once a floater, always a floater

[sosoo]

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just a rant,
sometimes i feel bad being stuck with a floater position. i/ve been a floater for 1.5 years since graduation, and i was an intern few years before that. but to date my supervisor still dont have a store for me. they have stores for new grads, ppl who never work retails, etc. but for someone who work fast n efficient, years of experience, and pick up last minute sick calls whenever i'm needed, i just dont know what my supervisor is thinking. and yes a lot of his stores are super challenged. one of which ranked bottom in the region with only a handful of stores performing worst. i feel like i could turn that bottom of the ladder store around after floating there. it sucks that my years of experience are underutilized. my previous supervisor promised a particular store for me but she got transferred before that happen and im now stuck being a floater.

 

[Skrumpy]

just a rant,
sometimes i feel bad being stuck with a floater position. i/ve been a floater for 1.5 years since graduation, and i was an intern few years before that. but to date my supervisor still dont have a store for me. they have stores for new grads, ppl who never work retails, etc. but for someone who work fast n efficient, years of experience, and pick up last minute sick calls whenever i'm needed, i just dont know what my supervisor is thinking. and yes a lot of his stores are super challenged. one of which ranked bottom in the region with only a handful of stores performing worst. i feel like i could turn that bottom of the ladder store around after floating there. it sucks that my years of experience are underutilized. my previous supervisor promised a particular store for me but she got transferred before that happen and im now stuck being a floater.

Maybe because you are "good and efficient" and that is hard to find in floaters. Did you talk to your supervisor and explain the situation? Telling them you'd take on a challenged store should get their ears to perk up.. not many people are willing to do that.

 

[npage148]

I was a pt floater (25 hours/months) and wanted to go full time. Had my pick of 3 stores or the option of continuing to float

 

[crazybob]

Supervisors can't always put you in a store just because you want one. They have to consult with a lot of people to get that to happen.

 

[GodsSon2011]

just a rant,
sometimes i feel bad being stuck with a floater position. i/ve been a floater for 1.5 years since graduation, and i was an intern few years before that. but to date my supervisor still dont have a store for me. they have stores for new grads, ppl who never work retails, etc. but for someone who work fast n efficient, years of experience, and pick up last minute sick calls whenever i'm needed, i just dont know what my supervisor is thinking. and yes a lot of his stores are super challenged. one of which ranked bottom in the region with only a handful of stores performing worst. i feel like i could turn that bottom of the ladder store around after floating there. it sucks that my years of experience are underutilized. my previous supervisor promised a particular store for me but she got transferred before that happen and im now stuck being a floater.

your not aggressive enough. You should demanding this weekly until he gives you a store..

1.5 years?? there is another issue your not telling us. I was a floater for 3 1/2 months and I only asked after I was a floater for 3 months..

 

[Ackj]

You're probably not being vocal enough about it. From my experience, DMs like having floaters they can count on, and unless you're telling him "no" he is more than happy to have you. I would rather have a great pharmacist go around and fill in at a variety of stores and make small improvements here and there, than have a terrible floater who goes around ruining all of the good stores and making the problem stores worse.

 

[moviesarecool]

If you don't know what your supervisor is thinking, you should just ask him directly. This is the best way to get your answer...anything else is guesswork.

 

[Angela1234]

I agree with the topic. They should be giving the store positions to people who have been floating with the company first. Then give the new grads and interns floating positions.

 

[gtpederson]

Sounds like an issue with the DM.
The floaters in my district are almost uniformly bad.
That said, after 6 months to a year of proving yourself as a floater, most new grads get put into a permanent store.
I agree with the procedure of vetting pharmacists as floats first - you need to be sure that you can work with the other staff at the store you're trying to be placed at.

 

[zelman]

I agree with the topic. They should be giving the store positions to people who have been floating with the company first. Then give the new grads and interns floating positions.

It's a case-by-case situation. I had 11 years experience across a half dozen locations at my chain when I got my pharmacist license. I would have been an excellent floater candidate based on that experience. I had a classmate with zero retail experience who got placed into a staff position at very low volume store. Their placement into a float position would have gotten them to quit in short time.

 

[BidingMyTime]

I agree with the procedure of vetting pharmacists as floats first - you need to be sure that you can work with the other staff at the store you're trying to be placed at.

Which is another possibility with the OP. Even if (s)he is a good pharmacist, perhaps their is something else about him/her that is making the people at other stores not want to work with him? Most pharmacist are pretty eccentric, but eccentricity only goes so far in the work place.

 

[BelowTheMean]

just a rant,
sometimes i feel bad being stuck with a floater position. i/ve been a floater for 1.5 years since graduation, and i was an intern few years before that. but to date my supervisor still dont have a store for me. they have stores for new grads, ppl who never work retails, etc. but for someone who work fast n efficient, years of experience, and pick up last minute sick calls whenever i'm needed, i just dont know what my supervisor is thinking. and yes a lot of his stores are super challenged. one of which ranked bottom in the region with only a handful of stores performing worst. i feel like i could turn that bottom of the ladder store around after floating there. it sucks that my years of experience are underutilized. my previous supervisor promised a particular store for me but she got transferred before that happen and im now stuck being a floater.

Having your own store is great if it's a great store but I would rather float anyday than work in a crap store. Sure the unpredictable schedule and on call does suck but if you do get scheduled 40 hr weeks I would say this isnt so bad.

 

[HenryH]

I'm not a pharmacist and am just curious about the floating concept. So as a floater, do you just go to whichever store in your area the company you work for tells you to go to for the day? Do you still end up working 8 hrs/day, 5 days/week, for a fulltime salary?

 

[owlegrad]

I'm not a pharmacist and am just curious about the floating concept. So as a floater, do you just go to whichever store in your area the company you work for tells you to go to for the day? Do you still end up working 8 hrs/day, 5 days/week, for a fulltime salary?

It depends on the chain. At CVS the shifts are more like 14 hours mostly, but you have the concept correct. It can be part time or full time. You usually know a little in advance where you are working but I am told last minute changes are common. I should say I only know floater pharmacists, I am just a student.

Two of the floater pharmacists in my district used to be staff pharmacists or PICs and they both report loving the change, so it can't be all bad I guess.

 

[gtpederson]

I'm not a pharmacist and am just curious about the floating concept. So as a floater, do you just go to whichever store in your area the company you work for tells you to go to for the day? Do you still end up working 8 hrs/day, 5 days/week, for a fulltime salary?

Most of the floaters in my district were hired for 32hr/wk.
The downside to floating is a lot of the time you will have to drive 50 miles one way to work at store A (for a 9-5 shift), then the next night work a 10-8 shift at store B another 50 miles in some other direction.

 

[HenryH]

Thanks for the info, guys. So is it true to say, then, that floaters tend to work fewer hours than fulltime pharmacists but for more money? The reason I ask is because my uncle says he knows a guy who's a floater, and he says that he just loves the work and earns upwards of $150k a year working fewer hours than full-time pharmacists work. I was just wondering if it really was that rosy of a scenario. Generally speaking, are floater jobs hard to get?

 

[gtpederson]

Thanks for the info, guys. So is it true to say, then, that floaters tend to work fewer hours than fulltime pharmacists but for more money? The reason I ask is because my uncle says he knows a guy who's a floater, and he says that he just loves the work and earns upwards of $150k a year working fewer hours than full-time pharmacists work. I was just wondering if it really was that rosy of a scenario. Generally speaking, are floater jobs hard to get?

Your uncle's friend might work for a staffing company filling in at various places but getting no benefits.

In general, hired floaters work 32hr/wk and get paid for 32hr/wk at normal hourly rates.

 

[owlegrad]

Your uncle's friend might work for a staffing company filling in at various places but getting no benefits.

In general, hired floaters work 32hr/wk and get paid for 32hr/wk at normal hourly rates.

Yeah if anything most floaters tend to be the news guys and get paid less hourly, though you can get paid for mileage based on company policy.

That friend of a friend who makes 150k almost certainly works for a staffing company, which is a completely different beast.

EDIT: I somewhat disagree about the 32h/w being the norm though. It just depends on the company and the business needs at the time IMO.

 

[sosoo]

im a floater n i get the same pay and benefits as full time staff. being a full time floater i always get 30+ hours a week. this past month i did 100+ hours biweekly b/c of last minute sick calls, etc. i dont mind picking up hours on my day offs. besides that, i get several weeks schedule in advance so i can plan things. the only problem is it's not far advance enough to book flight tickets. while floating is nice, but i been with the company for so long that i know i can flip a challenged store around. im being underutilized, while other slow pharmacists and inexperienced new grads are ruining the stores in the district. several of my district's stores are so low that theres like 7,000+ stores in the country that's way above them. and yes the entire country only has 7,000+ stores, so these are way at the bottom.