I can't find a summer internship

[MatCauthon]

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[rxforlife2004]

sorry ....tough time here...our pharmacy golden time has probably been gone.......

 

[heatherkmd]

I was in the same boat. No retail experience.....a year later it is very different....Last summer I had to do my Retail Externship after my P-1 year and they ended up asking me to stay on after I made a good impression. Don't you have to do a month long-160 hour externship this summer? If so...take advantage of it! Good luck. There is hope!

 

[ItsOverZyvox]

I am a P1 and I am having an extremely hard time finding an internship for the summer. I didn't have any tech experience before school which is also making this process difficult.

I have already been rejected by almost 10 companies. The only offer I got was from a hospital that would let me intern for no wages (due to the hiring freeze). I have interviewed well in most of my interviews, based on my conversations with the hiring managers after the interview.

I keep getting the same answer: due to the economy we have reduced or elliminated our pharmacy internships. The ones that will hire, have passed over me for my classmates that already had tech experience. Since there were less jobs to begin with this year, there just hasn't been enough to go around. The P2 students also compounded the situation because they stayed in their same internships from last year because they were also having a hard time finding other work.

Apparently, most of my classmates are having the same problem. Does anyone have any suggestions? I wouldn't be overly worried, but this economy has put a lot of fear in the employers. Corporate is going crazy with job cuts and hiring freezes right now.

Look at the situation logically. You have 2 options.

1. Keep Looking for an internship you won't find.
2. Take the volunteer position and work your ass off while keep looking for an internship that will pay you.

It's quite simple actually.

But let me tell you... pharmacy interns - PharmD students are a dime a dozen and nothing special, sorry.

 

[Old Timer]

Go find an old fashioned independent pharmacist near where you live. Tell them what's going on. I'll bet they let you work for free. If they have any heart and you work your ass off, they will eventually pay you. If not, you will have at least learned something....

 

[bacillus1]

I guess actual "internships" are hard to find nowadays (and I haven't gotten any answers from the 2 I applied for) but you could always work as a pharmacy intern at a retail chain or a hospital (or as a tech if in your state interns aren't till P2). The main criterion for you to land that kind of job is to be able to stay once summer is over for basically every other weekend. These positions most likely won't be taking applications until March or April.

 

[nikkai]

1. AHRQ Summer Internship

Of I were younger, I would love to jump on this =)

2. Astellas Pharma US has several available internship positions:

Bioanalytical/ Biomarker, Biostatistics Intern
Clinical Studies Intern
Finance/ Accounting Intern
Medical Information Intern

 

[67echo]

Look at the situation logically. You have 2 options.

1. Keep Looking for an internship you won't find.
2. Take the volunteer position and work your ass off while keep looking for an internship that will pay you.

It's quite simple actually.

But let me tell you... pharmacy interns - PharmD students are a dime a dozen and nothing special, sorry.

seconded...

 

[Sevarious]

I could not find an internship during my first two summers in pharmacy school. I wound up working in a lab at the college and getting some research experience. When I finally landed an intern job I wound up working my posterior off through summers, the school year, breaks and rotations to get all the hours I needed so I could take the boards on time. I even offered to work for free but the local hospital would not take me.

If I were you, and my financial situation allowed it, I'd take the hospital position and work full-time for free for a summer. It will give you experience and, depending on the state you are in, may even fulfill your hour requirements.

 

[bacillus1]

Look at the situation logically. You have 2 options.

1. Keep Looking for an internship you won't find.
2. Take the volunteer position and work your ass off while keep looking for an internship that will pay you.

It's quite simple actually.

But let me tell you... pharmacy interns - PharmD students are a dime a dozen and nothing special, sorry.

I'd personally do nothing and not get paid then work my ass of and not get paid. I don't see the glory of free labor (unless it's alternative spring break or something like that). I'm sure you'll get the "experience" to become a good pharmacist before you graduate, especially since IPPEs are required now.
If you need the money, take another paid job in something you like that's not pharmacy related, if you can find one of those.

If you do need the extra hours, working a few hours during the school year will get those done (those jobs are easier to come by), esp. if you land an internship after your P2 since you'll be more competitive.

 

[ItsOverZyvox]

I'd personally do nothing and not get paid then work my ass of and not get paid. I don't see the glory of free labor (unless it's alternative spring break or something like that). I'm sure you'll get the "experience" to become a good pharmacist before you graduate, especially since IPPEs are required now.
If you need the money, take another paid job in something you like that's not pharmacy related, if you can find one of those.

If you do need the extra hours, working a few hours during the school year will get those done (those jobs are easier to come by), esp. if you land an internship after your P2 since you'll be more competitive.

Suit yourself.

But your classmate who did work his/her ass off for free will more than likely get an offer for a paying intern job while you'll be still hustling for intern hours.

 

[ngmc11]

The national organizations typically have internships that pay as well.

 

[lesphoques]

Are you just trying to get a certain number of state-required intern hours done?? Maybe it's just possible to do the hours working as a volunteer? I'm sure it would be much easier if you offered to work for no money than it would be expecting an intern salary.

 

[JamesL1585]

1. AHRQ Summer Internship

Of I were younger, I would love to jump on this =)

2. Astellas Pharma US has several available internship positions:

Bioanalytical/ Biomarker, Biostatistics Intern
Clinical Studies Intern
Finance/ Accounting Intern
Medical Information Intern

Thanks so much for this! (Plus, I think you were the only one who gave a non-smartass answer!) Thanks!

 

[shal]

Four years ago I was in a similar situation. I didn't have any tech experience and most of the jobs were offered to those with tech or clerk pharmacy experience. I ended up calling all the pharmacies in the nearby area and ended up working for an independent with minimal pay. In the mean time, I was able to find another job with twice the pay. One of my friends with no experience also found a job by calling around.
So take what you have available and continue looking. Its most important that you get the experience that you need.

 

[grizzlesgrizzlies]

if you can't find a summer internship in the pharmacy this year, it's not the end of the world. either take advantage of your time (if you have money i'd say travel) or just try to learn/do things on your own time.

i wasn't working in a pharmacy one summer but i had a non-pharmacy part time job which i worked, but at the same time i didn't put that time to waste because i started reading books. i'd read self-help, and personal finance books.

honestly with the exception of today's economy, you will have the rest of your life to work. of course try to get a pharmacy job if you can, and if not, i say use some of that free time to develop yourself in other areas. there's more to life than pharmacy

 

[BMBiology]

One of my friends with no experience also found a job by calling around.

Man, I dressed up and went around introducing myself and passing out my resume. Now that is desperate! But, it worked.

 

[Vitamin K]

When I was P1, I had the same issue. At least around here, employers only want 2nd or 3rd year interns. I ended up having to take a job 6 hours from where I lived just to get some summer work. The way I see it, you have 2 options (assuming you NEED a job - some students don't work summers):

1) Put in as many applications as you can, including online and in cities outside of where you currently live (maybe your local area is saturated..try a place with no pharmacy school locally) and follow up on ALL of them.

2) Get a job that's not pharmacy-related with a company that has a pharmacy. That's what I did with Costco. I worked as a boxer for a few months and stopped by the pharmacy regularly. They eventually offered me position as an intern.

It's definitely hard as a P1, and it was that way even before this whole economic downturn. But...there ARE jobs to be found. They just take a little more work!

 

[Ross434]

sorry ....tough time here...our pharmacy golden time has probably been gone.......

our pharmacy golden time has probably not even arrived yet. Think of the future !

 

[dangerdog]

our pharmacy golden time has probably not even arrived yet. Think of the future !

Where's everyone at? Here in Columbus, OH, it's super easy to get an intern position. Companies/stores send e-mail to OSU college of pharmacy to beg for interns on weekly basis. Walgreen/CVS/Kroger/Walmart/small companies, you name it, take your pick. Once in, take part in their summer internship or not is up to you. Those e-mail do stop once summer starts as everyone try to pick up hours. So you gota get them the the middle of the school year.

The only hard ones to get are the hospital internships. Got to study hard, send out lots of applications early. Sent out 6 applications to all the local hospitals and waited more than a year... then one day in P2 they called me up, they wanted 2 interns to staff the ED satellite! SCORE!!! A summer of training, and here I am, going on traumas and codes. I love this job! 😍

 

[Ross434]

Where's everyone at? Here in Columbus, OH, it's super easy to get an intern position. Companies/stores send e-mail to OSU college of pharmacy to beg for interns on weekly basis. Walgreen/CVS/Kroger/Walmart/small companies, you name it, take your pick. Once in, take part in their summer internship or not is up to you. Those e-mail do stop once summer starts as everyone try to pick up hours. So you gota get them the the middle of the school year.

The only hard ones to get are the hospital internships. Got to study hard, send out lots of applications early. Sent out 6 applications to all the local hospitals and waited more than a year... then one day in P2 they called me up, they wanted 2 interns to staff the ED satellite! SCORE!!! A summer of training, and here I am, going on traumas and codes. I love this job! 😍

nice!

 

[ethyl]

I'm surprised the threadstarter couldn't at least get an internship at CVS. Their program practically lets an unlimited number of interns enter their stores for the summer. Your first ~25 hours are paid by corporate and not taken out of the store's hours... so everyone looooves having an intern because it's like having a free extra hand. The problem may be that they can't find you a store nearby or your hour availability. Open up to traveling ~30-45 min to another district and having a completely open schedule and they should find you a store.

 

[museabuse]

I'm surprised the threadstarter couldn't at least get an internship at CVS. Their program practically lets an unlimited number of interns enter their stores for the summer. Your first ~25 hours are paid by corporate and not taken out of the store's hours... so everyone looooves having an intern because it's like having a free extra hand. The problem may be that they can't find you a store nearby or your hour availability. Open up to traveling ~30-45 min to another district and having a completely open schedule and they should find you a store.

We were told that corporate is not paying for intern hours any more and they come out of your store budget...
maybe cause their not hurting for pharmacists anymore, and their tightning up cause of the economy. I know they are all over us about budgeted tech hours and they don't like it even when you go over by a couple of hours. Never used to be that way. Only the last couple of months.

 

[museabuse]

I am a P1 and I am having an extremely hard time finding an internship for the summer. I didn't have any tech experience before school which is also making this process difficult.
.

I don't feel sorry for you. It blew my mind how many people in my pharmacy class never set foot in a pharmacy. You are going to fork over 100,000 dollars for an education for a career you have no experience in when it was so easy to get a job as tech part time while you were doing your pre reqs to see if you actually like the job. You probably heard about how much pharmacists make and jumped head first into finishing school as soon as you can so you can buy your beamer. Awesome.
Ok maybe thats not you but that is a lot of students...
So my advise for you is to go to pharmacies and tell them you are willing to work the hours nobody wants... like every weeknd and friday and saturday nights. You might have more luck with that approach. I know interns who are complaining they don't have enough hours but when someone calls in sick or you ask them to work friday night they say no friday night is the only night I have to hang out. I know during school I worked 10 hours on friday and saturday because I knew I wouldn't be studying then... sometimes you need to sacrafise the social life for experience and money.