I’m a certified Pharmacy Tech. looking for a part time job while I continue school for my PharmD degree. Why is it so hard to find a part time job for Pharmacy Techs?
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If you are listing that you’re a pharmacy student (not that you shouldn’t) it could be because they know you will soon be an intern and they have limited spots for interns, and also know that you will not be a long-term tech.
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are you a pre-pharmacy (studying for you B.S.) or currently in pharm school (PharmD)? If you are pre-pharmacy how close are you to graduating. It may be that they don’t want to hire you on for a short period of time, train you, only to have you move on and leave and go to pharmacy school.
We recently hired a bunch of new techs. With the exception of one they are all pretty green. The one that isn’t works at two other pharmacies on the side (independent, and chain). It takes a lot of work to bring someone up to speed. If you are telling them you won’t be working long they may not want to hire you because they think you won’t be sticking around very long.
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Are you planning to go to pharmacy school close enough to where you would be working that it would be feasible to do that? Also maybe consider asking hospitals nearby if they need any volunteers. You may not be doing tech work but we sometimes would have volunteers come and file prescriptions for us. It’s better then nothing.
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Does a PharmD program require all the candidates to already have a B.Sc in order to be accepted? Which means that most Pharmacists are at the youngest like… 25?
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No, not necessarily. I just assumed he was going for a B.Sc because he was going for pharmacy and that is what most pre-pharm students have or go for. It isn’t a certain requirement, that was an assumption on my part. Also there can be some slightly younger pharmacists because some schools offer things like 6 year programs right out of school. So some can graduate at around age 24.
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I got my first job on my first try. They weren’t even advertising. The trick? Find a newer pharmacy.
The pharmacy had already been open for a year. I randomly walked in one day and asked if they were hiring. Got the job on the spot.
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Texas here, the pharmacies in my area seem to be chronically understaffed and are always hiring new techs and interns alike.
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Yeah, I feel extremely fortunate to live in one of the few states (AR) with a real demand for pharmacists.
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I guess it depends where you live, at my store we’ve already been through about 5 new hires in a year, but they always find greener pastures some where else. I say just keep looking, something is about to pop up eventually
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I know at least as far as Kroger pharmacy is concerned, our corporate as cut our hours heavily (they used to want us within 5% of allotted hours) now they want us at 100% not a quarter over, and they cut our hours by about 80 per week. For a scale of size we do about 700 on a slow day up to about 1000 on a busy day.
Its sort of off season for pharmacy, just allergies and maintenance meds now until late summer or fall when cold and flu season come back up. A lot of places are probably just not busy enough to hire now.
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The cold hard truth: no one wants to hire and train someone that is going to leave by the time they learn anything substantive. Hiring someone is very costly and they won’t waste that money on you. Furthermore, no pharmacy manager will hire a pharm student because they want to hire you as a pharmacist when you graduate. They already have at least 2, and if they don’t they won’t be waiting on you.
Unfortunately if you need a job you have to find one with a high turn over rate which means something non skilled. Or an independent pharmacy in desperate need for help (and then you’ll get paid a clerks wage).
If you want to be a douche, lie about it; however, I do not recommend being a douche.
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You really have to do your research as to what companies are hiring part time. Look into stores with expanded hours as they sometimes have difficulty finding coverage for evening shifts. Always follow up after you leave a resume. Also look into other avenues that may be hiring technicians other than retail chains (independents, hospitals, long term care pharmacies, compounding pharmacies). Your school might even run a clinic with a pharmacy that may hire technicians and interns part time. Good luck…
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I’m a pharmacy manager in Texas and I’ve been struggling to find good part time techs. I think its because we’re a small town right outside a big town and we get overlooked. Have you thought about applying in the outskirts of town?
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I’m not sure if you have tried this already, but go try some independent pharmacies! They ‘big guys’ probably wont want anything to do with you… go to a smaller pharmacy and talk to the PIC/owner face to face! They are way more receptive to helping out pre-pharm’ers.