Pharmacist resume writing

[gwarm01]

Preface: to those of you who work for the same company as me (you know who you are), I'm not looking to bail. This is just a post made out of general curiosity because I've had questions as I keep my resume updated.

I received yet another Linkedin discussion post in my e-mail today which linked to a typical nonsense article that gave no good information, but it did get me thinking. How do you more seasoned pharmacists format your resume?

I've always been the kind of person to keep it short and sweet. One page, the major points, very easy to read. I've cut out areas that are generally seen as unnecessary. No objective. It takes up space, doesn't add much value, and the same purpose is better handled by a cover letter. I don't list my high school, I've removed my undergrad, just keeping my pharmacy school.

I list my current job with major projects and duties in bullet points, then my previous job likewise. After this I am starting to have trouble. I currently work in informatics, but have a side gig doing traditional inpatient staffing. I'd like to include this, as well as my three years of inpatient internship... but I'm struggling to keep this on one page.

Do most of you keep as trim of a list as me? Do you go for two pages? What do you prioritize?

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[njac]

I read the same article. It states as a pharmacist it's kosher to go up to 3 pages on your resume.

I maintain a CV so limit isn't an issue and I can just pare down if I ever need a resume.


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[gwarm01]

I read the same article. It states as a pharmacist it's kosher to go up to 3 pages on your resume.

I maintain a CV so limit isn't an issue and I can just pare down if I ever need a resume.


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I haven't had a CV since Pharmacy school. I always assumed it was more geared towards academic positions. I should probably look into rebuilding mine with some of my newer accomplishments I suppose.

As far as resumes to, I took the one page advice from HR people. Just general advice that the more succinct the better.

 

[lord999]

Preface: to those of you who work for the same company as me (you know who you are), I'm not looking to bail. This is just a post made out of general curiosity because I've had questions as I keep my resume updated.

I received yet another Linkedin discussion post in my e-mail today which linked to a typical nonsense article that gave no good information, but it did get me thinking. How do you more seasoned pharmacists format your resume?

I've always been the kind of person to keep it short and sweet. One page, the major points, very easy to read. I've cut out areas that are generally seen as unnecessary. No objective. It takes up space, doesn't add much value, and the same purpose is better handled by a cover letter. I don't list my high school, I've removed my undergrad, just keeping my pharmacy school.

I list my current job with major projects and duties in bullet points, then my previous job likewise. After this I am starting to have trouble. I currently work in informatics, but have a side gig doing traditional inpatient staffing. I'd like to include this, as well as my three years of inpatient internship... but I'm struggling to keep this on one page.

Do most of you keep as trim of a list as me? Do you go for two pages? What do you prioritize?

Civil service if asking doesn't care about the length. I prefer the one page myself, but if you do put a statement, that it is relevant to the job that you're applying for (but agree with you that it doesn't add value that a cover letter won't). I do get trash an application automatically if the resume DOES NOT put in a References section and the position is pharmacist only. It's ok to put "available on request" as the answer, but without it, I'm not allowed under Wagner Act to ask about them without you having mentioned that you have them.

I will not hire a pharmacist or anyone without prior work/academic references unless this is truly an intern or a trainee sort of position where that is forgivable (but still problematic).


I prioritize references if local, and career history (especially if short-term) if not. If gaps in the career history, then I will ask for an explanation (hiking the PCT or some other personal adventure is not usually acceptable to me as an explanation as it's the same to me as resigning for "personal reasons", but something like a depressive episode or caring for family or got pregnant is acceptable).

By the way, most pharmacist CV's are utter garbage for the number of citations and irrelevant talks that you'll see clinical staff doing but never tenure staff (1/20/2017 - Delivered a health screening talk at Walgreens 6065, 1/22/2017 - Delivered a health screening talk at Walgreens 4019). I frankly don't believe that a pharmacist has career experiences that require more than 10 pages except for EIS or some unusually mobile career choices like the military, traveling pharmacist (have license will travel), or IHS where you are sent on adventures every six months and had a duty change each time. I keep the bibliography separate from the CV if at all possible.

Good CV Example: James Cloyd
https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Advis...lScienceandClinicalPharmacology/UCM392020.pdf

(Who has an extremely long and successful career at orphan drug development and changed jobs a reasonable number of times)

Note that his CV really is only 6 pages before his bibliography. And yes, he is (present-tense) very productive as a researcher.

 

[gwarm01]

I do get trash an application automatically if the resume DOES NOT put in a References section and the position is pharmacist only. It's ok to put "available on request" as the answer, but without it, I'm not allowed under Wagner Act to ask about them without you having mentioned that you have them.

This is good to know. I had no idea that was a thing. I leave the references section out of mine for brevity's sake and the understanding that they are available, but I hadn't considered legal issues. Does this only apply to federal positions?

 

[lord999]

This is good to know. I had no idea that was a thing. I leave the references section out of mine for brevity's sake and the understanding that they are available, but I hadn't considered legal issues. Does this only apply to federal positions?

That technically applies to any position. Wagner Act restricts legally what you ask about to a potential employee. If you leave a section off and the position does not explicitly ask for the information directly or through the background investigation, technically the employer may not inquire into those circumstances.

This can play to your advantage or disadvantage. For instance, if I am applying for a Catholic Healthcare position in my area, I would write:

Religion:
Catholic (St. Hubert Catholic Church, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis)

which is not standard. This would open myself up to questions regarding my Eucharistic Adoration, but in favorable company. If I left the section off, I cannot be asked about it legally in conversation even implicitly unless it is declared as a qualification (and if you do, the assumption is that you are not an observant Catholic, which used to be a tie-breaker in close hires, and if you're wondering, the ministerial exception is half-heartedly enforced against the nondiscrimination of creed in practice). In plain language, it is usually illegal to discriminate hiring on creed, but somehow certain religious organizations give their adherents an edge in hires depending on how close they are to their evangelical sponsors.

But if you leave something off, it really is not supposed to be followed up on.

 

[deleted820760]

@lord999 why wouldn't you consider someone who took time off for travel and personal adventures? People grow a lot from those experiences. In Europe, they like people who are well-traveled.

 

[deleted820760]

I don't think your internship experience should be included. You are not a new grad anymore, and you have pharmacist experience.

 

[lord999]

@lord999 why wouldn't you consider someone who took time off for travel and personal adventures? People grow a lot from those experiences. In Europe, they like people who are well-traveled.

Because if it isn't during training or from a known or implied temporary position (like gwarm01s job right now) a period of more than a year without a job is not a travel issue. Sure, I can understand short breaks, but I have a thing that makes me suspicious over someone who has a long break.

 

[gwarm01]

I only have a CV. It's currently 4 pages.

I haven't had a CV since I was fresh from pharmacy school. Honestly, I've forgotten what to even include in one. What sort of information do you have on yours? Projects, presentations, accomplishments and whatnot? Do you still group things based on your job at the time?

 

[deleted820760]

You don't need a CV unless you're applying for academia positions or clinical specialist positions. (Or residency, but I know you're not doing that.)

 

[ldiot]

I thought a CV was supposed to be more comprehensive than a resume. I know my dean has a CV that is over 15 pages long, though it's because he truly has held a lot of positions. A resume I think is more concise and focuses mainly on employment history, education, major job functions.

 

[lord999]

I thought a CV was supposed to be more comprehensive than a resume. I know my dean has a CV that is over 15 pages long, though it's because he truly has held a lot of positions. A resume I think is more concise and focuses mainly on employment history, education, major job functions.

A CV is what it says it is, a study of your life's path. This includes professional, non-professional, and family accomplishments. That said, it's tacitly separated into the CV and the bibliography of publications (if you are an academic). Again, there are people with 30 page CV's, but most of it is extraneous publications and the only thing that committees care to know in academia is impact factor nowadays. They no longer care if you have published 300 papers in your career as it is very trivial with an active lab to not publish 3 per PhD in a lab, but if you have an Web of Science IF < 2, it means you aren't being read at all or your niche is extremely superspecialized that isn't translatable. If you have an IF over 10, you basically write your ticket.

 

[BidingMyTime]

I don't think your internship experience should be included. You are not a new grad anymore, and you have pharmacist experience.

I agree, the only exception would be if one is looking to move from retail to hospital, or from hospital to retail....I can see listing technician/internship experience for a job field that they have no pharmacist experience in.

 

[Saiyo]

I've been trying to put together a good resume, and would like to agree about keeping it short and sweet. I had seen some of my classmates expanded CV's and they seem bloated and pompous. My issue is when I take out the old stuff I'm often just left with my one and only pharmacist job, and the bullet points are basically a condensation of the job description, theres only so many ways you can describe pharmacists duties...

 

[mentos]

Do you guys still include paid intern jobs that you had during pharmacy school? I worked at 2 different chains and a LTC as an intern. I don't know if employers care about those anymore. If I include only pharmacist positions, my resume looks pretty bare: One full time position at a chain and one hospital per diem.

 

[gwarm01]

Do you guys still include paid intern jobs that you had during pharmacy school? I worked at 2 different chains and a LTC as an intern. I don't know if employers care about those anymore. If I include only pharmacist positions, my resume looks pretty bare: One full time position at a chain and one hospital per diem.

I kept the internship on my resume until I got my second pharmacist job. I was thinking the same thing.. it looks really barren with just the one position listed.

 

[Americanpie777]

You do not have to keep your resume to just one page. If it makes sense to put it onto two pages, then you should do so. Leaving off critical information just to squeeze it into one page will only hurt you in the long run. Professional resumes can be from 1 to 2 pages.

 

[mentos]

I have my intern positions in there - it shows I worked in an adult hospital and grocery store retail- I may delete it on my next round of job apps when I apply for my third pharmacist job in my specialty. If I apply broadly again (outside of specialty) I might leave them on.

If you apply to a hospital, where it asks you to type each job individually and the dates you were there.. do you list each intern position as separate jobs?

 

[Americanpie777]

Maybe ?

Yes, you give internships their own separate section.

 

[UGAZ]

My resume has only 1 page. That's sufficient enough...I think.