Please help- career advice needed ASAP

[rxstudent2013]

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So, I am in a huge pickle right now and not sure what to do. Due to personal reasons, I cannot relocate following graduation from pharmacy school in May. I accepted a job offer with a well-known retail chain to work as a pharmacist after graduation, and they had me start interning for them about a month ago to learn the computer system, get familiar with the company etc. I don't think I'll hate working for the company as a pharmacist, but don't see myself there long term.

Yesterday, I received an offer for my dream pharmacist job. I did a rotation at this pharmacy and LOVED it, but at the time they had no positions available. In addition to being my dream job, this job also offers a salary that is about $20,000 a year higher than what I am slated to make with the other company.

What would you do in my situation? Since I have already been interning with this company for a short time, I know it would be worse to decline the offer now than if I had not yet started. I also know this would not reflect well and would burn bridges for the future. BUT the job I was just offered is my dream job with a much higher salary. Any advice and opinions are appreciated.

 

[cjb56]

I can't really offer you any advice, but since it's possible I could find myself in a similar situation a year from now, I'm looking forward to hearing the answers that I'm sure will be coming soon enough.

Without giving it a ton of thought, and assuming you accepted the internship and not technically the pharmacist job, I would probably tell my current employer that I received an unexpected offer for a lot more money and a better location and wait for their reaction. Maybe they will offer you more money, or maybe they will understand that you got an offer that you simply can't refuse. I wouldn't want to burn bridges either, but if you didn't sign a binding contract where you are now...you should probably go for your dream job. My guess is your current bosses would all jump for a significantly better offer if one came their way.

 

[rxstudent2013]

I accepted a job offer to work as a pharmacist following graduation and passing my boards, but it wasn't a contract. I just started interning to make the transition smoother. Quite a dilemma! They are both in the same area, but I don't see myself having any interest in working for Company A in the future.

 

[Pharmacy Kid]

I accepted a job offer to work as a pharmacist following graduation and passing my boards, but it wasn't a contract. I just started interning to make the transition smoother. Quite a dilemma! They are both in the same area, but I don't see myself having any interest in working for Company A in the future.

You didn't sign anything regarding your internship?

 

[rxstudent2013]

No, just an at will pharmacist offer. But I feel like since they allowed me to start working as an intern so they could train me to be a pharmacist, they have already invested time/resources in me.

 

[awval999]

I accepted a job offer to work as a pharmacist following graduation and passing my boards, but it wasn't a contract. I just started interning to make the transition smoother. Quite a dilemma! They are both in the same area, but I don't see myself having any interest in working for Company A in the future.

There is no dilemma. Give them two weeks notice. Believe me they would fire you in a heartbeat if they had to. If they ask you why just say it wasn't working out.

 

[awval999]

No, just an at will pharmacist offer. But I feel like since they allowed me to start working as an intern so they could train me to be a pharmacist, they have already invested time/resources in me.

Who cares what they have invested in you. They don't own you and you aren't their slave.

 

[uhohwhatever]

I'm not a pharmacist, nor am I even a pharmacy student yet, but situations like this arise in pretty much every professional field.

simplest/best thing: put in your two weeks at company A. they'll ask you why, and you'll tell them the honest truth about company B. it's best to have a level-headed, reasoned series of bullet points for this, so company A knows you aren't jerking their chain.

in the *ideal* world, company A really likes you, and they fire back with more benefits and greater compensation to try to keep you. if you do this, you then bring it over to company B and let them know about the increased wages. you're effectively playing the 'game' of getting hired, but it's pretty standard practice to do this.

the only time this course of action might not be suggested is if you signed a contract that required you to be in your position for X amount of time. I can't think of very many positions that do this off the top of my head (AmeriCorps, Teach with America, Peace Corps come to mind...).

there's a difference between "burning bridges" and just leaving a company -- if you piss everyone off, don't put in two weeks, break a contract... that's burning bridges. otherwise you're just acting like the free agent that you are.

either way, great job! and good luck with your dream job 🙂

 

[naseuy]

Take the job that you want.

 

[Acid11]

May I ask what kind of facility is your "dream job" is at? (hospital, retail, LtC?)

It may benefit you and the company if you backed out now. You have your "dream" job lined up and the company doesn't have to invest in any more resources in you...fortunately at an EARLY time. If you would have told them waayyy later in the year, they would have already invested so much time/resources on you

 

[rxstudent2013]

Retail. The other job offer was for a large chain. Yes, I would tell them ASAP I was taking the other job.

 

[Sparda29]

Go for the dream job.

 

[xiphoid2010]

You can give due notice and terminate your current contract, especially since there are still 3+ months before graduation. Burn bridges? Maybe but it could be a small one especially given the early notice and if you were diplomatic about it. It would be worth $20k extra a year base pay that may compound over your career. So the cost-benefit analysis far too lopsided on a personal level.

But before you do, get the dream job offer in writing before giving your notice. Even managerial positions are expected to give 1 month notice, 3+ month is far more than enough. To minimize bridge burning, bend backwards to apologize and make up it to to the person it inconvenienced the most. In this case it is probably the PIC or DM where you had signed for. If at all possible, I would express my regret in person in their offices and bare a small gift as a token of my sincerity.

 

[BuffaloPills]

I would work at company A up until 2 weeks before you were to start your dream job and not tell company A anything in the mean time. Once you hit the 2 week mark, tell company A thanks for the brief employment and offer, however i have since received a better offer that i simply cannot refuse, it's nothing personal just business.

Always look out for yourself first.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Always look out for yourself first.

I have to disagree to such a cut and dry statement.

Very few people work alone or in a vacuum. There is a value and cost, tangible or not, with most actions you take. To succeed, one must learn how to utilize and manage relationships. I am still a beginner in this, but I have learned there is a cost to just about everything I do. In a way, its like a game of chess, how to maximize benefit to the hierarchy of your values, between your patients your department/subordinates, and yourself.

Even if your goal is simply to be a staff pharmacist and maximize benefit to yourself, you can not do so in an overtly self serving way, or short term benefits will eventually be over shadowed by long term cost due to alienation, or payback may be a b**ch when you are in a bind. I would advise plan for the long term, be fair and uphold (at least on the surface/whole) a honorable/pragmatic behavior pattern. In the OP's case, I would apologize in an easy to relate/understandable term that $20k a year in a location I want to be being simply too much to ignore (knowing they can not match it), and display how bad I feel for reneging a previous commitment with personal dialog and gifts.

Learn to play the game and play it well. I hate it too sometimes, but it is a learning process that will pay off in the end.

 

[AngelaCL]

Are they really even sinking that many resources into your employment? When I was an intern I always felt that I was giving way more than I was getting - it's not like they had to spend thousands of dollars or hundreds of hours training me, and I always worked hard and was an asset to the team. Plus the market is so soft right now that company A will be able to replace you pretty easily.

To me this is a no-brainer - get the offer for Dream Job in writing, accept it and give notice for the first job.

 

[BuffaloPills]

I have to disagree to such a cut and dry statement.

Learn to play the game and play it well. I hate it too sometimes, but it is a learning process that will pay off in the end.

Nothing you described above was in disagreement with my statement always looking out for yourself first.

You simply described a strategy to tactfully always lookout for yourself first through dishonesty and deceit, to which I agree.

It is absolutely necessary to tactfully look out for yourself first without jeopardizing the long term consequences of your manipulation to better your own circumstance.

Basic ECON101, if everyone puts their own self interest first, everyone is better off.