Does anyone work in a pharmacy? Help!

[wouldloveajob]

I'd have thought there was a strong demand for pharmacy trainees since there are hundreds/thousands of pharmacies in every county. I'm desperate to start a career in pharmacy, and work my way up to NVQ 2, then 3.

I've been trying for 9 months now. Have only seen a handful of trainee roles in my area and haven't even received a response from my applications. I have a very good standard of education, lots of retail & customer service experience and genuinely believe I'd do very well at the role.

What does it take to get a foot through the door? If you work in one please could you share how you got started? Do they only want youngsters, as its minimum wage? I'm mid thirties.

Oops - slow refresh there.

The Band 3 roles in the NHS will be either called Assistant Technical Officers or Pharmacy Support Workers. I’m astonished that there aren’t any jobs in Greater Manchester.

When you're looking for jobs, don't restrict the hours that you're searching for at all, lots of jobs will only be very part time to start with, but these can be done alongside another job to get a foot in the door, and definitely check out supermarket pharmacies, theres always jobs going in them as the hours are longer

@wouldloveajob I’m happy in my job but I do a slightly different ACT role in that I work for head office for my company, so I work at various different branches and get to travel around. Depending on the branch, I think being an ACT in one branch could get pretty boring. If it’s busy enough that you’re checking all day, you are really just tied to a bench and checking scripts like a robot all day. I find dispensing much more interesting, and the clinical side of things interests me much more. For what it’s worth, you can get paid quite well in some pharmacies once you’re qualified - comparable to hospital wages. I’m on circa 30k with a company car.

Good luck! I do hope you find something.

Wow, great journey! Can I ask how you landed the student tech job? Was this nhs? Did you have any prior pharmacy experience?

I applied for it via NHS jobs, at the time it wasn't asking for any NVQ history, just GCSEs graded C or above in maths, English and science.
I didn't have any prior NHS or pharmacy experience and applied on a whim because I wanted to move back home.
They asked for customer service experience and I remember questions relating to that.

As a side note I would apply for dispensing assistant jobs even if they ask for experience, 'if you don't ask you don't get' I'd also try with Hospital as often they have a clear pathway into developing people from assistants.
I've worked in community, hospital, private hospitals and prisons. Finding that hospital jobs are more secure

@CharlieWeasley
@Thevelveteenrabbit
@RitaEllen

Thanks to your direction on this thread I now have an interview for an Assistant Technical Officer at my local hospital. Thank you! Thank you! I can't quite believe it!

I do NOT want to blow this opportunity. I have already booked in a pre-interview visit and will spend the next 2 weeks preparing for the interview. Could I get some guidance on what to expect at the pre-interview visit? Is it just a quick informal tour round the department to meet the team, say hello etc? What should I ask? How can I give the best first impression?

And any tips for the interview?

Finally, it is a full time position. Ideally I would prefer 3 or 4 days. I will not pass up the chance to get my foot in the door by thinking too much about this. I'll work full time if I have to. However, if by some miracle I was offered the position would it be totally offensive to ask if I could do less than full time hours or job share with another candidate? How would that be looked upon by the hiring manager?

wouldloveajob I'm so sorry I thought I'd replied to this and apparently I didn't. I'm blaming sleep deprivation (4m sleep regression here!).
How did the interview go?

@Baboutheocelot

What about hospital dispenser jobs?

I am a trained pharmacy technician (retired last year) and my hospital doesn't want pharmacy assistants; only student technicians and above.

@sueelleker how come they don't want pharmacy assistants? Who does the pretty unskilled work (greeting patients, receiving meds into the department, distributing items to wards etc) then?

The pharmacy is for in-patients only. Deliveries are taken in and distributed to wards by pharmacy stores staff, who aren't called pharmacy assistants. They only deal with stock, not dispensing prescriptions.