job prospects for pharmacy? (1 Viewer)

[piitb]

to make big money in pharmacy, you need to own a pharmacy, and not only do you have to do the pharmacy side of things, but you have to operate a small business.

doing wages, sales, ordering, staffing, supervising. doing that is more of a headache than the pharmacy side of things.

not to mention the huge startup costs.

whereas as a dentist you dont need to own your own business to make big money... and even if you do run your own clinic, the startup cost wouldnt be as high and you can share a practice with a partner(s) to share the overheads.

 

[nchoy]

Money aside, I think u got to really think what job is more interesting to u.
Personally, I cant handle looking into someone else's mouth all the time! Imagine u just had a nice lunch, your patient came in , opened his/her mouth & all the teeth are stained with tobacco! Yuk!

 

[0hNivlek]

Lol my auntie who's a dentist told me that her job sucks.

 

[piitb]

Money aside, I think u got to really think what job is more interesting to u.
Personally, I cant handle looking into someone else's mouth all the time! Imagine u just had a nice lunch, your patient came in , opened his/her mouth & all the teeth are stained with tobacco! Yuk!

thats the ignorant view of things.

if you actually been to a dental surgery and spent a day there seeing what they actually do then u may actually change your views about them.

 

[Zazo]

I'm interested in starting off in Hospital Pharmacy as soon as I graduate (for my pre-registration period) . I want to experience that environment.

Yeah I want to do hospital pharmacy too but u no a guest speaker at one of our lectures told us its very hard and very competitive to get in.

my advice: try to do some work experince at some hospital pharmacy now although i tried and they said they don't have the facilities to train me or u need hospital/retail pharmacy experince first.

plus u have to get good marks during uni

 

[banco55]

I forgot to mention, you also need to pay a monthly franchise fee. I guess it depends on where the business is. I have known someone who does really well without a franchise name.
No $ 18 an hour is not too bad. $40 an hour is even better. HEHE!
YEh . it would be better to get more experiences before u start your own business. The main thing I am worry about is deregulation of the industry. Woolworths & Coles are not going to give up that easily.

Don't worry the pharmacy guild has got your back and will continue paying off the politicians to ensure that doesn't happen. Fuck the consumer I say.

 

[nchoy]

Don't worry the pharmacy guild has got your back and will continue paying off the politicians to ensure that doesn't happen. Fuck the consumer I say.

That's good to hear, HeHe!

 

[lala2]

I'm interested in starting off in Hospital Pharmacy as soon as I graduate (for my pre-registration period) . I want to experience that environment.

Yeah I want to do hospital pharmacy too but u no a guest speaker at one of our lectures told us its very hard and very competitive to get in.

my advice: try to do some work experince at some hospital pharmacy now although i tried and they said they don't have the facilities to train me or u need hospital/retail pharmacy experince first.

plus u have to get good marks during uni

It is very hard to get in for prereg positions, after that it's exponentially easier as the pay's worse than community. In fact, from what I've experienced, most people who do their prereg year in hospital do it only for the money (hospital > community pay in the prereg year, but then community >>> hospital any year after registration).

Good point Zazo, try and get work experience if you can but it's tricky. Usually it's only the private hospitals that take you. The only one that I know of that does it semi-regularly is Baulkham Hills Private.

Good marks at uni are a myth, even for metropolitan positions. I mean, the selection criteria for Concord was "good knowledge of therapeutics" or something like that, but I definitely remember the word "good" as opposed to "excellent" was in it. Their definition of good? I wrote I had achieved a credit in that relevant subject, and won an interview. So definitely you do not need a distinction. In fact, most places want to see you're a good fit, especially rural. The most any hospital stipulated was that yes, Honours looks good, but it's not a prime consideration and we wouldn't eliminate you from interview on the basis of not being Honours. I'm living proof. I failed a subject, didn't tell them (well, it wasn't going to help anyway, and my objective at that stage was to get an interview), won the position, they asked for transcript, and no fuss was made over it.

Just had to emphasise that in bold, so that none of you have to experience the discouragement I did (it's a really terrible feeling trust me).

 

[Zazo]

It is very hard to get in for prereg positions, after that it's exponentially easier as the pay's worse than community. In fact, from what I've experienced, most people who do their prereg year in hospital do it only for the money (hospital > community pay in the prereg year, but then community >>> hospital any year after registration).

Good point Zazo, try and get work experience if you can but it's tricky. Usually it's only the private hospitals that take you. The only one that I know of that does it semi-regularly is Baulkham Hills Private.

Good marks at uni are a myth, even for metropolitan positions. I mean, the selection criteria for Concord was "good knowledge of therapeutics" or something like that, but I definitely remember the word "good" as opposed to "excellent" was in it. Their definition of good? I wrote I had achieved a credit in that relevant subject, and won an interview. So definitely you do not need a distinction. In fact, most places want to see you're a good fit, especially rural. The most any hospital stipulated was that yes, Honours looks good, but it's not a prime consideration and we wouldn't eliminate you from interview on the basis of not being Honours. I'm living proof. I failed a subject, didn't tell them (well, it wasn't going to help anyway, and my objective at that stage was to get an interview), won the position, they asked for transcript, and no fuss was made over it.

Just had to emphasise that in bold, so that none of you have to experience the discouragement I did (it's a really terrible feeling trust me).

Hey lala2,

I agree with wat u said about hospital pharmacy and marks. Now that I've finished second year and thank god have a community pharmacy job, i understand more so as long as u have good communication skills and u know wat ur talking about I think u can get a job !! Hopefully I'll be applying to all the hospitals i can in my pre-reg. year.

Thanx for ur advice anyway, by the way r u 4th yr? or are u starting ur pre-reg year right? Goodluck anyway !

 

[lala2]

Yep, I'm ex-4th year now I suppose, starting my grad year @ Manly Hospital next week Thanks for the well wishes, good luck to you too. Just some tips of advice for anyone intending to apply for hospital:

1. Write a killer application. Selection criteria, selection criteria, selection criteria. You gotta get it into their head that yes, you fit the selection criteria and deserve an interview. Don't be disheartened if it takes several hours of good thinking to spit out something decent. My first application took 6 days to think about--thinking which examples to use, then wording them initially, then wording them better, and finally just getting it altogether. By the end, I could (and was) spitting out an application in a night (also because hosp apps are very similar and you can recycle examples).

2. Ace the interview. This was the most challenging bit for me. Practice makes perfect. Some people are just born lucky, and ace their first interview (know 2 people who did) but others take maybe 2 or 3, and still others take longer (I sat through 7 interviews before I got my first offer). This is where I recommend you don't do Honours (if you're at USYD anyway). Not doing Honours gave me a kick-ass timetable in which I could physically attend interviews, but more improtantly gave me the energy to apply for all these places. I mean, if you're interested in research or go for further study (e.g. Masters or PhD), do it, plenty of Honours people got hospital positions, but that's just my view. In fact, I can only think of 3 non-Honours people who got metropolitan hosp positions, including me but that's just who I know and that's not a lot.

For the interview itself--dress up nicely (of course), and BODY LANGUAGE. That's *so* important. Act confident and enthusiastic, and you'll be confident and enthusiastic. Also be prepared for a med review (if you don't know what that is, you'll know soon but basically they give you a list of medications and ask you what's wrong with it--and that includes clerical errors). And most importantly, take time to think about your answers. You should be prepared anyway, but just taking a break will help clear your head even if you've prepared well, trust me.

Oh and finally, be prepared to be exhausted after each interview. Also, anyone applying for rural hospitals--if you have a speakerphone, use it. If you don't have one (like me), maybe it'll work for you and maybe it won't, but I like to stand up and walk around the room. Usually I sit when I talk on the phone, but the standing up helped project my voice further and I felt more confident as well. So give it a try--every phone interview I had standing up, I was offered the position.