Negotiating Intern Pay

[pharm B]

Does anyone know if the big chains (CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, etc) allow interns to negotiate pay? I'm wondering if there is a corporate budget that decrees that each P1 intern will be paid X, each P2 will be paid Y, and so on, with no variation, or if there is some wiggle room.

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[owlegrad]

Does anyone know if the big chains (CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, etc) allow interns to negotiate pay? I'm wondering if there is a corporate budget that decrees that each P1 intern will be paid X, each P2 will be paid Y, and so on, with no variation, or if there is some wiggle room.

I don't know any interns in my area that wiggled up to a higher pay at CVS - 1 PD's got 12/hr, 2 PD's got 13/hr (I think). It was set in stone as far as I know. This is for the summer intern program - might have been different if we were talking about year round employment, I don't know.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

Does anyone know if the big chains (CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, etc) allow interns to negotiate pay? I'm wondering if there is a corporate budget that decrees that each P1 intern will be paid X, each P2 will be paid Y, and so on, with no variation, or if there is some wiggle room.

Where I am, the intern payscales are structured. You get paid based on number of hours you have worked or what year in school you are in. With the economy and the number of interns desperate to get some hours, chains have no incentive to pay you more. Heck, when I am gone, my store will not be taking another intern.

Many of the underclassmen had hard time finding sites to fulfill their unpaid hour requirement let alone finding paid work!

 

[NormalSaline]

Does anyone know if the big chains (CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, etc) allow interns to negotiate pay? I'm wondering if there is a corporate budget that decrees that each P1 intern will be paid X, each P2 will be paid Y, and so on, with no variation, or if there is some wiggle room.

You'll get what everyone else in your district gets based solely upon what year in school you are. I worked in about 4 different districts in different states throughout school. The only thing you might be able to finagle is if your home district pays more than where you go to school (for instance) you may be able to work as a "borrowed" employee so you dont get a pay decrease in a different location. At best I had 50/50 luck with this.

 

[CUpharmD2013]

I'm pretty sure that CVS in my area pays you based on your year in pharmacy school. In any event, I don't think that an intern has much leverage for requesting a higher pay rate. The only exception that I could see is if you have multiple offers that are relatively close and you're an outstanding candidate. In this case, one employer may bump their offer up a slight bit to entice you to work for them instead of a competitor.

 

[PharMed2016]

Does anyone know if the big chains (CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, etc) allow interns to negotiate pay? I'm wondering if there is a corporate budget that decrees that each P1 intern will be paid X, each P2 will be paid Y, and so on, with no variation, or if there is some wiggle room.

In my district, its according to your year in school. Pay raise ($1.50) in 4 months!

 

[IndustryPharmD]

At retail chains, it's by year in school and by region. So, if you happen to live on the border of two regions, it may make sense to ask which one pays more - but there aren't many such areas and you wouldn't know how country is carved up unless you worked there (and asked your pharmacy manager). And for interns, it's unlikely the difference will be more than 50 cents, if that.

 

[fuCl]

Pay will depend on your market, even within the same company. I make a very different wage than those who are from the market my school is in. My experience with negotiations have been more concerned with special intern hours that do not come out of a store's technician budget. That has proven more lucrative than a a few more dollars an hour.