Jobs Hard to find in Southern CA?

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BH07

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Hey guys, i wanted to know with this type of economy, how hard is it to get a job in Southern California? I plan to go out of state for pharmacy school. will that have a disadvantage even if i have a license for pharmacy. I plan to go graduate from pharmacy school in 2015. do you think spots will open up that i can get a job in retail, hospital, etc. Any recommendations and hints will be greatly appreciated.
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BH07 said:
Hey guys, i wanted to know with this type of economy, how hard is it to get a job in Southern California? I plan to go out of state for pharmacy school. will that have a disadvantage even if i have a license for pharmacy. I plan to go graduate from pharmacy school in 2015. do you think spots will open up that i can get a job in retail, hospital, etc. Any recommendations and hints will be greatly appreciated.
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Well I just called my connection in the jobs bureau. He said there will be two hundred and three jobs in 2015 in southern california. So I think you'll be okay as long as you maintain a 4.0 :thumbup:
 
Seriously?

You're smart (at least you're supposed to be if you're going into pharmacy).

Think about it..

1. Are there pharmacists working in california?

2. Will some pharmacists retire, get sick, or die?

3. Will people buy more drugs in 2015 than they do now?

Think about it for a minute.
 
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Dear type b Pharm D,


my apologies if I was a little vague on my post but I wanted to know if you any hindsight on the job market in CA for pharmacists? Anything could change more pharmacy schools could open up, more pharmacy students coming to Cali. Does going to an out of state school give me an disadvantage?
 
BH07 said:
Dear type b Pharm D,


my apologies if I was a little vague on my post but I wanted to know if you any hindsight on the job market in CA for pharmacists? Anything could change more pharmacy schools could open up, more pharmacy students coming to Cali. Does going to an out of state school give me an disadvantage?
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I think so. Getting jobs in my experience is all about connections. If you go to school in california and properly hedge your bets and make great connections with people you work with, networking at conferences, rotations, local meetings, etc, you will stand a good chance of getting a job because a lot of students dont do any of this. If you go out of state, you will be competing against all the students who have had face time with the managers and recruiters in california. A lot of jobs arent advertised or offered to students, they are just given to interns who are already working at a company or known personally to the manager or recruiter. If you live in cali, you can be one of those people.

California still has one of the biggest pharmacist shortages according to manpower, however these jobs are located in eastern and northern california, not Southern or coastal california. So your chances of getting a job in CALI are pretty dece regardless of where you go to school, but from people on this board's chatter - jobs in southern california number less than the number of students. So there are not jobs for everyone.. And if there arent jobs for all the students there, there certainly wont be a lot of jobs for out of state students.

Stay in Cali, make great connections, network, and pick a career field early (p1 or even before), and impress some people, and you'll be fine.

Out of state, you're going to have to work a lot harder
 
BH07 said:
Hey guys, i wanted to know with this type of economy, how hard is it to get a job in Southern California? I plan to go out of state for pharmacy school. will that have a disadvantage even if i have a license for pharmacy. I plan to go graduate from pharmacy school in 2015. do you think spots will open up that i can get a job in retail, hospital, etc. Any recommendations and hints will be greatly appreciated.
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sorry, but u're a bit too late...should have grad before 2009...no jobs for you ahead in South california..
 
Thanks for the reply type B pharm D. Since you mention I should stay in Cali, what if i get accepted to a brand new pharmacy school in CA and a top 10 pharmacy ranking out of state school (UT-austin, unc, buffalo, washington). Should i still go to the brand new pharmacy school or will the brand name of the other top out of state schools can help me somewhat.
 
You should listen to type b. Type b gives good and rational advice. MEET PEOPLE IN YOUR PROFESSION and don't be a d-bag. Yes, I'm a P1, but I have a Bachelor's and have lots of work experience outside of pharmacy...

Can't stress enough not to be a d-bag.
 
BH07 said:
Thanks for the reply type B pharm D. Since you mention I should stay in Cali, what if i get accepted to a brand new pharmacy school in CA and a top 10 pharmacy ranking out of state school (UT-austin, unc, buffalo, washington). Should i still go to the brand new pharmacy school or will the brand name of the other top out of state schools can help me somewhat.
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what is the difference if you wont have a job after graduation? top school and bad school = same outcome
 
willrocks said:
^ Guessing you didn't go to a good school.
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you're rite...i went to a bad school, but i got a job that even if u go to a good school...you won't be able to get it..
 
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To the ppl that replied to my post, thanks a lot. Im not saying that if i get into a good pharmacy school i will be guaranteed a job in a certain place. (nothing is guaranteed anyhow). I just wanted to get advice from ppl about what i should i do. I am in the process of applying to pharmacy schools this fall and wanted to get some info. I hope to hear from more ppl about what they think. thanks in advance.
 
BH07 said:
To the ppl that replied to my post, thanks a lot. Im not saying that if i get into a good pharmacy school i will be guaranteed a job in a certain place. (nothing is guaranteed anyhow). I just wanted to get advice from ppl about what i should i do. I am in the process of applying to pharmacy schools this fall and wanted to get some info. I hope to hear from more ppl about what they think. thanks in advance.
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rxforlife2004 has a tendency to rant nonstop about the same thing in everyone's posts, so dont take that too personally.

If it was me... and i wanted to work retail (not all bad btw), I would go to the new cali school. If hospital, pharma, nuclear, or clinical, I would wait and go to a better ranked cali school. I imagine there are still *ways* to get into CA from out of state (working for certain companies etc), but that would present a more circuitous path. I chose a company to intern for based on the fact that they have plentiful locations in my home state, so I will face a decent chance of transferring back sometime in my career.

Yeah... how is your application looking? Will you get into any established CA schools? What about ones that have candidate status ? (as opposed to precandidate) .. Cause if you work REALLY hard i imagine you'll have a chance.

Of course you could always go to a high ranked out of state school and kick a lot of ass.

Or take a job in rural california, kick some ass, and transfer to the coast (maybe your best bet??).

I dont know how often transfers occur in different companies, but both chains I have worked for allowed transferring pretty easily if there was an opening.
 
hey type b Pharm D. my stats are 3.7 cum gpa, 3.8 sci gpa, 100 hours of pharmacy experience, no bachelor degree unfortunatley (im short on money, thats why im trying to go to out of state public schools). So im hoping on getting to UCSF (yeah i know its a long shot lol). they told me that bachelor degree is not required but helps a lot, so im hoping my GPA and pharmacy experience gets me through the interview. if not, ill just go ask out of state and hope for the best.
 
I graduated from out of state and got a job in southern california.
 
Hey ngmc11, do you know if the job finding was difficult to do as an out of state student. If you dont mind me asking where you went to pharmacy school? did they help with your job search or did you find some connections.
 
ngmc11 said:
I graduated from out of state and got a job in southern california.
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Yes, please share your words of wisdom to us future fellow pharmacists about how you got your job in southern cal! Did you feel like your grades helped you, or was it more about who you knew/intern experience? Thanks!!!
 
I am from out of state too, and got a job in south cal. I got it by dropping off a resume when I shop at my local CVS...

BetseyJohnson said:
Yes, please share your words of wisdom to us future fellow pharmacists about how you got your job in southern cal! Did you feel like your grades helped you, or was it more about who you knew/intern experience? Thanks!!!
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