Pharmacy Experience Questions!

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So this summer I was thinking of getting a job. I have been volunteering in a compounding pharmacy for a about a year (pharmacy experience) Since I already have experience in the pharmacy as volunteering, do you think its worth it to try to get a retail job as a pharm tech? Or should I just go ahead and apply for some other job? (customer service, tutor, anything else interesting, etc)

I know pharmacy experience isn't everything but I don't want to seem like I'm not a well-rounded candidate and do something different in a job setting.
 
Your volunteering will help you if you apply for a tech job, but compounding is a different beast from retail so it's not like its a slam dunk.

It does not hurt to try for a tech job. A lot of independents are very open to training new people who have little or no experience. Plus it's always good to know what you want to get yourself into.
 
Do what you'd like to do. If you want a retail job, go for it. If you don't like retail or want to expose yourself to something completely different, you can do that to, since you won't have much time for that while you're in pharmacy school.
 
Hi there everyone,
First of all, I did search this forum for this topic but there is none.
Ok, my question is, I'm wondering how do you tell your pharmacy school that you have experiences in the field?
Is that by writing it in your PS saying that you have been working here and there blah blah blah..., that you have been a member in pharmacy club, that you have done volunteers stuff, blah blah...
Or by showing your membership card? Or by showing your certification? Or ...what?
I'm wondering because I think any candidates could tell the school that they have experiences, but how they prove it to the school???
I hope I can have some answers.
Thank you very much.
 
UyenRita said:
Hi there everyone,
First of all, I did search this forum for this topic but there is none.
Ok, my question is, I'm wondering how do you tell your pharmacy school that you have experiences in the field?
Is that by writing it in your PS saying that you have been working here and there blah blah blah..., that you have been a member in pharmacy club, that you have done volunteers stuff, blah blah...
Or by showing your membership card? Or by showing your certification? Or ...what?
I'm wondering because I think any candidates could tell the school that they have experiences, but how they prove it to the school???
I hope I can have some answers.
Thank you very much.
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I don't know, on your application?
 
There are specific items on the PharmCAS asking you to list these activities. Also, essay prompts on there or supplementals will likely involve responses that are based on these experiences.

No proof is required but it will be clear if they were false claims during the interview process.. unless one is really good at fabricating a comprehensive and coherent story.
 
I have been job shadowing a pharmacist at a local drug store for 6 hours. I spent 2 hours every saturday for the last 3 weeks. I am going to spend another 2 hours tomorrow (Saturday). Well, I would like to know if 8 hours of job shadowing experience is good enough. Also I would like to know whether I need to get a brief letter from the pharmacist saying that I have 8 hours of pharmacy experience in their drug store? I appreciate your opinions and suggestions!
 
Just volunteer/shadow is MUCH as possible, especially on your free time and depending how long the pharmacist is willing to keep you coming. In my opinion, wondering if it's "enough" to have experience is not the way you should look at it. It's how MUCH experience you have that will show your commitment to pharmacy. I agree... just keep on asking questions and asking for advice. Not sure what specific tasks you can (or cannot) do as a "shadower," but the more you expose yourself over time, the more you learn and have a clearer picture of the real world of being a pharmacist.
 
advair250 said:
In my honest opinion, 8 hours is not enough. Though any experience is beneficial, but that minimal amount of hours will not have bee nearly enough to expose you to the pharmacy environment.

I'd suggest continue going and gain more hours.

My personal experience: I volunteered and was trained for 10 hours at a pharmacy, then I took over for the Pharmacy technician while she went on vacation, giving me 40 hours of real experience as a pharmacy tech in the span of one week. Now I am using that crash course to find a job as a pharmacy tech where i can gain more experience and learn more from the pharmacists.

I'd also suggest asking them as many intelligent questions you can think of. Make sure you use your shadowing experience to the fullest extent to truly help in your understanding if pharmacy truly is for you. All too many people apply to pharmacy and professional schools without actually gaining any real experience.

Keep up the good work 👍
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Advair250: Thank you so much for your reply. From next month onwards I am planning to do volunteer work at a hospital pharmacy for a few hours every saturday for a year or so (as a volunteer pharm tech). In that instance do you think that 8 hours of job shadowing in local drug store + several hours of volunteer experience in hospital pharmacy would be a solid experience? Or do you think that I should still get more than 8 hours of job shadowing experience at the local drug store?
 
vasoolraja said:
I have been job shadowing a pharmacist at a local drug store for 6 hours. I spent 2 hours every saturday for the last 3 weeks. I am going to spend another 2 hours tomorrow (Saturday). Well, I would like to know if 8 hours of job shadowing experience is good enough. Also I would like to know whether I need to get a brief letter from the pharmacist saying that I have 8 hours of pharmacy experience in their drug store? I appreciate your opinions and suggestions!
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I don't know... do you really want to be in the pharmacy field?

Like the previous posters said, you need as much experience as you can get. I understand you have a full-time job already. 8 hours is nothing - it's 1 full-time tech's shift for one day. One day... you can't possibly learn everything in 8 hours, let alone take it all in and appreciate it. To look good on resume, try to get a couple months' worth of experience.

If this is what you really want to do, then you have to make sacrifices elsewhere in your life. If you have a family, it's understandable, somewhat. A lot of applicants have families (spouse &/ kids) and the family works it out so that there's the opportunity for you to do what you have to do in order for you to get into pharmacy school. There are some cases where it's not possible to make sacrifices.

Good luck.
 
ShadowRX said:
I don't know... do you really want to be in the pharmacy field?

Like the previous posters said, you need as much experience as you can get. I understand you have a full-time job already. 8 hours is nothing - it's 1 full-time tech's shift for one day. One day... you can't possibly learn everything in 8 hours, let alone take it all in and appreciate it. To look good on resume, try to get a couple months' worth of experience.

If this is what you really want to do, then you have to make sacrifices elsewhere in your life. If you have a family, it's understandable, somewhat. A lot of applicants have families (spouse &/ kids) and the family works it out so that there's the opportunity for you to do what you have to do in order for you to get into pharmacy school. There are some cases where it's not possible to make sacrifices.

Good luck.
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Thank you shadowRx: How about 8 hours job shadowing experience at local drug store PLUS several hours of volunteer experience as a pharm tech in a hospital pharmacy (few hours on Saturdays for over a year)? Would that be solid on the resume?
 
I shadowed a small retail pharmacist for an hour, and then couple of pharmacists at a retail pharmacy close to a hospital (like one building over) for 3.5 hours.

At my interview, I was able to talk about what I learned from that experience, and the pharmacist I was talking to said that it sounded like I had worked in retail. I guess my answer was good.
 
vasoolraja said:
Thank you shadowRx: How about 8 hours job shadowing experience at local drug store PLUS several hours of volunteer experience as a pharm tech in a hospital pharmacy (few hours on Saturdays for over a year)? Would that be solid on the resume?
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You want to move to hospital shadowing? Or you want to do both retail + hospital shadowing?

When are you going to apply? This coming fall?

You could move away from retail if you want, but don't expect a letter of recommendation from your pharmacist. 8 hours isn't really enough to justify that you're interested in pharmacy.
 
ShadowRX said:
You want to move to hospital shadowing? Or you want to do both retail + hospital shadowing?

When are you going to apply? This coming fall?

You could move away from retail if you want, but don't expect a letter of recommendation from your pharmacist. 8 hours isn't really enough to justify that you're interested in pharmacy.
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Hi ShadowRx: Thank you for your kind reply. Presently I am job shadowing a pharmacist in a local drug store on Saturdays for 2 hours (I am doing this for the past 3 weeks). By the end of this month I'll get my pharm tech license, so I am planning to work as a volunteer pharm tech in a hospital few hours on all Saturdays for more than a year. I am planning to apply for 2013 admissions.
 
I listed my Pharmacy tech license under the "Professional Licenses and Certifications" on PharmCAS. I don't know about other states, but for Maryland, you can go to the Board of Pharmacy website and search a name to verify they are licensed. So if they REALLY wanted to double check to see if its true, its easily possible.
 
There are people here that will give you better answers about your situation.

I don't know how much you make now with your current job (and please, do not state your salary here - it's not necessary). I'm not sure whether or not it's a good idea to tell you to quit your current job or go part-time on it and part-time pharm tech. Like I said, there are people here with better answers.

But your plan seems all right. If you're not able to get a hospital pharm tech job on the weekends, try to stay with your current pharmacy.
 
ShadowRX said:
There are people here that will give you better answers about your situation.

I don't know how much you make now with your current job (and please, do not state your salary here - it's not necessary). I'm not sure whether or not it's a good idea to tell you to quit your current job or go part-time on it and part-time pharm tech. Like I said, there are people here with better answers.

But your plan seems all right. If you're not able to get a hospital pharm tech job on the weekends, try to stay with your current pharmacy.
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ShadowRx: Thank you so much for your reply. I work 40 hours a week and make approximately 35K per annum. I don't like my present job, but I like the health insurance and paid vacation package. I don't know if it would be a wise decision to quit this job to become a full time pharm tech. Pharm techs make approximately 25 to 30K per annum right?
 
vasoolraja said:
ShadowRx: Thank you so much for your reply. I work 40 hours a week and make approximately 35K per annum. I don't like my present job, but I like the health insurance and paid vacation package. I don't know if it would be a wise decision to quit this job to become a full time pharm tech. Pharm techs make approximately 25 to 30K per annum right?
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Full time techs can make more than $15/hr, depending on your region. So, yeah $30k avg, but it can go up depending on how good you are, what skills you have regarding pharmacy (can you quickly learn and perform tasks of senior-level pharmacy techs?)... Walgreens, for instance, has decent/good benefits. If you work with a crew that is flexible in shifts, then all the more better.

Again, better people here with better answers.
 
I want to apply for pharm school this fall and I need as much experince as I can get. Any suggestions on how to go about getting experience???
 
Apply for every tech position you can find online, go to individual companies websites and apply there as well. Seek out independent pharmacies and talk to their staff about job spots/volunteering. Also, the VA hospital where I live allows volunteering, so it'd be worth a shot to look into. All else fails, at least do some job shadowing. Talk to everyone you know about trying to find an "in" until something turns up. You'd be surprised at your level of connections once you start asking around.
 
Don't bother wasting your time. Pick a different career even if this is your dream. If you've been reading the other threads on here there will be no job handed to you when you graduate and salaries are going to drop by over 25-50%.
 
thanks for the advice! I've been goin around to different walgreens and CVS and they both told me that I cant be in the pharmacy shadowing unless im in pharm school. I ve told them that I ned some kind od experience before I apply. As of now they arent hiring 🙁 so I really dont know how Im supposed to get experience
 
jazzspnky07 said:
thanks for the advice! I've been goin around to different walgreens and CVS and they both told me that I cant be in the pharmacy shadowing unless im in pharm school. I ve told them that I ned some kind od experience before I apply. As of now they arent hiring 🙁 so I really dont know how Im supposed to get experience
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Maybe I don't care to be a pharmacist badly enough, but the idea of roaming from store to store or making cold calls to ask if I could observe them work for a day or more kind of nauseates me. I really don't want to do that.
 
Hi guys,

I am just about to graduate and was planning on applying this summer/fall and taking next year "off". Does anyone have a good ideas to get pharmacy experience and/or activities for the coming year?

My current plan is to take the PCAT in August and study my butt off for that and I also have a couple more prereq classes that'll I take at a local school. I guess compared to my current schedule, I think I'll have relatively more free time.

I guess I'm kind of an average student nothing outstanding (3.365 gpa) and my ECs include being heavily involved in radio (including leadership) and performing in one of my school orchestras. I also taught science at a summer camp (for disadvantaged children) last summer but other than that I don't have much volunteer experience.

Any advice/ideas would be appreciated! thanks!
 
Considering the timeline, it will be difficult to get much accomplished between now and fall when apps are due. Even more so if you plan on taking classes.
 
I'm getting ready to apply for Pharm school, I'll be taking the PCAT in October, and getting my application ready. I was just wondering, could I put down my other hospital experiences down as experience for Pharmacy? More specifically, I used to be in the military and I've worked in Respiratory Therapy, that being said I've delivered aerosol nebs, taught patients how to use MDI's and home Nebulizers, I've also worked in Pulmonary rehab, where we've instructed patients on smoking cessation, proper usage of meds, I've also helped out in parent Asthma classes teaching parents signs and symptoms of respiratory distress, frequency of bronchodilator usage....etc....that being said, COULD I include that information in Pharmcas, or is that information something I would include in an interview?

Thanks
 
Cool....thanks!! I've been thinking about ways to incorporate my experiences to make me stand out as an applicant...I'm really anxious and ready to get to it already!
 
OP: I guess, you can include your experience in your statement of purpose and mention how your experience makes you a better candidate for pharmacy.
 
I'm glad this was brought up. I've often wondered if my previous paramedic experience would account for anything if I applied to pharmacy school since I really don't want to do a whole lot of shadowing.

Since Passion said they'll dig military experience I'm hoping they'll dig my police experience too. I bet there aren't too many cops turned pharmacists out there.

Thoughts?
 
ArkansasRanger said:
I'm glad this was brought up. I've often wondered if my previous paramedic experience would account for anything if I applied to pharmacy school since I really don't want to do a whole lot of shadowing.

Since Passion said they'll dig military experience I'm hoping they'll dig my police experience too. I bet there aren't too many cops turned pharmacists out there.

Thoughts?
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Explain how the paramedic experiences helped to expose you to different areas in the medical field - also make a note of the aspects of your job as a paramedic that overlap with pharmacy (ex. cardiac meds).

Both military and law enforcement experience show, among other things, discipline, maturity, and public service.
 
b1234 said:
Explain how the paramedic experiences helped to expose you to different areas in the medical field - also make a note of the aspects of your job as a paramedic that overlap with pharmacy (ex. cardiac meds).

Both military and law enforcement experience show, among other things, discipline, maturity, and public service.
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hmmmm Well, there were numerous areas of medicine I was exposed to either in paramedic school or in the workplace including but not limited to the ED, OR, Recovery, One Day Surgery, ICU, CCU, RT, Radiology, Hospice, OB, Wards, etc.

Pharmacuetical exposure consisted of having to know the 40 or so meds that could lawfully be carried on the ambulance at the time, common drugs as we'd see in the Top 200 List just because we had to work with people who took them, specialized drips you'd pick people up out of the ICU with that you knew nothing about but had to manage.

How did the job overlap with pharmacy? With a broad generality here, a lot of people would call an ambulance to their house when they were simply in need of primary care. Sometimes they expected us to treat them while others just wanted advice on where to go from there much like one would go to their pharmacist for such matters. Also, I might add that being a paramedic, much like a pharmacist, a lot of your actions would be questioned by others in the medical community not in understanding of what your education and training actually consisted of.

My only exposure to actual pharmacy thus far, other than being a customer, was during the very short time that I taught high school science. I took my AP anatomy/physiology class to a hospital tour, and one of the departments they highlighted was the hospital pharmacy.
 
ArkansasRanger said:
hmmmm Well, there were numerous areas of medicine I was exposed to either in paramedic school or in the workplace including but not limited to the ED, OR, Recovery, One Day Surgery, ICU, CCU, RT, Radiology, Hospice, OB, Wards, etc.

Pharmacuetical exposure consisted of having to know the 40 or so meds that could lawfully be carried on the ambulance at the time, common drugs as we'd see in the Top 200 List just because we had to work with people who took them, specialized drips you'd pick people up out of the ICU with that you knew nothing about but had to manage.

How did the job overlap with pharmacy? With a broad generality here, a lot of people would call an ambulance to their house when they were simply in need of primary care. Sometimes they expected us to treat them while others just wanted advice on where to go from there much like one would go to their pharmacist for such matters. Also, I might add that being a paramedic, much like a pharmacist, a lot of your actions would be questioned by others in the medical community not in understanding of what your education and training actually consisted of.

My only exposure to actual pharmacy thus far, other than being a customer, was during the very short time that I taught high school science. I took my AP anatomy/physiology class to a hospital tour, and one of the departments they highlighted was the hospital pharmacy.
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Sort of what I was getting at, but you need to turn it into a good focused statement. See my PM.
 
If you're near a military base, check with your local American Red Cross. My experience volunteering through them has been wonderful.
 
Your logic is sound, but somewhat hard to quantify don't you think? I mean if the requirement is to shadow at least one pharmacist, every student will check that box regardless. If the requirement is a certain amount of hours in a pharmacy, how will the school be able to verify? In a perfect world, yes every student would have prior experience, but isn't this what IPPE's are for?
 
advair250 said:
Is it me, or are Pharmacy schools too slack on accepting people without any pharmacy experience.

In my opinion, you should be required to have thoroughly researched and shadowed the profession you want to pursue before being admitted. It just does not make any logic to me how some people can write such overly exaggerated statements that they want to pursue a career, when they have not invested any time into shadowing or working in an environment that has directly or indirectly to do with said profession.

Great you have a good GPA, good PCAT, but you've never stepped foot in a pharmacy and are not able to even answer the moderate of questions pertaining to the profession. Great. /sarcasm.

Opinions please?
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Agree w/ OP.

Felt the same way when I didn't get into my first choice 2 years ago, with a couple months pharmacy experience, while my ex-best friend got in with no experience. What was the point of working then (besides paying for school)?

I think pharmacy schools do it because they don't want people to go through the motions of a routine schedule as a pharmacist, especially when a lot of pharmacy school candidates most likely have RETAIL pharmacy experience.

They know retail is not the best representative of the pharmacy field (when having to deal with some hectic situations, which seems like more of the time). We all blame insurance companies, though.
 
Just because someone has never worked in a pharmacy (as a tech) or officially shadowed a pharmacist does not mean that person is not able to make an informed decision about wanting a career in pharmacy.

I'll use myself as an example. I was an Army medic for 5 1/2 years. I never technically worked in a pharmacy or shadowed a pharmacist, but I did interact with pharmacists sometimes. I also worked with PA's, MD's, RN's, and other medical professionals on a daily basis. Since military medicine works quite a bit different that civilian when it comes to licensing and who is allowed to do what, there were many times when I did duties similar to what a pharmacy tech does and in limited cases even what a pharmacist normally does. I also did things that normally only PA's, NP's and MD's do.

We all have different backgrounds. Working as a pharmacy tech and shadowing pharmacists are not the only ways to learn enough about the field to make an informed decision about why you want to study pharmacy.
 
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