What is Considered Job Hopping in Pharmacy?
Question: Chen, what is considered job hopping in the pharmacy profession? Does it really matter if I leave a job within a year?
Answer: In our parents’ generation, it was common for people to stay in their jobs until they retired. In this generation, people move around jobs more frequently. However, if you leave jobs within 2 years, it is typically considered job hopping, unless you are a relief pharmacist.
Leaving positions frequently before sticking it out for at least 2 years is what you need to be concerned about. This says to a pharmacy employer that you may not be a good investment to them, even if you are great at what you do. It takes time, money, and resources to train someone fully, not to mention the costs of screening & hiring a pharmacist.
What is considered unacceptable? If you have too many job transitions to different employers within the most recent pharmacist jobs you’ve held, if you are unable to convey to a potential employer a reason that makes sense about why you made a change in the past, and if you frequently leave less than 2 years into a new job. I have seen many hiring managers skip over pharmacist resumes because there was a lot of job hopping at a glance.
What is acceptable? There is no black and white, but here are a few examples that may be considered acceptable: If you got into a position and soon found out it wasn’t for you, and you decided to make a change after a year, but then you beyond that, you would stay at positions for a minimum of 2 years after that time. Or, if you were laid off before a 2-year period and there was an acceptable reason for the layoff (ie, massive downsizing, etc). Or perhaps you had a logical progression in your career, such as a pharmacy management role you could not pass up. I have seen more frequent transitions be acceptable within the pharmaceutical industry because of the nature of certain roles, ie: Medical Science Liaison or pharmaceutical sales representative, when their roles are tied to the success of a drug that may fail post-launch not under the pharmacist’s control.
Bottom line recommendation: Stick it out for a minimum of 2 years if you can, even if you don’t like what you do. It shows that you have commitment to your pharmacy employer. If you absolutely cannot, or there are circumstances beyond your control, see that it doesn’t happen frequently throughout your career because you don’t want to be viewed as an unstable pharmacist.
Do you really think a 2 year wait is required for job hoppers to be considered “stable”
If the job is just not working out, why not make the change if and when a suitable job
surfaces. Seems silly or impractical to have to wait 2 years to be considered Stable??
I agree with Mr. Dye 1000percent these companies now a days do not have the same loyalties that the companies from “our parents generation” have. They are more interested in the bottom line…. money, and frankly Dr. Yen, I think it is insulting to our collective intelligence for you to patronize us in this way. Corporations are interested in their ability to make money and they will extract it from humans as they have the enviorment…polluting along the way. Please save this lesson for the newly graduated as they may not have had experience in the real pharmacy world. Yes Dr. Yen the real pharmacy world, the one littered with understaffing, incompetent representatives (both professional and organizational), unsatisfied pharmacists, and misinformed overbearing managers and so called upper management. I really do feel for the fabric of our profession. I work in an area NOW (thank the lord) whereby I have access to many pharmacists all of whom have echoed all I’ve written. The public is misinformed about what we do, and frankly, so are other health care professionals—who do we attach the blame to on that one? God forbid this article wasn’t inspired by retail.
As I mentioned in the article, it is recommended to stay for at least 2 years. But “if you absolutely cannot, or there are circumstances beyond your control, see that it doesn’t happen frequently throughout your career because you don’t want to be viewed as an unstable pharmacist.” Sure, you may experience companies that are not loyal like our parents’ generation, but there are good companies out there that appreciate investing in pharmacists as well. It can hurt more than help you by jumping around from job to job every other year, for example. I’m only speaking from my experience when talking to pharmacy directors or hiring managers who tell me they look at a resume of a candidate think “this person looks like they job hop frequently; I’m not sure if I want to take a chance on investing in someone whose history has been leaving in a year”.
Consider whether you are always looking for something better if you tend to job hop a lot—are you always looking for the next best thing? And when the “something better” is something you can find in yourself. The enjoyment of your experiences (whether characterized as “good” or “bad”) will grow to the extent that you grow personally.
The author of http://www.pharmacistjobconnection.com has written an excellent article. You have made your point and there is not much to argue about. It is like the following universal truth that you can not argue with: Axiom 2: Improvement is good. Thanks for the info.
Can I please find out info about how to get clinically certified?
Thanks
Kathy,
Not sure what you mean by this?
Chen
These are good comments about job-hopping. Chen is right.
But what can you do if the employer reneges on the original job offer and demands that you must change roles? For instance, what if you were hired to work days and then were told that you must change to 100% night-shift or you will be fired? What if you have a family and cannot work nights 100% of the time? Additionally, what if the employer doesn’t have a 7 on/7 off shift, and wants you to work the night shift 12 out of every 14 days — 52 weeks a year – with no raise?