Am I screwing myself over by working a brain dead job while in school?

[Izanagi]

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I'm about to be a P2. I've worked at a very niche independent pharmacy for a little over a year now while in school. We fill and deliver medications to long-term care facilities like nursing homes. During the school year, I work a weeknight every week and two weekends on/off and 30ish hours a week during the summer. I think(?) my boss likes me; I scored very well on my annual performance review. Not gonna lie, it's a cushy job. I don't have to answer the phone or deal with insurance or the general public. I don't even do data entry for chrissake; I literally just fill all day (with a little compounding here and there).

It's also brain dead as hell.

But it sure beats working at Walgreens. I interned there one summer, and the stress got to me so bad that I didn't think I could handle it during the school year. So my manager put me on "school leave" which I guess is the equivalent of being terminated, because he was never able to give me any hours when I came crawling back for the seasonal breaks. I'm not not even sure what happened. But after landing my new job, I never looked back.

Problem is, it seems like everyone else at my school either works retail or hospital. I'm starting to worry that my own work experience won't seem up to snuff with theirs, especially when I have to talk about it during interviews. My duties can literally be summed up in two words: "I filled." I don't do consultations or give shots. The extent of my intern privileges is basically being able to sign the CII registry book. I guess another benefit is that I get a lot of experience working with automated dispensing systems.

Does any sort of work in a pharmacy look good while you're in school, or does it have to be in retail/hospital? Am I putting myself at a disadvantage by working a brain dead job? Should I leave it and search for something more involving? I think now after having a few more years of experience and maturity under my belt, I could give retail another go. I wouldn't be doing it for myself, though. Believe me, I'm perfectly happy with my current stress-free job; I'm just questioning its competitive viability. Also, to be clear, I do not want to work retail post-graduation. That's the last resort for me.

On the other hand, I just completed my IPPE community rotation this summer. It was at a chain in downtown Seattle at one of the busiest locations. I still found it brain dead as hell. Much more involving than my current job, yes, but still mind-numbingly repetitive. So am I really missing much?

 

[Rukn]

Unless this place is going to hire you as an RPh you should really get retail and hospital experience.

Walgreens is what retail pharmacy is today. This is quite possibly your future for multiple years.

 

[beautifulrobot]

Is there any chance you could take the initiative to expand your responsibilities at your current job? Say, doing med reviews/med recs for the nursing homes you deliver to? Take more of an active role in the management side of the pharmacy? Anything to make it more interesting and provide better experiences to talk about during interviews?

 

[RxPreceptor]

Depends on which type of setting you are aspiring to upon graduation. Yes, chain retail pharmacies are hellish/stressful but helps you develop multitasking skills, time management, & workflow. Not quite sure why all you are limited to is filling; you've got to get experience in all aspects of workflow if you were to manage technicians properly.

 

[boriqua]

I worked as a waiter in a restaurant when i was in school. do what you gotta do. if you got the skills to get a job afterwards, you should be fine

 

[Topcat15]

When I left the military, we had to take classes about how to write resumes and translate our specific experience into experience that employers are looking for. Every resume you write should always be customized to the job, so look through some job postings, and ask yourself how your experience could overlap in a way that fits the duties of those jobs. Do you just sign a CII register, or do you "Supervise and maintain the inventory of controlled substances"? Do you type and fill prescriptions, or do you "Interpret physician orders for clinical appropriateness and efficiently and accurately dispense medications"? Don't lie, but think about how you can frame your duties in a way that meets what other settings are looking for and uses the buzzwords that employers are looking for.

Also try to come up with projects that you can do. Is there something inefficient in the current workflow? Ask your boss if you can try to improve it. If you do a good job, it will give you a nice bullet point for your resume, and give you a good answer to the inevitable interview question of "Tell about a time you solved a problem at work."

 

[ldiot]

Well there are 3 benefits of work:

Pay
Improving your skills
Future job opportunity

Sounds like you are only getting one of these benefits, pay. So it's probably not doing you much good.

 

[rph3664]

Oh, c'mon. That job may be repetitious, but you're learning more than you may realize. Just knowing dosage forms, drug names, etc. is half of it right there. Pharmacy school is stressful enough; don't overdo it with a difficult job.

I, too waited tables. Good money, and there were NO pharmacy students working there the whole 3 1/2 years I was there! 🙂 It was really nice to get away from that.

 

[mustang sally]

Lol. Your Walgreens experience sounds sort of similar to mine. I worked there one summer as an intern and ran out of that place as fast as I could on what later turned out to be my last day ever working there. Haven't missed it for a minute since.

Is there any chance you could take the initiative to expand your responsibilities at your current job? Say, doing med reviews/med recs for the nursing homes you deliver to? Take more of an active role in the management side of the pharmacy? Anything to make it more interesting and provide better experiences to talk about during interviews?

I agree with this. It sounds like you enjoy your job, so why not try to make the most of it? The only other advice I could give you is try to get a hospital job if you think that's what you want to do after graduation. But I think any pharmacy work will help you in the long run.

 

[rph3664]

My BFF worked for Walgreens for a number of years. Several years ago, they started having him float, which mostly meant that he did a lot of overnight travel; he didn't mind because he was paid a lot to do that, but his kids sure didn't like it when he was gone. Eventually, they found an excuse to fire him, and did. 🙁 He landed a job that was even more toxic, and lost that one too (again, they did him a bigger favor than he could ever imagine) and in the meantime, he's obtained a job at an independent that has had to grow on him, but it was such a big change, I wasn't surprised that he had some dithers at first.

I can proudly say that I have NEVER worked at Walgreens.

 

[Izanagi]

Lol. Your Walgreens experience sounds sort of similar to mine. I worked there one summer as an intern and ran out of that place as fast as I could on what later turned out to be my last day ever working there. Haven't missed it for a minute since.



I agree with this. It sounds like you enjoy your job, so why not try to make the most of it? The only other advice I could give you is try to get a hospital job if you think that's what you want to do after graduation. But I think any pharmacy work will help you in the long run.

I suppose it's worth a shot. It's just that my managers haven't really dealt with students a whole lot until recently; there was only one student to my knowledge who worked there before me and it seems she was able to land a job somewhere upon graduation, so I'm going to message her about how she acquired her skills. Students here are more or less treated like techs and are pretty much there to work the crappy after-business hours when everyone else goes home. I don't think they've ever delegated more advanced tasks to interns, and it may be against company policy to do so since they already have non-pharmacy employees dedicated to stuff like billing and data entry. It can't hurt to ask though.

Any ideas as to how I should approach the subject? I was terrified of even asking for a raise. :S

 

[BidingMyTime]

I don't think they've ever delegated more advanced tasks to interns, and it may be against company policy to do so since they already have non-pharmacy employees dedicated to stuff like billing and data entry. It can't hurt to ask though.

What state are you in? In many states, it would be illegal for a non-licensed pharmacy employee (tech, intern, or pharmacist) to be doing data entry.

 

[mustang sally]

I suppose it's worth a shot. It's just that my managers haven't really dealt with students a whole lot until recently; there was only one student to my knowledge who worked there before me and it seems she was able to land a job somewhere upon graduation, so I'm going to message her about how she acquired her skills. Students here are more or less treated like techs and are pretty much there to work the crappy after-business hours when everyone else goes home. I don't think they've ever delegated more advanced tasks to interns, and it may be against company policy to do so since they already have non-pharmacy employees dedicated to stuff like billing and data entry. It can't hurt to ask though.

Any ideas as to how I should approach the subject? I was terrified of even asking for a raise. :S

Whenever I would get bored at work (which pretty much never happens anymore but anyway), I would just ask my boss if he had any extra projects he wanted me to work on or if there was anything he needed help with. You could try something like that.

Also do they do the consulting work at this pharmacy or is it dispensing only? If you guys have consultant pharmacists, maybe you could shadow one or something like that if you have any free time. I feel like experience with consulting work is always a good thing to have.

 

[Izanagi]

What state are you in? In many states, it would be illegal for a non-licensed pharmacy employee (tech, intern, or pharmacist) to be doing data entry.

Missouri. Perhaps I was mistaken about some workers not being licensed pharmacy employees, but I've glanced at our board with all the licenses pinned on it. I recognize most of the names on there, and all of them work in the dispensing room. Data entry is done outside of the dispensing room in these little office cubicles. I'd have to verify, though.

I should probably feel bad for not knowing all my coworkers, but my workplace is very corporate-like, and I don't interact a whole lot with the people outside of the pharmacy floor. ;__;

Whenever I would get bored at work (which pretty much never happens anymore but anyway), I would just ask my boss if he had any extra projects he wanted me to work on or if there was anything he needed help with. You could try something like that.

Also do they do the consulting work at this pharmacy or is it dispensing only? If you guys have consultant pharmacists, maybe you could shadow one or something like that if you have any free time. I feel like experience with consulting work is always a good thing to have.

I have a feeling that "extra projects" will just entail something like sorting blister cards in their facility bins, as I've seen him assign similar tasks to other technicians when they needed something to do. And since I mostly work evenings during the school year, they pretty much need me to work on cycle fills, as I'm the only one there during that time aside from the pharmacist.

Consulting as in providing patient consultations? I don't think so. My pharmacists will occasionally be on the phone with nurses to clarify scripts or directions for a patient, but that's about it.

 

[lord999]

No, one of the hardest concepts for me to get across to someone is about don't screw up a good job. Work well, make people (including your boss) happy, and depending on your ambitions:
1. Agree with others that maybe special projects may work (to the point of signing a non-compete and learning the business)
2. Occupy yourself with other matters
3. But don't stagnate or become too complacent

There is going to be plenty of time enough for even hospital work given that you're an entering P2. Don't worry about getting consultation/clinical experience, if you take your P3/P4 rotations seriously, you'll get enough of an introduction that you won't be incompetent.