After gaining experience, then what...

[statepharmagent]

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So I followed the route recommended by some preceptors and friends, skipping residency and taking a guaranteed hospital job. Now living in rural country for a few years, I am absolutely bored out of my mind. Everyone said go get that experience and move back, the trouble is Ive applied to everything i can find that says "hospital" in my home state (CA) and none even give me a chance. Yah, getting experience is wonderful and all but wow you could be stuck there for a long time. I am not sure what to do next. I know im lucky to have a job but i cannot live this life forever and have been thinking about other professions like PA, NP, etc. Seeing all the RNs at my hospital become crna or NPs then moving to a big city makes me so envious and makes me contemplate that. How does everyone else who goes far away to get a job eventually return?

 

[BidingMyTime]

Big cities are glutted. Even during the pharmacist shortage, big cities were glutted with pharmacists. If you really can't stand your current job, then look into applying for a residency. It possibly might help your big city job search slightly (but remember even after you finish, big cities will still be glutted with pharmacists.)

 

[awval999]

Do you have BCPS? Do you have a California license?

If not, that's why you're not getting interviews. Start there.

Are you considering 3rd shift/overnights?

 

[gwarm01]

What's your resume look like? How long have you been looking?

 

[Saiyo]

bored out of my mind

With you there...I had a friend from a rural areas who told me how the weekends were so boring they would go to wally world and walk around...
Now I find myself doing the same thing---Living a hermit life in your 20's is kind of a bummer...

 

[Sine Cura]

You eventually return when there is an opening... but there aren't many chronic openings in major metro areas.

If you live within 90 miles of a major metro area it shouldn't be too bad a drive if the weather isn't horrible. I lived 90 minutes from Vegas and enjoyed non-existent traffic driving up US 95 until reaching Boulder City/Henderson.

 

[PharmDBro2017]

Do you have BCPS? Do you have a California license?

If not, that's why you're not getting interviews. Start there.

Are you considering 3rd shift/overnights?

Agreed, go for BCPS and continue on the track to 10year REPAYE?

 

[Lnsean]

So I followed the route recommended by some preceptors and friends, skipping residency and taking a guaranteed hospital job. Now living in rural country for a few years, I am absolutely bored out of my mind. Everyone said go get that experience and move back, the trouble is Ive applied to everything i can find that says "hospital" in my home state (CA) and none even give me a chance. Yah, getting experience is wonderful and all but wow you could be stuck there for a long time. I am not sure what to do next. I know im lucky to have a job but i cannot live this life forever and have been thinking about other professions like PA, NP, etc. Seeing all the RNs at my hospital become crna or NPs then moving to a big city makes me so envious and makes me contemplate that. How does everyone else who goes far away to get a job eventually return?

Yea there's no way....you're competing against PGY1 and PGY2 grads....soon PGY3 grads will be a common thing. You just gotta get your BCPS....get your Cali license...and just keep applying and hope you get lucky.

 

[statepharmagent]

Do you have BCPS? Do you have a California license?

If not, that's why you're not getting interviews. Start there.

Are you considering 3rd shift/overnights?

Yeah I have always kept my CA license active after the move. I just got BCPS, but then so does 30k others? I dont even think it really means anything much anymore haha. Yah have tried applying to some 3rd shifts. Getting rejected by those saying it's not that you dont meet requirements, but a more qualified/experienced candidate chosen is pretty demoralizing. Like damn there's more experienced and prob PGY1s competing for graveyards? So sad.

With you there...I had a friend from a rural areas who told me how the weekends were so boring they would go to wally world and walk around...
Now I find myself doing the same thing---Living a hermit life in your 20's is kind of a bummer...

Seriously! I never imagined I would spend my late 20s and early 30s looking forward to new Del tacos opening... I dont dislike my hospital though. I get to do hybrid staff/clinical with 40% staffing, 60% clinical rounding in OR and ED. My coworkers are awesome but we are in such different stages of life. All are parents of teenage or college kids, and a few grandmas (in their 50s). Fun for them is a weekend at local steakhouse. I have seriously thought about residencies but it's so hard to go back to making nothing (that's if they even take me). If I am going to go back to school, I think it'll be just a different profession altogether. Pretty sad it has to be this way. In the meantime, let's see what the next 6 months bring.

 

[Monsterdaddy]

Here's my advice. The one critical aspect you are missing is networking. Yes, you are not living in CA but you must have some friends that work in CA hospitals. If you don't, then it's time to make some. Plan some vacations back to CA and spare some time to drop in on managers and directors to get your face around. Many manager/directors may be too busy or could care less but you may find one or two you can connect with. Maybe disguise your networking visit as a training trip to see how big city hospitals do stuff or to learn best practices to bring back to your rural hospital. Be friendly, maybe buy em lunch. And even if they have no openings at least now you have a name that you can drop.

I got my start in a big city hospital by cold calling a manager who I didn't know at the time bu happened to remember working with the director I had worked for as an intern and that's how I got my interview.

 

[quickpic007]

maybe forget Calif for now? break into tenet and transfer?

 

[BelowTheMean]

Here you have it pre pharm boys and girls. Whereas other doctorate professionals gain more experience to move on up in the world for better pay, benefits, job, location, etc climbing the ladder, pharmacists are climbing the ladder to nowhere. Chances are now you are stuck with whatever job you land first (for most), and if you move and get lucky and land a job, it'll be most likely starting at the bottom. All this experience to fight for a graveyard shift? Pass. People going into pharmacy now have got to be dreaming or it's the only option. It's like the girl dating the 35 year old jobless aspiring musician, you either have no other choice or dreaming he'll make it big one day. Just like pharmacy students dreaming you will land that unicorn clinical job in major city usa with 150k pay. Oh well, there's always hope right? Don't say no one told you so!

 

[steveysmith54]

Here you have it pre pharm boys and girls. Whereas other doctorate professionals gain more experience to move on up in the world for better pay, benefits, job, location, etc climbing the ladder, pharmacists are climbing the ladder to nowhere. Chances are now you are stuck with whatever job you land first (for most), and if you move and get lucky and land a job, it'll be most likely starting at the bottom. All this experience to fight for a graveyard shift? Pass. People going into pharmacy now have got to be dreaming or it's the only option. It's like the girl dating the 35 year old jobless aspiring musician, you either have no other choice or dreaming he'll make it big one day. Just like pharmacy students dreaming you will land that unicorn clinical job in major city usa with 150k pay. Oh well, there's always hope right? Don't say no one told you so!

lol... Most posters here are pharmacists. You're preaching to the choir.

 

[sakigt]

I agree with license and BCPS

 

[Deja]

lol wtf only in pharmacy would someone who has experience AND advance certificate be considering going back and do a residency again lmao

from the sound of it, you are only applying in socal (LA and SD) aren't you? try norcal (bay area and sac), I bet you'll find something

also if all else fails... apply to Bakersfield/Lancaster too, Bakersfield sucks, but at least its only an hour and half drive to LA and you can net work from there

 

[PAtoPharm]

Here you have it pre pharm boys and girls. Whereas other doctorate professionals gain more experience to move on up in the world for better pay, benefits, job, location, etc climbing the ladder, pharmacists are climbing the ladder to nowhere. Chances are now you are stuck with whatever job you land first (for most), and if you move and get lucky and land a job, it'll be most likely starting at the bottom. All this experience to fight for a graveyard shift? Pass. People going into pharmacy now have got to be dreaming or it's the only option. It's like the girl dating the 35 year old jobless aspiring musician, you either have no other choice or dreaming he'll make it big one day. Just like pharmacy students dreaming you will land that unicorn clinical job in major city usa with 150k pay. Oh well, there's always hope right? Don't say no one told you so!

Your post nails it on the head. When I remark in other threads that it's absurd that it now takes an exceptional amount of above-and-beyond hustling to out-compete practically every other student in your class to get not a good job, but simply ANY job you can find in BFE, people tell me my mindset and mentality are all wrong and that I just want something "handed" to me for simply graduating from pharmacy school. But when an actual practicing pharmacist creates a thread in which they describe how they did the the hustling and were willing to move to BFE and are now wondering why they still can't get a job anywhere else with their experience, people tell them that they still aren't doing enough networking, the market is just flooded, nobody is owed anything, etc. These kinds of threads actually prove my point that it doesn't matter how much hustling or networking someone does if there are simply no jobs.

OP, you mentioned that you considered going back to NP/PA school. Are you currently on one of the gov't. repayment plans like IBR or REPAYE? If so, are you planning on just paying off your loans on one of those plans for the next 15-20 years? The reason I ask is because if you have essentially relegated yourself to paying on IBR/REPAYE for however many more years, you might as well take out the loans to go to PA/NP school since your overall total amount in student loan debt doesn't really matter anymore.

 

[gwarm01]

Yea there's no way....you're competing against PGY1 and PGY2 grads....soon PGY3 grads will be a common thing. You just gotta get your BCPS....get your Cali license...and just keep applying and hope you get lucky.

OP really should have taken geographical location into consideration. California and the NE are the two areas of the country where a residency is pretty much required. It's the less saturated and often less desirable areas where you can get a hospital job without a residency and build your resume.. which it sounds like they did. However, you'll be hard pressed to break your way into a place like SoCal without really standing out.

You could consider moving to a mid-sized midwestern or southern city to pursue a job at an academic medical center. It'll be easier to get into a place like that, but you still may need a board certification to shine over their homegrown talent. It's still not a guarantee that you'll find your dream job in your dream city. The more you specialize, the more attractive you become for those specific positions.. but then you may find yourself limited to a smaller pool of potential jobs.

Your post nails it on the head. When I remark in other threads that it's absurd that it now takes an exceptional amount of above-and-beyond hustling to out-compete practically every other student in your class to get not a good job, but simply ANY job you can find in BFE, people tell me my mindset and mentality are all wrong and that I just want something "handed" to me for simply graduating from pharmacy school.

PA, my friend, it's not that people think you are wrong. Well, mostly. You typically get one or two people telling you to just tough it out. However, most of us are in agreement that this field is just not a great option unless you have a solid plan, and even then it's a risk. You just get so much flak because it feels like every thread derails into the same circular arguments. We've gone over the same points so many times. I'd like to see you come back with a post about how you have applied to PA schools and are getting interviews, or just anything to show some progress.

 

[Sine Cura]

PA, how many times do you have to beat a dead horse?

 

[lord999]

The other tactic may be to do a rural civil service job and then transfer into California. Not to say that you're that sort of person, but what I find with most city pharmacists (except native NYC citizens who know how it works and consider places like LA sleepy backwaters) is that they never get to enjoy living in the city as much as having to work to live in the city. In the meantime while you pursue a change back to your old area, you might as well take up some country habits and go native for a spell. Also, if you haven't already, I'd probably go into the singles market in the area. I think you'd find your prospects better than in CA. Maybe you have done all of that and have exhausted your possibilities, but it's amazing how many people keep working for a promise that never gets delivered.

 

[BidingMyTime]

People going into pharmacy now have got to be dreaming or it's the only option. It's like the girl dating the 35 year old jobless aspiring musician, you either have no other choice or dreaming he'll make it big one day.

It's not a dream that the vast majority of pharmacists are getting their first job out of college making $100,000 + . There are very few other jobs where that happens, even with a doctoral degree (other than dentist, MD/DO.)

And nobody is promising anyone a job in the big glutted cities. What people have said is, there are jobs if someone is willing to move, and that the chances of transferring back to a big city are higher once someone has some experience.

And as others have pointed out, network contacts are definitely needed in certain major cities. The OP says he does have BCPS, which certainly is helpful, but not that much helpful.

Megacities are mega, because apparently everyone wants to live there. And if everyone wants to live there, that means its going to be difficult to find a job.

MD/DO's and other professionals have the exact same problem. Do you think its easy, for say a cardiologist, to get their first job in LA? Or even for a PA/APN? If someone's goal is to live in a megacity, it will take experience, networking, and lots of luck.

 

[wucool33]

OP you should update your first post to indicate you already have both CA license and BCPS. Most ppl here either can't read or are too lazy to ready your replies