Heard from some areas/districts that CVS is no longer hiring pharmacy interns. Must feel they are a waste of money since many don't stay with the company and they have to pay them more. Wondered if this is chain wide or a local practice. Ah, the oversupply cometh.
CVS not hiring interns
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Nobody's hiring here that I know of.
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hiring freezes here for all retail places too.
edit: hospitals, LTC, nuclear are still hiring interns so it may be a function of the consumer spending economy or something
edit: hospitals, LTC, nuclear are still hiring interns so it may be a function of the consumer spending economy or something
Also, heard they are phasing out the full time floaters and hiring the grads for 20 or so hours per weeks with no benefits on a per diem basis. Again, not sure if this is just a local/district/area thing.
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why hire if you get students for free doing ippe there. lol
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this is exactly right. with that said CVS did hire interns from my school at a recent career fair.
In my market CVS hires interns, and has offered each of them employment including the class of 2011. That said, I don't believe anyone is very disappointed either.
When I hear certain markets of a $97B/yr corporation initiating hiring freezes for $15/hr interns I believe it speaks to the poor quality of the management in that market. For a company such as CVS/Caremark to remain competitive they need people. People have to be number one. One of the barriers is the mindset of the management who lived and survived the staffing shortages over the past 10 years- they know they have to put bodies in holes, and that is how they operate... once the holes are filled, they don't need any more bodies.
Unfortunately, many aren't focusing on the development of new talent. Many markets are not leveraging the talent of interns because the staffing crisis is over and getting professionals with licenses is easier. The focus shouldn't be entirely on individuals with a license, but acquiring and grooming individuals who are in line with the company's values as well.
I have met district managers that despise pharmacists due to their personal experiences during staffing crises- It's unfortunate, because those attitudes will stand as barriers to the development of the best talent for that market.
When I hear certain markets of a $97B/yr corporation initiating hiring freezes for $15/hr interns I believe it speaks to the poor quality of the management in that market. For a company such as CVS/Caremark to remain competitive they need people. People have to be number one. One of the barriers is the mindset of the management who lived and survived the staffing shortages over the past 10 years- they know they have to put bodies in holes, and that is how they operate... once the holes are filled, they don't need any more bodies.
Unfortunately, many aren't focusing on the development of new talent. Many markets are not leveraging the talent of interns because the staffing crisis is over and getting professionals with licenses is easier. The focus shouldn't be entirely on individuals with a license, but acquiring and grooming individuals who are in line with the company's values as well.
I have met district managers that despise pharmacists due to their personal experiences during staffing crises- It's unfortunate, because those attitudes will stand as barriers to the development of the best talent for that market.
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Have no fear! As long as there are fools like Rxnupe they will always have enough brain dead people to fill the holes. CVS isn't interested in building talent. They want little brain washed robots who think the high point of practicing pharmacy is filling 1000 rx's a day as fast as possible with as little help as possible.
owlegrad
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My goodness, do you think IPPE students are good for anything? That is pretty optimistic. There is no way you can replace experienced staff with IPPE students - at best it is break even, in truth it actually takes more time to have the students at your site.
Edit: I should have prefaced that with: In my experience...
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Depending on where you are in school, even the IPPE students could most likely take new scripts and do a majority of counseling and OTC recs. Just doing those two things is very helpful especially when the labor is free. I know keeping the students doing just these two tasks sacrifices their overall learning experience but big chain retail is not going to lose a wink of sleep over it. If the IPPE students are immunization certified and can do the majority of influenza and pneumonia, then they are really helping you out!
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I always forget students in some other states are allowed to do that. OK all your points are fair, but lets face it IPPE students are only with you a short time and it takes time to train them to do anything. You couldn't replace well trained staff with IPPE students. At least I can't imagine doing so, if anyone has had success doing so I would love to hear about it.
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I agree with you, no way they will replace a well trained intern but chain may not care, they would rather save on labor and have the IPPE just do a few tasks. Take the money saved on the intern wages and bring in more tech hours or just cut those hours altogether and DM may get closer to bonus point.
Just like Mountain pointed out with stores staffing with 2 part-time 20 hour no benefit pharmacists instead of a fulltime. I am seeing this with one of the chains I intern for from time to time. Personally, I think patietns would be better served by the continuiity of one pharmacist 40hr/week serving them and running the store but corporate does not care they want the flexibility and lower cost of 2 no benefit part timers. I agree with Mountain, I think retail will see much more of this. Similar to what a lot of dentists to with dental hygienists, they have 2-3 that fill the hours in a chair and pay them hourly with no benefits.
This Flu season one of the chains took as many ippe students as they could get and used them all for free immunization labor, staffing pharmacies and flu clinics. Students are essentially free outside of training time.
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I didn't do my IPPE at CVS, but I did spend mine running the cash register for 8 hours a day (oh joy), so I guess IPPE students are good for some free labor.
in my district they are still hiring interns, but u can't hire them at the store level. They are hired by corporate.
All the PT floaters by me have been temporarily "put on hold" til further notice. Nothing in advance, they all just received an email out of nowhere saying that as of the following they are no longer needed. Just a lil unprofessional IMO.
All the PT floaters by me have been temporarily "put on hold" til further notice. Nothing in advance, they all just received an email out of nowhere saying that as of the following they are no longer needed. Just a lil unprofessional IMO.
The intern hiring freeze maybe district/region/area preference. friends told phasing out ft floaters and using the new hires to travel the world for 24 hours per week. why pay benefits and guarentee someone 40 hrs per week to float since there are always a few weeks that you don't have a hole for them to fill. God forbid they waste money on any overlap.
Rxsnoopy should be able to shed some light on this.
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CVS was at our intern fair a few weeks ago and they appear to be hiring a decent number of interns.
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I am prepared to hire. Any first or second professional year students looking for a job in the Philadelphia market, you can send me a PM. This is bunk. Students will graduate this year and they need to be replaced...
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CVS is hiring in my city currently.
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Hmm, I'm noticing a pattern where places are hiring 1st and 2nd year interns rather than 3rd and 4th years. I guess its because P3s and P4s would be graduating sooner and they aren't looking to hire them as pharmacists?
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more likely because p1's and p2's will have more time to train and get experienced
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yeah you basically become unhirable past P2, you graduate too soon.
I also agree with OldTimer, my inpatient site is hiring like half a dozen interns to replace those graduating. Also in Philadelphia, a totally impacted market with 3 schools within a 10 mile radius or so.
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What?? we were told specifically (re: community IPPE) that we couldn't go near the cash register, and to report to our school if we were being used for menial labor on a consistent basis (ie so no cash register, stocking the orders, or filling 100% of the time, maybe occasionally for educational purposes).
sounds like you got shafted/your school wasn't doing proper QA on these sites.
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Yeah places are hiring, but what do you actually have to do to have them look at your application?
When I was at the end of P2, I called one hospital like 3 times. Apparently their hiring process went through HR. She kept saying she'd look at my app but she never did. End of P2 was too late? Why can't it just be simple, where you send your resume/coverletter, and they then call the most qualified applicants for interviews a few weeks later? Why do you have to call and bother people several times a week for a month to get noticed (only to be given a job offer 6 months later when about to go on rotations, so basically too late?
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The store I am thinking of has 2 students in the 5th year ready to go on rotation in May so they need to be replaced. It's better to get someone who will be with you for several years.
The job market is very tight right now, but I am optimistic that both of these kids will get offers next year.
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Note, my response is going to be institution specific, YMMV elsewhere. End of P2 is pretty late, realistically it takes about 2 months to get from hired to on the floor working (drug tests, BG check, child/elder abuse clearances, orientation, extensive training, etc...) So the latest we will take is 2nd semester P2 since that effectively gives us one full summer and all of P3 before said student goes on rotation.
If we hire at start of P3, you'll get 6-8 months of usable (but non-FT) time before said student goes on rotation (and they change to weekend only availability). That's tough, you need them during the week (during their vacations/etc...) to train. At that point, it's not worth it, you're investing hours and hours training and only getting 6 months out of a student? If I were hiring, I'd rather hire a P1/P2 and get >2x usable/non-rotation time for the same amount of training.
In terms of applying, calling some place you applied to 3x is a bit overkill. Sometimes they'll solicit interns before a budget is in place to pay for them, it's really a timing issue vs. whether you're qualified or not (you're an intern, unless you drool during the interview and/or insult someone, everyone's qualified just the same). I did one follow-up email 3 weeks after submitting and that was that. DOP's/HR people are busy.
As for your other questions, welcome to the real world, this is how hiring works at every place I've either been hired/not called back from or did the hiring for. We don't give a crap about you, you are disposable and not a part of our company, therefore we aren't going to conform to your expectations on when we should call you back, etc... we'll send rejection emails if we feel like it.
Also, those positions might not even exist in the first place, those doing the hiring might already have candidates in mind that applied "behind the counter" by in-house referral or other query. Our experiential director would send us emails saying this-or-that hospital is hiring and to email so-and-so -- I'd go to check online and there would be a listing there, but was told to just email directly.
Hope that gives you insight.
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So sad, but true 🙁 (not singling you out Rxnupe...just don't believe the hype, man!)
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I know a few pharmacy managers who will no longer hire pharmacy interns because they are not satisfied with the interns' approach to work and would rather hire techs. The reasons given, in the order of importance:
- scheduling headache: never available when you need them and always asking for time off for exams (that's strange for me to hear because when I was an intern, we were responsible for finding our own coverage; here interns just call out a couple hours before their shift is supposed to start, that will dampen anyone's enthusiasm)
- more supervision required (some interns think they know a lot more than they really do know, and you have to listen to them constantly lest they tell a customer something completely off the wall wrong)
- cost more
- don't stick around for vacations and/or post graduation
And now there are simply hours being cut across whole districts, so stores have to cut existing personnel, not hire new help. Kind of sad... just recently at a CE session all the talk was about how much pharmacy has changed in the last ten years.
- scheduling headache: never available when you need them and always asking for time off for exams (that's strange for me to hear because when I was an intern, we were responsible for finding our own coverage; here interns just call out a couple hours before their shift is supposed to start, that will dampen anyone's enthusiasm)
- more supervision required (some interns think they know a lot more than they really do know, and you have to listen to them constantly lest they tell a customer something completely off the wall wrong)
- cost more
- don't stick around for vacations and/or post graduation
And now there are simply hours being cut across whole districts, so stores have to cut existing personnel, not hire new help. Kind of sad... just recently at a CE session all the talk was about how much pharmacy has changed in the last ten years.
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One of our IPPE preceptors is an indy pharmacy owner who tells these bright-eyed and bushy-tailed P1's that if they've never worked in a pharmacy before, he'll probably have them on the register until he's comfortable they know it, and then they'll progress up from there.
He's got an awesome rotation, but he makes sure his interns know the work flow from top to bottom.
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See I disagree with that within the context of an IPPE...at my institution (and should be at others as well), that's 84 contact hours over one semester. I can understand for employment purposes you stick a FT person on register for a week (40 hours), but the point of the whole IPPE thing was to get a student exposed to every single aspect of the pharmacy within the allotted time, not play hardball to see if they're competent (they're not, they're P1's that don't know anything, c'mon).
That preceptor is doing a disservice to the student and school. I'd be pissed if I got stuck on a register the whole time, I'm paying the school $$$ to be exposed to billing, compounding (if applicable), workflow, counseling technique, and other aspects. If I'm incompetent, then teach me, don't put me on a cash register until I "improve."
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Man that's annoying, my supervisor assigns shifts, we interns cover them ourselves. Rarely has anyone called out for exams (psh, it's only an 8 hour work day, there's 16 others that day, and chances are you'll be on FB half the time anyway), you screw other people over and your chances of getting your shifts covered when you ask next time if you do that = nil
But yes, interns are a "losing proposition" on the ledger but it's more "professional altruism" than anything (though I'd argue not because you don't pay interns benefits nor do they generally accrue sick days/vacation). I'd think it would be my duty to assist in the training of interns when I start practicing, even if that pays dividends down the road for another institution.
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We were told that if we are being used as techs for our IPPE, we need to inform our instructor. Right now we are at a LTC and working directly with patients so it doesn't apply. But, I go to my second IPPE this summer up in Flagstaff where I will be working outpatient at a hospital. I hope they don't just put me at the front the whole time. When I did my shadowing at Campus Health this week I just jumped on in and helped out since I have worked community pharmacy before. But I heard some other students had really boring days for shadowing and just stood around all day... Guess I got lucky. I sorta missed community pharmacy but telling women to use extra protection when they are on antibiotics gets old after a while 😀 It was sort of like this... azithromycin, BC, codeine/guaifenesin, azithromycin, BC, BC, BC, lexapro, BC, amoxicillin, BC, amoxicillin, codeine/promethazine, azithromycin, azithromycin....
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I worked at CVS as a tech before I got into pharmacy school and then as an IPPE and APPE rotational student since I couldn't rotate at my own company.
So... One day my preceptor was so desperate to cover a night shift that she asked me to come in later the following day to cover for an employee.
Sorry Owlegrad, but it does in fact happen!
Although, it wasn't a big deal, because I enjoyed "working" for her. And at the end of the rotation she gave me a $25 restaurant gift card that I used on my birthday.
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Speak for yourself Mountain My store that does 4400 a week we have 395 tech hours even after losing 30 tech hours that still plenty of techs hours to get the job done- take up your tech budget hours with your Supervisor and stop whining or better yet just quit- oh I forgot you don't even work for the company but yet you know the exact hours each store is given- lol. For someone who despises the company and doesn't even work for them you sure have a lot of concern about the company.
I know this is happening alot in the Boston metro area. Alot of my friends from Northeastern got hired as full time, but the positions/hours are soooo limited that they float and rarely get enough hours to even be considered a part time even. They tell me that they feel like its more of a per diem position cause they only work 6-8 hours a week and that their district managers and supervisors refuse to change their status from full time to per diem.
