<p>I was told long time ago by my sister in-law who was a pharmacist that pharmacists who work in drugstores like CVS, Walgreens have lock step wages, meaning, whether you have 30 years or 3 months of experience, the wages are the essentially same unless you are in a supervisory capacity. Is that still true? If it is, then I think you are in a good position since you are more flexible in regards to working evenings and weekends.</p>
<p>Unless you are tired of the profession, I would think that no other jobs pay as much that you can transition to without further training or experience.</p>
<p>Agree that sometimes being willing to have several part-time jobs can be a good strategy, especially if one or the other has the potential to work into a full-time gig with benefits. A pulmonologist friend who retired at 60 from Kaiser has just taken two part-time jobs–one for the military with a sleep lab & the other mentoring sleep at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii.</p>
<p>^^Actually I just had a friend who did the same thing… put two part time jobs together to get closer to her former salary. I’m concerned she’s going to burn out, tough, because we all know you put more time into your job than your bottom might be in the office.</p>
<p>I think the way to make the part-time jobs work is to try to make the more attractive one turn into a full-time position or at least enough hours so you get benefits. That’s what I’ve seen other happy part-timers do. The other option is to not need benefits because you can get them elsewhere (like from a spouse or some sort of domestic partner if allowed in your state), but since OP is single, that doesn’t work either.</p>
<p>Another option might be a part-time job & renting out bedroom(s)/part of your home or taking in visiting students. I know several women who have done this and found the income & companionship nice to supplement their salaries.</p>
<p>Since the start up my H was last with two years ago lost funding he has been doing consulting work. He has sent out hundreds of resumes, but there are just no jobs in our area of SoCal for a very high level engineering manager. H would love to do one more start up company and still hopes that as the economic climate improves he will get that opportunity again. In the meantime he is keeping himself very current doing some jobs programming and building hardware.</p>
<p>We have a D that is a junior in hs so once she graduates in a year and a half we will be very flexible on possible moves to other areas.</p>
<p>Glad your H has found a way to stay current, but it must be tough for your H not being able to do the type of work he had been doing. A friend’s H had a crisis in HI, when he lost his engineering job & was unable to find another for a very long time. The wife wanted him to consider going back to school for a new career, but he kept persisting and eventually landed another engineering job. </p>
<p>The flexibility to relocate can really expand the job possibilities. Good luck to all the job seekers, especially those of us who are on the north side of 40 & beyond.</p>
<p>ShowMom: if your husband wants to do a startup, why is he waiting to be asked to dance? He could be developing a product plan, business plan, and so on. He must have some unemployed friends on the marketing side; instant synergy.</p>
<p>I am a big fan of the professional networking tool called LinkedIn. I would suggest that you create a profile if you don’t have one. Then look up all the professional contacts you have made (ever… go back to your pharmacy school classmates). If there were ever salesmen who came regularly, etc. It is (1) a good way to find people you have lost touch with who might help you, and (2) if you keep your network up as you meet new people, you will have a nice group to call on if you end up unemployed again in the future. The greatest aspect is that as people move jobs, etc. you can still keep track of them (if their email address or phone number changes, you don’t lose that contact).</p>
<p>Your network might start small, but keep adding if you have interviews with people, meet other unemployed people in your industry, etc.</p>
<p>Now that my DD is a junior in high school and DS a college freshman, I recently dusted off my resume and am rewriting it with the hopes of landing a product development job. I have been out of the job market since 1993 (ouch!). I visited the public library yesterday and discovered they have a “Career Center”. What a pleasure to see the number of current books on job hunting, resume and cover letter writing, and interviewing. Two books I would recommend for you are “Over 40 & You’re Hired” by Robin Ryan, and the third edition of the McGraw Hill book, “Resumes for Scientific and Technical Careers”. I checked out 4 other books on interview questions, job searching, and a few other subjects. </p>
<p>Thanks to all for the support and suggestions. I would be willing to accept multiple part-time jobs, or even a single pt job. The suggestion to check out related industries was good and I am expanding my seach. Maybe I should even investigate temp agencies, too. LinkedIn might be a great idea, but I’m not sure how many people in the world of pharmacy use it - it couldn’t hurt to try, though! With an updated resume and only a few recent months of unemployment during my entire career, I would think that I could get a job.</p>
<p>On the subject of moving, I know that would help. There is a huge glut of pharmacists in my area. However, our family and friends are here and we get a lot of strength from that.</p>
<p>I am considering taking some low-paying job, just to make a few bucks. I feel sort of guilty doing that, though, because I would leave in a second if I found employment in my profession. Is that bad? I would probably have to neglect to mention that I’m a pharmacist to get hired anywhere.</p>
<p>On other threads, kids are clamoring to get into pharmacy. More new schools are opening and graduating thousands of students at the same time that increased use of technicians and technology are taking the basic jobs away…and the clinical involvement that the schools preach is mighty slow in coming to the masses. While I love pharmacy, I would be hesitant to recommend it anymore.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all the advice. I would welcome any more comments!</p>
<p>Seriously consider look into costs/benefits of getting certification as a diabetes educator and consider contracting with insurers to counsel their diabetes patients to improve their compliance and health. It is a lucerative area, I believe.</p>
<p>Neglecting to tell them you’re a pharmacist won’t be easy, and probably not possible, as employment apps ask about previous employment- even for low paying jobs.( And your past is traceable through Social Security.) It might be easier to get something where your skill set is valued, such as the health care field, than it would be to get a random Mcjob where they may feel you’ll leave and their training would be wasted. Remember that any job you take now will be on your work
resume indefinitely, so something at least tangentially related would probably make the most sense.</p>
<p>Even a lower paid part-time position with a public health non-profit might be good (e.g. helping do pharma reviews at health fairs & helping write grants). Would also give you new insights and contacts and show that you were trying to “give back” during these tough times.</p>
<p>Great idea, plus could expand your network of health related contacts. I have recently heard that job seekers need a good online presence: are you on LinkedIn? Other online professional networks?</p>
<p>Lots of health departments & insurers are finally realizing the people with chronic health conditions are VERY EXPENSIVE and may be interested in working with you to expand their chronic disease services to consider drug interactions especially among these populations, which could be part of a grant. Foundations MUST give out grants every year and continue to award them, even during bad economic times (though sometimes in smaller amounts).</p>
<p>Several of our health fairs have had pharmacists doing medication reviews & individualized counseling. Pharmacists are also helpful in creating formularies & working on contracts for meds between insurers & others.</p>
<p>I love the idea of the diabetic certification! Honestly, I was considering geriatric or immunization certifications, but didn’t consider employment by insurers. I always seemed to connect to my patients and customers, and in my previous jobs, patient counseling was really my favorite thing. I must look into that!</p>
<p>dmd77 - My H has been working on a couple of options for start ups since the last one he was with shut down. He has been programming and writing user manuals for one product that could not be a stand alone product for a start up unless it was combined with something else. In addition to that he is also working with his former marketing manager on another potential start up. There is not a lot of venture capital money going around our area of SoCal right now. They have worked up business plans and are actively trying to get funding, but no success yet.</p>
<p>[Rx&D</a> - Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Research and Development group | LinkedIn](<a href=“Sign Up | LinkedIn”>Sign Up | LinkedIn)</p>
<p>Just beware that there could be some scams and traps even on LinkedIn and use common sense when someone requests information from you.</p>
<p>With your Pharm D degree you obviously have a solid background in chemistry and biological sciences. People like you can find employment in biotech, not in sales, but in QA/QC, Regulatory Affairs, and other clinical trials related areas. </p>
<p>Grant writing is a really hard to get into, unless you had prior success in getting your grants funded.</p>
<p>LKF - on an important but less professional note, get thee over to the Dressing Young thread. While you are exploring these options it is also important to make sure that when you land a great interview, you are ready. Perhaps it shouldn’t matter but it does. If you are interviewed by someone younger than you, it is critical to appear energetic, vibrant, eager to learn, flexible, etc. One of the benefits of diverging a bit in your career is that you WILL be new and open to current trends. </p>
<p>I have my own business, but recently I applied for a tempory, part-time position in a tangentially related career. I had an interview and I am so glad I put some time in making sure I appeared younger than my years. There were five interviewers and the oldest was 17 years younger than me. One interviewer was in her mid-late twenties and the other three were probably mid thirties. I am 59! I was working before they were born. So use this time to update everything - skills and appearance.</p>