Searching For Pharmacist Positions? Don’t Get Discouraged…

That advice is as much for me right now as I write this as it is for you if you’re on your own new job search for alternative and more rewarding pharmacist positions and things look a bit bleak.

Let’s face it. I don’t need to tell you that if you want a job staffing as a pharmacist, be it in a retail or hospital setting, you can get one pretty easily. I’m even finding that if I am willing to come in as a floater I can pretty much get a job tomorrow.

But not only is that not what I want, but it also is a bit depressing.

I’d forgotten the roller coaster ride that job searching can be and it’s the part I haven’t missed over the last few years that I’ve been working as an Epic Willow Pharmacist. However, my word of advice to you, if you’re also looking to make a job change, is don’t give up just yet.

You see, those “dream pharmacist positions” are out there, but they’re few and far between considering how saturated the market for pharmacists has become in recent years. So finding one for yourself just takes a little more tenacity on your part than the other person who’s looking for that same job is willing to put in.

Okay, I’m glad I got that out of the way. 🙂

What I Did Today

As far as my job search goes, I haven’t yet scoured the career scetions of the major PBMs like I said would the other day.

A part of me feels like that will be a treasure trove of possibilities so I’m saving the best for later.

If you haven’t already done so, go to your smartphone’s app store and download the Indeed app. It’s a shortcut to all the jobs posted on Indeed.com and I’m still amazed at the fact that I can be at work or binge-watching my latest TV obsession and simultaneously applying for new jobs!

That’s because some postings allow you to apply directly from your phone using the Indeed app if you’ve already uploaded a copy of your resumé.

So do it.

One of the jobs I applied for today was with Anthem and the other was with a company I’d never heard of so I think they are recruiting for a PBM organization that might be their client.

The trend these days is for these companies to have you “create a profile” on their career site before you can submit an application.

Some of these profiles can be as long as 8-9 different sections and quite frankly it’s highly irritating to think that one has to go through all that just to send in a resume.

But I know why they do this….

You’re (we’re) basically submitting our information to their job banks and their bots skim and scan our profiles and uploaded resumés for certain matching keywords and based on the results, you either get passed on to a human or no one at the company ever even knows you were on their site if your resumé doesn’t trigger the magic keywords.

Your profile and accompanying resumé fall into an HR black hole.

And the worst part… If you ever want to apply to that company again and use the same email address, you’re forced to recall the login credentials you set up or go through the annoying “password reset” process all over again.

I know this to be true because that’s the problem I ran into when I sent in my application for the Anthem job today… Apparently I applied for a job there about three years ago! Who knew?

I got email confirmations from both companies, letting me know that my applications were “…received successfully and are currently being reviewed… I will be notified if my qualifications are a match for the positions…” Or something to that effect.

And so… I wait.

Tomorrow, the search continues.