best in your city, but maybe you can try looking for pharmacy jobs in 2 different settings. If you work for retail, keep looking for a hospital position.

I think you made the right decision. I live in a relatively big city, but I am still amazed how the majority of pharmacists know each other. So you don't want to be caught working against company policy, fired, and then creating a bad reputation for yourself so that you won't be able to find a job anywhere in that city. You are sacrificing money now by working for one store but it will be better to keep good reputation of yourself.

Yeah this sums it all up exactly. I don't want a bad reputation or anything, which could affect me each summer for the next 4 years, and possibly even after that.

I know how you feel 007rx... I have an internship this summer only because I'm doing my IPPE rotation and my interning hours are unpaid and doesn't count against the pharmacy. I'm from NYC, and most pharmacies tell me they are 1) fully staffed with techs who are certified, 2) are affiliated with one of three schools in the area thus I would never be considered, and 3) hospitals would not hire me because I am not here year-round and they consider it a waste of training me. It's not that I don't want to work, it's just that no one would hire me. I have contacted five different retial pharmacies (2 independent, 3 chains), and 3 hospitals. Some of them are nice enough to get back to me, some of them just doesn't even respond (I love my "receipt of email" option that I have when I email from my school address). Overall, I have grown tired of job search, and it seems NYC is just tough luck in terms of treatment of interns who are not from LIU, St. John's or Rutgers. Having the intern license doesn't mean much here it seems..

This is interesting because it's exactly the opposite of me. I live in a relatively small city, which is why I figured living in NYC would give plenty more opportunities. I guess it comes down to the number of "pharmacies per capita", among other things, counting the factors you mentioned. Also the summer-time-waste-of-training thing I got a lot of too. They were more considerate if I planned on working during school but I live about 300 miles from my school (I'd probably break even considering gas, although it would be good job experience), plus I'm gonna need the weekends to study most likely. To be honest, I don't see what the big deal is in some of these pharmacies. They are paying pharmacists over 100k a year, I have no idea how much all the techs combined make but my point is...how is another 5-10k going to hurt for a few pharm students per summer? I hope I don't sound too ignorant, but I know I am definately biased.

 

[007rx]

Also, what's with this "do you have experience working in a pharmacy?" paradox? That's the first question a pharmacist asks me after I give them my 30-second memorized introduction haha (and the same reason why some admitted they wouldn't hire me.) How do I get experience if I'm not going to get hired because I don't have any experience?


There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," Yossarian observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.

 

[Twins fan]

007...a Catch-22 quote...nice! I LOVE that book. The sequel is horrible though...I couldn't bring myself to finish it. I think Heller had lost all his piss and vinegar by that time.

I feel very lucky to have found a tech job to get some experience. I've been working at a Wal-Mart pharmacy for the past year and a half.

 

[Pianopooh]

This is interesting because it's exactly the opposite of me. I live in a relatively small city, which is why I figured living in NYC would give plenty more opportunities. I guess it comes down to the number of "pharmacies per capita", among other things, counting the factors you mentioned. Also the summer-time-waste-of-training thing I got a lot of too. They were more considerate if I planned on working during school but I live about 300 miles from my school (I'd probably break even considering gas, although it would be good job experience), plus I'm gonna need the weekends to study most likely. To be honest, I don't see what the big deal is in some of these pharmacies. They are paying pharmacists over 100k a year, I have no idea how much all the techs combined make but my point is...how is another 5-10k going to hurt for a few pharm students per summer? I hope I don't sound too ignorant, but I know I am definately biased.

One of the hospital director of pharmacy was nice enough to get back to me, explained to me that she wasn't hiring someone who was not going to be in the city for the year (my pharm school is about 250 miles away from NYC), but told me she would love to have me when I graduate, lol. I think when I graduate, I will give the chance to work with those who gave me opportunities when I was a student.. . Plus, I was told intern hours doesn't count against the store, and that interns aren't counted in the 1:2 ratio (pharmacist:2 techs). Thus, there is no reason why a store wouldn't want the intern... I have spoken to two intern coordinators, they said the store didn't want anymore helpers... I think it's the intern coordinators who doesn't want to give out hours .