Anyone work for Boots?

[jobhunter2021]

Just after some advice, looking at jobs and my local Boots has jobs available - a customer advisor and a trainee pharmacy advisor.
Not sure which one to apply for, anyone got any advice on which role is best?

I used to - it depends what you want to do. The customer advisor is general customer service so working on the till / sorting out the shop floor etc. You could be on any till e.g. the main tills / in the beauty hall / electrical department (depending on the size of the shop). You can also ask to train in a particular area e.g. electrical in time so it is quite general (again, store size dependent)

The pharmacy assistant is on the medicine counter. You will be trained to sell medicines under the supervision of the pharmacist and may be trained to be a dispenser/ work in the dispensary. It is more focused but probably has a better progression route e.g. promotion to dispenser / ACT etc. but you won't get chance to work in as many departments as you are on the medicine counter

It depends what you would like to do

You can apply for both if you're not sure

@MinnieAnonyMouse

I used to - it depends what you want to do. The customer advisor is general customer service so working on the till / sorting out the shop floor etc. You could be on any till e.g. the main tills / in the beauty hall / electrical department (depending on the size of the shop). You can also ask to train in a particular area e.g. electrical in time so it is quite general (again, store size dependent)

The pharmacy assistant is on the medicine counter. You will be trained to sell medicines under the supervision of the pharmacist and may be trained to be a dispenser/ work in the dispensary. It is more focused but probably has a better progression route e.g. promotion to dispenser / ACT etc. but you won't get chance to work in as many departments as you are on the medicine counter

It depends what you would like to do

@MinnieAnonyMouse is it stressful in the pharmacy department?

The pharmacy counter is very stressful, but their training progression was great in my store. If you have a good team, it can be a fantastic place to work, however the pressures put on you to reach targets was horrible, and as staff left they weren’t replaced which made the workload unmanageable and the patients took it out on the staff I think it’s a similar story in most retail pharmacies to be honest.

@Thistles24

The pharmacy counter is very stressful, but their training progression was great in my store. If you have a good team, it can be a fantastic place to work, however the pressures put on you to reach targets was horrible, and as staff left they weren’t replaced which made the workload unmanageable and the patients took it out on the staff I think it’s a similar story in most retail pharmacies to be honest.

@Thistles24 I thought maybe it would be stressful in the pharmacy. Might be best off applying for the shop floor.

I guess it depends on what you want to do- if you do your pharmacy training it obviously opens a lot of doors for you. I’m now in a pretty well paid job in the NHS, and it’s thanks to the training I got while working at Boots that I’ve been able to get here. So maybe apply for both but think about your long term plans.

I would say if you are interested in pharmacy, go for pharmacy. If you don’t actually have any interest in it, I don’t think it’s worth it. I know so many people who have gone for pharmacy roles just for the (tiny amount) of extra money but their heart isn’t in it and their work ethic is atrocious, which puts more pressure on the rest of the team that actually enjoy their job!
Be aware that it is an extremely difficult role no matter where you work. Lots of pressure in terms of targets and workload, unrealistic expectations from patients and surgeries, little appreciation and lack of understanding about how a pharmacy operates, a huge amount of multitasking (which we shouldn’t do, but unfortunately you can’t avoid it!), constant phone calls and queries etc.

I always wanted to work in pharmacy so these ‘negatives’ do not outweigh the positives for me. One good thing about Boots is the opportunity for career progression. Whether that’s shop floor or pharmacy, there’s lots of room to grow and even if you aren’t looking for progression, there’s lots of little jobs/responsibilities you can take on if you wish.

I haven’t worked for Boots for nearly 3 years but previously I worked for them for 6 years and I really enjoyed my time there because I had a great team behind me. I especially enjoyed my time as a customer advisor as there were so many different things to do every day, it never got boring. For example, setting up the sales plan show material, serving customers on beauty and fragrance, date checking, stock management etc.

Whatever you decide, good luck, OP! 😊💐

@Poppynit

I would say if you are interested in pharmacy, go for pharmacy. If you don’t actually have any interest in it, I don’t think it’s worth it. I know so many people who have gone for pharmacy roles just for the (tiny amount) of extra money but their heart isn’t in it and their work ethic is atrocious, which puts more pressure on the rest of the team that actually enjoy their job! Be aware that it is an extremely difficult role no matter where you work. Lots of pressure in terms of targets and workload, unrealistic expectations from patients and surgeries, little appreciation and lack of understanding about how a pharmacy operates, a huge amount of multitasking (which we shouldn’t do, but unfortunately you can’t avoid it!), constant phone calls and queries etc.

I always wanted to work in pharmacy so these ‘negatives’ do not outweigh the positives for me. One good thing about Boots is the opportunity for career progression. Whether that’s shop floor or pharmacy, there’s lots of room to grow and even if you aren’t looking for progression, there’s lots of little jobs/responsibilities you can take on if you wish.

I haven’t worked for Boots for nearly 3 years but previously I worked for them for 6 years and I really enjoyed my time there because I had a great team behind me. I especially enjoyed my time as a customer advisor as there were so many different things to do every day, it never got boring. For example, setting up the sales plan show material, serving customers on beauty and fragrance, date checking, stock management etc.

Whatever you decide, good luck, OP! 😊💐

Also, just to add - there’s also opportunity to apply for management roles as well, which many of the customer advisors I know have gone on to do.

@Poppynit

I would say if you are interested in pharmacy, go for pharmacy. If you don’t actually have any interest in it, I don’t think it’s worth it. I know so many people who have gone for pharmacy roles just for the (tiny amount) of extra money but their heart isn’t in it and their work ethic is atrocious, which puts more pressure on the rest of the team that actually enjoy their job! Be aware that it is an extremely difficult role no matter where you work. Lots of pressure in terms of targets and workload, unrealistic expectations from patients and surgeries, little appreciation and lack of understanding about how a pharmacy operates, a huge amount of multitasking (which we shouldn’t do, but unfortunately you can’t avoid it!), constant phone calls and queries etc.

I always wanted to work in pharmacy so these ‘negatives’ do not outweigh the positives for me. One good thing about Boots is the opportunity for career progression. Whether that’s shop floor or pharmacy, there’s lots of room to grow and even if you aren’t looking for progression, there’s lots of little jobs/responsibilities you can take on if you wish.

I haven’t worked for Boots for nearly 3 years but previously I worked for them for 6 years and I really enjoyed my time there because I had a great team behind me. I especially enjoyed my time as a customer advisor as there were so many different things to do every day, it never got boring. For example, setting up the sales plan show material, serving customers on beauty and fragrance, date checking, stock management etc.

Whatever you decide, good luck, OP! 😊💐

@Poppynit Thank you for the advice, how much more per hour is a pharmacy assistant? I would really like to get into pharmacy and think its something I would enjoy but I don't know if I could deal with the stress for a few extra pennies.

I think at the moment it’s only about 20p extra an hour, which is really poor considering the training you have to undertake and the stress of the job! I would say if you do have an interest in pharmacy then give it a go, sometimes the interest you have in the job will outweigh the stress😂 with all its faults, it can be a very rewarding job & there’s never a dull moment!
I would say if you’re just looking for a job, it won’t be worth the stress but if you’re considering a career, give it try 😊

If you have any more questions feel free to ask😊x

Just to add though, despite the pay being quite low in comparison, Boots do pay their pharmacy advisors more than other pharmacy chains which is a plus!x

@Poppynit

I think at the moment it’s only about 20p extra an hour, which is really poor considering the training you have to undertake and the stress of the job! I would say if you do have an interest in pharmacy then give it a go, sometimes the interest you have in the job will outweigh the stress😂 with all its faults, it can be a very rewarding job & there’s never a dull moment! I would say if you’re just looking for a job, it won’t be worth the stress but if you’re considering a career, give it try 😊

If you have any more questions feel free to ask😊x

Thank you thats really good to know 🙂 I think I will apply for the customer assistant role, before been made redundant from my previous job I was off work with a long term illness so I think I should probably start slowly and work my way up if its possible to do that. I'm quite lucky there are quite a few Boots close to where I live so maybe if a Pharmacy advisor job comes up when I feel ready I could apply for it.

Out of interest for those saying that the pharmacy assistant is stressful, why is this and what type of targets are you expected to meet?