For the upcoming Grads in SoCal
Started by blueclassring
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Not an upcoming grad but a 2010 grad. Recently started applying to work and surprisingly there are still jobs out here. Got called back for interviews at three places within a week of applying in the Los Angeles area. I see more job postings in the central CA area which I hope to tap into once my husband finishes his family medicine residency. (Just thinking ahead to if I nave to leave whatever job I get in L.A. and can't get back in to the job market down here due to way too many grads... we would relocate to somewhere with more jobs and central CA seems like the most likely candidate if we were to stay in CA.)
What type of positions were they? Retail sector or ?
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I am also interested in working back in CA but im going out of state for pharmacy school and im concerned that the hiring dept will prefer those from california. ive talked to some alums from my undergraduate school for networking but havent any luck yet. do you recommend I work over the summer in California so that the pharmacist-supervisor may eventually give me a job or at least recommend me to someone else. Also LA is very saturated with pharmacists but what about the thousand oaks/oxnard area - is that also saturated. I'd like to be close to LA as possible but im willing to go outside that area if necessary?
One retail, one inpatient central pharmacist, and one independent/home infusion. I was told I am getting looked at for the central pharmacist one only because I did my intern hours inpatient for 4 years (crazy how it's not even a clinical position so literally anyone from any background can do it, yet they say they won't look at someone who only has retail). Home infusions also care about inpatient experience.. But I also took a clerkship in home infusion and have the manager as a reference.
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Yes, working in CA for the summers is a fine idea. These days, who you know factors in considerably in getting a job. So many of my pharmacist friends got jobs through connections. Although, not sure how doing intern hours in a state outside the one you're licensed in works out i.e. Do you have to be intern licensed by CA to do an internship here.
thanks for the feedback. im new to this IPPE/summer jobs for out of state students stuff, could you give me some advice on what to do? based on some of the pharmacy conferences ive learned that who you know really helps, but i dont how to start (ie do i try to contact to alumni at my undergraduate/future pharmacy school?). dont know if this will help but for IPPE rotations for Purdue University half the class has the option of doing a 4 week block of IPPE rotation for two semesters in the 2nd year. I asked the IPPE director and she said you can do them anywhere in the US as long as you have an acceptable preceptor. with that said, im trying to look for a preceptor that can accomodate me but im worried being out of state will be a liability even though I have worked as a pharmacy technician in CA for the last 4 years.
i hope to hear from you soon.
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Your best bet would probably be to contact the IPPE director of the pharmacy school in CA in your area of interest to see if they can fit you in somewhere. I have never known of anyone from out of state coming in to do an IPPE rotation. Not sure if it's due to not enough spots or if schools of pharmacy / preceptors not willing to take them. At my school, it's not even an option to go out of state since we do our IPPE rotations during the academic year after class. If you are able to go out of state for 4 weeks to do IPPE though, it's worth a try. If it doesn't work out, then there's always 4th year clerkships / APPE rotations you can do out here. Having students from out-of-state schools at 4th year rotations here is relatively common. Good luck!
I spoke to a recruiter at a relief agency lately, and she says there is a lot of need in Central California at the moment. If you are looking into areas like Bakersfield, or Fresno there are still a great need there. Good luck
Haha yeah I noticed... I saw bunch of postings on the career section of different retail websites and had to look up the names of some of those cities. Sure enough, they were all up there in central california. Hopefully that need for pharmacists up there will linger around and people will continue to think they are too good to live in central california and refuse to work there.
Timing is also a factor in landing a job. People are in such a frenzy to get a job immediately after graduation, and rightfully so... which results in everyone signing on anywhere they can get. Nevertheless, a few months after graduation I have known of people who quit, go on maternity leave and never come back, or stop working two jobs... and that's when openings happen. Good luck to us all!
for Purdue you can do the IPPE rotations anywhere you want but for APPE rotations half are done in Indiana and the other half you have the option of doing in certain out of state areas (unfortunately none are in CA, the closest being an indian health reservation in Arizona). yeah Purdue has this 4 week IPPE option for half the class and then you come back to do 12 week classes. Purdue seems to be the opposite of most other schools when it comes IPPE/APPE rotation residency. thanks for pointing out about the IPPE director in CA. i will try to ask the USC IPPE director since i am an alum there and see what happens. any other advice would be greatly appreciated
if the LA job thing doesnt work out for me after graduation, i might work in central california. you could always hope for a 7 on 7 on-off schedule so you can spend you fun time somewhere else (no offense to anybody that is from central california, i happen to be from the modesto area myself). then hopefully with some work experience i can get a job in the LA/OC area.
