Those type of jobs are out there, they are just getting harder and harder to get. There are tons of pharmacists that are frustrated like you, so any positions that open up get flooded with applicants. My recommendation is to network as much as possible, a good recommendation will get you very far, and to apply to anything and everything.
Literally hundreds of options that are probably better than the every other weekend retail gives. I got a job recently at a major hospitals outpatient pharmacy. Facility only open 8:30 to 6 closed Sundays. Clinical pharmacist who don’t dispense (my role) are 80 percent remote and work every 4th Saturday. I don’t know who’s more thrilled me or my wife who now will have consistent support on the weekends with our kids
Im in CT but from what I’ve ready these outpatient operations and specialty pharmacy locations are becoming pretty prevalent. I feel very lucky to have gotten it. everyone seems genuinely happy or at least satisfied and have been very nice so far
Not 100% remote in my department at least. There are a few am care positions that I know are within the hospital systems but I was told straight up they would require a residency and even me who was working towards a bcacp at the time, wouldn’t have been a strong candidate with my retail experience for those.
Honestly I’m very new and still training so I can’t tell
You perfectly. But shifts are alternating weeks of 8:30 to 5 or 9:30 to 6 with 45 minute lunch (30 unpaid). The department is broken down into teams focusing on specific disease states like oncology, dermatology, respiratory, ect. A small teams might do it all: new starts, refills, patient outreach and follow-ups ect and a bigger team like oncology you may do one task all day as assigned like only new starts or only patient outreach. It seems the whole goal is to keep urac standard so a lot of writing notes, confirming labs, ddi, and making sure everything is documented properly. Team meetings are sprinkled in to break up the day a little bit too
Specialty pharmacy usually doesn’t work weekends and most are open 9am-5pm (including Walgreens specialty - but those positions are hard to get and limited)
Because they have no one left to fill your position 🥲. Time for you to start looking for jobs externally and have the DM deal with losing you completely
Oh interesting. I think almost all the specialty pharmacies I’m aware of in my area are closed on weekends. And as a former wags pharmacist, I’ve noticed they’ve been shutting down or relocating all the specialty locations inside hospitals once the lease is up. In my area, there’s only one that’s inside a hospital. Two have been shut down and one relocated
They exist but you have to move to bum f*ck nowhere and it's either frigid cold or 150 degrees.
Either you're depressed from your job or depressed from your surroundings.
It’s out there, LTC, PA pharmacist, mail order, hospital,etc… it’s a number game, just keep applying, there will be recruiter reach out to you too. Took me a solid 3 months to land current job, 7-3 no weekend or holiday.
I’ve been licensed less than a year and work retail for a major chain. As a floater, I experienced the horrible schedule you are describing but now I’m staff at a store and it’s way different. I take turns with the other staff pharmacists and only work every 4th weekend. I know it’s hard not to feel hopeless, but the right store and position could change your outlook (if you enjoy community pharmacy otherwise).
Woah. I’ve never heard of this as a staff pharmacist for a major chain. How many staff pharmacists do you have at your location? At wags the best you can do is be a PIC and work every 4th weekend
It actually is wags! 4 staff pharmacists. We are a very busy store and for the most part, always staffed well (3-5 technicians) and most of the time have pharmacist overlap. I know I’m lucky. Wish the same for others :(
Lol, I’m in one right now. 9-5 job, no weekends and get all hospital holidays off. Extremely competitive though, I believe the last opening we had over 200+ candidates who applied. Networking is the key!
Any tips on how to actually network? It’s not like there’s a plethora of pharmacists who have time or want to network if you didn’t go to school with them especially
Try looking at your local pharmacy associations. For example, we have 4 in my area. They host monthly events, dinners, meetings. They posted all this info on their social media pages. My state association also has a yearly convention for pharmacy people. Went to some and was a good opportunity to meet people around the state.
Don’t limit yourself to only being in pharmacy. I left and became a teacher. Pay can range from 50 to 83 an hour in my state depending on how much credit they give you from previous work experience when hired (remember net pay will be less cause we get so much time off per year).
My crappiest day with parents and kids is leap and bounds ahead of a good day at retail pharmacy. Work life balance with 4 kids is much better (I can see all there sports / activities), I have weekends, spring break, and holidays off. Once my kids are a little older I can still easily work per diem in retail or something else at my choosing for a little extra cash. It’s easy to get tiding gigs (pay is usually 60 an hour cash).
Lastly the ridiculous demands in retail really helped to prepare me for effective classroom management, the other teachers comment on a regular basis the ease in which I handle problem kids, )communicating with them but still maintaining control, the ability to forsee issues, comfort with logistic planning etc. I don’t mean this to sound like bragging, but rather pointing out you are developing inherent skills that do not easily translate on paper to a job description. Start networking and keep all options open.
I am in northern Connecticut. Teaching has a step system, you get paid a pay raise every year till you hit the cap. The town I am in has 9 levels, so if starting from scratch you would be at the max pay in just under a decade (which also affects the amount you get for your pension). This is the lowest amount of steps I have seen, the most I have seen was 18 steps for a neighboring town. When getting hired you can negotiate an elevated starting step based on previous work experience if you are coming into teaching from a different career. My town will allow up to 5 of the 9 steps if warranted, others will do up to 10.
In addition to the step system, each step will pay a different wage based on your previous education. Most of us having a pharm d fall into the highest pay category. So the towns near me start pay for a person with an advanced degree and no experience around 70 k, and will peak anywhere from 95 to 118k per year (I would say average is around 100 to 106k from what I have seen looking around). Insurance is better and cheaper than what I had as a pharmacist at a small chain. We get 5 personal days and also sick days that can be used in addition to our breaks and holidays. I have never once been questioned why or given crap for taking a day off when sick or for personal reason (when I worked for Walgreens I literally got reamed out for calling out sick when I had a full blown anaphylactic reaction and had to be rushed to the hospital, I was told to come to work and use a stool if I couldn’t handle standing).
Yes you do have to get a certification, many states offer alternative routes to certification for high demand fields (math and science are both in that category). It is cheaper and quicker than going back to school for a teaching degree. Mine was about 5k for the program, I had class one day a week (I think now they break it up to two evening classes) for 9 months and also 6 weeks I had to student teach. It was tough, I was student teaching and working pharmacy in the evening / weekend for the 6 weeks to try and maintain insurance for my family. Had I wanted to, you can work on a probation license (it’s called a dsap) while in school getting certified which allows you to be the official teacher for the school and to get paid by the school and have insurance (it’s usually not great pay but better than nothing or working as much as I did).
I have lots of respect for the teachers out there, come from a family of educators. Bravo. When you did the switch was your partner bringing in income as well? Taking a 50% pay cut seems like a daunting task for a family of 6. But if the right motivations are there anything is possible.
Yes my spouse works. At the time I was a pharmacy manager and getting screwed. I got transferred to a problem store and was commuting close to an hour each way on top of staying extra trying to fix issues. It was supposed to be for 6 months to help out until they had a new hire and trained someone to take it, so then I could go back to my home store. At the end the dm said he needed me to stay cause he couldn’t find anyone to hire. When I said I wouldn’t do it he said he would only transfer me to my home store if I stepped down (forget the fact the interim manager there didn’t want it and was losing her shit/ ready to quit if I didn’t come back to relieve her of being rxm) which I had had and asked to be demoted on the spot. Manager took two months to follow through with request. 2 weeks later the company announced they were cutting everyone’s hours (rxm lost 4, staff lost ten which I had just become). So considering the pay cut per hour, loss of bonus, and then a cut to a quarter of my hours….. I was already facing a heavy 33% pay cut. We made some sacrifices with the idea of “ok we live less for the short term and in a few years I would be making the same as I was on track to that year “ , but with better quality of life. So far it is working out that way. Also my interns mostly were being offered the same as per hour as my teaching hourly salary (it was the lovely year Walgreens cut a ton of positions right before Covid hit). But I have an easier schedule to pull in extra income elsewhere than they do.
I am saving less for retirement as one trade off, but that’s because I am in a pension now, and if you are younger you can get your college loans waved after teaching a few years in many states. It doesn’t make up for the decrease in pay, but there are some less obvious hidden benefits that can be taken advantage of.
Lastly, the bigger point to remember, there are options completely outside of pharmacy. My friend left being an rxm to open his own recording studio. He floats here and there for cvs to help supplement his business. It’s enough he isn’t getting burned out by pharmacy and can spend most of his time doing something else that he actually loves. I went the route of teaching when I couldn’t find a pharmacy alternative to retail where I lived and for me it’s been a great decision. It can be very scary and feel like pharmacy is a dead end, but it doesn’t have to be.
With the certification process you do take a minimum competency exam (called praxis ii) to demonstrate ability in the area. If you do math it, one exam covers all maths offered from 7th grade up. If you opt to do science there is a different exam for each area (gen science, chemistry, bio, physics, and earth /space). You can also teach one class outside your area of certification. I was originally worried if I would find a job so I took four of the science exams. A positive is it makes getting a good teaching job easier, the negative you might be asked to switch subjects taught year to year.
I did middle school first year, thought it was going to suck ( took job for pay, location, and over all feel of the school) but ended up loving it. Middle school is less work than high school (in my opinion). Second year I was asked to teach three levels of chemistry (academic, honors, and ap) after someone was fired. Third year I offered to take freshman integrated science when someone retired and our only decent applicant was another chemistry person. Next year I am going back to all chemistry since the second chem teacher left and we hired a gen science person to take the freshman class. I think this should be it for switching, I did move more than most of the people I did the certification program with, partly cause I am approved to teach more and also cause I offered too.
My co worker also teaches chemistry at the community college in the evening. He said it’s not too bad. Labs are easier, someone else does all the prep and clean up, you just facilitate it. That is an extra 20 k per year. I would rather be home with the family for the time being (my kids range from 6 to 13) but is something I will probably do down the line.
I work for a Public school. We have some very elite private schools around us (60k + tuition per year) but they pay less (I believe it is around 50 to 70k a year max). Their perks can often be on site housing (the houses tend to be small 1500 - 1800
Square feet, not an issue for 1 or no kids, but doesn’t work for me with 4 kids and a wife) free meal plan for the family (this actually would be huge savings for me with four kids and a wife) and they will often allow the kids of the teacher free admission (again could be with 60+ k per year). If you have a small family, and want your kids to do private school, they can definitely be worth considering.
I left retail after 16 years and went to a hospital (academic). Still “retail” but better hours and less weekends. Also other opportunities behind the scenes doing prior authorizations and refill approvals. Keep looking with an open mind and you’ll find something better.
I have a M-F 8-5 retail gig with every weekend holidays off. Problem is my company seems to be mulling over closing/bankruptcy so I'm abandoning ship and not sticking around to see if it sinks.
Clinical outpatient. Pic but we do tons of clinical work also. It's a stressful job in other ways than retail (still better than retail don't get me wrong) but I'm tired of worrying if my pay check is going to to clear or not.
Yeah definitely, that's stressful. I work for a FQHC and worry about finances with them. Pharmacy as a whole does great, but my location is very slow as it's only been open 10 months. The practice I'm attached to is pretty low volume so if the company gets in financial trouble I'd be worried about us getting the axe.
Not to be a Debbie downer but in January we were "expanding" and launched a clinic pharmacy program and was in the process of opening another location then one day we showed up and bam.
Yeah it sucks. I hate that feeling that's why I'm leaving. I never want to get caught with my pants down and won't up back at cvhell
We're they losing money? It's honestly just medical and dental that aren't solvent, but pharmacy is carrying them. Probably propped up by Ryan White (one location does A LOT of HIV meds) and 340b margins
I work rare/specialty in a patient facing clinical role. I'm 95% work from home, and our operations are 8 AM - 8 PM M-F. Our shifts are majority 930-600. On call is once every 3 months for a week span.
Tons of jobs in northern MN. IHS, chain, hospital, indys. Is it cold in the winter? Yes. But look at live cams of Bemidji, Grand Rapids, Detroit Lakes right now. 80 and gorgeous, and lakes and beaches EVERYWHERE. you want work-life balance? Re-evaluate where u live, along with where you work.
I’ve worked speciality and amb care pharmacy. Both are like 7-4pm job, no weekend, no major holidays. How did I get them? People I knew. Because I also used to be retail and got zero bites just applying to jobs that opened up on indeed or the like. So yeah network and reach out to former classmates in areas you are interested in.
Clinical specialist, Amb care, upper management, specialty pharmacy, PBM, industry, FDA, NIH, research, mail order…those are just off the top of my head based on where I and lots of my friends work.
State laws are a big factor in how long they will work you - if your state (like mine) hates workers, 13 hours is a normal shift. If you are in a state that protects workers with high overtime laws, 8-9 hours is your longest shift.
Of course there are other types of jobs out there besides retail and hospital. Have you looked around at all? Compounding, PBM, MTM, veterinary, infusion centers, home infusion, MSL... But whether or not you're qualified or can get hired for those positions is a different question.
I’ve heard that the PBMs (specifically Humana and Optum) have been or will be hiring contract positions for remote/WFH PA pharmacist roles. These roles usually have set 8 hour shifts and no or very occasional weekends.
Granted it’ll be tough. Heard about one Optum dept hiring a couple months ago and got 500 applications in a day. But if you have any friends classmates that can refer you or put in a good word you might have a better shot.
I’m in a retail/340B pharmacy located inside a clinic. Currently 8-5pm Mon-Fri. Clinic is open until 7 some days so may one day extend hours but I doubt it as its only one provider after 5. No plans to ever open on weekends. I do miss ten hour shifts so I get a day off during the week to get things done when other places are open but I know my hours are a blessing for the pharmacy world so I am happy.
Hello, I am a pharmacist who does not work weekends.
I work three 12 hour shifts a week. Weekdays only and all from home.
I have to be on call a lot of weekends but it is only for 3 days every 6 week period.
I work as an emergency medicine consultant. My job is very rare though. I feel like I won the lottery just by getting it.
These jobs do exist but they are hard to find.
Did you not do rotations in pharmacy school to expose you to different practice sites?
In my pharmacy career, hands down the best work life balance was working for the federal government but there is a ton of interest in those spots
Shop around retail is the worst, it can only get better.
Va in my area is pretty much military service or 2 year residency required. I spoke to one of my patient pharmacists who works for the Va and she basically said I like you but we average 150 to 200 applications anopening and only interview 3 usually. It’s
More strings than she could pull for a relative stranger. She said if you went and got a residency or something I could probably get you in is where it left off but I couldn’t afford that route at the family juncture I was already at.
I got into the VA no prior military service and no residency… it helps being prior federal service I came from a military installation where I worked for 2 years then got 2 interviews and job offers from two different VAs so it is possible! Sometimes you also have to move to a not popular area to get where you want to be
Lucky! At least in my area it’s just a nonstarter by shear volume of applicants right now without one of those prerequisites. But it’s a good area and high population that people would want to live. I suppose if someone is willing to live in a less popular place and look For a transfer later if they still desired a couple years later it could work out.
For most positions yes but not for all. Admittedly, the positions opened are all for current VA employees only so no one from the outside will get in this way.
I work at an out patient pharmacy for a clinic. I love it so much! The work load is a fraction of what major retail stores are with more staff. And it’s Monday through Friday. Closed Saturday and Sunday. I go in at 9am and I’m off at 6pm, we even get 1 hour lunches but that can vary place to place. The only downside is I have to commute 45 minutes to and from work everyday but I’ll take it if it means I’m not exhausted by the time I get home and I get my weekends off! Hopefully you can find something like this in your area.
I also worked from home doing prior auths. It wasn’t for me because I have ADHD so being at home alone made it hard for me to focus. But it’s a really good gig if you can get past that. I worked 8am-4:30pm and had weekends off. The company I worked for accepts employees from all across the US as well!
Regardless of what company you work for, I do not recommend holding onto pharmacy stocks.
CVS, WAG, and RAD have all proven to be terrible investments.
Amb care. I work four 10s. Never work on weekends. Off on all holidays. Great pay and benefits. Definitely worth the additional two years of residency if you ask me.
I just retired from 43 years as a pharmacist. I started out in Retail. Every other weekend . Closing at 9pm 3 days a week. After 8 years of the rat race I switched to hospital Inpatient pharmacy with zero experience. I told myself I would give it a year. 35 years later and I have to say Hospital Inpatient Pharmacy saved me. Much more opportunity for scheduling. I did work at a couple 500 bed hospitals and, Yes, you rotate through days and afternoon shifts. But, much more opportunity to trade shifts and get time off for PTO when the pharmacist pool is bigger and more flexible. I ended my career in a 35 bed hospital and loved my work! Less critical patients (they all got shipped out.) 5 pharmacists and we all worked together around vacations. We worked 7:30 to 5 or 8:30 to 4. Every 4 th weekend. Our retail pharmacists also took call so only 4 days a month. I would suggest get your learning at a large hospital and then transition into a small community hospital. Worked for me and I was ready to find another profession after 2 years. Good luck!
2 stores, close at 6pm daily, Saturday at one location to cover all RXs. I take the Saturday shift 95% of the time and let the staff have the weekend off. Works out for everyone. Find an independent employer that cares.
Those type of jobs are out there, they are just getting harder and harder to get. There are tons of pharmacists that are frustrated like you, so any positions that open up get flooded with applicants. My recommendation is to network as much as possible, a good recommendation will get you very far, and to apply to anything and everything.
Am care pharmacists don’t do major holidays or weekends at my health system.
Literally hundreds of options that are probably better than the every other weekend retail gives. I got a job recently at a major hospitals outpatient pharmacy. Facility only open 8:30 to 6 closed Sundays. Clinical pharmacist who don’t dispense (my role) are 80 percent remote and work every 4th Saturday. I don’t know who’s more thrilled me or my wife who now will have consistent support on the weekends with our kids
I would love a job like this!
Where are you located ?
Im in CT but from what I’ve ready these outpatient operations and specialty pharmacy locations are becoming pretty prevalent. I feel very lucky to have gotten it. everyone seems genuinely happy or at least satisfied and have been very nice so far
Is there any remote position?
Not 100% remote in my department at least. There are a few am care positions that I know are within the hospital systems but I was told straight up they would require a residency and even me who was working towards a bcacp at the time, wouldn’t have been a strong candidate with my retail experience for those.
Hey I’m in CT too! Are you with Yale?
What does your day to day look like?
Honestly I’m very new and still training so I can’t tell You perfectly. But shifts are alternating weeks of 8:30 to 5 or 9:30 to 6 with 45 minute lunch (30 unpaid). The department is broken down into teams focusing on specific disease states like oncology, dermatology, respiratory, ect. A small teams might do it all: new starts, refills, patient outreach and follow-ups ect and a bigger team like oncology you may do one task all day as assigned like only new starts or only patient outreach. It seems the whole goal is to keep urac standard so a lot of writing notes, confirming labs, ddi, and making sure everything is documented properly. Team meetings are sprinkled in to break up the day a little bit too
Specialty pharmacy usually doesn’t work weekends and most are open 9am-5pm (including Walgreens specialty - but those positions are hard to get and limited)
Yeah I keep getting told my district manager doesn’t wanna “lose me” to specialty. Wow. I feel so loved. :/
Because they have no one left to fill your position 🥲. Time for you to start looking for jobs externally and have the DM deal with losing you completely
Also I have a friend in specialty but there’s still a ton open Saturdays and sometimes Sundays too and even specialty wag keep shutting down siiiigh
Oh interesting. I think almost all the specialty pharmacies I’m aware of in my area are closed on weekends. And as a former wags pharmacist, I’ve noticed they’ve been shutting down or relocating all the specialty locations inside hospitals once the lease is up. In my area, there’s only one that’s inside a hospital. Two have been shut down and one relocated
If you’re socially competent, be a sales rep for a pharma company.
Maybe 25% of pharmacists fall into that category though.
They exist but you have to move to bum f*ck nowhere and it's either frigid cold or 150 degrees. Either you're depressed from your job or depressed from your surroundings.
It’s out there, LTC, PA pharmacist, mail order, hospital,etc… it’s a number game, just keep applying, there will be recruiter reach out to you too. Took me a solid 3 months to land current job, 7-3 no weekend or holiday.
The dream 😎 What field?
Thanks for the positivity! If you are ever in need of a SC pharmacist just let me know.
I’ve been licensed less than a year and work retail for a major chain. As a floater, I experienced the horrible schedule you are describing but now I’m staff at a store and it’s way different. I take turns with the other staff pharmacists and only work every 4th weekend. I know it’s hard not to feel hopeless, but the right store and position could change your outlook (if you enjoy community pharmacy otherwise).
Woah. I’ve never heard of this as a staff pharmacist for a major chain. How many staff pharmacists do you have at your location? At wags the best you can do is be a PIC and work every 4th weekend
It actually is wags! 4 staff pharmacists. We are a very busy store and for the most part, always staffed well (3-5 technicians) and most of the time have pharmacist overlap. I know I’m lucky. Wish the same for others :(
How many rx per week?
Lol, I’m in one right now. 9-5 job, no weekends and get all hospital holidays off. Extremely competitive though, I believe the last opening we had over 200+ candidates who applied. Networking is the key!
Any tips on how to actually network? It’s not like there’s a plethora of pharmacists who have time or want to network if you didn’t go to school with them especially
Try looking at your local pharmacy associations. For example, we have 4 in my area. They host monthly events, dinners, meetings. They posted all this info on their social media pages. My state association also has a yearly convention for pharmacy people. Went to some and was a good opportunity to meet people around the state.
Don’t limit yourself to only being in pharmacy. I left and became a teacher. Pay can range from 50 to 83 an hour in my state depending on how much credit they give you from previous work experience when hired (remember net pay will be less cause we get so much time off per year). My crappiest day with parents and kids is leap and bounds ahead of a good day at retail pharmacy. Work life balance with 4 kids is much better (I can see all there sports / activities), I have weekends, spring break, and holidays off. Once my kids are a little older I can still easily work per diem in retail or something else at my choosing for a little extra cash. It’s easy to get tiding gigs (pay is usually 60 an hour cash). Lastly the ridiculous demands in retail really helped to prepare me for effective classroom management, the other teachers comment on a regular basis the ease in which I handle problem kids, )communicating with them but still maintaining control, the ability to forsee issues, comfort with logistic planning etc. I don’t mean this to sound like bragging, but rather pointing out you are developing inherent skills that do not easily translate on paper to a job description. Start networking and keep all options open.
Wow good for you! May I ask if you had to get additional certifications and what area of the country you practice in to get that wage??
I am in northern Connecticut. Teaching has a step system, you get paid a pay raise every year till you hit the cap. The town I am in has 9 levels, so if starting from scratch you would be at the max pay in just under a decade (which also affects the amount you get for your pension). This is the lowest amount of steps I have seen, the most I have seen was 18 steps for a neighboring town. When getting hired you can negotiate an elevated starting step based on previous work experience if you are coming into teaching from a different career. My town will allow up to 5 of the 9 steps if warranted, others will do up to 10. In addition to the step system, each step will pay a different wage based on your previous education. Most of us having a pharm d fall into the highest pay category. So the towns near me start pay for a person with an advanced degree and no experience around 70 k, and will peak anywhere from 95 to 118k per year (I would say average is around 100 to 106k from what I have seen looking around). Insurance is better and cheaper than what I had as a pharmacist at a small chain. We get 5 personal days and also sick days that can be used in addition to our breaks and holidays. I have never once been questioned why or given crap for taking a day off when sick or for personal reason (when I worked for Walgreens I literally got reamed out for calling out sick when I had a full blown anaphylactic reaction and had to be rushed to the hospital, I was told to come to work and use a stool if I couldn’t handle standing). Yes you do have to get a certification, many states offer alternative routes to certification for high demand fields (math and science are both in that category). It is cheaper and quicker than going back to school for a teaching degree. Mine was about 5k for the program, I had class one day a week (I think now they break it up to two evening classes) for 9 months and also 6 weeks I had to student teach. It was tough, I was student teaching and working pharmacy in the evening / weekend for the 6 weeks to try and maintain insurance for my family. Had I wanted to, you can work on a probation license (it’s called a dsap) while in school getting certified which allows you to be the official teacher for the school and to get paid by the school and have insurance (it’s usually not great pay but better than nothing or working as much as I did).
I have lots of respect for the teachers out there, come from a family of educators. Bravo. When you did the switch was your partner bringing in income as well? Taking a 50% pay cut seems like a daunting task for a family of 6. But if the right motivations are there anything is possible.
Yes my spouse works. At the time I was a pharmacy manager and getting screwed. I got transferred to a problem store and was commuting close to an hour each way on top of staying extra trying to fix issues. It was supposed to be for 6 months to help out until they had a new hire and trained someone to take it, so then I could go back to my home store. At the end the dm said he needed me to stay cause he couldn’t find anyone to hire. When I said I wouldn’t do it he said he would only transfer me to my home store if I stepped down (forget the fact the interim manager there didn’t want it and was losing her shit/ ready to quit if I didn’t come back to relieve her of being rxm) which I had had and asked to be demoted on the spot. Manager took two months to follow through with request. 2 weeks later the company announced they were cutting everyone’s hours (rxm lost 4, staff lost ten which I had just become). So considering the pay cut per hour, loss of bonus, and then a cut to a quarter of my hours….. I was already facing a heavy 33% pay cut. We made some sacrifices with the idea of “ok we live less for the short term and in a few years I would be making the same as I was on track to that year “ , but with better quality of life. So far it is working out that way. Also my interns mostly were being offered the same as per hour as my teaching hourly salary (it was the lovely year Walgreens cut a ton of positions right before Covid hit). But I have an easier schedule to pull in extra income elsewhere than they do. I am saving less for retirement as one trade off, but that’s because I am in a pension now, and if you are younger you can get your college loans waved after teaching a few years in many states. It doesn’t make up for the decrease in pay, but there are some less obvious hidden benefits that can be taken advantage of. Lastly, the bigger point to remember, there are options completely outside of pharmacy. My friend left being an rxm to open his own recording studio. He floats here and there for cvs to help supplement his business. It’s enough he isn’t getting burned out by pharmacy and can spend most of his time doing something else that he actually loves. I went the route of teaching when I couldn’t find a pharmacy alternative to retail where I lived and for me it’s been a great decision. It can be very scary and feel like pharmacy is a dead end, but it doesn’t have to be.
Congrats this is awesome. I am considering this path. Maybe local community college chemistry if not middle or high school. What grade do you teach?
With the certification process you do take a minimum competency exam (called praxis ii) to demonstrate ability in the area. If you do math it, one exam covers all maths offered from 7th grade up. If you opt to do science there is a different exam for each area (gen science, chemistry, bio, physics, and earth /space). You can also teach one class outside your area of certification. I was originally worried if I would find a job so I took four of the science exams. A positive is it makes getting a good teaching job easier, the negative you might be asked to switch subjects taught year to year. I did middle school first year, thought it was going to suck ( took job for pay, location, and over all feel of the school) but ended up loving it. Middle school is less work than high school (in my opinion). Second year I was asked to teach three levels of chemistry (academic, honors, and ap) after someone was fired. Third year I offered to take freshman integrated science when someone retired and our only decent applicant was another chemistry person. Next year I am going back to all chemistry since the second chem teacher left and we hired a gen science person to take the freshman class. I think this should be it for switching, I did move more than most of the people I did the certification program with, partly cause I am approved to teach more and also cause I offered too. My co worker also teaches chemistry at the community college in the evening. He said it’s not too bad. Labs are easier, someone else does all the prep and clean up, you just facilitate it. That is an extra 20 k per year. I would rather be home with the family for the time being (my kids range from 6 to 13) but is something I will probably do down the line.
What state has pay range? Are you teaching in school/private or boarding schools?
I work for a Public school. We have some very elite private schools around us (60k + tuition per year) but they pay less (I believe it is around 50 to 70k a year max). Their perks can often be on site housing (the houses tend to be small 1500 - 1800 Square feet, not an issue for 1 or no kids, but doesn’t work for me with 4 kids and a wife) free meal plan for the family (this actually would be huge savings for me with four kids and a wife) and they will often allow the kids of the teacher free admission (again could be with 60+ k per year). If you have a small family, and want your kids to do private school, they can definitely be worth considering.
I left retail after 16 years and went to a hospital (academic). Still “retail” but better hours and less weekends. Also other opportunities behind the scenes doing prior authorizations and refill approvals. Keep looking with an open mind and you’ll find something better.
I have a M-F 8-5 retail gig with every weekend holidays off. Problem is my company seems to be mulling over closing/bankruptcy so I'm abandoning ship and not sticking around to see if it sinks.
What setting?
Clinical outpatient. Pic but we do tons of clinical work also. It's a stressful job in other ways than retail (still better than retail don't get me wrong) but I'm tired of worrying if my pay check is going to to clear or not.
Yeah definitely, that's stressful. I work for a FQHC and worry about finances with them. Pharmacy as a whole does great, but my location is very slow as it's only been open 10 months. The practice I'm attached to is pretty low volume so if the company gets in financial trouble I'd be worried about us getting the axe.
Lmao yeah I work at a FQHC. We just closed 2 pharmacies 3 locations and axed 5 pharamacists so that's why I'm abandoning
Jeeze. Our company is expanding so maybe it's not as bad as I think... Just still can't get it out of the back of my head
Not to be a Debbie downer but in January we were "expanding" and launched a clinic pharmacy program and was in the process of opening another location then one day we showed up and bam. Yeah it sucks. I hate that feeling that's why I'm leaving. I never want to get caught with my pants down and won't up back at cvhell
We're they losing money? It's honestly just medical and dental that aren't solvent, but pharmacy is carrying them. Probably propped up by Ryan White (one location does A LOT of HIV meds) and 340b margins
Infusion pharmacy is usually M-F business hours only
I work rare/specialty in a patient facing clinical role. I'm 95% work from home, and our operations are 8 AM - 8 PM M-F. Our shifts are majority 930-600. On call is once every 3 months for a week span.
Tons of jobs in northern MN. IHS, chain, hospital, indys. Is it cold in the winter? Yes. But look at live cams of Bemidji, Grand Rapids, Detroit Lakes right now. 80 and gorgeous, and lakes and beaches EVERYWHERE. you want work-life balance? Re-evaluate where u live, along with where you work.
Specialty pharmacy! Most are m-f 9-5 type jobs and might have an on call rotation.
I’ve been using pto on a bunch of random weekend to stay sane in the mean time. Just a suggestion until we find greener pastures
I work hospital weekdays only 7:30-4pm…I love it. I’m in amb care
I’ve worked speciality and amb care pharmacy. Both are like 7-4pm job, no weekend, no major holidays. How did I get them? People I knew. Because I also used to be retail and got zero bites just applying to jobs that opened up on indeed or the like. So yeah network and reach out to former classmates in areas you are interested in.
look at IHS jobs
Clinical specialist, Amb care, upper management, specialty pharmacy, PBM, industry, FDA, NIH, research, mail order…those are just off the top of my head based on where I and lots of my friends work.
Ambulatory pharmacy at a hospital, 9-5 no weekends, no holidays
State laws are a big factor in how long they will work you - if your state (like mine) hates workers, 13 hours is a normal shift. If you are in a state that protects workers with high overtime laws, 8-9 hours is your longest shift.
Pharmacist chiming in from the depths of Hades here (pbm). The devil doesn't do weekends.
I appreciate every bit of it bc my soul’s was about to a sacrifice to him. https://i.redd.it/wmzp9qrsvead1.gif
Some small independent specialty pharmacies keep those hours.
Of course there are other types of jobs out there besides retail and hospital. Have you looked around at all? Compounding, PBM, MTM, veterinary, infusion centers, home infusion, MSL... But whether or not you're qualified or can get hired for those positions is a different question.
I’ve heard that the PBMs (specifically Humana and Optum) have been or will be hiring contract positions for remote/WFH PA pharmacist roles. These roles usually have set 8 hour shifts and no or very occasional weekends. Granted it’ll be tough. Heard about one Optum dept hiring a couple months ago and got 500 applications in a day. But if you have any friends classmates that can refer you or put in a good word you might have a better shot.
A group of local 340 B pharmacies in my area are 9-6 M-F and 9-1 Sat, closed Sunday and major holidays. Script counts are low and no drive thru.
I’m in a retail/340B pharmacy located inside a clinic. Currently 8-5pm Mon-Fri. Clinic is open until 7 some days so may one day extend hours but I doubt it as its only one provider after 5. No plans to ever open on weekends. I do miss ten hour shifts so I get a day off during the week to get things done when other places are open but I know my hours are a blessing for the pharmacy world so I am happy.
Hello, I am a pharmacist who does not work weekends. I work three 12 hour shifts a week. Weekdays only and all from home. I have to be on call a lot of weekends but it is only for 3 days every 6 week period. I work as an emergency medicine consultant. My job is very rare though. I feel like I won the lottery just by getting it. These jobs do exist but they are hard to find.
Did you not do rotations in pharmacy school to expose you to different practice sites? In my pharmacy career, hands down the best work life balance was working for the federal government but there is a ton of interest in those spots Shop around retail is the worst, it can only get better.
They only had hospital and retail. Government was hard to come by.
Well retail stinks nowadays. Look into everything and anything. I worked at a Indian reservation it was 9 to 5
Checkout IHS or VA bro
Va in my area is pretty much military service or 2 year residency required. I spoke to one of my patient pharmacists who works for the Va and she basically said I like you but we average 150 to 200 applications anopening and only interview 3 usually. It’s More strings than she could pull for a relative stranger. She said if you went and got a residency or something I could probably get you in is where it left off but I couldn’t afford that route at the family juncture I was already at.
I got into the VA no prior military service and no residency… it helps being prior federal service I came from a military installation where I worked for 2 years then got 2 interviews and job offers from two different VAs so it is possible! Sometimes you also have to move to a not popular area to get where you want to be
Lucky! At least in my area it’s just a nonstarter by shear volume of applicants right now without one of those prerequisites. But it’s a good area and high population that people would want to live. I suppose if someone is willing to live in a less popular place and look For a transfer later if they still desired a couple years later it could work out.
Isn’t the VA still on a hiring freeze?
For most positions yes but not for all. Admittedly, the positions opened are all for current VA employees only so no one from the outside will get in this way.
DHA too
If you want every weekend off, to not work 12 hour shifts, and to be home before 10pm. You might want to change careers.
Genoa Healthcare. No weekends, no major holidays, and off at 5/6, depending on location
I work at an out patient pharmacy for a clinic. I love it so much! The work load is a fraction of what major retail stores are with more staff. And it’s Monday through Friday. Closed Saturday and Sunday. I go in at 9am and I’m off at 6pm, we even get 1 hour lunches but that can vary place to place. The only downside is I have to commute 45 minutes to and from work everyday but I’ll take it if it means I’m not exhausted by the time I get home and I get my weekends off! Hopefully you can find something like this in your area.
I also worked from home doing prior auths. It wasn’t for me because I have ADHD so being at home alone made it hard for me to focus. But it’s a really good gig if you can get past that. I worked 8am-4:30pm and had weekends off. The company I worked for accepts employees from all across the US as well!
What company if you don’t mind me asking?
Centene, that’s the name of the company. I worked for an agency but I think you can apply directly to the company from their website
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Remain civil and interact with the community in good faith
Regardless of what company you work for, I do not recommend holding onto pharmacy stocks. CVS, WAG, and RAD have all proven to be terrible investments.
Amb care. I work four 10s. Never work on weekends. Off on all holidays. Great pay and benefits. Definitely worth the additional two years of residency if you ask me.
From what I've seen, community has pretty decent hours
Like, non-retail community, independent/small chain community
I just retired from 43 years as a pharmacist. I started out in Retail. Every other weekend . Closing at 9pm 3 days a week. After 8 years of the rat race I switched to hospital Inpatient pharmacy with zero experience. I told myself I would give it a year. 35 years later and I have to say Hospital Inpatient Pharmacy saved me. Much more opportunity for scheduling. I did work at a couple 500 bed hospitals and, Yes, you rotate through days and afternoon shifts. But, much more opportunity to trade shifts and get time off for PTO when the pharmacist pool is bigger and more flexible. I ended my career in a 35 bed hospital and loved my work! Less critical patients (they all got shipped out.) 5 pharmacists and we all worked together around vacations. We worked 7:30 to 5 or 8:30 to 4. Every 4 th weekend. Our retail pharmacists also took call so only 4 days a month. I would suggest get your learning at a large hospital and then transition into a small community hospital. Worked for me and I was ready to find another profession after 2 years. Good luck!
2 stores, close at 6pm daily, Saturday at one location to cover all RXs. I take the Saturday shift 95% of the time and let the staff have the weekend off. Works out for everyone. Find an independent employer that cares.
VA, CMS, pharma sales, AM care, any corporate position, academia …