Starting Your Career

STARTING YOUR CAREER

Timothy R. Ulbrich, PharmD

CASE

D.W. is a pharmacy student beginning his APPEs. He has decided that he would like to pursue a postgraduate year one (PGY1) pharmacy residency in a health system. He is also considering completing a postgraduate year two (PGY2) residency or fellowship at a later date to fulfill his career goal of becoming a critical care specialist with various teaching opportunities at a nearby college of pharmacy. However, he is overwhelmed at the moment by the process and has decided to focus on the task at hand. He has asked his preceptors to help him to prepare for the residency process and has received several suggestions, including getting his curriculum vitae (CV) up to date, attending local and national meetings, practicing for interviews, and narrowing down his list of potential sites.

WHY IT’S ESSENTIAL

“With all of the unknowns that surround the transition from student pharmacist to new practitioner, many approach graduation with a significant degree of uncertainty and doubt. Fortunately, there may not be another time in one’s career where the opportunities are so exciting and diverse, so these reservations quickly fade in the enthusiasm of discovering and exploring the world of pharmacy.”—Preceptor

The transition from student to practitioner can be rewarding and daunting at the same time. Regardless of the career goals you have in mind, several core skills are necessary to achieve a smooth transition into becoming a new practitioner. An early start on developing these skills will better position you during the job or postgraduate training interview process. During this critical junction, you will begin to define your career, contemplate areas of expertise, and continue to build your professional network.

ADVANCED PHARMACY PRACTICE EXPERIENCES AS A CAREER STEPPING STONE

As you get ready to start your APPEs, it is important to recognize that these experiences should be viewed as a month-long (or longer) interview for a job or postgraduate training program, such as a residency or fellowship. Whether or not you are placed at a site of interest, having a positive learning experience and leaving with a good recommendation is essential. The APPEs are a chance to network with various practitioners and to receive feedback on practice and professional skills. As you navigate the residency or job market, having positive experiential rotations will make the choice easier for the employer and you. A student who has a successful rotation after a thorough review from the site will have a leg up on other candidates without similar exposure. In addition, a rotation experience allows you to identify the culture of the program and to determine if you would be a good fit. For example, if you are interested in a residency, you may not have thought about the impact the number of coresidents can have. However, after completing a rotation at a large teaching hospital, you may determine that you would prefer to work in a group environment and, therefore, pursue a program with more than one resident.

Making the most out of the experiential rotations is a must and should be driven by the student. A site will likely have a set of core objectives and activities to be completed, but you may wish to seek out additional opportunities. For example, if you have an interest in research, pairing up with a resident or pharmacist working on a project may allow you to get extra experiences. However, these experiences will rarely be handed out, and motivated students will have to seek them out. Informing your preceptor of your goals at the beginning of the rotation will help to identify available opportunities. Therefore, seeking rotation sites that will allow for these opportunities is important. If possible, you should be strategic about choosing rotations and sites that may interest you for a job or residency. In addition, the timing of these can be key. For example, if you are considering a managed care residency program, having a managed care rotation before the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) meeting in December should be a top priority. During the interview process, you will be able to speak to this experience and any associated projects.

DEFINING CAREER GOALS

If you have not already done so, you should spend some time writing down short- and long-term personal and professional goals. This will help to streamline your job or postgraduate training search process. In this chapter, the focus will be on professional goals. Short-term goals can be defined as the rotations you would like to complete, settings in which you would like to practice, and postgraduate opportunities you would like to pursue. Long-term goals should focus on a 5-year and 10-year plan. It may be helpful to consider the short- and long-term goals together, as they often inform one another.

CASE QUESTION

Thinking of D.W., how would his long-term goal of becoming a critical care specialist with teaching opportunities inform his short-term goals?

In the example of D.W., setting the long-term goal first allows corresponding short-term goals to be set, such as achieving an “A” in the critical care module, taking a critical care elective, or obtaining a critical care APPE rotation. This method of working backward can be very effective in setting short-term goals and steps to help achieve a bigger, and sometimes seemingly distant, goal. For D.W., working back from a long-term goal of obtaining a position as a critical care pharmacist may reveal that several steps need to be taken first (e.g., updating his CV) to obtain a PGY1 residency that will ultimately lead to an opportunity to complete a PGY2. This, in turn, will allow D.W. to complete a CV gap analysis to determine areas that he needs to work on to make himself more marketable for a PGY1 position.

CURRICULUM VITAE AND RESUME

It is likely that you have had experience constructing both a CV and a resume. It is important to distinguish between the two. A CV, meaning “life story” or “course of life,” is much longer, comprehensive, and detailed than a resume. A resume is typically one or two pages in length and summarizes the skills, experiences, and education of the writer. The CV, in contrast, usually contains more detailed information on the skills and experiences of the candidate, as well as a more thorough listing of teaching and research experiences, publications, presentations, awards, and professional involvement, among other items. CVs are most commonly used during the application process for academic, scientific, or research positions. Students applying for residencies, fellowships, or other postgraduate opportunities will likely be expected to submit a CV with their application materials. However, some positions may not be keen on a detailed CV as part of the application process. In those cases, it is prudent to develop a one- to two-page resume using the CV as the framework. Several example CVs and pearls for creating a CV can be found at http://www.accp.com/stunet/cv.aspx.

As you are constructing your CV, some important tips should be considered:

The CV should be continuously updated, with the last date of update noted in the footer or another identifiable place in the document. Continuous updating will ensure that you have captured all of your activities while decreasing the stress and burden if you are required to produce a CV on short notice.
You should be careful of the appearance of “fluff” or “padding” that gives the impression that you are trying to make your CV longer or more impressive than it really is. Therefore, the following should be avoided:
abnormally wide margins or large font types
describing high school accomplishments in detail
duplicating items—for example, avoid putting a presentation that you completed during a rotation both underneath the rotation description and in a separate presentations section.
Be as concise as possible. Use bullets where appropriate and avoid full sentences and paragraphs.
Be ready to speak about any item on the CV. For example, if you list your name on a publication, you should be prepared to talk about that project as a whole, even if your role was minimal. It may be helpful to identify your role on each project (e.g., data collection for a research project) to avoid the impression of being more involved than you actually were.
Items should be listed in reverse chronological order, with the most important entries listed first within that chronological order. For example, if you were constructing a leadership section and had two roles (president of the Student Society of Health-System Pharmacists and treasurer of Student Council) that began at the same time, it would be prudent to put the more prestigious and active role (society president) first.
Avoid having categories that include only one item (e.g., one presentation), as it may have a weaker appearance. Try to find a way to incorporate these items into another section of the CV.
Consistently format fonts, font sizes, and placement of dates.
Leave sufficient white space to allow for easy reading, but do not leave so much white space that the document appears to be padded.

QUICK TIP

When it comes to CVs, there are many different opinions about style, order of items, length, and other factors. Although it is important for you to get multiple opinions and perspectives, avoid making every change recommended. Rather, after receiving several sets of feedback, decide which changes to incorporate.

BUILDING A PORTFOLIO

“The process of creating [a portfolio] is generally much more important and meaningful than the end product.”—The Ohio State University Center for Advancement of Teaching

Some universities may require students to construct a portfolio during the experiential rotations. Generally, a portfolio is intended to document learning and experience. A portfolio can be constructed as a documentation of evidence to be evaluated (e.g., by a preceptor or potential employer) and a tool for self-growth and reflection. A portfolio should be unique to the creator, and it may be significantly different from one student to the next. For example, a student applying for a fellowship may have a heavy focus on the research section, whereas a student applying for a hospital-based residency may highlight more of the practice-related projects completed during experiential rotations. In addition to documenting achievements and providing a means of self-reflection, a portfolio may help to set you apart from your peers by showing thought, organization, and reflection on completed work.

Prior to putting together a portfolio, make sure your CV is up to date. Having a current CV will allow you to identify what sections may or may not be included in the portfolio. Although a portfolio may look different from one student to another, some sections to consider include the following: