When the Mirror Says It All
Have you ever felt frustrated with your patients and felt that you were right and your patients were idiots for how they treated you?
The next time you experience this as you are working in the pharmacy, look inward. You may notice that people reflect back to you what you don’t see in yourself. When you consider someone is an idiot for being angry and yelling at you, ask yourself if you embrace considering yourself as an idiot. As humans, we have the capacity of a range of emotions and characteristics. If you embrace that capacity in yourself to be an idiot, the incident of someone else yelling at you will not spark any emotional reaction.
Instead, you will just witness it without feeling a triggered emotion. You will less likely internalize it and respond with an emotional reaction that upsets you.
Try filling in the blank. For example, rather than not embracing being an “idiot”, you may get upset when your pharmacist co-workers are angry and controlling. Chances are, you have not embraced the part of yourself that is an angry, controlling person. Take steps in loving that part of yourself that is angry and controlling.
The more you are able to witness your thoughts and not pass judgment, the freer you will feel. This will empower you in your work as a pharmacist as well as your personal life.
Try it! Post your opinion below–I want to hear about it!
Get Off Your Butt & Update Your Resume
I know–it’s painful. Why would you bother to update your resume when you have a job already?
Here are 3 reasons to stay on top of updating your resume, even when you have a job:
1. You may have a sudden change in job situation. Something personal or family-related may come up and you need to move, or reduce your work hours/responsibility.
2. You may be downsized unexpectedly from your pharmacy or pharmaceutical industry job, especially in this economy.
3. When you are ready to make a career move, you don’t remember key responsibilities, pharmacy practice projects, awards/recognition. It may very well be that you’ll be staying in your current pharmacist position for a long time. What you remember about what you did 2 years ago will not be as clear and detail-oriented as what you remember today about what you are currently doing.
How to keep an updated resume:
Anytime you are given a new responsibility, initiated a new project/role, managed other pharmacists, taught pharmacy residents & students, or wrote a publication, write it down.
Be as detailed as possible. Don’t worry if you are verbose in your initial draft; it can always be edited to select relevant skills & experience for what you apply for down the road. For example, if you created a discharge program for a hospital where pharmacists review medications & provide discharge counseling for every patients, write “Developed a patient discharge program involving pharmacy medication review & discharge counseling”. If you manage other pharmacists & techs, start with writing “Managed 4 pharmacists & 3 technicians, filling 700 Rxs/day”.
If you know you are ready for a job change, learn more about secrets you can tap into to get the edge in their job search by updating your resume to stand out from your competition.
Pharmacy Directors- Biggest Management Challenges?
Share your biggest management challenges being a pharmacy manager by commenting on this blog or click here. I will answer the most commonly asked questions here. Also, stay tuned for a multi-speaker pharmacist/pharmacy manager telesummit event within the next year that will address your main management challenges.
One of the most common challenges mentioned by pharmacists about their management is managing expectations and communicating expectations clearly.
One way to communicate expectations clearly is to conduct set performance reviews.
Here’s a pearl on having performance reviews that inspire your staff’s performance. Something you may not be doing currently: Include the pharmacist rating him/herself on measurable factors, in addition to you as the pharmacy management evaluating the pharmacist. Allow the pharmacist to participate in the creation of some of those measurable factors as well.
Stay tuned! I will write on other ways to communicate expectations effectively in another blog article.
“I Don’t Want to Spend Time Training”
This article is for Indian Health Service pharmacy directors only.
This is one of the most common comments pharmacy directors share with me, both for training new hires and relief pharmacists. A way to save you time to train is to hire slowly for the right hire and screen for pharmacists who have as many translatable skills as possible. If you have a relief pharmacist coming in, select someone with IHS experience. At the same time, there will always be new procedures and strategic direction unique only to your facility.
Training is an area that is easy to shortcut. The most common excuses are: “I don’t have time”, “Things are always changing around here; just ask other pharmacists how they will handle this.” Read more
How to Hire the Best Pharmacist, Not the Best Interviewer
Pharmacy directors & hiring managers, when have you hired someone on who did so well in an interview, but didn’t perform for you after the interview? “Hire slowly, fire fast” is a motto managers are often told. Here are 3 strategies to hire the best pharmacist for the position, rather than the best interviewer:
1. Check references thoroughly by asking insightful questions. This means checking all references consistently. Ask open-ended questions and situational questions, such as ones that delve deeper into what may not have gone well & how it was handled.
“Tell me about a time when [something didn’t go well]. How did he/she handle it?”
“What is [pharmacist]’s approach to handling conflict?”
“What advice do you have for someone who may be managing [pharmacist] in the future?”
Read on for the rest of this article & 2 other strategies to hire the right pharmacist. Read more
Pharmacists – Would you Date Another Pharmacist?
If you had your choice, would you date another pharmacist? I’ve always said I would never marry another pharmacist. Nor would I marry anyone healthcare related, because I didn’t want to be talking about the same topics at home. Ok, I confess, although I never wanted to marry a pharmacist, I was always open to. If a perfect charming pharmacist came along, I’m sure I would have fallen in love.
As in dating & marrying, so it is with looking for the right one when you’re looking for a job. Set your criteria of what you prefer so what meets your criteria starts coming into your awareness. Have you ever noticed that when you buy a new car, you see your car everywhere on the road but you never noticed it before? After that, just be open to what happens. You never know how things fall into place when it comes down to it.
I have seen pharmacists tell me they were not open to working as a pharmacy director of a smaller than 200-bed hospital, but then when it came down to it, they absolutely loved the pharmacy staff, the management support, and they jumped on board. I’ve also had pharmacists tell me they don’t want to live in a geographic area, but then when I talk to them a few months later, they are working in that area! Things change; circumstances change and life is dynamic.
Set your intention of what you want & then let the universe take care of it. You will be led to the next step in your path that is right for you to make your next decision.
I guess I will never know what it’s like to date or marry another pharmacist—I married a sweet Aussie guy who is now a pilot teaching flight school. He came along when I was least expecting it, while traveling in Paris. We are in our 10th year together and loving it.
What about you–would you date another pharmacist? Comment below and take the poll (see results instantly)!
Interviewed But Didn’t Get the Job
Didn’t get a job you interviewed for & not sure why?
If you don’t get the job and don’t know why you didn’t get it, chances are you didn’t ask.
If you ask, only two things can happen:
- You will know how you can improve for a future interview
- You will not know the truth, but at least you tried to find out
Here are a few ways to ask in a professional manner:
“I’m sorry to hear I wasn’t selected for the opportunity. I appreciate you considering me. Would you give me feedback on what it was that you were concerned about, or why I wasn’t a good fit for your pharmacy? This will help me either improve professionally or help me find a job that’s right for me.”
“I really want to work for your company down the road. What can I do to prepare myself in my career path so that you will consider me in the future?”
Depending on how your potential pharmacy employer answers, ask a follow up question to that:
“Do you feel that there are other opportunities that you would consider me for in the company?
“From your assessment, what kind of a work environment do you think would suit me the best?”
Comment below on how this article is helping you, or other ideas/concerns you have with getting feedback from a potential employer after an interview.
Are Pharmacist Salaries Going Down?
Q: Chen, are pharmacist salaries going down?
A: In any kind of job market, salaries are based on the value you provide and the market supply/demand. Because the economy has led to a tighter pharmacist job market, it is a reality that 1) companies are experiencing budget cuts, 2) pharmacist layoffs lead to increased supply of pharmacists.
I have been waiting to respond to this question because I wanted to observe for a longer period what the pharmacist job market is experiencing and give you my first-hand perspective. I have noticed that pharmacies may be less generous with relocation or sign-on bonuses, but I haven’t necessarily seen salaries decrease significantly. There are hospitals that aren’t paying for pharmacists to travel to interview, because they are on smaller budgets than before.
Pharmacist salaries are stabilizing and don’t seem to be increasing as in previous years. Don’t expect that you have as much negotiating room for salaries as previous years, because the competition is tough out there and there may be someone equally as qualified who will work for a salary that you may think it’s not enough. I know an inpatient pharmacist who took a hiatus in her work for almost a year & is wanting to get back into hospital or home infusion. She had an opportunity that she could get back into but she was out of touch with how the pharmacist job market has shifted, and felt that the salary was not competitive enough. She is still out of a job months later because of this.
If you are a relief pharmacist, you may have noticed that temporary staffing needs have decreased in certain areas (partly because they are being filled by full-time pharmacists more readily in this job market). The pharmacist staffing companies are experiencing a cut in what pharmacies are paying and I have seen some agencies decrease the amount they are paying pharmacists because expenses of the services & costs of doing business of an agency don’t decrease just because it’s a tighter job market.
Comment below (you can keep it anonymous if you wish) about what you’ve seen with salaries at your workplace.
I’ve included the National Results from the 2010 Spring Edition Pharmacist Salary Survey from Mercer Human Resource Consulting. *Keep in mind that there are absolutely variations geographically & you may be compensated differently due to the depth of role that you have.
2010 Pharmacy Compensation Survey – Spring Edition
National Results
| Pos Code(s) | Pos Title(s) | # Orgs | # Obs | $ Hourly Base Pay Wgtd Mean | $ Annualized Base Pay Wgtd Mean* |
| 100 | Pharmacy Team Mgr | 99 | 27,079 | 60.20 | 125.2 |
| 200 | Staff Pharmacist – Retail | 28 | 52,730 | 54.59 | 113.6 |
| 205 | Staff Pharmacist – Hospital | 99 | 3,919 | 53.73 | 111.7 |
| 210 | Staff Pharmacist (Healthcare Retail/Satellite) | 17 | 448 | 51.66 | 107.4 |
| 220 | Staff Pharmacist (Mail-order/Online) | 9 | 2,336 | 52.55 | 109.3 |
| 250 | Clinical Pharmacist | 71 | 1,194 | 54.55 | 113.4 |
| 270 | Nuclear Pharmacist | 2 | 226 | —— | —— |
| 200 205 210 220 250 270 |
Staff Pharmacist – Retail, Staff Pharmacist – Hospital, Staff Pharmacist (Healthcare Retail/Satellite), Staff Pharmacist (Mail-order/Online), Clinical Pharmacist, Nuclear Pharmacist | 147 | 60,853 | 54.07 | 112.5 |
| 300 | Lead Pharmacy Tech | 83 | 24,742 | 17.39 | 36.2 |
| 310 | Pharmacy Tech | 113 | 98,140 | 15.44 | 32.1 |
| 300 310 |
Lead Pharmacy Tech, Pharmacy Tech | 144 | 122,882 | 15.81 | 32.9 |
If They Like Me, They’ll Hire Me
Is it true? Sure, it plays an important role in a pharmacy hiring manager’s decision, but why should they pick you out of other interested pharmacist applicants?
I was talking to a pharmacist who wanted to be presented for a management position. I suggested that she highlight any leadership experience, including starting/leading clinical programs or previous leadership experiences during work or in pharmacy school (she had attended pharmacy school within the last 5 years), and her response to me was “I want to keep my resume the way it is. If they like me, they’ll hire me. I don’t want to be giving any false impressions about myself.”
I don’t know how else to say it, but please understand that you may not be used to a pharmacist job market that requires you to not only be a pharmacist who has the skills to get the job you want, but to also convey your skills and passion among other competing pharmacists to get the job.
It’s one thing that you know what you are good at–that your patients love the way you connect with them & physicians listen to your therapeutic suggestions because you are sharp clinically & you collaborate well with others.
It’s another thing to show on a resume (the main thing a potential pharmacist employer sees initially) what it is you have that is directly relevant to the pharmacist position they are trying to fill. A good resume’s purpose is not false impressions. A good resume points your strengths out. It is not about being untruthful. It’s about marketing yourself because that is one of the first key impressions someone will have of you.
If you are untruthful, you will be found out during the interview anyway, so that is dangerous territory to be playing in. The point is to think of what the pharmacist employer wants and tailor your resume uniquely to what they are looking for.
Maybe this will help you understand why it’s important. Why don’t we step back from pharmacy & look at a job for a housekeeper. The qualities of a housekeeper an employer or a client (perhaps you) is looking for is 1) someone who cleans the house in an efficient & detail-oriented manner, 2) someone who has experience doing housekeeping.
Candidate #1:
This housekeeper has the skills mentioned above and the experience, but chooses to write on his/her resume:
Housekeeper. Responsibilities are not elaborated on.
Assessment: You are left wondering what responsibilities he/she had as a housekeeper.
Candidate #2:
This housekeeper has the skills mentioned above and experience housekeeping, but chooses to write on his/her resume: “Experience with scanning & copying”, “Running errands for my clients”, Taking quality photo portraits of people”, “Typing 100 WPM”.
Assessment: Experience with scanning & copying is not relevant to the position. Perhaps running errands is somewhat relevant, but not directly relevant. Taking quality photos & typing 100 WPM is not relevant at all.
Candidate #2:
This housekeeper also has the skills and experience housekeeping, but chooses to write on their resume: “Cleaning 4 houses/day that are 5000 sq ft average size and retaining clients for 3+ years”, “Receiving high compliments from clients (references are available) and consistent referrals”
Assessment: This person seems to 1) clean the house in an efficient & detail-oriented manner, 2) someone who has experience doing housekeeping. This person also has references to back it up.
Who would you choose to interview?
Get your foot in the door first. Once you are interviewing, they will get a better sense of your personality and whether they like you. Keep in mind that you are still highlighting what you have that is directly relevant to the position even when you are interviewing, but at that point they will definitely take into consideration more of your personality fit. When you are at the resume stage, what you point out is all they have to go by. Get your foot in the door first. For other tips useful in your job search, check out the 5 Biggest Mistakes Candidates Make in a Job Search.