The interview depends on the pharmacy manager, but a lot of my friends also applied to neighboring Kaisers and they all said their interviews were also very laid back and informal. You just talk about yourself a little and go over what your responsibilities are and what your schedule might be like.
I'm a first year student, so this is my first intern position. I volunteered at Alta Bates hospital (inpatient as well) when I was an undergrad, but I don't think really made much of a difference at all in my hiring. They are very flexible with their hours, as I usually work just one shift a week (8.5hrs) and sometimes two shifts if I'm not near exams. But I know of some Kaisers that require at least two shifts a week though, so it depends on your pharmacy manager again. I know this is true at Kaiser SF. Also, outpatient at Kaiser is a little more strict on how many hours you have to work. Depending on the Kaiser you end up working at, it can be pretty busy but I'd rather be busy and learning rather than working at a lower volume pharmacy and having lulls in my work day. The one thing I sort of don't like so far is that I tend to learn more from the senior techs rather than the pharmacists since the pharmacists are so busy with the docs and nurses, but I think that will change this summer.
The pay is very good, I think, for an intern. Base pay is 19/hr and you can earn time and a half for overtime hours, which I have gotten a lot of opportunities to earn, especially on the weekends when techs tend to call in sick. 🙂 As an intern, I would try to find something that doesn't force you to work more than twice a week, because thats a lot to handle with a full school load, but thats just me. I'm sure there are some students that handle lots of intern hours and do fine in school as well, so it depends on you I suppose. Hope that helps.
