Pharmacy future job prospects

[matt123]

hey matt, where do you do pharm? can't think of a place with pharm and dent and am curious.

I think he goes CSU

Yeah Charles sturt uni.
 

[iffets12345]

I can tell you no offence but they are probably more worried cause they graduated from CSU, just like I'm worried La Trobe may be disadvantaged by Melbourne uni. However, I do agree that jobs are getting slimmer, just not to the armaggedon everyone makes it out to be. Maybe this is wishful thinking but I think the job shortage is relative to the already very comfortable health sector, and compared to other areas the health sector is still better off marginally.

[paulsterio]

To be perfectly honest, my uncle's wife's sister is a pharmacist, graduated a few years ago, and she's doing fine, reasonably easy for her to find a job, she manages to get reasonable pay, not top class, but defs more than average (around 80k I think)

[matt123]

I can tell you no offence but they are probably more worried cause they graduated from CSU, just like I'm worried La Trobe may be disadvantaged by Melbourne uni. However, I do agree that jobs are getting slimmer, just not to the armaggedon everyone makes it out to be. Maybe this is wishful thinking but I think the job shortage is relative to the already very comfortable health sector, and compared to other areas the health sector is still better off marginally.

To be completely honest. It dosnt make much of a difference where you graduate from. You still have a GPA , an Interview , a CV , References.

Graduating from a prestigious uni means nothing in my eyes.
I know people who have got their hospital placements / jobs from csu and UNSW over students from monash.
If a NSW student was to apply in VIC , then yes .. the university would matter.
But if you are planning to work in the state you study in , then university dosnt make such a great big difference ( except if the uni has priorities , such as some law students being automatically accepted into their cadet ships and law firms.)

Dont stress on this matter.
keep your GPA high.
and goodluck.

[mystikal]

in pharmacy, the university/prestige doesnt matter, and grades dont matter either. People skills are what counts and what bosses look for. (this is for retail community pharmacy jobs).

[soccerboi]

Reading this thread has made me a bit scared of doing pharmacy...now i'm worried that i won't have a job after getting the degree...

[Jenny_2108]

In response to all of this.

This is my input

1. Pharmacy is declining , yes , we all understand that. However , there are still jobs available. its not like its physically impossible to get a job. Obviously its competitive , and city jobs and hospital jobs , aswell as internships will only given to those students with the 7.0 GPA's , 5 years + experience and perfect interviews. Having said that , there are many rural hospitals which will accept jobs. Obviously if your going for a job at alfreds hospital ... its going to be a struggle. But go for a job in any hospital in a rural place and you will be suprized.

2. As for the pay , yes , interns can be payed as low as 18 dollars an hour. im currently getting more with my restaurant job. having said that , once graduated , pharmacists can earn up to 45 an hour. I know of someone who found a job in Wagga Wagga full time 45 an hour ... earned around 90000 last year.

3. If you study hard , try to get as much experience as you can and truly want to be a pharmacist , you will succeed. The problem is that only 1/20 students actually have this desire. in my course , out of 100 people , we now have 55 standing. and of those 55 people . 10 want to be a dedicated pharmacist and the others couldn't care less what happens , wont study hard , and wont put any extra effort into it.
now obviously those students will struggle to find a job , and thats why we continuously hear about people not finding jobs. The cutoff for pharm is too low and we get too many slackers. the dedicated , the hard workers will 9/10 get the job they are after. ive noticed this is the case as many of my friends who graduated got their jobs straight away.

We are not to deny the fact that pharmacy jobs are declining rapidly , for we also must not deny the fact that the pharmacist income is also declining. However , we must be optimistic and also look at the straight facts. Alot of pharmacists are graduating and receiving the jobs they wanted. its not often that we see completely neglected pharmacists sitting at home unemployed.  and if we do , its because they personally do not want to make a solid effort , and they did not throughout the course.

For those who are doing pharmacy , or are truly interested in pharmacy , may i tell you ... Do not give up , and do not let all this negative talk put you down. be within that percentage that stands out , and you will cruise to find a job and the pay will be worth it.
for all we know , pharmacy could change aswell ..... soon we can prescribe few things and also the population/elderly population is increasing.
do not be all too worried about this situation and just do the best you can.

if your in it for the money ... unless you already have alot of money and can run your business .......... get out of pharmacy asap. 

as for the students of RMIT.
people who say that they wont be accredited etc ... are quite delusional in my eyes.
i know of many students who didnt go to RMIT because its not accredited.

for all of you people
THINK ABOUT IT FOR A SECOND!
rmit is a highly established university. they are non rural , and they are doing quite well "financially"
do you really think they would risk putting out a degree which they know could fail?
i dont think so.

same with deakins optometry course.
I highly doubt a uni would risk doing such a thing.

so please , be assured and do not worry

follow your dreams , and study pharmacy if your truly have the passion for it.
if your on the fence , do something else
but let me tell you ........... all medical professions are declining anyway ... its just a matter of time.
my med friends are worried because they think they cant find hospital jobs they want ... dent students at my uni are worried for similar reasons.
I live with 13 radiographers who are struggling on employment.
my cousin is an optom and he has had to travel from sydney to Wagga to albury , because he couldnt find a job.

its really all the same.
obviously some are alot better than others
but dont let it get to you .... everyone wants a career in health ... and its only going to get harder and harder and more competitive .... stay on top of the game and you will succeed.

goodluck.

Read this comment again, you will have more motivation, soccerboi!

[nisha]

This discussion is unnerving me, as my dream is to become a pharmacist. I do already have work experiencey at a pharmacy and will continue through with it, if I stay and swork there, is it likely if I become a pharamacist, to get a job there?

[paulsterio]

This discussion is unnerving me, as my dream is to become a pharmacist. I do already have work experiencey at a pharmacy and will continue through with it, if I stay and swork there, is it likely if I become a pharamacist, to get a job there?

Depends if you can get an internship, if not then your degree is just an expensive piece of paper!

[Jenny_2108]

This discussion is unnerving me, as my dream is to become a pharmacist. I do already have work experiencey at a pharmacy and will continue through with it, if I stay and swork there, is it likely if I become a pharamacist, to get a job there?

Depends if you can get an internship, if not then your degree is just an expensive piece of paper!

Is internship arranged by the Uni or you contact to the pharmacy and ask them to work there?

[azngirl456]

This discussion is unnerving me, as my dream is to become a pharmacist. I do already have work experiencey at a pharmacy and will continue through with it, if I stay and swork there, is it likely if I become a pharamacist, to get a job there?

You'll have to arrange the internship yourself. The uni does however arrange placements in third and fourth year


Depends if you can get an internship, if not then your degree is just an expensive piece of paper!

Is internship arranged by the Uni or you contact to the pharmacy and ask them to work there?

[mystikal]

you have to find your own internship. but internships arent hard to find as alot of pharmacies want interns for cheap labour. Its the 2-3 years after u've become a pharmacist which becomes the problem since you get too expensive as every year passes and bosses want to hire fresh young blood as profit margin does not change dramatically with a more experienced pharm vs noobie pharm.

look the prospects are quite bleak to be honest. HOWEVER, if you do have a passion for it and I mean real passion and not just the money, or parents made you or med reject (ye i know) then you should be fine. Coz real passion can be seen a person and cant be faked for a long period of time and employers will genuninely see that.

So i would think long and hard about the decision but dont let the current environment of the career throw you off as if it does then you know that you shouldnt be doing pharmacy. It will go back up eventually the prospects as their are more old people but "when" is probably too hard to predict at this time.

[slothpomba]

It's mostly the fault of the universities to be honest. The entire labour market is kind of screwed up though. There are more qualified applicants than there are jobs for them in many fields (in some there is a shortage), pharmacy is especially bad though. The universities get money for each student, so of course, it makes sense to them to graduate as many as possible. I think RMIT just started up this year or last on pharmacy as well, just adds fuel to the fire really.

Unless student demand dramatically drops, the universities offer a lot less places or more jobs open up, it won't happen any time soon. None of these things seem likely to be honest, especially the last one considering the big pharmacy conglomerates like Chemist Warehouse. We have #1 or #2 to hope for.

Of course, like said above, plenty of people get jobs. Just to make up a number to illustrate though, there might be 133% of the need for job placements graduating. So, 33% invariably lose out. Of course, fair few still manage to get a job and it filters out those who didn't really give a shit in the first place but compared to a lot of other fields, its a pretty big gap.

That said, think hard, as mystikal said. If you have an acutal passion, go for it.

If you think hard and realise deep down your doing it more for the money or parents, it might not be the best bet. Get a business degree or something. Look at it this way, if pharmacy was paying 50-60 000 PA would you still do it?