re think pharmacy school

[harvoni_rituxan]

Following mentos post, I'll go next and hope that this can help anyone who may stumble on this post.

Graduated 2014.
No previous pharm experience other than volunteering. Standard ippes and appes by graduation. Received license in August and staff position located 1.5hours away to start in Sept. (I moved for it ofc).

Came back to major city 6 months later with the same company as a float just between 2 troubled stores as their part time staff pharmacist. Then transition to a part time staff and float within the division the rest for 1.5 years.

They offered the full staff position, but I chose full float status when a federal contract position as a clin pharm opened up...but that contract ended earlier than the anticipated year so I was back to searching for something more stable than just floating.

2018 secured a managed care job while still kept the retail float position. This is a super unicorn office position that is currently stable even with the pandemic.

Trends I noticed in pharmacy now:
*2019 grad were job searching for 6 to 9months after graduation;
*some position are short contracts;
*float positions now are about 51 to 52 when I started was 60.
*Float positions are not guaranteed 40hours but 24 to 32hours guaranteed.
*Open float shifts are more rare to come by now.
*Some 2020 grad are getting their contract rescind due to hiring freeze and pandemic
*Current hosp pharmacist getting furloughed (unpaid leave) or their hours cut as census falls and revenue remains low...and are the first to be cut are clin pharm doesn't partip in direct patient care or bring in revenue.
*Retail Rph hours also cut with shorten hours or stores closing (is Walgreens closing 750 more stores).

As I precept students, I can't even keep the good ones because there are no positions in the company. I can only give them as much knowledge as I can and support them during the rotation. Even nepotism can't help the brightest of students if there are no positions.

Until pharmacist can be a source of revenue for the companies we work for, the road is super tough. I am one of the lucky ones.

Sincere luck to all!

The class president of 2019 at my school didn't get matched anywhere last year, and he is still "exploring various opportunities". It's been a year now. The glut is brutal. It doesn't matter how good you are. There is just no job.

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[mentos]

The class president of 2019 at my school didn't get matched anywhere last year, and he is still "exploring various opportunities". It's been a year now. The glut is brutal. It doesn't matter how good you are. There is just no job.

What is a class president?

 

[harvoni_rituxan]

What is a class president?

we have this class council thing that is basically a "secret" student organization to help coordinate school work with the faculty, sharing exam notes, schedule events, and a bunch of other stuff. Just a fancy thing for people to get additional "leadership". The dude was the head of that council for several years I think.

 

[mentos]

we have this class council thing that is basically a "secret" student organization to help coordinate school work with the faculty, sharing exam notes, schedule events, and a bunch of other stuff. Just a fancy thing for people to get additional "leadership". The dude was the head of that council for several years I think.

Did he have any work experience? Employers don't care about that crap.

 

[harvoni_rituxan]

Did he have any work experience? Employers don't care about that crap.

i think he interned in retail during school, but it doesn't matter. everyone i know interned in retail.

 

[deleted562805]

i think he interned in retail during school, but it doesn't matter. everyone i know interned in retail.

I think 2018 class was the last class to get any employment opportunities. Starting 2019 and onwards, the market looks like either do a residency and/or fellowship or unemployment line/career change.

 

[Xenophylia]

Non retail, "stable" unicornesque jobs DO exist. But since retail has gotten so intolerable, pharmacists who snag one of these sought after jobs hold onto them for dear life. That's one of the reasons why it seems so few "good" jobs are available (and why every day there are 20 local openings at the corner of happy and hellthy). The place that I work for (LTC) NEVER advertises. They are word of mouth only so you have to know someone associated with the place to even know there is a position. I suspect that's fairly common for desirable jobs. And I'd rather cut off one of my own limbs than ever go back to retail. The only way I'd give up this job willingly is if the place closed or I retire.

 

[Hels2007]

Yeah all of these "niche" unicorn jobs are the product of fantasies created by the pharmacy students. Kind of like "if you dream it, it exists". Unfortunately, that's just not realistic,

It can be realistic if the person doing the dreaming has enough experience. That's what I did in my second year of pharmacy school - I sat down and wrote down what my dream job would be. Broke it down to basic elements and compared to job descriptions for actual jobs. Identified the closest match and identified the best path to get there from being a fresh grad as no one would hire me for that job right away. Halfway along the way decided I didn't like where it was heading and took up an offer to try something else. A few years into it I realized that I *am* working in my dream job because I get paid to do exactly what I enjoy doing in my spare time, except with a different subject matter.

I will say that I am happy with my career to date, but I started on this path in an environment that was VERY different and I likely would not have chosen pharmacy today.

1999 - decided on pharmacy as my future career based on the combination of what I was interested in and job prospects
2002 - started working retail
2003 - started pharmacy school fully intending to work retail after graduation; while in school, participated in all kinds of activities and explored different options
2004 - decided what my dream job would be and it turned out not to be retail *surprise, surprise*
2007 - started a fellowship (not in the then-dream field but it would get me there)
2008 - started working in industry in the same field where I did my fellowhip
2010 - got a taste of what I thought would be my dream job, turned out it's not quite what I thought it would be
2011 - switched to a different but related field within industry, something I never even considered but hey, I was offered a chance to try it and I jumped on it
2014 - realized that I am in fact doing exactly what I am meant to be doing and what I enjoy doing

PS My actual 'dream dream' field would have been linguistic anthropology, but even at 18, I knew better than to expect a secure well-paying career with that degree. I still studied languages in my spare time (three different languages as my electives) but I got a practical education which was pretty interesting and quite useful even as far as my ability to manage my and my family's health needs is concerned. And my job today - market research - has more to do with anthropology than it does with pharmacy practice.

 

[deleted562805]

Non retail, "stable" unicornesque jobs DO exist. But since retail has gotten so intolerable, pharmacists who snag one of these sought after jobs hold onto them for dear life. That's one of the reasons why it seems so few "good" jobs are available (and why every day there are 20 local openings at the corner of happy and hellthy). The place that I work for (LTC) NEVER advertises. They are word of mouth only so you have to know someone associated with the place to even know there is a position. I suspect that's fairly common for desirable jobs. And I'd rather cut off one of my own limbs than ever go back to retail. The only way I'd give up this job willingly is if the place closed or I retire.

I agree. Pharmacists in the retail world hold on to Costco and Publix pharmacist jobs

 

[Xenophylia]

Yeah- I once worked for a grocery chain that once had a reputation like that. Then they hired some ex-CVS execs who turned the company on to the concept of unreasonable metrics. That was pretty much the end of that.

 

[wazoodog]

It can be realistic if the person doing the dreaming has enough experience. That's what I did in my second year of pharmacy school - I sat down and wrote down what my dream job would be. Broke it down to basic elements and compared to job descriptions for actual jobs. Identified the closest match and identified the best path to get there from being a fresh grad as no one would hire me for that job right away. Halfway along the way decided I didn't like where it was heading and took up an offer to try something else. A few years into it I realized that I *am* working in my dream job because I get paid to do exactly what I enjoy doing in my spare time, except with a different subject matter.

I will say that I am happy with my career to date, but I started on this path in an environment that was VERY different and I likely would not have chosen pharmacy today.

I graduated close to the same time (a few years earlier) but went through a similar journey, minus the fellowship. I also happen to be interested in languages although I don't have a talent for them. I'm currently learning a 3rd language (4th if you count my high school French which is mostly forgotten) - but always really envious of those who can speak multiple languages fluently.

I started interning at retail during the summer of my 2nd year of pharm school and knew from day 1 it wasn't for me. Stuck it out for a few months before getting a hospital internship.

Was interested in going into industry for awhile but after my industry rotation - knew that's where I wanted to be. Regrettably, I went to Midyear but ended up unprepared and partied with my friends not going to a single interview. Somewhat embarrassingly, on the last day I ran into one of the people from my industry rotation that told me they were hoping to see me and why didn't I interview. I thought I blew my chance at industry and resigned myself to retail - albeit, at one of those desirable big box stores. It wasn't so bad for the first year - had a really good group of coworkers which helped a lot. But by the second year, I was coming home miserable on most days of the week and heading straight to the bar to drown out sorrows with a group of friends (some of which were other retail pharmacists).

At that point, I decided I had enough and made a commitment to do everything I could to get a foot in the industry door. Found the discipline to come up with a plan from nothing. It wasn't a great plan, and I didn't have much to work with - but I reached out to whoever I could that was in the industry to get tips on resume writing and cover letters, where to look for the recruiters that would give me a chance, how to prepare for interviews, what skills I needed to develop, and everything about what worked and what failed for them. If you haven't done a fellowship, I would say this is one of the parts that take a lot of self-motivated effort to catch up. A fellowship introduces these skills to you in a industry standard sort of way through your colleagues and sometimes methodically, whereas I had to venture out of my comfort zone big time to hunt down what I didn't know.

Where I am today is in a different field in the industry then where I started. I guess the takeaway is if you want to get out, it's realistic but takes dedication and a lot of effort. Come up with a plan - a weak plan is better than no plan. At least it's a starting point. Stick to it and make it better as you take in more information. The second takeaway point is it takes most people at least a couple unplanned twists and turns to get to the point when it hits - "this is what I'm meant to do". Lucky are the few who fall into it straight from school, but I think that's pretty rare. The "right" job is like life - there's happy times and sad times, stress and reward...but overall fulfilling with that sense of applying yourself the way you were meant to.