Can’t Find the Right Pharmacist Hire? Check Your Job Description
One of the biggest mistakes hiring managers & pharmacy directors make during the hiring process is writing a vague or incomplete job description. From the thousands of job descriptions I have seen, many are vague. Some job descriptions don’t even convey clearly whether it’s an inpatient or outpatient position. As a result, an HR/pharmacy department is flooded with a large percentage of unqualified candidates that waste their time.
A well-written job description is key to attracting the right pharmacist candidates to you. This is a potential candidate’s first impression of what it is like to work at your facility.
Start with writing down values that are important to your pharmacy & facility. For example, “Strong work ethics” or “professional growth”. You will incorporate these values within the job description. Next, write down the purpose of the role. This helps both you get grounded about what to write in the job description, and conveys to a potential applicant how he/she would fit in to the rest of the organization.
As you are writing this, set the intention to paint a strong picture of what it is like to work at your pharmacy. If you keep this in mind as you write the job description, it will be more powerful than a job description that just follows a typical job description format.
Next, start with the main responsibilities and key aspects that are important in the role. Main responsibilities could include reviewing patient records and labs, preparing IVs, and counseling patients. Key aspects could include teamwork, problem-solving skills, clinical skills, computer skills, and the attitude you want your pharmacist to have.
The size and pace of your pharmacy can be acknowledged. For example, you could mention that the pharmacy current fills on average 800-1000 Rxs/day. Mention any pharmacy-run clinical programs unique to your facility or on-the-job training unique to your facility. Be clear about the schedule expectations.
Describe the technical ability of the pharmacist you are looking for. Example: the ability to process prescriptions with the support of Script Pro Central. Experience with CPOE, McKesson, and bedside coding.
The clearer you are about your ideal candidate not just from the perspective of responsibilities, the more likely you will attract the right pharmacist. You may even wish to incorporate a separate paragraph in your job description describing your ideal candidate. The ideal candidate’s attitude, skills, experience level can be summarized in this paragraph titled “Ideal Pharmacist for this Position”. Phrases like the following can be used: “Self starter”, “Positive attitude”, “being a part of a high-functioning fast-paced environment”, or “handles miscommunication in a professional and direct manner.”
An effective job description also takes a paragraph to express what is unique about the facility. For example, if your pharmacy has been recognized by the hospital for an award, this is attractive to a potential new hire because it shows that the pharmacy focuses on excellence. Highlight strong management support and leadership, if you have it. Pharmacists like to work under a well-supported management.
A paragraph about this may look like “We are a facility recognized as one of the top 100 hospitals to work in the US. Services include….”
Run your job description by the person in the current role or by someone else in your pharmacy. Ask them if it gives them a strong sense of what the responsibilities entail.
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You can share job description ideas among other facilities that have similar roles, however, definitely add in the essence of what makes working at your facility unique.
When you work with a recruiting firm to find the right pharmacist to hire, use the recruiter to take your job description to life. An independent recruiter can paint a picture of what it’s like to work there to a candidate and serves as a walking & talking ambassador for your facility. Use this to your advantage. Although a recruiter can save you time by networking with pharmacists who fit your criteria, assessing a candidate’s honest answers about what he/she really wants in a job, and determining whether the position is a true fit, the important step of creating a well-written job description is not to be skipped. It can be highly supportive to a walking & talking ambassador for your facility. It will lead to finding the right pharmacist for your facility.
How to Transition From Retail to Consultant Pharmacist
Q: Chen, I wanted to look into being a consultant pharmacist for nursing homes but I don’t know how to go about doing that or what the requirements are. It’s been about 2 years since I have graduated and I currently work for CVS and have not done any residency. Any advice?
A: The best way to approach this would be to first connect with any current contacts with pharmacists in the long-term care setting, or contacts from your rotations, ie: if you did a long-term care rotation during pharmacy school.
Making those connections is going to be instrumental in helping you get into long-term care consulting. What you do with the connections is a longer conversation. Just knowing people is not enough. How you approach them and how you convey why you are the best pharmacist for the position is equally as important. I coach pharmacists on a regular basis on how to approach connections or network beyond current contacts to get the job they want.
Next, we need to look at your skill set & experience. What is your experience with long-term care consulting? If you have only been working for CVS, then chances are you have not done any nursing home consulting. If you don’t have experience, you can still get into the role, but you would need to overcome hurdles of convincing the pharmacy hiring manager that you are the best pharmacist for the role.
This may mean persuading them that you review charts easily to make interventions, you work closely with geriatric patients and counseling them on their medications, and that you have worked with nursing home providers. This can be tough if you live in a geographic area with other pharmacists you’re competing with in this tight job market who are more experienced than you and who have direct experience in the long-term care setting.
You could also look into getting your Certified Geriatric Pharmacist (CGP) certification and be board-certified in geriatrics. The next testing window is July 1-Aug 31 and the deadline to sign up is June 15: http://www.ccgp.org. Here is the review information: http://www.geriatricpharmacyreview.com
Depending on where you live, you may also need a separate license to practice consultant pharmacy. Arkansas, for example, requires an “at large consultant pharmacist” permit. Check into your state license requirements. FL requires a that you finish a consultant course sponsored by the FL Board of Pharmacy and get a special license. During your certification process, you will need to have a consultant pharmacist preceptor. Get to know your preceptor well and who may be able to refer you to a facility if they are impressed with your skill set.
An easier way to get into a consultant pharmacist position without prior experience is to get your foot in the door first. Get a position as a staff pharmacist servicing nursing homes and get to understand the inner workings of a nursing home pharmacy . Impress your boss working in that role, get clear about the requirements they look for in order for you to become a consultant pharmacist at the pharmacy, and then create a plan for moving into that role down the road.
For more guidance on how to transition into a consultant pharmacist job in this job market, stay tuned for expert interviews of pharmacists who are already in these positions and advice from them about how to get into the positions. You will get the scoop on getting access to these live interviews if you are a part of our community. To become a part of our community & stay connected on events offered first to our community, click here to get access to unadvertised jobs. To book your free 20-minute “Get the Job” Strategy Session, click on the link.
If you have experience transitioning into a long-term care consulting position from another practice setting, share your experience below.
Pharmacist Job Market Update
Here’s the latest pharmacist job market update:
More job opportunities are opening up for pharmacists, as pharmacies & companies are more interested in hiring, compared to late 2009. Positions are getting filled quickly in areas saturated by pharmacists, especially those that are staff level ones with desired shifts. It is refreshing to see some pharmacies ready to hire and quick to make decisions. Pharmacists are having to beat other pharmacists to the punch, because once a coveted position becomes available, pharmacies are being flooded with applicants.
On the flip side, I am seeing other pharmacies take extra care in waiting for the right pharmacist, more so than in the past. I know one hospital that waited 8 months to find the right critical care pharmacist. The pharmacy director chose not to look at critical care trained residents who had only one year of experience beyond residency, nor critical care pharmacists without a residency. Their minimum requirements were that the pharmacist had to be PGY2 critical care residency-trained and have at least 2 years of critical care experience as a pharmacist. And the pharmacy director was willing to wait for someone who met that criteria and was the right fit.
I know another hospital that has waited months for the right candidate for a clinical coordinator position. They have been waiting for someone who is cream of the crop. Even staff pharmacist roles are not immune to this type of extra selectivity and hiring managers waiting for the right person. One pharmacy in Northern California has had a staff pharmacist opening for a few months. Despite receiving many qualified candidates, they have chosen to hold off on hiring until finding someone who is the perfect candidate.
Clinical specialists that are in high demand are Read more
One Truth About Pharmacist Recruiters – Exposed
It is frustrating to me to see this happen so much right now that I just had to blog about this today. I am seeing qualified pharmacists get passed up by hiring managers because they have not taken the time to market themselves in their resume tailored to the position they’ve asked me to represent them for.
Here’s one truth about pharmacist recruiters—exposed. I think a misconception pharmacists have about working with recruiters is that recruiters will be able to get you over the hurdle of being just a resume on someone’s desk because they will be able to verbally tell their contact about why you should be considered for a position, so you don’t need to do much to represent yourself well in a resume.
Recruiters can definitely move you in front of the pile of resumes. However, just as with networking, even if a recruiter provides you with the value of a direct connection and markets you to a decision-maker, the hiring manager still wants to see your strengths and responsibilities relevant to the position backed up by your resume. If you choose to highlight other things instead, or gloss over your related pharmacist experience, you can still be passed up even if you are qualified.
For example, there is one hospital that is looking for a pharmacist who has started up an anticoagulation clinic or set up other pharmacy-run clinics. That is a key responsibility they are looking for. I know a pharmacist who has had experience setting up pharmacy-run clinics, but she chose to just highlight in her resume all the anticoagulation clinic experience she’s had, not the experience she’s had in setting up a pharmacy-run clinic. It cost her an interview.
I know another pharmacist who didn’t answer objections upfront about things that a hiring manager could have concerns about within his resume. It was not clear within the resume why he had transitioned positions within a 1.5-2 year period for the last few jobs, all of which were reasonable circumstances. Even though it may be explained to a pharmacy hiring manager by a recruiter, hiring managers are busy and can forget. When the hiring manager gets a chance to look over your resume, he/she passes a judgment based on what they see.
My advice to you is get clear about the responsibilities of the position you’re applying for and take the time to address those specific responsibilities as much as you can. Also meet potential objections upfront someone may have about why you would be a good fit for the position.
Sometimes you can think you’ve addressed this the best as possible without realizing how 1) you have really undersold yourself, 2) you have not crafted your resume to market yourself to give yourself the best chance possible to be invited in for an interview. Whether you tap into my teachings or another expert with my credentials, get a resume critique before you send off your resume/application. Doing it yourself without expert feedback will only get you so far. It will cost you interviews. You have no idea how many times you are getting passed over because of something that you can take control over, if you just took that extra step to get feedback. You deserve the best shot, especially for positions that you are qualified for.
Remember, if you do the same thing you’ve always done, it’s not going to work in this pharmacist job market where you have lots of competition. Take what you’ve learned from this and change what you are doing so you get better results.
4 Secret Ways to Attract Good Pharmacists to Your Pharmacy (Part II)
It’s easier to attract a pharmacist who has worked at your pharmacy before as a pharmacy student or resident. You also have the benefit of having experienced the pharmacist’s capability and fit for the position.
SOLUTION: Attract pharmacists by developing an externship program or residency program, if you don’t have one already. Stay in touch with them–they may become your future hires.
Timing is Everything
I was thinking about this the other day– how timing is everything. And how it plays an important role in getting hired for the job you want. If only…. you heard about the job one step before another pharmacist, you would have been the last one to be considered for an interview because that was the cutoff before they stopped accepting applications. If only… you had answered the phone when a recruiter called you about a job opportunity that met your criteria, you would have heard about a position you wanted to be considered for.
I suppose it makes you wonder if, in the end, it was all meant to be. Whether you were truly meant to be to work as a clinical inpatient pharmacist, or you were actually meant to transition into a home infusion pharmacist position….perhaps whatever ended up happening was just fate. At the same time, if you leave everything to chance without doing what you can control, you will leave things on the table.
Getting the pharmacist position you want is in many ways like meeting the significant other of your dreams. If you sit around at home with the right intentions & wait for your dream guy or woman to show up, you will not have as good chances as if you made the effort to be in a situation more conducive to attract the significant other you are looking for.
Getting the job you want is about being at the right place at the right time, and being prepared. If you have the connections without a plan to ace the interview, you have missing pieces to getting hired. If you know how to market yourself in an interview and “talk yourself into a job”, but don’t get invited for interviews, you will fall short of getting offers you deserve. If you want to close in the gap of missing pieces to get interviews & offers faster, look into joining the next session of the “Get the Job” Premium Membership Program. If you prefer to do the same thing you’ve been doing, you can. Just be aware that other pharmacists who decide to take control of their search will have an advantage over you.
Share your story of being at the right place at the right time when you got the job you wanted. Comment below–I want to hear about them! Inspire other pharmacists to be at the right place at the right time.
Interview Coming Up? Get the Job!
You’ve done the work to market yourself to stand out from your competition. You’ve been requested for an in-person interview. It’s time to get the job!
Here are a few things to check off from your interview checklist:
1. Prepare for the interview enough that you’re comfortable to ask for the job.
Know the names & titles of everyone you will be interviewing with. This includes key interviewers within the pharmacy, HR, and perhaps people such as the CEO. Prepare for your interview by anticipating the questions that will be asked of you. Decide how you will answer challenging questions. Research and figure out questions to ask that are both important to you and which reflect on your interest in the position that you are applying for. Plan to ask for the job at the end. Asking for the job is something that most pharmacists are not used to doing. There is an art to it and the pharmacists who know how tend to get the job.
Go through the interview process by asking a pharmacist job market expert to do a mock interview with you. This will give you an advantage over other applicants. You will have practiced interview questions being asked in this job market and ace the interview with confidence.
I know a pharmacist who has been able to talk herself into jobs that others haven’t been able to. It is because she is amazing with marketing herself. She will be a guest on our upcoming invitation-only teleseminar “How to Get the Job You Want Without the Experience”. The teleseminar will be useful to pharmacists who don’t have the specific experience for a position, but want to apply for a pharmacist position in a different practice setting. It will also be useful to new pharmacy residents & grads. The first 32 pharmacists who enroll in the “Get the Job” Membership program will be invited to attend.
Many pharmacists are imbalanced on what part of the interview process they are good at. Some are good at getting the interview, but not the job. Others are good at getting the job, but have trouble getting interviews. The good news is that this is something that can be learned. You just need to have a handle on the secret of what works & what doesn’t in this tight job market.
2. Get directions ahead of time. Map it out via Google Maps or Mapquest. I prefer Google Maps because it also gives you the estimated time in traffic. Also, call to request directions. Someone familiar with the area will be able to give you landmarks that make it easier to find where you need to go. Have the phone # of the interview location handy, in case you get lost.
3. Look and feel sharp. Take care in presenting yourself to make a memorable first impression, from brushing your hair neatly, to dressing professionally in colors that complement your skin tone. It is better to overdress one notch than to under dress. When you feel sharp, you radiate confidence and the hiring managers can feel that.
3. Bring a few hard copies of your resume. This offers something tangible for the hiring managers to hold on to. They have it ready and can make notes on it if they wish. Few pharmacists actually do this, so you would be standing out by bringing this to your interview.
What part of the interview checklist have you done in the past and gotten results from? What part do you have challenges with? Share your experiences below.
Good luck at your interview! Remember, give yourself the best chance possible–you only have one shot.
Should I Write a CV or Resume?
Q: Chen, should I write a CV or a resume?
A: It depends on several factors unique to you, your work history, and the position you are applying for. To answer the question, let me explain the difference between a CV and a resume. A CV includes a full history of your experience. A CV may include your a summary of publications, research, presentations, but a resume doesn’t. A resume is often a 2-3 page summary of your experience, highlighting the most relevant experience to the position that you are applying for.
Typically, a resume would highlight recent experience. It is concise, and a perfect way to market yourself for many pharmacist positions. Look at your resume as a “marketing piece” and a first introduction of yourself to a potential employer. A pharmacy hiring manager often doesn’t have a lot of time to look at an initial application. When you express your direct relevant experience to the position you are interested in, it can be more powerful than having a lengthy CV that may end up showing a lot of irrelevant experience. This may be the case especially when you’ve had varied experience throughout your pharmacy career and it’s hard to scan to find the relevant experience.
However, a CV can be useful also. It is appropriate when applying for pharmacy residencies, as well as for opportunities in research and academia. If you have extensive experience and it has primarily been in one practice setting of pharmacy, writing a CV can do the job. It can also do the job when it shows your breadth of experience well.
I must say that these are general guidelines. Choosing between a CV or a resume is a case-by-case decision, depending on your breadth of experience, the type of position you’re applying for, how much you’ve transitioned positions (is it frequent that you’ve left positions, or do you typically stay in positions?), when you had your relevant experience to the position, and more. This is something that you can get advice on from an individual basis if you’re a member of the “Get the Job” Membership Program for pharmacists, new pharmacy grads, and residents. You can use your membership benefit to gain direct ongoing access to a pharmacist job market expert for advice and training until you find the right job.
Out of the Fire
Do you spend most of your time in the fire? Are you putting out fires or helping out in the pharmacy on the line, leaving little time for high-level visioning for the pharmacy? Or do you spend most of your time doing high-level visioning, but receive complaints from your pharmacy staff that you are disconnected and don’t understand the main challenges they experience? For those of you who have budget crunches, being on the line may seem like a complete necessity. It is also easy to feel a sense of accomplishment when you are out there on the line helping patients and making a difference.
This is a tricky balance to achieve when you face the dilemma of being in a budget crunch where you need to make the best use of your time. When you are caught up in the day-to-day operations of the pharmacy, it is hard to be in the space of taking a step back to take a high-level view and consider what is best for the short-term and long-term vision of the pharmacy.
However, as a leader, you will “spin” less if you take time to step back to think of the bigger picture. It will help you make a difference in many more patients. How can you impact 500 patients vs. you serving them 1-on-1? These are questions you play an important part in answering, as the leader of the pharmacy.
On the flip side, if you spend all of your time visioning, managing budgets, project management, patient satisfaction/quality improvement, as well as hiring/firing, you may lose the pulse of what is happening among your pharmacy staff and what is important to the patients. Regardless of what side of the coin you are on, there are things that you can do right away to make sure you focus on the bigger vision even if you’re busy.
Stay tuned for an article coming up about 4 steps you can take today to focus on the bigger vision, even if you are busy.
In the meantime, if you are a pharmacy manager or director, share below how frequently you are in the fire vs. stepping back to focus on the bigger vision and make plans. What has worked & hasn’t worked for you? What are some obstacles you have to reach a balance between working with your pharmacy staff vs. on your pharmacy?
?