Be aware of the many options you have once you have your Pharm D:
Pharmacy has a lot of different career opportunities that a lot of people are not aware of unless they have been directly impacted by them. In this video, by Loma Linda University, Joycelyn Mallari-Yamzon,a Pharmacist explains what she is currently doing as a Pharmacist and how there are many different pathways people with a Pharm D can go down. This video was published on August 29th, 2013.
Tips and Tricks on how to be Successful in the Pharmacy Field:
There are many books that have been written by passed or current pharmacists who tell stories of their careers and give tips on various parts of the life of a pharmacist.
The New Pharmacist: 46 Doses of Advice is a book written by Dr. Erin L Albert. This author was a clinical pharmacist and throughout her book gives tips on how to manage your career as a pharmacist. This book was published on March 19th, 2014.
From Student to Pharmacist is a book written by Jennifer P. Askew. In this book, she thinks back to her experiences of being a pharmacy student and the transition to being a pharmacist. She provides many tips ranging from how to choose the right career path, having a good resume, how to interview well, how to gain licensure, and much more. Jennifer even gives real life scenarios of what she had gone through to provide insight to the different career paths she was on.
Hearing stories and tips from somebody who has been through it already can be very helpful for those people about to go through the process of becoming and being a Pharmacist.
List of Different PharmD Career Opportunities:
When people think of jobs within pharmacy they think of either a community pharmacist or a hospital pharmacy. Many are not aware of the wide variety of pathways somebody with a Pharm D can go down. The University of Southern California published an article with some of the different areas of pharmacy that their graduates went into.
https://pharmacyschool.usc.edu/programs/pharmd/pharmdprogram/career/
Join a Pharmaceutical Organization:
The America Pharmaceutical Association (APhA) is an organization that students and pharmacist can join. This organization can help you find a job or career, educate you on different aspects of pharmacy, and much more. Many people join this organization to become advocates for Pharmacy as a whole. This website is updated daily and gives up to date information about what is occurring in the world within Pharmacy. There are membership fees if you want to join however joining an organization in your field can be very helpful in many ways including networking.
Join a magazine subscription to stay up to date:
The Pharmacy Times is a magazine subscription. There are multiple different categories that The Pharmacy Times publishes including a careers one that current pharmacist write about their experiences in the Pharmacy world. This article was written by multiple people who have their PharmD and was published in the Summer 2018 issue. They give tips for good habits if you are a pharmacy student or intern. There are also other articles within the issue including one about how one student pharmacist is pursuing a job as a pharmacist with the FDA. There have multiple issues of this magazine dating back to 2006. You can read the articles on the internet.
My thoughts:
As I continue on with my education I am constantly thinking about what pathway of Pharmacy I want to go down. Before I came to Ohio State I did not realize that there were so many options. Getting experience and hearing others stories continues to help me make my decision of what I want to do with my PharmD.