How Young Pharmacist Can Succeed Avoiding Older Pharmacist Mistakes

Young pharmacist

Pharmacy is one of the old profession in Nigeria. It has a rich history dating back to the 19th century. Over the years many notable pharmacists have walked the earth and even within the shores of Nigeria. With these success comes great stories, regrets, mistakes, struggles and many more.
Not every pharmacist was able to make a name for themselves. A lot of the older pharmacist made one or two mistakes they later regret. Some never had the opportunity to retrace their steps back. Few others where able to go back to the drawing board as the case may be.
In other for future and young pharmacist not to make same mistake or follow same steps that did not favour them, many older pharmacist keep sounding warnings and advise on how young Pharmacist can make a name for themselves in the profession or any other field they find themselves in life. They do this at every opportunity. In seminars, induction ceremony of pharmacist, personal discussion they are not relenting.
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Young pharmacist should learn from them. They say experience is the best teacher. Learning from someone with firsthand experience is a golden opportunity. It prevent you from making same mistake and understanding the benefit of your actions without the bitter consequences of learning from your own.
Most young pharmacist exit school with idea if a beautiful prospect in mind. This is not unrelated to stories from relatives, friends and even lecturers on how lucrative the career is. This mindset leaves many young graduates without clearcut thought out plan on how to succeed and succeed well in the profession. They believe that no matter what, life of a pharmacist is easy.
The first day I heard an encouragement on how to plan as a young Pharmacist was during my induction into the profession. The guest speaker stress on the need to think out a niche in the profession and build it immediately after internship. Most of us did not take it serious then. Barely few months later, another elder in the profession repeated same advise to me. He explain how he regretted the days and years he spent in Lagos state working as a pharmacy representative for a company. Right now, he owns a community pharmacy in Delta state. Not that pharmacy representative work is bad but it was a distraction to him who have the mind of building a community pharmacy of his own.
The bottom line of the advise is that it is good a young pharmacist know what career path that is of interest to him/her immediately after induction. From the very beginning work towards it. If a young Pharmacist wants to be a superintendent pharmacist in the future, it is better to start work as a pharmacist in a community pharmacy. Will also have to study advance courses  that can help propel a community pharmacy.  That person should not look at the direction of other lucrative offers coming from the other career paths. In this way, he gets a strong curriculum vitae for community practice in no distant time. When prospective employer sees such a curriculum vitae, they jump at it. Jumping from one career path to another only widens your job prospects but will not include good pay or more experience.
A young pharmacist with 2 years in different sectors can apply for any position. But the possibility of getting the job will be low when someone else with a strong background in just one of the field shows up. So it is wrong to look out for money as young pharmacist.

Find a niche you love no matter how small and be good in it.. prof Okpako Enawho, pioneer dean, faculty of pharmacy, Delta state university quote not as exactly as he said it.

With a future plan already in place, it is important to:

Network

Make friends and contact with people who share similar plans as you. Share ideas and information.

Curriculum Vitae

Build a strong CV on the path you choose. This include experience and academic qualifications.

Future Plan

Have a flexible short and long term future plan that can always be adjusted because time and unforseen circumstances befalls us all. The plan should be between monthly to maximum of 5 years. Give targets like the level of knowledge you must have acquired within some time frame and the impact you can make.

Partner

Nigerians are ways scared of partnership business. This is because many businesses with partnership have gone sour. The foundation is always based on mutual trust and not on legal standings. When one partner feel cheated, he want out. At the end of the day, the one with more connection win the legal battle.
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There is no harm in partnership business. And it is not a must that when the business have grown it is ripe to share it and start up personal business. Many foreign companies started as partnership and still is. The major thing is going into legal agreement that is binding to both parties.
From all information gathered so far, it is obvious many young pharmacist make same mistake. The reason behind it is not far fetched. The economy situation of the country is pushing them into these actions that in most cases backfire. But it is not really worth it.
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