By: Endira Anderson, PharmD; Tracey L Mersfelder, PharmD; Heather L. Girand, PharmD, BCPPS; and Minji Sohn, PhD.
The headlines tell it all: our community pharmacies are closing at an alarming rate. This is affecting the availability of community pharmacy positions, just as in the past when supply exceeded demand. More importantly, this is impacting our patients’ access to healthcare services. How many community pharmacist positions will be available for our students? Over the past five years, 85%-96% of our college of pharmacy graduates began their career in community pharmacy. Competition for these positions is high and the job market is becoming saturated with new graduates and an increasing number of unemployed community pharmacists. Many of our students have similar academic, professional, and extracurricular experiences, making it difficult for employers to differentiate them when screening for pharmacist positions. We ask the question: how do we help our students stand out in the crowd when competition for these positions is high?
Why is this important for pharmacy faculty advisors?
As faculty advisors we need to be aware of important skills, credentials, and experiences that pharmacy employers desire in different practice settings to better advise our students about elective course choices and extracurricular activities available to them. Past studies have analyzed the factors influencing the selection of candidates for post-graduate pharmacy residency interviews and positions.1-4 With most of our graduates entering community pharmacy, we aimed to determine what items are most important to employers when evaluating a candidate for an interview in this setting.
How did we answer this question?
An anonymous 27-question survey was sent to hiring personnel in the upper Midwest to rate the importance of specific criteria when considering applicants for community pharmacist positions. The respondents rated each criterion’s importance using a 4-point Likert scale (1-being not at all important and 4-being very important) when considering selection for interviews.
What did we learn?
The results are listed in Table 1. All respondents listed community pharmacy work experience and immunization certification as important or very important when selecting candidates to interview for community pharmacist positions. Research experience, residency training, and professional presentations/publications were the least important.
Table 1. Importance of curriculum vitae (CV) items as rated by community pharmacy hiring personnel
How can this information help pharmacy faculty advisors?
This information can help faculty advisors to appropriately guide students who are interested in community pharmacy practice. Our students may use this information to focus their efforts on specific activities to build their CVs in accordance with what future employers are looking for. This has been shared at our college to emphasize the importance of community pharmacy work experience, clinical skills and certifications to better prepare our students who want to successfully enter a competitive market in community pharmacy practice.
What advice do you provide to student pharmacists to help them successfully enter community practice?
References :
1. Manusco CE, Paloucek FP. Understanding and preparing for pharmacy practice residency interviews. Am J Health-Syst Pharm 2004;61:1686-9. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajhp/61.16.1686
2. Cho JC. Selecting candidates for pharmacy residencies: a national survey of residency program directors. J Clin Pharm Ther 2018;43:844-848. doi:10.1111/jcpt.12723
3. Scalise AA, Lezaja GS, Nemec EC, Spooner JJ, Kennedy DR. Valued characteristics of community pharmacy residency applicants. J Am Pharm Assoc 2016;56:643-648. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2016.06.011
4. Wheeler JS, Ngo T, Cecil J, Borja-Hart N. Exploring employer job requirements: an analysis of pharmacy job announcements. J Am Pharm Assoc 2017;57:723-728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2017.08.012
Author Bio(s):
Endira Anderson is a Staff Pharmacist at LTC MedEx Direct. Her educational interests include ambulatory care, professional development and community pharmacy. In her free time she enjoys traveling with her husband, reading and playing with her puppy.
Tracey L. Mersfelder is a Professor at Ferris State University College of Pharmacy. Educational scholarship interest includes Adult Internal Medicine and pharmacy education. In her free time, Tracey enjoys bird watching.
Heather L. Girand is a Professor and Department Chair of Pharmacy Practice at the Ferris State University College of Pharmacy. Educational scholarship interests include faculty development and well-being. In her free time, Heather enjoys golf and traveling.
Minji Sohn is an Associate Professor at Ferris State University College of Pharmacy. Dr. Sohn’s research is focused on assessing (1) antibiotic use in outpatient settings, and (2) the impact of harm reduction policies on the opioid overdose crisis in the U.S. Dr. Sohn received an M.P.P. and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Kentucky. In her free time, Minji enjoys watching movies and playing with cats.
Pulses is a scholarly blog supported by a team of pharmacy education scholars
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