Retail Isn't Everything

[Triangulation]

I think the regulars (me included) on this forum may be convincing prospectives that the only way to truly gain pre-pharm experience is in retail clerk positions (particularly for those w/o tech cert.) Not so. You don't have to be getting paid at rite-aid to learn about the profession. In fact, it may give you a skewed picture of the field. I think we talk about clerking/teching in retail bc at some point in your pharm D curric you're gonna have to work in retail, and it would be good to know what that's like for when you face it. Moreover, if you have no clue what you're gonna be doing there's a good chance you'll land up in retail. That said, don't think that volunteering or working in a field outside of retail won't give you an excellent sampling of the field. Especially, if you know a particular area and would like to explore it.

Join a temp agency that specializes in pharmaceutical or biotech (that's what I did, Keiki too)

There are a lot of summer internships w/pharmaceutical connections. Don't forget about the research field.

Be creative. Don't just jump through hoops that you think are being prescribed.

If I was on an ad com, I'd be waaay more interested in the story of someone who participated in a research study in ethnobotany than my 10-6 job at Walgreens. Mind you, I didn't say 'more important', but 'more interested'

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[Triangulation]

Lab Support and Kelly Scientific are two of the temp agencies you can take a look at.

 

[pomelolover]

do we just apply online to these two things? do you know what companies they staff for in the l.a. area?

 

[Triangulation]

Hey Pom. Long time. I worked for lab support, and I think initially i applied online and then I had an i.v. at their office. They staff just about everything. A lot of technician type jobs, I was production tech at a pharmaceutical. That was the opposite of glamorous, but i still garnered a lot of insight of how drug discovery, production, up-scaling from R and D to production worked. I've found that the chemists there weren't that excited about it. I honestly, think, and I'm not the only one that's said this, is that many of these biotech scientists are chemists trying to do biology and they're not that jazzed about it.

 

[LVPharm]

We used to use Kimco staffing http://www.kimco.com
at the biomedical device company I used to work for.

Allergan in Irvine (they make Botox and ophthalmic products) also uses Kimco (quite extensively). I know quite a few people who got hired permanently in research at Allergan after staffing for Kimco.

 

[jdpharmd?]

Originally posted by LVPharm
(they make Botox and ophthalmic products)

Interesting choice of mix of products, botox being one of the most potent toxins known, and ophthalmic preparations GOING IN YOUR EYE. Hope they don't hire temps for QC/QA!

Jd