What chain should i intern for?

[Albo]

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Lucky for me i live in an area where there is only one pharmacy school in the proximity and most of my pharmacy school buddies are from the north side of the area. I am one of the lucky ones (or unlucky since the south is the poorest area) to live in the south side.

Since i dont have that much competition as far as new interns (unless people want to drive 30 miles each way)...i got my intern licence yesterday and i am looking for a chain to intern at. So far i have gotten the contacts of a district manager at Walmart and PIC at a CVS.
Other chains close to me..... Walgreen, rite aide, Kroger, save a lot pharmacy, meijers, k-mart, sam's club, target.

So which chain do you guys think i should try first. I know they are more or less the same but i need to know which one will increase the likeness of getting hired once a pharmacist and which one have the lesser chity quality of work.

 

[R xxx]

More likely to get an offer after graduation: CVS (high turnover rate), can sit at CVS since 14 hours is too long to be standing all day.

More likely to have a good working condition: Walmart (I don't want to include Target cause it is extremely hard to get a job with them), Sam's Club is actually not bad.

Kroger...hmm...been letting go a lot of pharmacists

You don't want to work for Rite Aid

Walgreens...even less tech help than CVS, but good computer system.

I like Meijers a lot, but it really depends on the district too. You definitely cannot sit at Meijer's.

 

[Farmercyst]

Lucky for me i live in an area where there is only one pharmacy school in the proximity and most of my pharmacy school buddies are from the north side of the area. I am one of the lucky ones (or unlucky since the south is the poorest area) to live in the south side.

Since i dont have that much competition as far as new interns (unless people want to drive 30 miles each way)...i got my intern licence yesterday and i am looking for a chain to intern at. So far i have gotten the contacts of a district manager at Walmart and PIC at a CVS.
Other chains close to me..... Walgreen, rite aide, Kroger, save a lot pharmacy, meijers, k-mart, sam's club, target.

So which chain do you guys think i should try first. I know they are more or less the same but i need to know which one will increase the likeness of getting hired once a pharmacist and which one have the lesser chity quality of work.

Which one offers the greatest variety of experiences? Compounding, IVs,MTM, etc can be offered depending on the area. If you can find an independent, I'd go that route.

 

[farmadiazepine]

If you want a chain, CVS

 

[Unchained]

Like was said earlier CVS is the revolving door chain. Don't go there. Larry Merlo has made it one of the worst of the breed. I would choose Wal-mart of the ones you list. There is relatively less pressure on the pharmacy due to the fact you have a large front end to add to the bottom line. They have also been sued so much that the employees are treated better as a result. It has almost created a semi union atmosphere due to their efforts to keep unions out.

 

[bacillus1]

If you can get in, Target. Those stores are very well staffed. If not, Walgreens seems to still have job opportunities. My old roommate works as a pharmacist for Walgreens in TX and he seems to like it. I was talking to a Walgreens DM the other day, and she was telling me about the clinical opportunities available at Walgreens in my area. It seemed interesting. I would say Rite Aid might be better to intern at than CVS, as their intern pay is higher (at least in my area--somewhere in the Northeast), but Rite Aid treats their pharmacists horribly, so only work there if you don't anticipate being a retail pharmacist anyway.

 

[farmadiazepine]

I said CVS because a lot of retail pharmacies cap how many hours an RPh can work in any given week. Many friends in Walgreens in NY and NJ are stuck at only 32 hours a week, as floaters, and are on call at least 1 or 2 days a week. You look at Target as well, and they will not give an RPh anything over 40 hrs a week. CVS is nice because if you have the energy and willingness to work more, you can get all you want. I do about 70 hours a week, and there is no limit as to how much you can do. You can also work at multiple stores and can work in other districts as well whenever you feel like, and they will pay you.

I also prefer CVS because it is one of the top retail pharmacies. People here will bash on CVS all day and all night, but for me I can't complain. CVS pays very well, is extremely flexible with scheduling, and has great support for their RPhs. I feel like a lot of the people who complain about CVS are just people who can't hack working in the retail environment. When it comes to retail, its a business. You want to do more volume to make more money. Any body who doesn't like that model should not be working in retail. And any body who doesn't like dealing with customers or doesn't feel comfortable having 15 waiters and insurance rejections and customers at pick up and drop off should also not be working in retail.

In the end, it doesn't matter where you end up, as long as you like your job and what you are doing. Retail is retail no matter where you go. You will be dealing with the same kinds of customers, same kinds of problems, same kinds of drugs. Everywhere will be eventually pushing you to do more and more flu shots, and everywhere will be wanting you to do more and more volume with less and less tech help. It is what you make out of it.

Last thing, you are not doing this to get the best intern pay rate. You are doing this to get a guaranteed job as an RPh upon graduation.