Hot Jobs

We have some really great jobs available for those who are interested.

NY- Mount Vernon and Manhasset community pharmacy looking for a pharmacist 9-5 every other weekend.

CA- Clinical Pharmacist Bakersfield, we are also looking for pharmacists from all practice settings in the state of California. For placement with some our outstanding clients.

TX- Director of pharmacy Houston, we are also looking for pharmacists from all practice settings in the state of Texas. For placement with some of our outstanding clients.

If you are interested please feel free to email us nayoub@infinitysg.com or call us at 866-538-0715.

Taking the Leap-clinician on a mission

In our daily discussions with pharmacists we usually talk to them about where they see themselves in the next couple of years. I usually ask, what is your plan for the next five years? Do you see yourself as purely a staff pharmacist, would you like to progress to the clinical side and be more involved in patient care, do you see yourself as a pharmacy manager or Director Of Pharmacy one day. It is important to know these things about candidates because not every job has a clear path for advancement especially in pharmacy, if there is no clear path then perhaps the job we were looking at for them is not the right one at all. But if there is a path then there a few ways to get on the that track. It involves familiarizing yourself with the greater aspects of hospital operations, human resources, patient care and financial management. It also involves taking a initiative on your part to show your boss and others that you are ready to lead. The more you educate yourself on these certain aspects of health care and show you are willing to take on new challenges then you will find yourself on the upward ladder towards your goal.

Click on our hyperlink to read the article on how to do it. And the path one pharmacist put himself on to management.

Turbulance in the pharmacy job market, It's the economy stupid!

There is a press release from the APHA regarding a study of how the current economic crisis in this country is affecting all pharmacy practice settings. In general most pharmacies are finding that they are having to cut thier budgets which means cutting full time staff and hiring less, which in turn leads to asking pharmacists to do more work with less incentive to do so. And as we have also found out in the past, mistakes happen in pharmacy more often when people are put under pressure to fill scripts without much oversite and under extreme stress which is what happens when you have to cut staff and those remaining pharmacists have to the work of two people instead of one. There is a bright spot in the midst of the storm some pharmacists are being asked to take on leadership roles which may been out of reach before and some are going back to school for more education to help them in the future become more specialized.

Double Jeopardy

It seems that according to a study and report by KOCO oklahoma city news that 80% of hospital bills have errors. Most of the billing errors seem to be double billing or mismatched billing where drugs have been charged for that were never given. It seems like a really serious problem and one that could be easily prevented.

The Vaccinators

It is official 49 states have passed laws allowing pharmacists to administer vaccinations. All except the lonely state of Maine more and more pharmacists are taking the Apha immunization certification. So what does this mean for pharmacists across the country?

Is administering vaccinations something pharmacists would like added to their pharmacy collective pharmacy plate. Well, I guess the answer is yes since as many as 60,000 pharmacists have become certified in the administration of these vaccines. I don't know and really did not know about this till today so please leave some feedback.

I can't get no satisfaction or maybe I can?

I have just read a survey study on the pharmacy profession and job satisfaction. I think it is important to remember that satisfaction with your job is the number one most important factor in taking and staying at your job. If you are not satisfied with your job you tend to be less productive and make mistakes and as we all know mistakes are unacceptable in general but are really unacceptable when you have peoples lives in your hands. Job satisfaction invariably seems to be tied to the "perceived" pharmacist shortage and I say perceived because I get slammed for saying there is a shortage of pharmacists though we do get our numbers right from uncle Sam and other sources. We are finding in some states and specific areas there is a pharmacist glut in the market for example in New Jersey there seems a population of pharmacists who are starving for work. This can be attributed to the fact that 22 hospitals in the state of New Jersey have closed in the past ten years and the fact that a lot of their pharmacy students tend to stay in state. It is an interesting survey study to read please take the time to read and see if you agree with the conclusions.

To be transported to the survey study please click on the post title.

Whoa ho ho it's maaagic you knowwww. The latest salary information for pharmacists.

Click on the link and be magically transported to the salary calculator for your state. It gives pretty specific information on what salaries are in a state in any given practice setting and for any level of experience.
Pharmacist Salary Calculator - Pharmacy Salaries

100,000 Mr Smiths Going to Washington

For Some Good Ol' Fashion Lobbying.
for healthcare reform please read the article in this post from Politico.

Pharmacists dispense lobby blitz - Chris Frates - Politico.com

Pharmacists in High Demand

Here are some hard numbers about the career outlook for pharmacists in the near future.

AACP

10 Things to do in preparation and during an interview.

10 tips for making the job interview go the way you want and coming out with a job offer.

read more digg story

Leaving so soon?

Have you ever accepted a job that you thought was great and told your current boss your leaving and out of now where he says he will raise your salary by 5,000 if you stay and all of the sudden you turn around and tell the other guys "hey i like the job and all but I think I am going to stay with this company "Thanks but no thanks. While it may seem like a win initially at the end of the day it may be a loss for you.

Before you turn around and say hey I'm not leaving show me the money, just ask yourself a couple of really easy questions.

1) Why was I looking in the first place? If it is money and nothing else than perhaps you have achieved your goal. But if there are underlying issues with the company then perhaps those need to be addressed as well and as a caveat to your staying you should ask your boss to address those issues asap.

2) Is the additional money going to make me happy? Again if money is the only motivation then the answer is yes but for a majority of people there are other issue that normally push people to look for another job. Will those issues remain after I accept this counter offer. Is the boss serious about addressing the concerns is a question that really needs to be hammer upon as a condition of you staying with this company at a higher price.

3) Where did the money for this new raise come from? Why didn't i receive it before? Why now do they have this money when they did not have it before when you asked for more money?

4) If I stay am I going to be considered disloyal because I tried to leave? That is a hard question to answer the odds say that most people who accept a counter offer are gone within six months because either the employer went searching for a so called more loyal person at a cheaper price or the person left because none of the issues which made you consider leaving have been resolved.

In the end before you make a decision to leave a company make sure you are at the point of no return all questions in head have been answered before you decide to hand in your letter of resignation and that you leave with your head held high and resign in a manner that is consistent with your personality and integrity.

Ehe, hey beavis he said laid off. eh he he he

As the unemployment rate continues to rise currently at 11.1 million unemployed. It is starting to feel like no sector is safe anymore it seems like almost all sectors are losing revenue and people due to trickle along economics where major companies who rule the markets can't get credit and since they can't get credit they can't make payroll or pay for services they normally pay smaller companies to do and they cut jobs and in turn the company they once relied on to get services and supplies can no longer sustain because the big company who can't get a loan can't pay for the service they used to pay for and that smaller companies revenue goes into the tank and so the cycle continues on down the line.

This is a bleak time in our countries economic history but the facts remain that not all sectors are doing so bad. The lawyers always do well in times like these because people are more often than needing their services for a multitude of things. The health sector seems to be doing well for now but I am not sure how long that will continue as long as people continue to lose their jobs and along with their jobs goes their health coverage and that was very expensive in the first place for either them or their employer. When one does not have insurance they go to hospitals with no coverage and the hospital gives them services that they cannot pay for and the state has to reimburse the hospital at a rate that is not even close to what is billed for instance. I was told by one director at a hospital one day that his hospital billed 2.4 million to state of New Jersey for hard care for the uninsured they only received a couple hundred thousand dollars in return. I am not sure how long this is supposed to continue or how it will end but it will not be pretty.

The Art Of The Phone Interview: 5 Tips to make you a better phone Interviewee

The phone interview is a more common practice today than it has ever been most companies use it to screen out people they want to bring in for a face-to-face interview. It is more common to do a 15 minute to 1-hour phone interview these days than ever, everyone knows to be prepared for a face-to-face interview and there is a wealth of information regarding interview preparation on the Internet. However, there is very little information regarding how to handle the phone interview. We are going to provide you with five helpful tips to make sure you get past that first interview:

1) Be sure to schedule the interview when you are in a quiet place and where you can have time to focus on the interview. Make sure, if you are doing it on your cell make sure that you have adequate cell signal strength so you do lose the call in the middle of the interview. Background noises when doing a phone interview can really make you lose that potential face-to-face interview. Always try to set a time but if you cannot or if they call unexpectedly do your best to find a quite place or ask them if you call them back when you can to a more appropriate venue to do the interview.

Make sure you are psychologically prepared as well nothing can kill an interview like a person who sounds like they are half-asleep or having a bad day over the phone. Block all bad thoughts out and make sure you are conveying the sunniest personality possible over the phone. All bad things that have happened so far in the day have to be put aside and you have to put your best foot forward even on a phone interview.

2) Know your employment history and background by heart when actively looking for a job you always have to be prepared to discuss your experience and work history make sure you carry a copy of your resume with you at all times so when you do receive the call you know what your talking about.

3) Be as prepared as possible for the interview do as much research on the company as possible you can go to their website or go to websites like DNB or Hoovers to get an idea of how big the company and who the management is. Too much information about a company is better than too little. Make sure you ask questions that revolve around the research you have done on the company. Be prepared for questions about your motivation for leaving your current, any gaps on your resume, why you are interested in the company, why you would be a good hire. You may also ask questions that revolve around the companies’ interview process or business plans, how many interviews do you require before an offer is made? What the companies’ immediate and long-term plans for growth. It shows that you are interested in a long-term relationship and that you are interested in what is going on with your potential employer, although you should already know, a lot about the company just from the research you have done.

4) Be prepared with a firm time and date when you can come in for an interview always have your schedule book near you when doing these interviews. You want to make sure you can strike while the iron is hot. Have at least three dates in mind for when you have adequate time to do a face to face.

5) At the end of the phone screen make sure to thank them for their and let them know how much you are interested in the position and how enjoyable the phone screen was. So much so that you are looking forward to meeting them.

The phone interview is quickly becoming the preferred method of screening candidates and it is the first door you are going to have to walk through in order to get the job you want. One misstep could keep you from you obtaining the job of your dreams.

Be Prepared.

Here are some additional resources for review so you can be your best, review these two additional resources to help you ace that phone interivew .

Jobpharm: 7 tips for on how to handle a phone interview

About: Phone interview tips

The Night the Lights went out in New Jersey

I have just read an article on about the state of hospitals in the State of New Jersey. It is dismaying in the last 10 years 22 hospitals have closed leaving thousands of people out of work and thousands without immediate health care that is close to their homes, but that is not all at least three seem to be teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and closing their doors as well. It is a tragic story of what seems like a mix of bad public policy and New Jersey having a huge budget shortfall.

What does one do when their lively hood is taken away? We have found that most of the pharmacists from these hospitals have found jobs at other hospitals, community pharmacies or retail outlets which comprise about 71% of all jobs for pharmacists in the state and nationally. But those are usually last options and all too often we find pharmacists with experience that most would kill for cannot find jobs because hospitals are looking for Pharm D's not a B.S. and there is a glut of pharmacists out there looking for good jobs so the job market is as competitive as it has ever been. (please refer to my article named: Pharm D is it all B.S.)But it is not only pharmacists it is administrators, office staff, nurses, doctors, therapists, accountants, human resource professionals, management who now have to look for jobs and often the 2 weeks to 3 months warning they give folks about the closure it often not enough time for them to find jobs with equal pay or that is as gratifying as the job they used to have. It is a sad mess but it is reality and perhaps other states are going to have to deal soon as well. Perhaps they can learn from the situation in New Jersey. Click Here to read the article I referred to in this post.

Us, Us, Us and Them.

In my career I have spoken with many pharmacists and finding out what their motivations are for wanting to make a change in their career. As motivations go ususally it starts with money, then schedule and then, maybe some will say it is not third, is they want to leave because of a boss who is arrogant and doesn't understand what he or she is doing or a coworker is harassing them and they do not want to deal with it anymore. Now some may say I am wrong but this is my experience and it often takes a lot of prodding to get that kind of information out of someone so they admit it is someone at work who is making them uncomfortable with their criticisms or anger. Some may ask why do you need to know that? Well it is pretty simple really I would like to find it out because it may speak to my candidates personality and rather than just moving from one job to another which maybe the right answer, perhaps we can help them deal with the issues at hand because there is no telling if we move them to a new job no matter how much research we have done on their potential bosses if their personalities will mesh or if they will have a conflict with other pharmacists again. It is often better to deal with issues and learn from them than simply moving to another job, because the same pharmacist will call me later and ask me to move them again and we do not want that because it will look bad for them and may damage their relationship with their employer. Even though it is not their fault they have to learn to deal with the personalities of other people. It is a critical part of life and how you deal with these types of folks is ultimately going to determine if you are going to succeed of fail. It also can do some serious damage to your quality of life and work if you are always looking at the clock and not focusing on the task at hand and taking these problems home with you at night and you will often find yourself waking at night dreading what will happen at work that day. I have attached an article to the post title on how to deal with a work place bully.

If you would like concrete information on the pharmacy job market in your state then please call 866-538-0715 and ask for Nader.

Directors if you would like access to our database of outstanding candidates then email us at nayoub@infinitysg.com

5 Points to Consider When Looking for a Pharmacy School

Pharmacy school can be one of the most enriching experiences in your life; there is much to learn related to the profession. Like selecting an undergraduate program of study, pharmacy schools have criteria that they use to select their prospective students. Doing your research early will ensure that you make the best decision for your future as a pharmacist, so keep the following things in mind when looking for a school.

What are the school’s requirements?

There are many different things pharmacy schools are looking for. Most schools are looking for much of the same thing, but check and make sure before you begin applying. PCAT test scores are extremely important, as are SAT scores, ACT scores, and GPA. Being involved in extracurricular activities and experience with pharmacy work as a technician can be helpful as well.

How long do you want to spend in pharmacy school?

If you are an undergrad, you may want to look into a six year program rather than an eight year program. Originally, pharmacy students went to college for four years then went on to four more years of pharmacy school. Some schools now offer six year programs, which can greatly cut down on time and tuition costs, ultimately getting you out and in the workforce as a pharmacist sooner rather than later.

Is ranking important to you?

If going to a top school is important to you, you should look into what schools are the absolute best as far as pharmacy is concerned. Although the information being disseminated should be virtually the same across the board, the quality of instruction and facilities can vary greatly from institution to institution. So, think carefully about what your priorities are and choose accordingly.

What will you be able to afford?

Like any other college or university, pharmacy school is not cheap. Chances are, after eight years of college (if you take the traditional route), you will more than likely be in some serious debt. Consider scholarships, loans, and grants, and make decisions with your financial future in mind. Successful pharmacists make good money, but large loans take a substantial amount of time and energy to pay off.


What are your post-graduation goals?

Like it or not, some schools are going to have a better reputation than others, so if you are looking to work at a specific place, research their hiring practices. Schools are also proud to share success stories of their alumni, so don’t be afraid to ask the right questions about job placement percentages and recruiting by major companies. Sometimes this decision can make a huge impact on your future.

By-line:
This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of the top ten pharmacy schools. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com.

AND I TOLD THEM THANKS BUT NO THANKS ON THAT JOB TO NOWHERE!

Have you ever gone into a first interview and thought it went so well that if they offered you the job you would accept no questions asked. You had a great meeting with the director and the assistant director they liked you, you liked them and even though you spent no time speaking about the what you would actually be doing for them or about the work environment or about how many people you would be working with or about pharmacist turnover, or about why the job was even open, you just enjoyed yourself so much in that interview that you just had to accept the job no matter what. Slow down there sparky. This is very common I am going to provide some real tips for helping accept the job of your dreams and making sure it is just that.

1) Do you research on the company or hospital see what they have going on currently are they expanding services, are acquiring other companies the question you want to get at is why do they need you.

2) In the first interview ask questions revolving around your research and what your duties and responsibilities would be once you are hired. Ask how many pharmacists are on full time and what the work load is like ask no less than five very pointed questions. Why is the job open? How many pharmacists on are during my shift? What are the most important skills a pharmacist working for this organization should have? How do you see me fitting in with your organization? What is the workload for a pharmacist on this particular shift?

3) If they offer the job after the first interview it is not always a bad sign but if feel you do not have all the info ask them if you could shadow a pharmacist on that shift so you could get a feel for how it all works and what the composition of work looks like and the people. It is a risky move but it almost always works out. If it is done.

It is OK to accept a job after only one interview but take your time and ask the right questions and you will land the job of your dreams. If you need addition guidance on job interview please feel free to post your comments here and I will be happy to answer them.

Coming soon we are going to be posting a guest blogger article. Stay Tuned.

Hey Check Us Out!

We have recently been named one of the top 50 pharmacist blogs on the Internet by www.nursingdegreeguide.org. We are number 21 it only means we are doing something right. We have a lot planned for the future. Guest writers, more articles and more features. If you would like to see the full list of the top 50 click on the title above.

How to make your pharmacy lean. Hey can I get some of that Six Sigma Stuff MAN!

I read an article that I think is really useful in the world of pharmacy. Applying lean six sigma principles to the pharmacy in order to reduce response time in filling a script and to make sure that the pharmacy is a safe and efficient place to work. I think we can all agree that some pharmacies could use a little six sigma kick in the pants. click on the title to be redirected to the article.

Why should I use a recruiter

I get that question all the time and the answer is not simple. A recruiters job is to establish relatioships with organizations with whom they seek to place qualified people. Recruiters often are in touch with the presidents, vice presidents and CEO's of the target company the people who really make the hiring decisions so your resume is has already leaped everyone else in line who have submitted their resumes online and quite often HR will get rid of some resume simply because they have either not read the resume carefully to see if the candidates qualifications match the job or they simply have to many to chose from and need to do not want to spend the time looking through every resume. That is understanbale, it is not always easy to find that diamond in the rough and more often than not good people get left out. It is important to remember as well that the HR folks are nice but it is not always as vital to them to staff a position as it is a director of pharmacy or pharmacy manager who needs to hire someone ASAP becuase someone has left who was working the third shift and now the rest of the staff has to cover and moral is plummeting becuase everyone is rotating on the overnight and no one sees an end in sight. That is where a recuiter is crucial. Since recruiters have contact with the people who have the immediate need they are open to seeing your resume and chances are once they see the qualifed individual they have in front of them they will interview them and perhaps hire them. It is also important to note that unlike the internet portals like monster or careerbuilder which can be very useful, recruiters screen all individuals for qualifications and send only the best and most qualified individuals. Where as on the internet anyone can send a resume and it is up to the overworked HR person to discern who is qualified and who is not more often than not your just another face in the crowd. Don't get lost in those stacks of resumes, stand out and use a qualfied recruiter to help you get the job you are looking for.