How To Turn Pharmacy Internship Into A Full Time Employment

Internship into employment

Pharmacy internship is a mandatory one-year programme designed to expose the young pharmacist to the real world situation. Getting a Pharmacy internship placement is one difficult aspect of the profession for now. This could be due to the number of pharmacy graduate coming into the workforce yearly compared with the limited availability of internship centers.
Another problem is the salary for the different centers as some pay more than others are. This put strain on centers that are high paying. For those pharmacy interns that got lucky, they may want to be retained in the center. This is because they may also pay their full time staffs well. This could be the reason some interns will likely want to be retained by their employer after completing the one-year mandatory internship. Everyone wants a high paying job. So what can an intern pharmacist do to captivate their managers for employment or recommendation to another high paying establishment?
One thing I have realized is that most pharmacy interns do not understand that the profession is a very small one. It is like a family. Just one phone call and that can either mar you or make you. The call can come from your manager to another one for employment to a full-time job. In some others, calling your past employer during internship can produce results depending on your rapport when you were there with them.
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Not every internship centers do employ pharmacist that did the internship in the centre. It is very common with private establishment than in government setting to employ pharmacy interns that where outstanding. The few pharmacy interns that have gained full-time employment from their internship center usually happen in private sector. That is not to rule out the influence of some managers on the employment of staffs in the government sector.
The entire pharmacy intern that has gain full-time employment have two things in common. The first sets are those who have connections. We are not talking of those students here, please. The other sets are those who gave the managers reason to miss them. They probably did what the other interns did with some addition. They solve problems non-other could solve. Since all pupil pharmacy may be able to solve pharmacy related problems, these other problems are what the establishment may need to employ another person for that. They usually involve skills.
So if you want your manager to retain, consider doing some of these things in the right way. This is different from the normal things the other pharmacy interns are doing. However, I will add some of those ones that are very important.

Requirements Of Good Pharmacy Interns

Be Outstanding

There may be the time the pupil pharmacist will be free from all duties during working hours. That is the time to assist in other tasks not assigned to the young pharmacist. Activities could range from asking questions from supervisor concerning the establishment, about pharmacy, about how he spent his internship salary etc. Knowledge gained from staffs can go along way in helping the young pharmacist make informed decision in the future. I remember a lady pharmacist explaining how she spent her internship salary. It was towards the end of the programme she realized her mistake and it was too late. Such encouragement are vitals and most managers do take note of those who listen and take action.
Obey the rules of the establishment. Keep to the time of resumption. Managers may be angry but keep it to themselves hoping the young pharmacist leave in a years’ time. There are also non-written rules in every establishment. Be observant, take note of these rules, and keep to them. Such rules include car park arrangement. Treat the job like a full-time job.
Managers are observing how you react to mistake and not the mistake itself. Show you are learning and learning fast. Most of them are keen in those who are improving, not those who already know, and no sign of improving.

Money

Who wants a thief or a crook? Any seed of suspicion and you have ruled out your chances of getting a full-time employment. Some managers are very observant of spending. Anyone spending above the salary from the establishment is under suspicion.

Network

Managers watch out for those who can network. This one aspect is very important but not included in the pharmacy curriculum. Make friends with those in the co-operate world, your fellow colleagues, spervisors and superiors.
As you network, keep check of your social life. The manager may have one or more informant within the establishment. These can give the manager feedback as to what you have said or done. They are very discreet that you may start suspecting the wrong person. The bottom line is, socialise with a filter. Listen more, and talk less. Expect gossip too.

Be Direct

After working for some time, explain to some of your superior of your desire to stay. You may get a direct no from many. Not to worry, some will start observing that student if it is worth it. That no is just to remove your mind in case they deny you later. Appreciate them for the time given you in the establishment to learn and practice what you have learnt in school.
Get their contact. Keep calling and pay a visit occasionally. This kind of activity refresh the application in their mind and may just be fortunate they remember you when space comes up.

Skills

Here is the most important part. This is important because the other points will be practice by other pharmacy interns with you. However, if you are fortunate to have a sell-able skill that the others do not have, the possibility of retaining is very high. School holiday is an excellent time to get these skills. However, nobody told you about this while in school. Here are some skills that most internship centers may value a lot.

Information Communication Technology (I.C.T)/Information Technology (I.T)

Obviously, you already know the value. That is while pharmacy curriculum gave a shallow overview of it. However, your employer does not want what you studied in school. He already has that skill. He needs something more than that. A friend of mine was able to win the heart of his employers during his internship when he was able to show his skill in computer operation. They realise they were saving thousands. That is an input. Can you format a laptop? Thousands of software require knowledge to operate. The more software you can operate, the better. These things cost money when engineers do it. For example, to format a laptop can be as high as 5,000 naira in a certain location. How will the manager feel when a pupil pharmacist can do it?
Other aspects of the computer that most private companies appreciate are

Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O)

This is very important for companies with an active website. With a skill like this, you can help the company website to come up in different search engines such as google.com, bing.com, etc. When anyone who search for one of the products the company sells or renders, the company’s website should be able to come up on the first page of search engine result. With this advantage, more potential customers are seeing your company’s product on search engine, which in turn increase sales and income. Tell me, why they will not retain you. However, it is very common in private company.

Social Media Manager (S.M.M)

Many girls have this but do not use it to their advantage. If you have the followers on social media, you can promote the company’s product to your social media friends. If you have a lot of facebook.com friends or followers, you can let your manager know how good you are to attract customers using social media. Other Social Medias are twitter.com, quora.com, pinterest.com, linkedin.com etc. You can create a profile in any of the social media for your company. To understand this better, look at how banks create social media profile on so many social media using it to promote their products and services. If you message them in these social media, someone will respond. They are social media managers. They receive a lot of pay.

Digital Marketing

Honestly speaking, people pay a lot of money to learn this programme. You cannot provide this for your manager free. However, you can do this to get what you want, which is full-time employment. It involves observing your company’s product and knowing the best means to promote the product using any digital means. Digital means include television advertisement, radio advertisement, facebook.com advertisement, digital banners, e-mail marketing, use of phone number, advertising medical products in pharmacy blogs etc. However, to be able to achieve any of the above methods, you need capital from your manager. Using your own cash is at your own risk. However, he may be very happy after seeing the result.

Mechanic

Please do not get me wrong. Imagine the petrol engine went off. The electricity so needed to power a plant to produce something urgently needed. If the engine is not on in the next couple of hours, money into millions will be lost. The nearest mechanic that can handle it is about six hours away. If you provide a solution to that, the manager will forever be grateful. Fortunately, you may not actually have to acquire an engineering degree for this. It could be a spark plug issue.

Electricity

The lamp holder needs changing. No electrician is there. Why not change it free. This also includes socket. However, due to the dangers of electricity, you should have a fair knowledge of electricity before you make any attempt in this.

Installation

Learning installation of gadgets is easy. It all depends on the type you learned. Installation of pay television decoders is easy. Others are Close-Circuit Television (C.C.T.V), mounting television, air conditioner (A.C) etc.

Carpentry

Is any shelf falling down? Can you fix it? If yes, you are on your way to impress your boss.
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Note that all these skills are not compulsory. However, having one or more skills will go a long way in achieving your plan. One thing to note is that care is needed when you decide to fix anything in the office. Be careful to hide the pride in you when you have achieved one thing the rest could not. Avoid hiding your identity for too long. Let them know from the beginning your extra skills. Never force it on the others but never let the company spend cash on what you can do when you are there and towards when you are about to leave show up on your talent. It only shows fear and lack of confidence.
One thing I have noticed is that you must not be a guru in all these skills to be able to impress them. Just a little skill and you are already making them look at you like a king among your peers.
Hope you got the message.
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