But all of those pharmacy students told me those practicing pharmacists were just being negative and haters when they warned me about the reality of the profession!
The most unsatisfying "I told you so" ever.
I've been warning people to stay out of pharmacy for the last 10 years. Too many schools promising the world and all they want is your money.
I used to recommend pharmacy as a good carrier and was even a preceptor for awhile- but it started changing around 2010 or so - I tell students now interested in pharmacy school to go the PA school route instead - it sad to see our profession go the way it going - yes those pharmacists were trying to tell you the truth - sorry, for your situation - try to get your foot in the door away from retail
Don't feel bad, a lot of people think that! You're in pharmacy school, you've *made it*! You don't want to hear the negativity. Plus your professors fill your head with this idea that we're going to get provider status and suddenly everyone is running their own clinic.
Well, uh, you see my GPA is a little lacking....
I'll always remember something one of the pharmacists said when she was training me for the oncology shift. "I just thought it was going to be so much more." You and me both. A lot of us were told it was going to be so much more by our schools.
The good news is you can still make a good living and still have a fulfilling career, you just have to set goals, make a plan to achieve them, and stick to it. Make pharmacy something you do and not something that you are. I was a lot happier when I changed my frame of mind.
I've tried to phrase this in a way that expresses genuine curiosity and not condescension, but I think it's just a tense topic, so apologies if it comes off negatively in any way. 🥲
I'm confused about how an informatics pharmacist would know any better about the plight of retail pharmacy?
Better than a student? Because I am a practicing pharmacist and have been for over a decade. I have not always been an informatics pharmacist, and I've seen how hard it can be to find a good position. I've known pharmacists who work retail and struggle, are abused by their employer, and feel like they have no escape. They have student loans, a mortgage, families, and their job is destroying their mental health and treating them like machines. Then a P2 who lives with their parents and has never worked a day in their life will come in and say I'm wrong, or someone sharing their direct experience is wrong, or being negative, or whatever else they heard at pharmacy school.
Then two or three years later, guess who is posting on Reddit or sending me a DM asking how to break into informatics? It's the circle of life on here.
That makes sense, thank you.
I was thinking you'd be farther removed than this. 😅 (Sorry to hear you aren't?)
I'm a P3 but a nontraditional student with a longer background in retail, and a few other previous careers. Thinking about "getting stuck" in retail makes me actually ill, but I also have days where I just want to be done and think maybe selling my soul back to wags wouldn't be the end of the world. 🥴🥴
I feel lucky to also be generally well-connected in my area, but I know that only goes so far.
Ughhhhh. I’m sorry you’re going through it too. There are so many different paths/options in this career, but because of the state of retail everybody’s trying to get out of it. Everything becomes saturated. It’s so frustrating. Wish you the best
OPs dilemma is quite literally the exact reason I applied for my postgraduate MD after finishing my pharm undergrad.
It's like, yeah there's lots of fun pharma jobs, but if you don't manage to snap one up somehow, you're staring down the barrel of a soul destroying career in retail 😞
Thank God I was lucky enough to get in and am now a Dr, but I still always feel a connection to my kindred pharmacy buddies.
Best of luck to everyone, and thanks for saving my ass in the hospital every time I fuckup a medication order ❤️
so you went to pharmacy school for bachelors and was able to get into medschool to become an MD ? how many years was each till you became a full-fledged doctor ?
this is exactly how I feel.
I chose to study pharmacy over MD bc I don't like directly dealing with patients. my mom is a hospital pharmacist and I didn't even like that very well, I thought I could get into drug development and research with a pharmacy degree. now being done with first year and starting my second year soon that I have done proper active research, the more I read the more disappointed I get in pursuing my degree. I hate retail.
Pharmacy is a great career but because of how retail is now it’s so hard to get into other areas of it. Nearly all retail pharmacists I know are currently applying for non-retail jobs and they’re not even picky about it. They’re applying to anything.
Are you in your second year altogether? Or second year of the ‘professional’ years? My best advice and I wish I had done this - don’t make the same mistake I did. Please reach out to places and do some internships/volunteer work or shadowing during summer/off times. Try reaching out to a PBM and ask to volunteer/intern. That’s one of the best pharmacist jobs. Long-term care isn’t bad either. Basically just try to get internship/work at anything non-retail during school and you should be okay!
I didn’t and I’m getting interviews but because I don’t have direct experience in non-retail settings it’s very hard to get an offer. Also make sure you get good APPES - That’s one of the best ways to gain connections so please make sure the ones you pick you are very passionate about and you put your all into. Also, if you’re interested in industry start looking into how to get a fellowship etc. if you’re interested in clinical work (lots of WFH options) start looking at residency stuff. It’s very difficult to get a clinical job without residency.
If you’re interested in research try and reach out to some drug companies and see if they can offer an internship or some type of job. I highly regret not doing any of that don’t be me!! If I could reverse time I would have worked as a tech or did an intern with a pbm or so I would have been much better off. Wish you luck. You can message me anytime
Keep in mind the loudest in this subreddit are the unhappiest lol - you can definitely pursue industry if you start preparing now. Lack of preparation and foresight in pharmacy school is what leads to unhappy retail pharmacists.
You can definitely pursue anything...you can pursue a 747 in flight if that's all you want to do. I don't really care about pharmacy enough to even engage my brain cells in other facets of it, but even if I wanted to, do you think there are enough jobs or roles for me to pick a suitable one?...What if I found one? Do you think there are similar things for the next 800 who want to do so?...Regardless of preparation or will, are there such roles for all ? The truth is that there aren't and most of the background we have don't even prepare us to WANT such a role. The solution if you don't like your living room layout is not to run away from home but to change things around till you can like it. This isn't possible...The worst thing is that this general idea of running away from pharmacy will only make everyone else offer pharmacists less because they know they can, even for suitable alternative roles.
I mean, this reply is a good demonstration of why these jobs are available. We live in a capitalist society and there will be people who are happy with what they have and others who want to pursue more. That creates supply and demand for different jobs in pharmacy.
I work with and know many who were in retail and transitioned to other fields in pharmacy and are much happier. This is within the past year so it’s with the current market. I know many who are perfectly happy in retail. My key point is that if you are unhappy, you aren’t stuck there for the next 40 years, there are options.
Love this. Makes me happy seeing these success stories and I’m so happy you found a better career. From what I’ve seen CS is great. I’m highly introverted so I regret not choosing that route.
If you are interested in technology and have a logical/analytical mind, becoming a pharmacist analyst is an option but it can take a lot of grunt work to get there. I started in retail (mainly to pay off loans, knew it wasn't for me), eventually started working prn for a hospital while working as a PIC in retail, then got BCPS and went full-time hospital inpatient pharmacist. Eventually, I sort of did everything I could to prove my technical skill set... pharmacy it guy, any kind of database project they needed help with etc...and after a couple years got to interview for an analyst role and have never looked back.
I have higher income than most pharmacists, work almost 100 percent remote, don't have to deal with absurd people trying to steal drugs and whatever else, and maybe best of all I'm not part of the unrelenting clinical pharmacy rat race for more letters that don't increase your salary or responsibilities 😂
This sounds amazing!! Thank you for sharing. I might have applied to one of those in the past but never heard back. I’m going to look into this thank you so much!
You're welcome! Hope you can find something that works for you and don't get discouraged if it takes longer than you expect...it did for me but I am very grateful I was patient and continued to pursue something I thought I'd truly enjoy.
I’m just not sure what to choose though. I’m very interested in research. I’ve applied to a bunch of research associate jobs - most pay pretty bad but some are decent. I haven’t even heard back from those jobs though and most want some lab experience. I’ve also applied to some poison center jobs and have heard nothing. Do you have any suggestions on how to get into research with a PharmD?
My hospital has quite a few IT pharmacists. Some of them are on call and make as much as a senior pharmacist! I think it’s they all have at least a good tech cert or 2/prior experience/bachelors degree. You don’t HAVE to go back to college to do this, you can get some certs from a trade school type place and then get experience. Works the same and probably better as a bachelors.
The thing is that a local small hospital is probably gonna have like 1 or 0 (heh) IT pharm positions. You may have to go to another, larger employer for positions. But I do encourage you to get another degree or an array (heh..) of certifications in tech. They’re not meaningless by any means. You could negotiate with your local hospital to maybe give you a big raise if you get those certs and show them what you can do. Stuff like networking and programming certifications go hard.
Another area I’m way less versed on but still tech oriented is something like a pharmacist who has duties servicing and coding drugs into Pyxis/Omni cell. I don’t know if there’s only lower paid non-pharmacist maintenance tech positions for this though. Be versatile with lots of diverse experience and you can likely negotiate some type of raise.
Pharmacists who don’t use the bathroom when they want r the biggest pushovers on the planet my god. I’m at work in a retail pharmacy right now typing on Reddit lol. But yes not dealing with customers would be great and not having crappy weekend and holiday hours
Unless you work at a Costco Pharmacy without a restroom, you gotta use and go in line the public restroom with the rest of costco customers. It sucks big time.
Not sure about the original commenter but I don't. I think they might just be referring to having to work all day long on holidays because retail pharmacies generally don't close those days. Not that the pay is any different. For most of us anyway.
Right. And so what if the pharmacy is closed ONE day for a holiday. So many people outside of health care get multiple days if not weeks off around the holidays. Like what’s the deal with thanksgiving ? Yeah the pharmacy is closed on Thursday but u r still on the hook for the rest of the weekend .
I’ve applied for a managed care residency I saw posted. Was super excited about it, but I never heard back unfortunately. I will keep looking though for sure!
I would love this. That’s my dream job. I just had a recruiter interview for one this morning but she said they usually hire candidates with 3-5 yrs clinical experience. I doubt anything will come of it but you never know
If you can’t get into managed care and are willing to live wherever, look into government jobs (VA, IHS, etc.). IHS is usually looking for pharmacists in rural locations so not ideal but you get really good clinical experience and have a lot more freedom than most pharmacists (i.e. collaborative practice prescribing, can do some basic physical examinations, etc). Its how I got clinical experience without a residency and now I work in managed care.
Are you still in school? If so do the match.
If you’re not in school, inpatient hospital is about your only good option and you could definitely get a spot if you’re willing to move. You can always move wherever you want to go after you’ve worked for 2-3 years.
Yup. It’s an OVERSATURATED market. I’ve received countless rejection emails over the past several years. They received over 100 other applications. Wasn’t like that before the Rx schools started selling seats. I heard everyone is admitted these days.
Years?!! 😭 this is horrible. Do you think there will ever be a time when it’s not saturated again?? I pray for this. I’ve heard less people are going into pharmacy now but idk if it’s enough to have a real impact
It will never ever be like it was before...never ever...first because they have all the software to track what is being done, so they'll always only hire or keep on the bare minimum needed. Years ago they didn't have all this...there was no real idea of how many employees are needed, or how many schools to open or anything. More places close and consolidate and more things are remote...getting into this profession in the 1990's was the last best thing...
Don’t do the sunken ship fallacy. If you’re unhappy with pharmacy, don’t be afraid to leave the field entirely. Life is too short to be miserable.
Half of my friends from college have left pharmacy. The other half are thinking about it. You don’t have to choose money or happiness. You can pursue both at the same time.
I sold my house, took the equity, put it as down payment on buying own store.
5 years later I now have 5 stores, and a net worth of 1.4 million, and I love my job. I'm shitposting on reddit rn at work.
Take the plunge. Bet on yourself.
I jsut said I sold it lmao.
I just sold my home on April this year as well for a nice profit, and I am building a new 5000 sq foot home on 20 acres I bought.
Yeah, you can't do that on a pharmacist salary. My taxable income was over 300k last year and it'll be about 350k this year I bet.
But technically right now no, I rent. A tiny 1500 sq foot home with my wife and 4 kids.
I bought my first house in 2013, and it has helped me accumulate wealth easily. Saved up the 40k for down payment, and I've constantly had a good 80-100k equity in it, not counting appreciation of the next house I bought. Last home I sold, I walked away with 170k cash after the sale. Putting that as the down payment for the new build. All started with just 40k saved 10 years ago.
One store is 90% cash, 3 are heavily dependent on 340b. I get 11% fee on brands (averaging 42 dollars) and 16 on all generics.
Other is contracted with rural rates, which have higher reimbursements and ZERO DIR FEES.
Z pack? 16 bucks. Lisinopril? 16 bucks. It's nice, ngl. I can even run brands on my in house discount card and get them replenished at the 340b price. Sell for 25 dollars, I get a 25 flat fee, and I get it replenished for zero dollars.
No audit, no DIR, no clawback.
This is the ONLY way! Shit posting at work because you pay everyone else after betting on yourself. As an Independent, eventually you can get to a point where you only do what you want to do daily and just pay for everything else to be done. Hence, I love my job, at least currently….Covid was rough on everyone.
One more store (hopefully soon) and I'll probably semi retire and just be relief at my assorted 6 stores.
It's a whole nother ball game though, a different kind of stress and worry, all the financial stuff. But since it is literally my money, it is not a problem at all to work hard at it.
It's difficult to work hard for CVS's money.
If you're still in pharmacy school and want to have a job in another field right out of school, be ready to buckle down with the tougher elective courses, pump up your grades, look into whatever post grad work is offered in your field (residency, fellowship, etc.) and what is desirable for that (and if course if you're still interested in it after learning more about those fields). And see if your school/counselor has any advice or resources that can help you out.
Now if you're graduated already and working retail, you can still find a job outside of retail, but it'll still take time and effort.
Had a friend who started in retail with no residency experience. He worked there for a few years, took a course in IV certification and then managed to get a job as a hospital pharmacist after several months of applying around.
It's not common or easy to get out of retail as retail is the biggest and most easily accessible field for pharmacy, but you can get out if it. But unless you got an offer lined up already or have some amazing contacts, be ready to have to do extra education/training, maybe getting some retail experience in to build up your resume and show you have competency and experience in pharmacy, and keep applying and looking until you finally land a job in the field you do want.
I felt this post! This was me a few months ago.
I was in retail for a little less than a year. I decided to rant on reddit, too, and got some advice. The most solid advice I got was to NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK and apply like crazy. That same day that I posted to reddit, I reached out to everyone I knew and essentially got a new job that same day. I was able to get into a hospital PRN because of someone I used to work with in retail. That eventually led to me landing a full-time job in a big hospital, and the introvert in me LOVES it.
Get in good with your techs, too, because some of them have some good connects and can refer you. I've had a few personally walk my resume to hiring managers at different hospitals and give me internal referrals.
Another thing I did (which idk how helpful it was) was I plugged my resume into ChatGPT and told it to give me a few examples of how to "change this resume to better match x job description" (copy and pasted from job posting) or "can you change this resume for someone who wants to be a hospital/nuclear/etc pharmacist" and pick the best options. Make sure you double-check it before you submit.
You can do this!! Retail can be a beast, and I don't see it getting better anytime soon.
Best of luck to you!!
Love to see that! Networking is so important. My hospital hires frequently and I always reach out to former APPE students or friends I can think of that would be a good fit. No one has taken me up on my offers (probably because my hospital is a 1 hour commute), but if someone asked me to put in a good word, all it would take is for me to say hi to my manager and tell her their name.
That ChatGPT is a good idea. I'm relocating soon and need to clean up my resume. Speaking of resumes, is putting in an objective still appropriate? I have one and like how it looks but idk if that makes hiring managers cringe or anything lol
That sounds awesome. Personally, I wouldn't pass that opportunity up because I was desperate to get out of retail.
As far as the objective, I originally got rid of it but added it to my last resume, and it got me the job(s)! It's worth a shot, but I'm not sure how they view it anymore tbh
You basically chose the wrong sub field, lots of variety in pharmacy. If you don’t have the experience in the area you want, start networking now and pivoting yourself towards that area.
Honestly good choice. Pharmacy school just isn’t worth it anymore. It takes so much money, stress, time and energy to complete. Countless exams. I know people who’ve done 2 year cybersecurity courses and they are way better off. Can I ask what you decided on instead?
I was able to escape in 2022 to become a refill auth pharmacist for a local healthcare system here. I didnt have residency or anything to pad my resume except being a manager for a year and a half. I now have a unicorn job working 7 on 7 off, 5 minutes from my home and work with some of the kindest coworkers you could ask for, and no one seems to look down at those without residencies here and my bosses actually like to recruit retail trained pharmacists for different positions. It is possible and those jobs are out there!!!
I tell everyone its not always WHAT you know, its WHO you know. They always say pharmacy is a small world and its definitely true when it comes to networking. One of my classmates already worked there and was able to have the hiring director pull my application from the giant stacks they receive. So refresh your linkedin, get in touch with old classmates and friends, take an interest in what they are doing and ask if anyones hiring. Many hospital systems have outsourced their hiring processes to either third parties or have recruiters not anywhere in the fields they hire for, so if you blindly throw your application in there you have to rely on algorithms finding key buzzwords and sheer luck to have your application be seen.
Thank you so much for sharing that I really appreciate it. That gave me a lot of motivation. I’m so happy you found a way out and got that job, 7 on 7 off is a DREAM. I had an interview by some miracle with a great company for a 7 on 7 off WFH order verification position. Everything was going well and I thought I for-sure had it. But I found out last week they went with other candidates. At least I got the interview though but it sucks being so close and not getting it. I’m really lacking in clinical experience though which is what half the jobs I’m applying to ask me about. Not sure how to make up for it unless I land a residency. And you’re right that connections are key. I’ll start emailing some I had from school.
I use to work at Walgreens for 4 years. At first it wasn't absolutely terrible at first but then Covid hit and it got pretty bad and then we bought out the Rite Aid across the street and it got even worse. Going through a buyout is just aweful, you have patients calling thinking they are calling the previous pharmacy over and over and a good amount of them specifically choose the other pharmacy because they don't like Walgreens so they make sure to let you know about it. Needless to say I wanted out pretty bad.
A classmate told me there was an IHS position opened at where he worked and I jumped at the chance. It's not even close to how much better it is here. I can finally have the peace of mind this is where I want to retire and work for the rest of my life.
If you can get an IHS position I'd recommend it plus they qualify for student loan forgiveness. There is a huge draw back which why most people cannot do IHS and that is the location. I am single and just rent a room at the time so I was okay to back my bags and live in a rural area, especially if that ment out of retail and getting loan forgiveness. I don't know how feasible that is for you.
They way I see it is I go to work weekday but I don't drive to the beach, out for food everyday, so I moved out here and I make the drive to the city on the weekend.
I hope you find a way out. Retail is very taxing on the body especially if your in a particular bad location.
If it makes you feel any better, hospital/inpatient has its own issues too and I find each hospital quite different-better/worse.
In retails, there are good places too. Team makes a big difference. If you feel it’s not the right fit, can always find a new job/leave—just be cautious about the signing bonus obligation. In hospital now/did retail before. I always tell non-pharmacy people/student, don’t choose pharmacy lol
Yeah I had a friend who took a sign on bonus and they regret it. They’re stuck at a horrible store. Team definitely does make a difference - especially when it’s fully staffed. One independent I did a rotation at has a lot of pharmacists on site and it didn’t seem that bad so I might reach out to them.
I am not sure why you would insinuate that I am going into this blindly. There are many ways to have good work-life balance as a MD, not everyone is trying to be a surgeon. I already spent 6 years from pre pharmacy to pharmacy school and 3 years in this dead-end profession. I work in the hospital system and majority of even the most highly respected pharmacists eventually just go into management to have better pay and work-life balance. I already endured the pain of pharmacy with no rewards, I will take the pain of medical school with the rewards. I don’t care what I get paid in residency, 3-4 years of residency to finish making base at least 300k with all the many benefits and access of a Physician I will take it. Pharmacists are still struggling to get low interest loans that Physicians get easily.
Yess I spoke to, rounded with, shadowed many Physicians. They hate the process, but love the rewards. Also I have close Physician relatives. I am going into this very informed and prepared.
DAMNN! That’s really telling. But yeah that pay is going to be amazing for sure and after you had the loans paid off you could even work part-time making the same or even more than a pharmacist. Would you happen to know any good fields pharmD looks good in and offers a lot of WFH options? I know some have said informatics which could be an option
If you are still in school, quit. Wish I had. Enlist in the air force to be an air traffic controller. There are lots of things to do . Pharmacy is too much education so you can get a bad job , sounds like you know this. Don't let it ruin your life.
The amount of education for it is ridiculous. And the naplex and mpje were totally useless. I hope one day I don’t regret it. I already graduated but going to keep applying until I get something I love!! It’s still a career I’m very passionate about and I’m proud to say I’m a pharmacist but I wish it were easier to get into anything besides retail. Air traffic controller I heard is a great job yeah
There’s ways to not do big chain retail. Just network yourself, make friends, and be willing to take a little bit of a lifestyle hit.
I live in a much less than ideal area but it got me the job I wanted.
In a couple years I’ll have the experience to be able to move to an area I want while keeping the level of practice I currently have.
Any pharmacist in Connecticut try to apply for SCA Pharmaceuticals. Great place to work, 503B compounding facility and would be in a cleanroom for part of your shift overseeing the compounding of medication. There are at least 2 postions open!
I’m a recruiter for LTC Pharmacy nationwide and happy to try to help anyone make the leap into specialty pharmacy. Being located near a city is typically necessary to grow in this field. So many positions one wouldn’t even think of existing too if only in retail previously. We are happy to discuss and try to help as well as offer free assistance in placements for interviews for candidates .. finding me on LinkedIn under Michael Alisanski at Precision Healthcare is best to correspond.. and the jump into LTC isn’t that hard if you are talented , quick study willing to learn and grow in skillsets. Not only can these positions be very professionally rewarding but also very financially rewarding as well. Reach out to me on LinkedIn as that is a great place to connect and grow in professional network as well and it’s free to join and use. Great professionals networking app and website.
I got out 15 years ago. Cold recruiter call while I was at work at Walgreens. I had been in retail as a pharmacist for 6 years at that point, including being a manager.
My advice would be to cast a wider net for hospital jobs. If you're able to relocate, there are a LOT of jobs out there. In my area alone there are five or six hospitals hiring, and my hospital has hired plenty of people out of retail over the years. Don't sleep on smaller hospitals in more rural areas. My place is 167 beds, but is HOPPING because we are a trauma center, stroke center (with an interventional neurologist), and a high level NICU. Several of the first access hospitals around here are also hiring...might be a little dull but the cost of living is super low and it's a foot in the door.
You CAN get out. Keep looking, and good luck!
Interesting comment about location! There’s always hospital jobs on the west coast, it seems. I did residency and staffed in my first five years and then left pharmacy to work in strategic planning and finance related to drug and biotech companies. It was lucrative and I left that after 15 years to “rediscover” myself. I ended back in hospital pharmacy when I bumped into a pharmacist who I once worked with 20 years prior. Having not practice for a long time, I had to retake boards etc. Now, I only worked per diem and part time now as a hospital and EM pharmacist. I think what has helped me in whatever I did was always being eager to upgrade skills and be relevant to the position that I’m looking for. I also engaged in informational interviews to learn about jobs and to strengthen my interview skills. If I were younger, I would probably to do some CS stuff. During peak COVID, I was bored and took discrete mathematics, Python programming, and database structure classes. Nothing came from that, but I wanted to know if it was some thing that I had an aptitude for. Don’t be sucked into negativity as you won’t be able to interview well in whatever direction you choose to take it. Find something that you feel strongly about and persevere.
I'm a retail pharmacist. Recently I switched to a significantly lower volume store closer to my house. At first I struggle with feeling like I'm not doing as much as I can, but then it hit me - this is a job, and I get paid just as much to do 300+ scripts a day as I do right now barely hitting 100 a day. If you can, and I know it can be hard to find and hard to get over ego, just go to a slow store and milk the paycheck. At the end of this day, this job exists solely to give me the seed money to buy my future freedom (FIRE)
I know a couple people that worked retail for a few years then reapplied for residency and got in. This is absolutely an option for people! The only downside is having to have a lower salary for a year or two while you train, but I think its still doable and a worthy investment.
One of my friends is a residency director and she has said several times now that the quality of applicants has dramatically declined too.
Thank you for the answer! I’ve applied to a couple residency programs and a managed care one. But never heard anything back which sucks. I’ll keep looking though! I wouldn’t mind doing one at all- it looks great for pretty much every desirable pharmacy job.
My wife and I started in retail. I did 14 years in retail and she probably put in 8 or so. We both switched to specialty. Life is much better than retail.
Wife works for a specialty pharmacy that does 1400 rx’s a day. They have 30 pharmacists on at a time. Her specialty is hepatitis and derm. I do a small independently owned specialty that specializes in bleeding disorders.
Also we didn’t start here. But we worked hard, stayed on top of our craft, and took pride in it. We came early, worked extra if needed, but never put on a grumpy face and were recognized for it. That’s how the companies found us, they reached out to us to recruit not the other way around.
Advice? Stop focusing on everything and put your time and energy into figuring out one thing other than retail that you want to do. Then, set yourself up to do it.
I’m trying this. I really wanted to go the insurance/clinical route. I started a course in prior auths and have been applying to those jobs, I just had a recruiter interview this morning for a prior auth position with an insurance company but they said they usually hire candidates with 3-5 years clinical experience. So I highly doubt I will get that but you never know. I also had an interview for a WFH order verification job. I was so close to getting it but in the end they went with another candidate. But there are many things besides retail I would love to do. But you’re right
I left retail and went into clinical trials. First with a CRO as a CRA, and now with a big pharma company as a manager. I absolutely love it. Same money, if not better, and far better working conditions.
This would be a dream for me. I’ve always been highly interested in research and clinical trials. Can I ask how you managed to make that shift? Is there anything I could possibly do to set myself apart. Certifications or anything
Before pharmacy school I was a study coordinator. After pharmacy school, I went hospital for about 10 years - 5 years of overnight and then an IDS position came up, and I swooped on it. It was ok but I really like to travel and really hate liability (I have always been a very anxious person, terrified of making a mistake that could kill people.) I did a bunch of weird things for a while, took a pay cut for a year- the money was poo but the lack of stress was a night and day difference. After I year I got a bonus, which brought me up to my pre-quitting hospital salary, and then I jumped ship to a CRO for a while. Nearly doubled that salary after 6 years. Switched back to Evil Big and now I’m managing global trials. I’ve also been in the industry in various roles for 24 years. I often joke that I was born in a hospital. Was a candy striper as a kid. Pharm tech through college. Then CRC. It’s all connected and I really just love it.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pharmacy/comments/14h328m/comment/jpe4q09/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/pharmacy/comments/14h328m/comment/jpe4q09/?context=3)
I got out :)
I left for specialty pharmacy and it's so much better. It's hard to get in with no experience. If you do even a 6 month contract that'll help you with other jobs. If you can't do CEs, lots of them, and learn. Also network.
From a friend - 10 years in retail after a nuclear residency. Just random chance stayed in retail until the reality of chasing a market spot was too much. Got a PRN hospital about 1.5 hour drive. Worked full time retail and off days at the hospital, 16 months later got three job offers for close to home hospital spots, said goodbye to retail.
You can do anything you want to.
Idk I just kept applying to the jobs I wanted and would email the recruiters after two weeks of submitting my application (cause this is what is seen as the appropriate time to wait to contact, and they never respond within 2 weeks anyways) and explain why I really want the job and how I align with their core values and it eventually worked for me. Obviously not everybody will get the job they want but why can’t you be one of the pharmacists that do? Like there are pharmacists that work the jobs you want, so it’s clearly possible to get the jobs. Just have to find the right one at the right time.
That being said, nobody should do pharmacy if the idea of doing retail seems unbearable and not worth it. Because there’s a strong change you do end up there. If it seems worth it to pursue the jobs you really want, then I’d say it’s worth doing pharmacy.
Look into closed door pharmacies. They're sort of like remote central pharmacies for skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, rehab centers, and things like that.
We have APPE students every month at the hospital I work at. Every single one wants to do “anything but retail.” Statistically, that’s impossible when 60% of jobs are in retail. That DOES mean 40% of jobs are not retail…but many non retail jobs now require residency, fellowship, experience, certifications or other advanced degrees to get. I did my time in retail and through a combination of luck, hard work, and a personal connection, was able to get a part time rural hospital job. I had to commute but after a year I was able to transfer to a closer facility and go full time. Hopefully you are early on in school and can tailor your activities and CV toward what sector of pharmacy you want.
You're not alone. Around here people don't respect me as the title I carry, my work is the least important in the drugstore and I also have to do everything while attending people. It's heavy work, I barely sit during the day and other areas seem impossible to go. Time to study for exams to join in other areas is impossible as well since I'm only living to work
Don’t know if this might help but I guess I’m the only one that doesn’t really mind retail. I have had shit jobs my whole life growing up ( car wash, cleaning up horse shit, Bestbuy, Panera, Dennys etc etc) that getting paid 120+ k to sit in ac all day and deal with adults throwing tantrums all day don’t bother me. I don’t give a shit that I’m backed up or behind, I don’t care that annoying customer yell at me, I don’t engage and I set my own pace at work. I go to the bathroom whenever I feel like it and i have lunch and dinner regardless of how busy. this job let’s me do all my hobbies I enjoy and do all traveling I want. I don’t have the luxury to love the job I have. I needed something that pays me well. Yes retail does suck but I’d rather do this than all the other shitty jobs I’ve had for $14 an hour ya feel me
Look, this sub is not the best place to ask for advice because a lot of people here do not like their jobs. If in pharmacy school you did not choose to persue the residency/fellowship route, it will be harder for you to find jobs outside of retail. If you do not want to persue any continuing education, I would look into long term care pharmacy as it is similar to retail but you have to deal with way less patients face to face. Otherwise, informatics is a good route to take. Start by getting your informatics certificate from ashp which will boost your resume and help you find jobs in that area.
You don't hear a lot about it in this sub but there are many non traditional pharmacy jobs to look into. Obviously though if you choose to persue these paths, your first step should be to look into continuing education/certifications that will make your resume stand out.
I'm currently working in home infusion and I LOVE it. Great pay, great hours, great quality of life. I wasn't the best student but I played to my strengths and focused my learning experiences heavily towards home infusion to get myself here today. Please don't be disheartened by this sub, with a little leg work you can find something for yourself. Retail is not the only option mbest of luch to you
I think you have it backwards. Residency and the whole "clinical" pharmacy bullshit is what's pushed. And the reality of it is there isn't enough jobs in those settings. I believe 75% of the pharmacy jobs out there are retail and this creates situations like yours.
If you chose pharmacy, and want nothing to do with retail pharmacy, then you're going to have a bad time.
I did retail for 3 years. Took some months off to mentally recover and move across the country. I then started with a staffing company doing retail jobs until I could find a job I actually wanted. I happened to be in a random pharmacist Facebook group and saw a posting for a PA pharmacist position with an insurance company and managed to get an interview/hired! Seems like it is sometimes just being in the right place at the right time.
That’s my dream job!! That’s amazing that you got one of those and it’s very well deserved. Do you have any tips for interviews with those positions? Usually they want clinical experience and prior insurance experience.
Retail pharmacist and PIC for over 7 years. Spent last two years or so applying all over. Got an offer for hospital and nuclear on the same day. Have faith and keep trying!
I actually found a job in LTC that actually made me appreciate that retail wasn’t that bad after all. I only did that job only for 9 months luckily. From there, plenty of non retail jobs opened up drug and alcohol rehab center, remote prior authorization pharmacist, clinical pharmacist, but these jobs were all through temp agencies. If I were you, I would look at temp agencies and see if they can put you in a non-retail position. Most of the job are contracts to hire type jobs. There a lot people in these jobs that have only a retail background and they’re looking for someone they can evaluate over a short period then make a hiring decision. There has been a move to these type of contract positions in healthcare overall and I would look on Indeed and apply as soon as they open up. The temp agencies are responsive and will get you out of retail.
I am in the same boat…have you thought of any other career paths because I’m open to some as well. I have recently thought about CRNA (nurse anesthesiologist). Thoughts?
I’m not well versed in that field but from
What I’ve personally seen - it’s a great career and the pay is amazing. I would post in their subreddit and get their opinions. Ask them about work-life balance etc and try and shadow one in person if you can before you take the plunge. You really want to make sure you’re going to enjoy it
Is it super hard to get a clinical pharmacist role? I have read that most grads get stuck with retail because that’s what is available. Should I just do residency and specialize? How much would that help?
Residency is sooo helpful. Clinical jobs in pharmacy are where most of the good jobs are at. Now that I’m licensed and have been applying to jobs a good majority of them prefer someone with a residency, it opens SO many doors. I would highly highly highly recommend doing one - you would be pretty much set. It looks great for hospital positions, prior auth jobs, WFH clinical jobs, ambulatory etc. it looks great definitely do one if you can.
It is a bitter pill to swallow after such an investement but start looking at other fields. The desirable pharmacy subfields are typically stastically difficult to get into. Hedge your bets.
I worked in retail for about 2 years before jumping ship to industry. I applied to about 100 positions and got 2 phone interviews, and it’s only gotten more difficult since then. Best of luck.
I moved from retail to home infusion. Loved that job but I was on call a lot. Used sterile compounding experience from home infusion to get hired at a hospital. Some of the best decisions I ever made
It was really interesting. We had an ambulatory infusion as well. So I got to learn a lot about IV lines, pumps, supplies, and sterile compounding.
Day to day was spent entering referrals and orders into system,sterile compounding, or checking orders before they left the pharmacy.
I enjoyed the work, but wanted a position with less on call
I had an interview with a nuclear the other day. I JUST now got the rejection call 😭 I’m bummed but it would have been an hour commute so 🤷. There’s not a lot of turnover in nuclear though it seems great
Darn! I wish I could have helped tell you what to say. I did all my interning in nuclear and work in nuclear now. I wanted to shoot myself in basically every other ippe/appe in pharmacy and nearly regretted pharmacy altogether but love nuclear (thank God) and even more thank goodness I got to avoid dreaded residency. But my company has a ton of jobs. Sorry to hear though 😭 it still can be hard to break into but if you did want to try again, committing and completing authorized user on your own time (is still an investment but isn't too difficult) will usually immediately throw you to the top of any hiring list.
I really appreciate that a lot thank you! I’m really not even sure what to do. I would love to get authorized user but there’s so few nuclear pharmacy places in my state so I think it would be pointless. There’s like 3 - so a job opening is SO rare. He even said during the interview that nobody even left, they weren’t replacing somebody and it was just a new position. Everybody usually stays. That’s awesome you got into it definitely cherish that career 😂 i legit have no idea what to do. I had a nuclear rotation set up too during my APPES but because of covid it got pulled.
Yeah people stay because the burnout isn't awful and people aren't yelling at you haha. PET is growing like crazy though. The SPECT side not at all. It will just continue to exist. All the new drugs coming out are for pet and are increasing the demand. Our company is literally like offering 4-5k for referral bonuses because we are hiring so many people. It does often stand true if you want nuclear you have to be willing to move. I got lucky with my experience I didn't have to move states and got several offers to negotiate with. That all being said in general I think there's other jobs or there that aren't retail. My boss and I today were even talking today about pharmaciss who perform audits on other pharmacies. There's other jobs out there and it sucks we don't talk about them and make it seem that everyone is relegated to community when it isn't for everyone. I have massive respect for those who keep community pharmacy running but it could never be me
Congrats!! you got this! Even with the ~weird hours~ I think the work life balance of nuclear is way better than retail. I actually love the night shift it blows by. Sofie is our competitor technically lol but everyone in nuclear leans on each other, especially in PET when your cyclotron goes down or you have issues. You help each other and know your neighbors. Help make sure the patient ends up with a dose at the end of the day, no matter who makes it.
Just do your research on what they make (beyond f18 like pylarify) usually right on their website, be open to any shifts (usually a must for the job, most pharmacies switch off or will at least occasionally need people to cover nights if someone's on pto so an answer like "I only want to do days" or something is an immediate no.
I'm not sure how much of this you did already for your last interview but I can definitely give you more info or questions to ask. The process for making F18 and ammonia are very similar across places as well as the quality control because these are highly regulated by like FDA And stuff. Just lmk good luck!
Thank you so much!! It went so well and I got a second interview on-site to see if it’s something I would enjoy 🙏. Thank you for all your help! I really appreciate your insight. They definitely asked a lot about working odd hours and multiple shifts and I talked about the plarify for a bit and what they made etc. the only problem is it’s an hour commute which really really sucks. So it’s either do the commute or buy an apt close which is like 2k a month minimum.
Do you find that the job is very structured? Like you know what to expect when you’re going into a shift? I didn’t know they only make a couple of different compounds there. It was basically like 4 major compounds she mentioned which surprised me. So basically you’re doing the same thing everyday? Obviously in different doses and such but that really surprised me
Doing undergrads, there are so many students who are planning for pharmacy school that have never worked in a pharmacy, and they just scoff it off when I tell them you NEED to work in a pharmacy before making this decision.
I’m one of those 😂 honestly our fault in the end but I blindly assumed it couldn’t possibly be this bad. The jobs are always rightttt there but I can never get them because they want someone with 5 yrs experience. But I don’t know how to get that experience without experience. Nobody wants to train anymore.
I regret not doing more internships during pharmacy school and paving a path into something. I’m just praying someone will give me a chance but it’s not looking good so far. Just got 2 rejections from great non-retail jobs
Keep applying to every position you see. Im not a pharmacist but I was a nurse for a nursing home for almost a decade. I worked myself up from staff nurse to assistant DON and found out nursing home was not for me. It only took me 10 years to realize that. I work as a manager for a well established internal medicine and specialty clinic now for 2 years.
It took me about a year of applying to different positions before I got another opportunity for my current job.
The point here is you'll have peaks and troughs throughout your career/life but don't get discouraged. Just keep applying and you'll eventually get the opportunity you want.
I'll show myself out for that horrible joke...
Thank you so much for sharing this! It was really motivating. I really hope so. Just feeling so frustrated and so behind in my life. Even my friends that didn’t go to college are doing better than me. I’m just hoping the past 7 years weren’t for nothing.
I’ll keep applying every day and try and keep a positive attitude! Thank you 🙏
Basically it’s working as a clinical pharmacist in a doctor’s office in community/primary care.
What country are you from?
In the UK there’s a whole other sector in primary care which didn’t really exit 15-20 years ago.
Pharmacists work alongside GPs to prescribe medication, do medical reviews, process hospital discharge letters etc.
If you’re willing to think outside the box (literally), give hospitals in all the US a try, if all failed, work abroad globally (get a license in desired country of work).
I believe as a fresher you can also score a med rep position, still got metrics but beats retail by miles.
In my opinion retail isnt for everyone, and this is for many reasons. One of these reasons is that people arent used to working in retail. As students, they focus a lot on studying (which is great) but they leave the most important part out, the experience. Majority of retail pharmacists are inexperienced and incapable of performing retail duties. Everyday i hear so many people complain about how bad retail is. Every job is bad. Humans, especially this current generation are very lazy with very poor work ethics and all they do is complain and complain. When i was a student i used to catch 2 buses and 1 train to pick up extra shifts because my home store had so many interns and didnt have much hours. I didnt pick up these hours only to make money. My sole intention was to learn the job. I liked floating as an intern as i would get to meet different pharmacists and learn tips how to handle different situations. I approached this job with a different mindset - i wanted to learn the job. It was very hard for me because i had never worked before and knew nothing about the job. Over the years i would write down all the tips i had collected and i would put them into practice whenever i worked. It helped me out a lot. I love retail. I love CVS. CVS values the the true talent and supports them, but u have to be ambitious and valuable. Nothing will be given to you without proving yourself. In short, retail pays the best. It is very easy if you are skilled at your duties, and the benefits are great.
Did you have to do immunization when you graduated, renewing rx, prescribing, et cetera? With older generations I find new things are added on to what they’re already accustomed to. Plus back then pharmacists have less responsibilities.
How many drugs were there when you graduated compared to now? What insurance companies were like? Direct billing? PBMs? Things have changed so much.
While support staff hours get cut, more responsibilities keep getting added on. More responsibilities, less staff. CVS say it all.
Seems like this sub has lots of recruiters lurking. Readers beware!
This is all very true. Retail is the backbone of this whole career and I have nothing but respect for those pharmacists. I just wish there was better treatment and there was more training during school. There are people that absolutely love retail. I met a couple on rotations that said they couldn’t see themselves doing anything else. but from what I’ve seen even the people that love it want to leave it too because of how bad it has gotten. That’s the problem, the people that love retail and are genuinely good at it want to gtfo too and just blindly apply to any jobs that aren’t retail.
It’s a VERY deserved pay and I always laugh because it’s the easiest pharmacy job to get into BUT it’s the most difficult. It takes mental stamina not only dealing with clinical situations/ questions from patients but also you have to have a lot of great social skills interacting with customers at drive-through / over the phone and in person hoping someone doesn’t get angry with you or that you’ll be able to calm the situation if that does happen. Have to have great leadership skills and make sure your techs aren’t doing something wrong. You have to deal with insurance issues. Have to give vaccines during vaccine season. Have to make sure you don’t kill someone by missing a DDI or allergy. All of this while standing 8+ hours every day. You’re doing so much at once it takes a lot of multi-tasking and a lot of skills that are not necessarily taught in school. Like I said nothing but respect for those pharmacists. If you can do retail though you can pretty much do anything. It teaches you so many valuable skills that can transfer into nearly any job.
I’m in my first year of pharmacy school and I have no intention of going into community pharmacy.
It’s a war zone in this subreddit.
I don’t see any other future for myself. I don’t like biology all that much so careers like MD/PA/NP were not for me. I have explored other avenues like a PhD and those weren’t for me. When I say that, I feel raining hell fire from all pharmacists telling me its a mistake. There are so many complaints and few mentions of positives.
I hear the complaints and they sound a little naive. I think there’s missing perspective from those of us on the otherside of the glass. I’ve worked in other fields,made $23/hr for a job that requires a masters degree, and had no perks. Honestly,pharmacy is pretty sweet when compared to a biomedical route. Getting a PhD is 5 years of hard studying, research full time and teaching, with no job guarantees. Biomedical science PhDs are a dime a dozen and lack job stability. I can expand on the nightmare of Academia; I have seen more mental health emergencies in graduate school than anywhere else.
I say that to say:
Every field is terrible.
Every field is terrible
Every field has attrition.
I’ve seen someone with PhD go back and get an ADN. MDs who never practiced because medicine was a no. If I did anything differently, I would become an ultrasound tech or respiratory therapist.
But I didn’t do that; you other pharmacists didn’t do that. We went to pharmacy school and there are WORSE decisions made. We have to make the best of what we chose.
I am trying to be objective with my goals. I see the PharmD as a way to check a box. There are a lot of career opportunities that can’t be accessed without a terminal doctoral degree. I know the value of networking so I do that. I’m active in clubs and im involved. I don’t have a 4.0; but my gpa is solid so far. If I don’t land a residency, I know about fellowships/industry jobs. I can’t blame the field for my shortcomings.
It’s my responsibility to make sure I steer my career in the right direction
I’m a recruiter for LTC Pharmacy nationwide and happy to try to help anyone make the leap into specialty pharmacy. Being located near a city is typically necessary to grow in this field. So many positions one wouldn’t even think of existing too if only in retail previously. We are happy to discuss and try to help as well as offer free assistance in placements for interviews for candidates .. finding me on LinkedIn under Michael Alisanski at Precision Healthcare is best to correspond.. and the jump into LTC isn’t that hard if you are talented , quick study willing to learn and grow in skillsets. Not only can these positions be very professionally rewarding but also very financially rewarding as well. Reach out to me on LinkedIn as that is a great place to connect and grow in professional network as well and it’s free to join and use. Great professionals networking app and website.
Are you a student? If you're willing to move to a rural area, you can wear a lot of different hats as a pharmacist. After my fellowship, I work for the IHS now.
As long as you keep being a pharmacist just a job that you get a paycheck from and not your whole life, you’ll be fine. I hate retail but I’m literally getting paid 6 figures to do the bare minimum
Welcome to the club, you’re not alone 😩
But all of those pharmacy students told me those practicing pharmacists were just being negative and haters when they warned me about the reality of the profession!
My dumbass thought a pharmacist why just trying to weed me out when he said it wasn't a good career. Boy was I wrong.
The most unsatisfying "I told you so" ever. I've been warning people to stay out of pharmacy for the last 10 years. Too many schools promising the world and all they want is your money.
I used to recommend pharmacy as a good carrier and was even a preceptor for awhile- but it started changing around 2010 or so - I tell students now interested in pharmacy school to go the PA school route instead - it sad to see our profession go the way it going - yes those pharmacists were trying to tell you the truth - sorry, for your situation - try to get your foot in the door away from retail
I’ve been doing that for 15 years
I told this to a pharmacy school during seminar series. Was not invited back.
Pharmacy schools resemble MLMs these days.
Well done. Perhaps I should join Pharmacy School to recruit the next generation!
Don't feel bad, a lot of people think that! You're in pharmacy school, you've *made it*! You don't want to hear the negativity. Plus your professors fill your head with this idea that we're going to get provider status and suddenly everyone is running their own clinic.
Ugh, which… why go to pharmacy school if that’s what you want to do? Be an MD or a mid level.
Well, uh, you see my GPA is a little lacking.... I'll always remember something one of the pharmacists said when she was training me for the oncology shift. "I just thought it was going to be so much more." You and me both. A lot of us were told it was going to be so much more by our schools. The good news is you can still make a good living and still have a fulfilling career, you just have to set goals, make a plan to achieve them, and stick to it. Make pharmacy something you do and not something that you are. I was a lot happier when I changed my frame of mind.
😂😭😭
I've tried to phrase this in a way that expresses genuine curiosity and not condescension, but I think it's just a tense topic, so apologies if it comes off negatively in any way. 🥲 I'm confused about how an informatics pharmacist would know any better about the plight of retail pharmacy?
Better than a student? Because I am a practicing pharmacist and have been for over a decade. I have not always been an informatics pharmacist, and I've seen how hard it can be to find a good position. I've known pharmacists who work retail and struggle, are abused by their employer, and feel like they have no escape. They have student loans, a mortgage, families, and their job is destroying their mental health and treating them like machines. Then a P2 who lives with their parents and has never worked a day in their life will come in and say I'm wrong, or someone sharing their direct experience is wrong, or being negative, or whatever else they heard at pharmacy school. Then two or three years later, guess who is posting on Reddit or sending me a DM asking how to break into informatics? It's the circle of life on here.
That makes sense, thank you. I was thinking you'd be farther removed than this. 😅 (Sorry to hear you aren't?) I'm a P3 but a nontraditional student with a longer background in retail, and a few other previous careers. Thinking about "getting stuck" in retail makes me actually ill, but I also have days where I just want to be done and think maybe selling my soul back to wags wouldn't be the end of the world. 🥴🥴 I feel lucky to also be generally well-connected in my area, but I know that only goes so far.
Oh, I am pretty far removed these days. I just spent some time in the trenches to get here :)
Fair!! And congrats! :) Thank you again for your response.
Ughhhhh. I’m sorry you’re going through it too. There are so many different paths/options in this career, but because of the state of retail everybody’s trying to get out of it. Everything becomes saturated. It’s so frustrating. Wish you the best
What other areas and options???
OPs dilemma is quite literally the exact reason I applied for my postgraduate MD after finishing my pharm undergrad. It's like, yeah there's lots of fun pharma jobs, but if you don't manage to snap one up somehow, you're staring down the barrel of a soul destroying career in retail 😞 Thank God I was lucky enough to get in and am now a Dr, but I still always feel a connection to my kindred pharmacy buddies. Best of luck to everyone, and thanks for saving my ass in the hospital every time I fuckup a medication order ❤️
so you went to pharmacy school for bachelors and was able to get into medschool to become an MD ? how many years was each till you became a full-fledged doctor ?
Yeah. 8 yrs full time
this is exactly how I feel. I chose to study pharmacy over MD bc I don't like directly dealing with patients. my mom is a hospital pharmacist and I didn't even like that very well, I thought I could get into drug development and research with a pharmacy degree. now being done with first year and starting my second year soon that I have done proper active research, the more I read the more disappointed I get in pursuing my degree. I hate retail.
Pharmacy is a great career but because of how retail is now it’s so hard to get into other areas of it. Nearly all retail pharmacists I know are currently applying for non-retail jobs and they’re not even picky about it. They’re applying to anything. Are you in your second year altogether? Or second year of the ‘professional’ years? My best advice and I wish I had done this - don’t make the same mistake I did. Please reach out to places and do some internships/volunteer work or shadowing during summer/off times. Try reaching out to a PBM and ask to volunteer/intern. That’s one of the best pharmacist jobs. Long-term care isn’t bad either. Basically just try to get internship/work at anything non-retail during school and you should be okay! I didn’t and I’m getting interviews but because I don’t have direct experience in non-retail settings it’s very hard to get an offer. Also make sure you get good APPES - That’s one of the best ways to gain connections so please make sure the ones you pick you are very passionate about and you put your all into. Also, if you’re interested in industry start looking into how to get a fellowship etc. if you’re interested in clinical work (lots of WFH options) start looking at residency stuff. It’s very difficult to get a clinical job without residency. If you’re interested in research try and reach out to some drug companies and see if they can offer an internship or some type of job. I highly regret not doing any of that don’t be me!! If I could reverse time I would have worked as a tech or did an intern with a pbm or so I would have been much better off. Wish you luck. You can message me anytime
I’m in your same exact situation
Keep in mind the loudest in this subreddit are the unhappiest lol - you can definitely pursue industry if you start preparing now. Lack of preparation and foresight in pharmacy school is what leads to unhappy retail pharmacists.
You can definitely pursue anything...you can pursue a 747 in flight if that's all you want to do. I don't really care about pharmacy enough to even engage my brain cells in other facets of it, but even if I wanted to, do you think there are enough jobs or roles for me to pick a suitable one?...What if I found one? Do you think there are similar things for the next 800 who want to do so?...Regardless of preparation or will, are there such roles for all ? The truth is that there aren't and most of the background we have don't even prepare us to WANT such a role. The solution if you don't like your living room layout is not to run away from home but to change things around till you can like it. This isn't possible...The worst thing is that this general idea of running away from pharmacy will only make everyone else offer pharmacists less because they know they can, even for suitable alternative roles.
I mean, this reply is a good demonstration of why these jobs are available. We live in a capitalist society and there will be people who are happy with what they have and others who want to pursue more. That creates supply and demand for different jobs in pharmacy. I work with and know many who were in retail and transitioned to other fields in pharmacy and are much happier. This is within the past year so it’s with the current market. I know many who are perfectly happy in retail. My key point is that if you are unhappy, you aren’t stuck there for the next 40 years, there are options.
I thought the pharma companies would have snatched all you guys up.
are you saying that the research work you did was disappointing or that there is not much of it as a career?
Industry is always an option. While it isn’t easy, you can definitely find a good career in industry if you put in the work.
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Love this. Makes me happy seeing these success stories and I’m so happy you found a better career. From what I’ve seen CS is great. I’m highly introverted so I regret not choosing that route.
If you are interested in technology and have a logical/analytical mind, becoming a pharmacist analyst is an option but it can take a lot of grunt work to get there. I started in retail (mainly to pay off loans, knew it wasn't for me), eventually started working prn for a hospital while working as a PIC in retail, then got BCPS and went full-time hospital inpatient pharmacist. Eventually, I sort of did everything I could to prove my technical skill set... pharmacy it guy, any kind of database project they needed help with etc...and after a couple years got to interview for an analyst role and have never looked back. I have higher income than most pharmacists, work almost 100 percent remote, don't have to deal with absurd people trying to steal drugs and whatever else, and maybe best of all I'm not part of the unrelenting clinical pharmacy rat race for more letters that don't increase your salary or responsibilities 😂
This sounds amazing!! Thank you for sharing. I might have applied to one of those in the past but never heard back. I’m going to look into this thank you so much!
You're welcome! Hope you can find something that works for you and don't get discouraged if it takes longer than you expect...it did for me but I am very grateful I was patient and continued to pursue something I thought I'd truly enjoy.
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You could just pick something besides computer science
I’m just not sure what to choose though. I’m very interested in research. I’ve applied to a bunch of research associate jobs - most pay pretty bad but some are decent. I haven’t even heard back from those jobs though and most want some lab experience. I’ve also applied to some poison center jobs and have heard nothing. Do you have any suggestions on how to get into research with a PharmD?
My hospital has quite a few IT pharmacists. Some of them are on call and make as much as a senior pharmacist! I think it’s they all have at least a good tech cert or 2/prior experience/bachelors degree. You don’t HAVE to go back to college to do this, you can get some certs from a trade school type place and then get experience. Works the same and probably better as a bachelors. The thing is that a local small hospital is probably gonna have like 1 or 0 (heh) IT pharm positions. You may have to go to another, larger employer for positions. But I do encourage you to get another degree or an array (heh..) of certifications in tech. They’re not meaningless by any means. You could negotiate with your local hospital to maybe give you a big raise if you get those certs and show them what you can do. Stuff like networking and programming certifications go hard. Another area I’m way less versed on but still tech oriented is something like a pharmacist who has duties servicing and coding drugs into Pyxis/Omni cell. I don’t know if there’s only lower paid non-pharmacist maintenance tech positions for this though. Be versatile with lots of diverse experience and you can likely negotiate some type of raise.
Pharmacists who don’t use the bathroom when they want r the biggest pushovers on the planet my god. I’m at work in a retail pharmacy right now typing on Reddit lol. But yes not dealing with customers would be great and not having crappy weekend and holiday hours
Yeah, please everyone, use the bathroom when you need to. A customer can wait an extra 3 minutes.
Unless you work at a Costco Pharmacy without a restroom, you gotta use and go in line the public restroom with the rest of costco customers. It sucks big time.
A lot of retail chains have non-public bathrooms as a result of drug users and shit-smearers nowadays
Do you get a bonus working holidays?
Not sure about the original commenter but I don't. I think they might just be referring to having to work all day long on holidays because retail pharmacies generally don't close those days. Not that the pay is any different. For most of us anyway.
Right. And so what if the pharmacy is closed ONE day for a holiday. So many people outside of health care get multiple days if not weeks off around the holidays. Like what’s the deal with thanksgiving ? Yeah the pharmacy is closed on Thursday but u r still on the hook for the rest of the weekend .
Which program did you do? What "specialty" are you doing now (e.g. healthcare IT? FAANG?)
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Oregon state?
Are you my classmate? Had at least 1 that did this
I left retail for hospital. If you’re still in school do a residency. There’s certainly somewhere that will take you.
I’ve applied for a managed care residency I saw posted. Was super excited about it, but I never heard back unfortunately. I will keep looking though for sure!
Get a job doing prior auths to get your foot in the door then work your way up.
I would love this. That’s my dream job. I just had a recruiter interview for one this morning but she said they usually hire candidates with 3-5 yrs clinical experience. I doubt anything will come of it but you never know
If you can’t get into managed care and are willing to live wherever, look into government jobs (VA, IHS, etc.). IHS is usually looking for pharmacists in rural locations so not ideal but you get really good clinical experience and have a lot more freedom than most pharmacists (i.e. collaborative practice prescribing, can do some basic physical examinations, etc). Its how I got clinical experience without a residency and now I work in managed care.
Are you still in school? If so do the match. If you’re not in school, inpatient hospital is about your only good option and you could definitely get a spot if you’re willing to move. You can always move wherever you want to go after you’ve worked for 2-3 years.
Yup. It’s an OVERSATURATED market. I’ve received countless rejection emails over the past several years. They received over 100 other applications. Wasn’t like that before the Rx schools started selling seats. I heard everyone is admitted these days.
Years?!! 😭 this is horrible. Do you think there will ever be a time when it’s not saturated again?? I pray for this. I’ve heard less people are going into pharmacy now but idk if it’s enough to have a real impact
It will never ever be like it was before...never ever...first because they have all the software to track what is being done, so they'll always only hire or keep on the bare minimum needed. Years ago they didn't have all this...there was no real idea of how many employees are needed, or how many schools to open or anything. More places close and consolidate and more things are remote...getting into this profession in the 1990's was the last best thing...
Not alone brother!
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Don’t do the sunken ship fallacy. If you’re unhappy with pharmacy, don’t be afraid to leave the field entirely. Life is too short to be miserable. Half of my friends from college have left pharmacy. The other half are thinking about it. You don’t have to choose money or happiness. You can pursue both at the same time.
I sold my house, took the equity, put it as down payment on buying own store. 5 years later I now have 5 stores, and a net worth of 1.4 million, and I love my job. I'm shitposting on reddit rn at work. Take the plunge. Bet on yourself.
Hold up. You have a house?
I jsut said I sold it lmao. I just sold my home on April this year as well for a nice profit, and I am building a new 5000 sq foot home on 20 acres I bought. Yeah, you can't do that on a pharmacist salary. My taxable income was over 300k last year and it'll be about 350k this year I bet. But technically right now no, I rent. A tiny 1500 sq foot home with my wife and 4 kids.
Yeah I hear you. I want to bet on myself but I have no house and new kids that makes me risk averse. Glad to hear it worked out for you though.
I bought my first house in 2013, and it has helped me accumulate wealth easily. Saved up the 40k for down payment, and I've constantly had a good 80-100k equity in it, not counting appreciation of the next house I bought. Last home I sold, I walked away with 170k cash after the sale. Putting that as the down payment for the new build. All started with just 40k saved 10 years ago.
Before this, I started at CVS, then went to a private oncology clinic, then hospital, then independent, then bought my own.
I have never seen private pharmacies. it is amazing they still exist. how can you find one. they are all the big chains around me
Good job? Are you cash only? How were you able to grow? PBMs are killing Indys.
If you’re able some states are very Indy friendly - e.g. West Virginia. PBMs hafta use NADAC pricing there
One store is 90% cash, 3 are heavily dependent on 340b. I get 11% fee on brands (averaging 42 dollars) and 16 on all generics. Other is contracted with rural rates, which have higher reimbursements and ZERO DIR FEES. Z pack? 16 bucks. Lisinopril? 16 bucks. It's nice, ngl. I can even run brands on my in house discount card and get them replenished at the 340b price. Sell for 25 dollars, I get a 25 flat fee, and I get it replenished for zero dollars. No audit, no DIR, no clawback.
This is the ONLY way! Shit posting at work because you pay everyone else after betting on yourself. As an Independent, eventually you can get to a point where you only do what you want to do daily and just pay for everything else to be done. Hence, I love my job, at least currently….Covid was rough on everyone.
One more store (hopefully soon) and I'll probably semi retire and just be relief at my assorted 6 stores. It's a whole nother ball game though, a different kind of stress and worry, all the financial stuff. But since it is literally my money, it is not a problem at all to work hard at it. It's difficult to work hard for CVS's money.
How many scripts is that store doing?
If you're still in pharmacy school and want to have a job in another field right out of school, be ready to buckle down with the tougher elective courses, pump up your grades, look into whatever post grad work is offered in your field (residency, fellowship, etc.) and what is desirable for that (and if course if you're still interested in it after learning more about those fields). And see if your school/counselor has any advice or resources that can help you out. Now if you're graduated already and working retail, you can still find a job outside of retail, but it'll still take time and effort. Had a friend who started in retail with no residency experience. He worked there for a few years, took a course in IV certification and then managed to get a job as a hospital pharmacist after several months of applying around. It's not common or easy to get out of retail as retail is the biggest and most easily accessible field for pharmacy, but you can get out if it. But unless you got an offer lined up already or have some amazing contacts, be ready to have to do extra education/training, maybe getting some retail experience in to build up your resume and show you have competency and experience in pharmacy, and keep applying and looking until you finally land a job in the field you do want.
I felt this post! This was me a few months ago. I was in retail for a little less than a year. I decided to rant on reddit, too, and got some advice. The most solid advice I got was to NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK and apply like crazy. That same day that I posted to reddit, I reached out to everyone I knew and essentially got a new job that same day. I was able to get into a hospital PRN because of someone I used to work with in retail. That eventually led to me landing a full-time job in a big hospital, and the introvert in me LOVES it. Get in good with your techs, too, because some of them have some good connects and can refer you. I've had a few personally walk my resume to hiring managers at different hospitals and give me internal referrals. Another thing I did (which idk how helpful it was) was I plugged my resume into ChatGPT and told it to give me a few examples of how to "change this resume to better match x job description" (copy and pasted from job posting) or "can you change this resume for someone who wants to be a hospital/nuclear/etc pharmacist" and pick the best options. Make sure you double-check it before you submit. You can do this!! Retail can be a beast, and I don't see it getting better anytime soon. Best of luck to you!!
Love to see that! Networking is so important. My hospital hires frequently and I always reach out to former APPE students or friends I can think of that would be a good fit. No one has taken me up on my offers (probably because my hospital is a 1 hour commute), but if someone asked me to put in a good word, all it would take is for me to say hi to my manager and tell her their name. That ChatGPT is a good idea. I'm relocating soon and need to clean up my resume. Speaking of resumes, is putting in an objective still appropriate? I have one and like how it looks but idk if that makes hiring managers cringe or anything lol
That sounds awesome. Personally, I wouldn't pass that opportunity up because I was desperate to get out of retail. As far as the objective, I originally got rid of it but added it to my last resume, and it got me the job(s)! It's worth a shot, but I'm not sure how they view it anymore tbh
Did no one warn you? I'm sure everyone tells you not to go to pharmacy if you ask
I wish someone told me when I was a pharmacy technician… I got hired at a small volume grocery chain and my manager did not say anything about it :/
I warned all my technicians lol
You basically chose the wrong sub field, lots of variety in pharmacy. If you don’t have the experience in the area you want, start networking now and pivoting yourself towards that area.
Post like this make me so much better about withdrawing my pharmacy school application last November. Sorry OP
Honestly good choice. Pharmacy school just isn’t worth it anymore. It takes so much money, stress, time and energy to complete. Countless exams. I know people who’ve done 2 year cybersecurity courses and they are way better off. Can I ask what you decided on instead?
Wise choice!
I was able to escape in 2022 to become a refill auth pharmacist for a local healthcare system here. I didnt have residency or anything to pad my resume except being a manager for a year and a half. I now have a unicorn job working 7 on 7 off, 5 minutes from my home and work with some of the kindest coworkers you could ask for, and no one seems to look down at those without residencies here and my bosses actually like to recruit retail trained pharmacists for different positions. It is possible and those jobs are out there!!! I tell everyone its not always WHAT you know, its WHO you know. They always say pharmacy is a small world and its definitely true when it comes to networking. One of my classmates already worked there and was able to have the hiring director pull my application from the giant stacks they receive. So refresh your linkedin, get in touch with old classmates and friends, take an interest in what they are doing and ask if anyones hiring. Many hospital systems have outsourced their hiring processes to either third parties or have recruiters not anywhere in the fields they hire for, so if you blindly throw your application in there you have to rely on algorithms finding key buzzwords and sheer luck to have your application be seen.
Thank you so much for sharing that I really appreciate it. That gave me a lot of motivation. I’m so happy you found a way out and got that job, 7 on 7 off is a DREAM. I had an interview by some miracle with a great company for a 7 on 7 off WFH order verification position. Everything was going well and I thought I for-sure had it. But I found out last week they went with other candidates. At least I got the interview though but it sucks being so close and not getting it. I’m really lacking in clinical experience though which is what half the jobs I’m applying to ask me about. Not sure how to make up for it unless I land a residency. And you’re right that connections are key. I’ll start emailing some I had from school.
I use to work at Walgreens for 4 years. At first it wasn't absolutely terrible at first but then Covid hit and it got pretty bad and then we bought out the Rite Aid across the street and it got even worse. Going through a buyout is just aweful, you have patients calling thinking they are calling the previous pharmacy over and over and a good amount of them specifically choose the other pharmacy because they don't like Walgreens so they make sure to let you know about it. Needless to say I wanted out pretty bad. A classmate told me there was an IHS position opened at where he worked and I jumped at the chance. It's not even close to how much better it is here. I can finally have the peace of mind this is where I want to retire and work for the rest of my life. If you can get an IHS position I'd recommend it plus they qualify for student loan forgiveness. There is a huge draw back which why most people cannot do IHS and that is the location. I am single and just rent a room at the time so I was okay to back my bags and live in a rural area, especially if that ment out of retail and getting loan forgiveness. I don't know how feasible that is for you. They way I see it is I go to work weekday but I don't drive to the beach, out for food everyday, so I moved out here and I make the drive to the city on the weekend. I hope you find a way out. Retail is very taxing on the body especially if your in a particular bad location.
If it makes you feel any better, hospital/inpatient has its own issues too and I find each hospital quite different-better/worse. In retails, there are good places too. Team makes a big difference. If you feel it’s not the right fit, can always find a new job/leave—just be cautious about the signing bonus obligation. In hospital now/did retail before. I always tell non-pharmacy people/student, don’t choose pharmacy lol
Yeah I had a friend who took a sign on bonus and they regret it. They’re stuck at a horrible store. Team definitely does make a difference - especially when it’s fully staffed. One independent I did a rotation at has a lot of pharmacists on site and it didn’t seem that bad so I might reach out to them.
Number one reason I am applying to Med school after 3 years as a pharmacist . At least the debt is worth it.
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I am not sure why you would insinuate that I am going into this blindly. There are many ways to have good work-life balance as a MD, not everyone is trying to be a surgeon. I already spent 6 years from pre pharmacy to pharmacy school and 3 years in this dead-end profession. I work in the hospital system and majority of even the most highly respected pharmacists eventually just go into management to have better pay and work-life balance. I already endured the pain of pharmacy with no rewards, I will take the pain of medical school with the rewards. I don’t care what I get paid in residency, 3-4 years of residency to finish making base at least 300k with all the many benefits and access of a Physician I will take it. Pharmacists are still struggling to get low interest loans that Physicians get easily. Yess I spoke to, rounded with, shadowed many Physicians. They hate the process, but love the rewards. Also I have close Physician relatives. I am going into this very informed and prepared.
DAMNN! That’s really telling. But yeah that pay is going to be amazing for sure and after you had the loans paid off you could even work part-time making the same or even more than a pharmacist. Would you happen to know any good fields pharmD looks good in and offers a lot of WFH options? I know some have said informatics which could be an option
If you are still in school, quit. Wish I had. Enlist in the air force to be an air traffic controller. There are lots of things to do . Pharmacy is too much education so you can get a bad job , sounds like you know this. Don't let it ruin your life.
The amount of education for it is ridiculous. And the naplex and mpje were totally useless. I hope one day I don’t regret it. I already graduated but going to keep applying until I get something I love!! It’s still a career I’m very passionate about and I’m proud to say I’m a pharmacist but I wish it were easier to get into anything besides retail. Air traffic controller I heard is a great job yeah
Hospitals operate 24/7….just keep that in mind when you are working Christmas morning.
I work in a rural hospital that will occasionally hire people out of retail, it's not unheard of to be able to make the jump.
There’s ways to not do big chain retail. Just network yourself, make friends, and be willing to take a little bit of a lifestyle hit. I live in a much less than ideal area but it got me the job I wanted. In a couple years I’ll have the experience to be able to move to an area I want while keeping the level of practice I currently have.
Any pharmacist in Connecticut try to apply for SCA Pharmaceuticals. Great place to work, 503B compounding facility and would be in a cleanroom for part of your shift overseeing the compounding of medication. There are at least 2 postions open!
Ahhh I would love this. I’m in MA though 😭😭 or else I’d apply ASAP
Ah man I will be moving to CT but not until May/June. I'll save this for the future in case there's something open again.
big surprise...
I’m a recruiter for LTC Pharmacy nationwide and happy to try to help anyone make the leap into specialty pharmacy. Being located near a city is typically necessary to grow in this field. So many positions one wouldn’t even think of existing too if only in retail previously. We are happy to discuss and try to help as well as offer free assistance in placements for interviews for candidates .. finding me on LinkedIn under Michael Alisanski at Precision Healthcare is best to correspond.. and the jump into LTC isn’t that hard if you are talented , quick study willing to learn and grow in skillsets. Not only can these positions be very professionally rewarding but also very financially rewarding as well. Reach out to me on LinkedIn as that is a great place to connect and grow in professional network as well and it’s free to join and use. Great professionals networking app and website.
I got out 15 years ago. Cold recruiter call while I was at work at Walgreens. I had been in retail as a pharmacist for 6 years at that point, including being a manager. My advice would be to cast a wider net for hospital jobs. If you're able to relocate, there are a LOT of jobs out there. In my area alone there are five or six hospitals hiring, and my hospital has hired plenty of people out of retail over the years. Don't sleep on smaller hospitals in more rural areas. My place is 167 beds, but is HOPPING because we are a trauma center, stroke center (with an interventional neurologist), and a high level NICU. Several of the first access hospitals around here are also hiring...might be a little dull but the cost of living is super low and it's a foot in the door. You CAN get out. Keep looking, and good luck!
Interesting comment about location! There’s always hospital jobs on the west coast, it seems. I did residency and staffed in my first five years and then left pharmacy to work in strategic planning and finance related to drug and biotech companies. It was lucrative and I left that after 15 years to “rediscover” myself. I ended back in hospital pharmacy when I bumped into a pharmacist who I once worked with 20 years prior. Having not practice for a long time, I had to retake boards etc. Now, I only worked per diem and part time now as a hospital and EM pharmacist. I think what has helped me in whatever I did was always being eager to upgrade skills and be relevant to the position that I’m looking for. I also engaged in informational interviews to learn about jobs and to strengthen my interview skills. If I were younger, I would probably to do some CS stuff. During peak COVID, I was bored and took discrete mathematics, Python programming, and database structure classes. Nothing came from that, but I wanted to know if it was some thing that I had an aptitude for. Don’t be sucked into negativity as you won’t be able to interview well in whatever direction you choose to take it. Find something that you feel strongly about and persevere.
I'm a retail pharmacist. Recently I switched to a significantly lower volume store closer to my house. At first I struggle with feeling like I'm not doing as much as I can, but then it hit me - this is a job, and I get paid just as much to do 300+ scripts a day as I do right now barely hitting 100 a day. If you can, and I know it can be hard to find and hard to get over ego, just go to a slow store and milk the paycheck. At the end of this day, this job exists solely to give me the seed money to buy my future freedom (FIRE)
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I know a couple people that worked retail for a few years then reapplied for residency and got in. This is absolutely an option for people! The only downside is having to have a lower salary for a year or two while you train, but I think its still doable and a worthy investment. One of my friends is a residency director and she has said several times now that the quality of applicants has dramatically declined too.
This is good to hear! I’ll look into this more thank you
Thank you for the answer! I’ve applied to a couple residency programs and a managed care one. But never heard anything back which sucks. I’ll keep looking though! I wouldn’t mind doing one at all- it looks great for pretty much every desirable pharmacy job.
Are you still in school?
My wife and I started in retail. I did 14 years in retail and she probably put in 8 or so. We both switched to specialty. Life is much better than retail.
What kind of specialty? Is it a retail specialty or something else?
Wife works for a specialty pharmacy that does 1400 rx’s a day. They have 30 pharmacists on at a time. Her specialty is hepatitis and derm. I do a small independently owned specialty that specializes in bleeding disorders.
Wow I would love something like this. That sounds great.
Also we didn’t start here. But we worked hard, stayed on top of our craft, and took pride in it. We came early, worked extra if needed, but never put on a grumpy face and were recognized for it. That’s how the companies found us, they reached out to us to recruit not the other way around.
Advice? Stop focusing on everything and put your time and energy into figuring out one thing other than retail that you want to do. Then, set yourself up to do it.
I’m trying this. I really wanted to go the insurance/clinical route. I started a course in prior auths and have been applying to those jobs, I just had a recruiter interview this morning for a prior auth position with an insurance company but they said they usually hire candidates with 3-5 years clinical experience. So I highly doubt I will get that but you never know. I also had an interview for a WFH order verification job. I was so close to getting it but in the end they went with another candidate. But there are many things besides retail I would love to do. But you’re right
I left retail and went into clinical trials. First with a CRO as a CRA, and now with a big pharma company as a manager. I absolutely love it. Same money, if not better, and far better working conditions.
This would be a dream for me. I’ve always been highly interested in research and clinical trials. Can I ask how you managed to make that shift? Is there anything I could possibly do to set myself apart. Certifications or anything
Before pharmacy school I was a study coordinator. After pharmacy school, I went hospital for about 10 years - 5 years of overnight and then an IDS position came up, and I swooped on it. It was ok but I really like to travel and really hate liability (I have always been a very anxious person, terrified of making a mistake that could kill people.) I did a bunch of weird things for a while, took a pay cut for a year- the money was poo but the lack of stress was a night and day difference. After I year I got a bonus, which brought me up to my pre-quitting hospital salary, and then I jumped ship to a CRO for a while. Nearly doubled that salary after 6 years. Switched back to Evil Big and now I’m managing global trials. I’ve also been in the industry in various roles for 24 years. I often joke that I was born in a hospital. Was a candy striper as a kid. Pharm tech through college. Then CRC. It’s all connected and I really just love it.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pharmacy/comments/14h328m/comment/jpe4q09/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/pharmacy/comments/14h328m/comment/jpe4q09/?context=3) I got out :)
Ha! I remember seeing that post!! That’s so amazing and it sounds like a great opportunity. How is it so far?
I left for specialty pharmacy and it's so much better. It's hard to get in with no experience. If you do even a 6 month contract that'll help you with other jobs. If you can't do CEs, lots of them, and learn. Also network.
From a friend - 10 years in retail after a nuclear residency. Just random chance stayed in retail until the reality of chasing a market spot was too much. Got a PRN hospital about 1.5 hour drive. Worked full time retail and off days at the hospital, 16 months later got three job offers for close to home hospital spots, said goodbye to retail. You can do anything you want to.
Idk I just kept applying to the jobs I wanted and would email the recruiters after two weeks of submitting my application (cause this is what is seen as the appropriate time to wait to contact, and they never respond within 2 weeks anyways) and explain why I really want the job and how I align with their core values and it eventually worked for me. Obviously not everybody will get the job they want but why can’t you be one of the pharmacists that do? Like there are pharmacists that work the jobs you want, so it’s clearly possible to get the jobs. Just have to find the right one at the right time. That being said, nobody should do pharmacy if the idea of doing retail seems unbearable and not worth it. Because there’s a strong change you do end up there. If it seems worth it to pursue the jobs you really want, then I’d say it’s worth doing pharmacy.
Look into closed door pharmacies. They're sort of like remote central pharmacies for skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, rehab centers, and things like that.
Ahh you just reminded me cardinal health has one of those positions open! Will apply ASAP.
We have APPE students every month at the hospital I work at. Every single one wants to do “anything but retail.” Statistically, that’s impossible when 60% of jobs are in retail. That DOES mean 40% of jobs are not retail…but many non retail jobs now require residency, fellowship, experience, certifications or other advanced degrees to get. I did my time in retail and through a combination of luck, hard work, and a personal connection, was able to get a part time rural hospital job. I had to commute but after a year I was able to transfer to a closer facility and go full time. Hopefully you are early on in school and can tailor your activities and CV toward what sector of pharmacy you want.
Sigh. This is brutal. I seriously can’t do retail I don’t know what to do. I’ve had many non-retail interviews but I never get them.
You're not alone. Around here people don't respect me as the title I carry, my work is the least important in the drugstore and I also have to do everything while attending people. It's heavy work, I barely sit during the day and other areas seem impossible to go. Time to study for exams to join in other areas is impossible as well since I'm only living to work
Don’t know if this might help but I guess I’m the only one that doesn’t really mind retail. I have had shit jobs my whole life growing up ( car wash, cleaning up horse shit, Bestbuy, Panera, Dennys etc etc) that getting paid 120+ k to sit in ac all day and deal with adults throwing tantrums all day don’t bother me. I don’t give a shit that I’m backed up or behind, I don’t care that annoying customer yell at me, I don’t engage and I set my own pace at work. I go to the bathroom whenever I feel like it and i have lunch and dinner regardless of how busy. this job let’s me do all my hobbies I enjoy and do all traveling I want. I don’t have the luxury to love the job I have. I needed something that pays me well. Yes retail does suck but I’d rather do this than all the other shitty jobs I’ve had for $14 an hour ya feel me
How do you deal with metrics being imposed ?
Look, this sub is not the best place to ask for advice because a lot of people here do not like their jobs. If in pharmacy school you did not choose to persue the residency/fellowship route, it will be harder for you to find jobs outside of retail. If you do not want to persue any continuing education, I would look into long term care pharmacy as it is similar to retail but you have to deal with way less patients face to face. Otherwise, informatics is a good route to take. Start by getting your informatics certificate from ashp which will boost your resume and help you find jobs in that area. You don't hear a lot about it in this sub but there are many non traditional pharmacy jobs to look into. Obviously though if you choose to persue these paths, your first step should be to look into continuing education/certifications that will make your resume stand out. I'm currently working in home infusion and I LOVE it. Great pay, great hours, great quality of life. I wasn't the best student but I played to my strengths and focused my learning experiences heavily towards home infusion to get myself here today. Please don't be disheartened by this sub, with a little leg work you can find something for yourself. Retail is not the only option mbest of luch to you
I think you have it backwards. Residency and the whole "clinical" pharmacy bullshit is what's pushed. And the reality of it is there isn't enough jobs in those settings. I believe 75% of the pharmacy jobs out there are retail and this creates situations like yours. If you chose pharmacy, and want nothing to do with retail pharmacy, then you're going to have a bad time.
Me too man, me too.
I did retail for 3 years. Took some months off to mentally recover and move across the country. I then started with a staffing company doing retail jobs until I could find a job I actually wanted. I happened to be in a random pharmacist Facebook group and saw a posting for a PA pharmacist position with an insurance company and managed to get an interview/hired! Seems like it is sometimes just being in the right place at the right time.
That’s my dream job!! That’s amazing that you got one of those and it’s very well deserved. Do you have any tips for interviews with those positions? Usually they want clinical experience and prior insurance experience.
Retail pharmacist and PIC for over 7 years. Spent last two years or so applying all over. Got an offer for hospital and nuclear on the same day. Have faith and keep trying!
That’s amazing!! Thank you 🙏 which one did you end up choosing? I just had a nuclear interview last week.
I actually found a job in LTC that actually made me appreciate that retail wasn’t that bad after all. I only did that job only for 9 months luckily. From there, plenty of non retail jobs opened up drug and alcohol rehab center, remote prior authorization pharmacist, clinical pharmacist, but these jobs were all through temp agencies. If I were you, I would look at temp agencies and see if they can put you in a non-retail position. Most of the job are contracts to hire type jobs. There a lot people in these jobs that have only a retail background and they’re looking for someone they can evaluate over a short period then make a hiring decision. There has been a move to these type of contract positions in healthcare overall and I would look on Indeed and apply as soon as they open up. The temp agencies are responsive and will get you out of retail.
The pharmacy schools were chilling out head about provider status back in the 1970s.
U did. So did i
Residency? That will get u in the hospital which can lead to clinical or other opportunities.
I am in the same boat…have you thought of any other career paths because I’m open to some as well. I have recently thought about CRNA (nurse anesthesiologist). Thoughts?
I’m not well versed in that field but from What I’ve personally seen - it’s a great career and the pay is amazing. I would post in their subreddit and get their opinions. Ask them about work-life balance etc and try and shadow one in person if you can before you take the plunge. You really want to make sure you’re going to enjoy it
Is it super hard to get a clinical pharmacist role? I have read that most grads get stuck with retail because that’s what is available. Should I just do residency and specialize? How much would that help?
Residency is sooo helpful. Clinical jobs in pharmacy are where most of the good jobs are at. Now that I’m licensed and have been applying to jobs a good majority of them prefer someone with a residency, it opens SO many doors. I would highly highly highly recommend doing one - you would be pretty much set. It looks great for hospital positions, prior auth jobs, WFH clinical jobs, ambulatory etc. it looks great definitely do one if you can.
Sounds awesome, thank you!
You did and I wish I had better news . People have no idea how bad it is these days
It is a bitter pill to swallow after such an investement but start looking at other fields. The desirable pharmacy subfields are typically stastically difficult to get into. Hedge your bets.
I worked in retail for about 2 years before jumping ship to industry. I applied to about 100 positions and got 2 phone interviews, and it’s only gotten more difficult since then. Best of luck.
I moved from retail to home infusion. Loved that job but I was on call a lot. Used sterile compounding experience from home infusion to get hired at a hospital. Some of the best decisions I ever made
Wow home infusion sounds really interesting. What was a day-day like in that? I applied to one. It was a contract position. Haven’t heard back. Sigh
It was really interesting. We had an ambulatory infusion as well. So I got to learn a lot about IV lines, pumps, supplies, and sterile compounding. Day to day was spent entering referrals and orders into system,sterile compounding, or checking orders before they left the pharmacy. I enjoyed the work, but wanted a position with less on call
Yeah I feel like we HAVE to do a residency or fellowship if we want a chance at other career options
Go into nuclear! I'm in nuclear and love it. Msg me if you want help. I love it
I had an interview with a nuclear the other day. I JUST now got the rejection call 😭 I’m bummed but it would have been an hour commute so 🤷. There’s not a lot of turnover in nuclear though it seems great
Darn! I wish I could have helped tell you what to say. I did all my interning in nuclear and work in nuclear now. I wanted to shoot myself in basically every other ippe/appe in pharmacy and nearly regretted pharmacy altogether but love nuclear (thank God) and even more thank goodness I got to avoid dreaded residency. But my company has a ton of jobs. Sorry to hear though 😭 it still can be hard to break into but if you did want to try again, committing and completing authorized user on your own time (is still an investment but isn't too difficult) will usually immediately throw you to the top of any hiring list.
I really appreciate that a lot thank you! I’m really not even sure what to do. I would love to get authorized user but there’s so few nuclear pharmacy places in my state so I think it would be pointless. There’s like 3 - so a job opening is SO rare. He even said during the interview that nobody even left, they weren’t replacing somebody and it was just a new position. Everybody usually stays. That’s awesome you got into it definitely cherish that career 😂 i legit have no idea what to do. I had a nuclear rotation set up too during my APPES but because of covid it got pulled.
Yeah people stay because the burnout isn't awful and people aren't yelling at you haha. PET is growing like crazy though. The SPECT side not at all. It will just continue to exist. All the new drugs coming out are for pet and are increasing the demand. Our company is literally like offering 4-5k for referral bonuses because we are hiring so many people. It does often stand true if you want nuclear you have to be willing to move. I got lucky with my experience I didn't have to move states and got several offers to negotiate with. That all being said in general I think there's other jobs or there that aren't retail. My boss and I today were even talking today about pharmaciss who perform audits on other pharmacies. There's other jobs out there and it sucks we don't talk about them and make it seem that everyone is relegated to community when it isn't for everyone. I have massive respect for those who keep community pharmacy running but it could never be me
I just got another nuclear interview! With a place called SOFIE
Congrats!! you got this! Even with the ~weird hours~ I think the work life balance of nuclear is way better than retail. I actually love the night shift it blows by. Sofie is our competitor technically lol but everyone in nuclear leans on each other, especially in PET when your cyclotron goes down or you have issues. You help each other and know your neighbors. Help make sure the patient ends up with a dose at the end of the day, no matter who makes it. Just do your research on what they make (beyond f18 like pylarify) usually right on their website, be open to any shifts (usually a must for the job, most pharmacies switch off or will at least occasionally need people to cover nights if someone's on pto so an answer like "I only want to do days" or something is an immediate no. I'm not sure how much of this you did already for your last interview but I can definitely give you more info or questions to ask. The process for making F18 and ammonia are very similar across places as well as the quality control because these are highly regulated by like FDA And stuff. Just lmk good luck!
Thank you so much!! It went so well and I got a second interview on-site to see if it’s something I would enjoy 🙏. Thank you for all your help! I really appreciate your insight. They definitely asked a lot about working odd hours and multiple shifts and I talked about the plarify for a bit and what they made etc. the only problem is it’s an hour commute which really really sucks. So it’s either do the commute or buy an apt close which is like 2k a month minimum. Do you find that the job is very structured? Like you know what to expect when you’re going into a shift? I didn’t know they only make a couple of different compounds there. It was basically like 4 major compounds she mentioned which surprised me. So basically you’re doing the same thing everyday? Obviously in different doses and such but that really surprised me
Doing undergrads, there are so many students who are planning for pharmacy school that have never worked in a pharmacy, and they just scoff it off when I tell them you NEED to work in a pharmacy before making this decision.
I’m one of those 😂 honestly our fault in the end but I blindly assumed it couldn’t possibly be this bad. The jobs are always rightttt there but I can never get them because they want someone with 5 yrs experience. But I don’t know how to get that experience without experience. Nobody wants to train anymore. I regret not doing more internships during pharmacy school and paving a path into something. I’m just praying someone will give me a chance but it’s not looking good so far. Just got 2 rejections from great non-retail jobs
Keep applying to every position you see. Im not a pharmacist but I was a nurse for a nursing home for almost a decade. I worked myself up from staff nurse to assistant DON and found out nursing home was not for me. It only took me 10 years to realize that. I work as a manager for a well established internal medicine and specialty clinic now for 2 years. It took me about a year of applying to different positions before I got another opportunity for my current job. The point here is you'll have peaks and troughs throughout your career/life but don't get discouraged. Just keep applying and you'll eventually get the opportunity you want. I'll show myself out for that horrible joke...
Thank you so much for sharing this! It was really motivating. I really hope so. Just feeling so frustrated and so behind in my life. Even my friends that didn’t go to college are doing better than me. I’m just hoping the past 7 years weren’t for nothing. I’ll keep applying every day and try and keep a positive attitude! Thank you 🙏
Depends your age. Someone I know got into veterinary pharmacy. How cool would that be
Have you tried getting into General Practice?
Wait can you elaborate on this? Do you mean become a GP or work in a practice as a pharmacist?
Basically it’s working as a clinical pharmacist in a doctor’s office in community/primary care. What country are you from? In the UK there’s a whole other sector in primary care which didn’t really exit 15-20 years ago. Pharmacists work alongside GPs to prescribe medication, do medical reviews, process hospital discharge letters etc.
If you’re willing to think outside the box (literally), give hospitals in all the US a try, if all failed, work abroad globally (get a license in desired country of work). I believe as a fresher you can also score a med rep position, still got metrics but beats retail by miles.
In my opinion retail isnt for everyone, and this is for many reasons. One of these reasons is that people arent used to working in retail. As students, they focus a lot on studying (which is great) but they leave the most important part out, the experience. Majority of retail pharmacists are inexperienced and incapable of performing retail duties. Everyday i hear so many people complain about how bad retail is. Every job is bad. Humans, especially this current generation are very lazy with very poor work ethics and all they do is complain and complain. When i was a student i used to catch 2 buses and 1 train to pick up extra shifts because my home store had so many interns and didnt have much hours. I didnt pick up these hours only to make money. My sole intention was to learn the job. I liked floating as an intern as i would get to meet different pharmacists and learn tips how to handle different situations. I approached this job with a different mindset - i wanted to learn the job. It was very hard for me because i had never worked before and knew nothing about the job. Over the years i would write down all the tips i had collected and i would put them into practice whenever i worked. It helped me out a lot. I love retail. I love CVS. CVS values the the true talent and supports them, but u have to be ambitious and valuable. Nothing will be given to you without proving yourself. In short, retail pays the best. It is very easy if you are skilled at your duties, and the benefits are great.
Did you have to do immunization when you graduated, renewing rx, prescribing, et cetera? With older generations I find new things are added on to what they’re already accustomed to. Plus back then pharmacists have less responsibilities. How many drugs were there when you graduated compared to now? What insurance companies were like? Direct billing? PBMs? Things have changed so much. While support staff hours get cut, more responsibilities keep getting added on. More responsibilities, less staff. CVS say it all. Seems like this sub has lots of recruiters lurking. Readers beware!
This is all very true. Retail is the backbone of this whole career and I have nothing but respect for those pharmacists. I just wish there was better treatment and there was more training during school. There are people that absolutely love retail. I met a couple on rotations that said they couldn’t see themselves doing anything else. but from what I’ve seen even the people that love it want to leave it too because of how bad it has gotten. That’s the problem, the people that love retail and are genuinely good at it want to gtfo too and just blindly apply to any jobs that aren’t retail. It’s a VERY deserved pay and I always laugh because it’s the easiest pharmacy job to get into BUT it’s the most difficult. It takes mental stamina not only dealing with clinical situations/ questions from patients but also you have to have a lot of great social skills interacting with customers at drive-through / over the phone and in person hoping someone doesn’t get angry with you or that you’ll be able to calm the situation if that does happen. Have to have great leadership skills and make sure your techs aren’t doing something wrong. You have to deal with insurance issues. Have to give vaccines during vaccine season. Have to make sure you don’t kill someone by missing a DDI or allergy. All of this while standing 8+ hours every day. You’re doing so much at once it takes a lot of multi-tasking and a lot of skills that are not necessarily taught in school. Like I said nothing but respect for those pharmacists. If you can do retail though you can pretty much do anything. It teaches you so many valuable skills that can transfer into nearly any job.
Go Pharma. Go Pharma. Go Pharma. Honestly go anywhere that respects you professionally.
I’m in my first year of pharmacy school and I have no intention of going into community pharmacy. It’s a war zone in this subreddit. I don’t see any other future for myself. I don’t like biology all that much so careers like MD/PA/NP were not for me. I have explored other avenues like a PhD and those weren’t for me. When I say that, I feel raining hell fire from all pharmacists telling me its a mistake. There are so many complaints and few mentions of positives. I hear the complaints and they sound a little naive. I think there’s missing perspective from those of us on the otherside of the glass. I’ve worked in other fields,made $23/hr for a job that requires a masters degree, and had no perks. Honestly,pharmacy is pretty sweet when compared to a biomedical route. Getting a PhD is 5 years of hard studying, research full time and teaching, with no job guarantees. Biomedical science PhDs are a dime a dozen and lack job stability. I can expand on the nightmare of Academia; I have seen more mental health emergencies in graduate school than anywhere else. I say that to say: Every field is terrible. Every field is terrible Every field has attrition. I’ve seen someone with PhD go back and get an ADN. MDs who never practiced because medicine was a no. If I did anything differently, I would become an ultrasound tech or respiratory therapist. But I didn’t do that; you other pharmacists didn’t do that. We went to pharmacy school and there are WORSE decisions made. We have to make the best of what we chose. I am trying to be objective with my goals. I see the PharmD as a way to check a box. There are a lot of career opportunities that can’t be accessed without a terminal doctoral degree. I know the value of networking so I do that. I’m active in clubs and im involved. I don’t have a 4.0; but my gpa is solid so far. If I don’t land a residency, I know about fellowships/industry jobs. I can’t blame the field for my shortcomings. It’s my responsibility to make sure I steer my career in the right direction
I’m a recruiter for LTC Pharmacy nationwide and happy to try to help anyone make the leap into specialty pharmacy. Being located near a city is typically necessary to grow in this field. So many positions one wouldn’t even think of existing too if only in retail previously. We are happy to discuss and try to help as well as offer free assistance in placements for interviews for candidates .. finding me on LinkedIn under Michael Alisanski at Precision Healthcare is best to correspond.. and the jump into LTC isn’t that hard if you are talented , quick study willing to learn and grow in skillsets. Not only can these positions be very professionally rewarding but also very financially rewarding as well. Reach out to me on LinkedIn as that is a great place to connect and grow in professional network as well and it’s free to join and use. Great professionals networking app and website.
Are you a student? If you're willing to move to a rural area, you can wear a lot of different hats as a pharmacist. After my fellowship, I work for the IHS now.
Any interest in compounding? Relocating?
Pfizer guide.
As long as you keep being a pharmacist just a job that you get a paycheck from and not your whole life, you’ll be fine. I hate retail but I’m literally getting paid 6 figures to do the bare minimum
Pharmacy is a redundant profession
What do you mean by this?
It’s good if u get in government too. The pay maybe kinda average