Archive for the ‘Careers’ Category

Pharmacy Jobs - What, Where and How?

  • Filed under: Careers
Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Stefan Kyriakides.

What are pharmacy jobs? Where are these jobs available? How do you qualify for these jobs? This article seeks to answer these questions. In the USA, there are more pharmacy jobs than qualified pharmacists. It is thus a good career option.

Pharmacy Jobs

Medicines can be prepared and dispensed only by qualified pharmacists. In olden times, they used to mix drug products from measured raw materials according to doctor’s prescriptions. These days, they dispense pre-measured tablets and capsules produced by pharmaceutical companies. They also advise patients on the use of prescription and over the counter medicines.

In addition to technical knowledge about the required purity and dosages of many medicinal products, pharmacists also require the human touch and ethical sense to deal with customers in a trust-building manner.

Pharmacists find jobs in numerous settings, such as retail pharmacy outlets, hospitals & clinics, healthcare facilities, drug research and development, pharmaceutical sales and marketing, government agencies and universities.

Pharmacists work as pharmacy managers, clinical pharmacists, IV pharmacists, retail pharmacists and in other roles.

Who Employ Pharmacists?

Some of the major employers of pharmacists are listed below.

  • Retail (and Internet) pharmacies need pharmacists and pharmacy managers.
  • Pharmaceutical companies need pharmacists for drug research & development, and for sales and marketing.
  • Hospitals, clinics and healthcare facilities need pharmacists to oversee the formulation, storage and dispensing of medicines at their facilities.
  • Government agencies and home care facilities also need the services of pharmacists.
  • Armed services need pharmacists in their medical services sections.
  • Community and consultant pharmacies are other agencies that need pharmacists.

The demand for pharmacists exceeds supply in the USA.

How Do You Qualify as a Pharmacist?

Pharmacy is the science that deals with collection, preparation and standardization of drugs.

As a preliminary for your course in pharmacy, you need to attend college level classes in such subjects as chemistry, biology, physics and mathematics, for about two years. You might also have to pass a Pharmacy Colleges Admissions Test.

You then have to complete a 6-year (or 5 year) Pharm D. (or B.S.) curriculum prescribed by an accredited college of pharmacy. Internship under a qualified pharmacist and passing a state examination are other typical requirements before you become a licensed pharmacist.

Continuing education is a typical requirement to renew the license.

The skills in pharmacy practice include not only dispensing prescriptions but also communicating with patients and healthcare professionals. (You need to acquire the skill to read doctors’ handwritings!) They also include understanding the responsibilities of professional ethics.

Other important skills include the management of a pharmacy practice, and consulting with other healthcare professionals.

Availability of Pharmacy Jobs

As you would have begun to appreciate by now, pharmacists are trained professionals providing an essential service in healthcare. They are in high demand by many agencies and this situation is likely to continue.

In fact, all the pharmacy jobs are not being filled now for want for qualified pharmacists. A career in pharmacy is thus a promising career.

About the Author:
Stefan Kyriakides from Sensible Staffing writes about Pharmacy-Jobs please visit www.sensible-staffing.com for further information.

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Stefan Kyriakides.

locum jobs seek to fill temporary vacancies caused by the permanent pharmacy jobholder going on leave, and on other such contingencies. As people are always going on leave or resigning or falling sick and so on, there is a steady flow of locum jobs. Pharmacies cannot legally function without the oversight of a qualified pharmacist and the support of pharmacy technicians.

For the locum employee, temporary jobs might be best owing to the person’s personal circumstances or preferences. They specify their rates of pay, traveling distance, working hours, etc to the locum agency, and also indicate the period during which they would be available for locum work. The agency notifies the employee when a vacancy matching the person’s criteria arises.

It is the locum agencies that attend to the key function of matching employees and pharmacies, both of whom would find things difficult without such an intermediary.

What the Locum Pharmacists Gain

Pharmacy locum jobs agencies help the locum pharmacists utilize their hard-earned expertise to earn good money, without having to be bound by inflexible working hours and other conditions of a full time job. This can prove valuable for those persons who simply cannot work at full time jobs for one reason or other.

The agencies also help locum employees to keep up with developments in their field and also support them with helpful hints. One high value service is keeping an account of each locum’s earnings and helping the person with tax formalities and returns applicable to self-employed persons.

Locums can also get help with pharmacy practices such as pharmacy operating procedures, ordering procedures, computer operations and so on. This kind of support can be invaluable for those who have kept away from work for long periods.

As and when each locum job is taken up, the agencies can smoothen the induction process by providing employer-specific information to locums. Information such as contact details, working hours, parking details and so on can help the newcomer fit into the new engagement quickly and smoothly.

What the Pharmacies Gain

Unless a pharmacy employs surplus staff, operations can be disrupted when a key employee, such as a pharmacist, goes on leave or otherwise becomes unavailable. Considering the high pay of the professionals, it is not an economic proposition to employ surplus, backup staff.

In such a context, the pharmacy will have to find a new employee at short notice. This becomes particularly difficult if the employment is for a short term. Instead of focusing on its business, the pharmacy will have to go out looking for qualified employees willing to fill the temporary position.

Agencies that specialize in pharmacy locum jobs will have a good number of locum pharmacists in their database, many of whom might fit the pharmacy’s requirements. Pharmacies can thus quickly find a temporary replacement by approaching the agency.

In Britain, the National Health Services - NHS - works with a network of agencies that provide locum professionals when needed. In this way, NHS is able to function with few disruptions.

About the Author:
Stefan Kyriakides from Sensible Staffing writes about Pharmacy-Locum-Jobs please visit www.sensible-staffing.com for further information.

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Stefan Kyriakides.

Pharmacy technicians are the front-end persons you see at pharmacies. It is they who actually do the routine work of dispensing medicines - receiving prescriptions, checking for their completeness, retrieving the medication, counting, weighing or otherwise measuring it, preparing the prescription labels, selecting suitable container and labeling it. The filled prescription is then priced and filed, and checked by a pharmacist before being given to the patient.

In effect, pharmacy technician jobs involve helping the pharmacists with the routine tasks of filling prescriptions. The job requires training and certification to understand prescriptions, check their accuracy and completeness, select the right medicines and fill the order attending to all the correct formalities. Technicians might receive requests from patients or directly from doctors. They must be able to decipher doctors’ handwriting and check that the prescription makes sense.

Pharmacy technician jobs are thus more than merely filling tablets and capsules into packets. Technicians might even be required to mix the medication. Where they have any doubts or questions, they must refer these to the pharmacist. That means they must know when and how to ask the right questions!

Other Technical Pharmacy Routines

In addition to filling prescriptions, drug dispensing also involves things like:

  • Creating and maintaining patient profiles
  • Preparing insurance claim forms
  • Reading patient charts at hospitals, preparing and delivering the medicines to the patients (after verification by a pharmacist)
  • Organizing the medication delivery to avoid mistakes (by assembling a 24 hour supply of medicines for each patient, packaging and labeling each dose separately in the patient’s medicine cabinet), and getting the packages checked by the pharmacist

It is typically the pharmacy technician’s job to stock the prescription and over-the-counter drugs in the pharmacy shelves, and to take inventory periodically. Pharmacy aides will help the technician in these and other routines such as keeping accounts, answering phones and handling money.

Becoming a Pharmacy Technician

As would be clear from the above, the pharmacy technician job require less drug-related knowledge than is needed for a pharmacist but much more knowledge than what a layperson has.

You have to become a certified pharmacy technician by passing an exam to be eligible for a pharmacy technician job. Technician training gives the trainees the skills and knowledge needed to perform the kind of work discussed above.

After completing training, you would typically have to get a state license to work as pharmacy technician. Pharmacy technicians have also to attend specified hours of continuing education through contact classes to be eligible for re-certification every two years.

Pharmacy Technician Job Prospects

A growing and older population, who typically use more medication, means that there will be an increasing demand for pharmacy technicians. New drug discoveries, for treating more and more conditions, also mean greater need for trained technicians able to fill prescriptions correctly.

Wherever possible, employers will prefer to employ the less expensive pharmacy technician than a highly trained (and consequently expensive) pharmacist.

Pharmacy technician jobs are estimated to grow faster than most categories of jobs.

About the Author:
Stefan Kyriakides from Sensible Staffing writes about Pharmacy-Technician please visit www.sensible-staffing.com for further information.

Scientific Jobs are not for Scientists Alone

  • Filed under: Careers
Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Stefan Kyriakides.

jobs usually involve some research. The jobholder would have specialized training and experience in a field, and the ability to draw on it to conduct field or laboratory research. For example, a clinical research assistant working for a clinical research organization can be required to go out into the field and record the findings of clinical trials for medical devices or medication.

In such cases, in addition to knowledge in the field of science, the job holder will also have to be familiar with research methodology to ensure adherence to quality research practices, so that the research findings will be acceptable to practitioners in the relevant field.

Furthermore, the jobholder might also be required to keep track of the costs of the research, which require some administrative experience. Scientific jobs could thus involve much more than doing theoretical research in a laboratory.

Roles of Career Scientists

We saw in the previous section that even when research is involved, scientific jobs could involve administrative and quality control roles. Many scientific jobs might not involve research as such. Instead, it might involve applying the jobholder’s knowledge to do practical work. For example, physicians apply their knowledge of healing science primarily to cure sick patients rather do research with medication.

Another example is the clinical psychologist engaged in providing clinical and forensic psychology service to patients, and advice and consultation to non-psychologist colleagues in the medical profession.

A forensic toxicology expert might be primarily involved in providing testimony in courts about the effect of alcohol on human body and driving skills, and explaining the significance of the results of a defendant’s breath and blood tests. Such a function requires the application of professional knowledge and experience in the relevant scientific field.

Environmental health practitioners might have to be community workers and change agents in addition to their roles of identifying and preventing environmental health problems. Possessing knowledge alone might not help them provide valuable services in their field. They will have to work with an environmental health team to create awareness about environmental health issues among the community, and show how the locality can be made a better place to live and work.

Scientific jobs can also involve working in areas other than the primary scientific field of the jobholder. For example, a healthcare specialist with Information Technology experience might be employed to develop clinical information models. They might have to do requirements studies to develop the kind of clinical information models that clinicians need. The requirements study in this case is more IT work than clinical work.

Another example is a specialist who works in the sales and marketing department helping the department explain product benefits and other technical aspects to prospective clients, or for creating product literature. Many specialists might be attracted by commercial work, and can use their specialist know-how, say in wound care, in marketing wound care products effectively.

Then there is the science teacher who is engaged in developing the scientists of tomorrow. The teacher must be able to create an enthusiasm for the field among students in addition to teaching them science.

Scientific jobs thus involve being more than just scientists. In fact few scientific jobs require you to be a scientist these days.

About the Author:
Stefan Kyriakides from Sensible Staffing writes about Scientific-Jobs please visit www.sensible-staffing.com for further information.

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Tony Jacowski.

Listed below are a few useful tips that will help you to stay motivated during your job hunt and help you to find the perfect job.

-You need to keep moving ahead with confidence. Rejection and failure are a part and parcel of every job search, so don’t feel demotivated and don’t let your self-confidence drop, either. Look forward to future job prospects with a positive attitude and avoid contemplating your previous job. Since, you are not working for your previous employer anymore, it would only be a waste of time to continue thinking about it. On the contrary, it would be beneficial for you to think about the right way to proceed in order to secure better job opportunities in the future.

-Be positive. It is a human tendency to contemplate not only on others’, but also one’s own weaknesses, instead of trying to make up for them by focusing on your strengths. A successful job search requires you to adopt an optimistic approach and concentrate on using your skills and abilities in order to get the job that you want. A major portion of the success in your career can be attributed to how you use your positive qualities to your benefit.

-Have vision. In order to make your goal a reality, it is necessary to envision it first. Once you have the whole idea clearly in your mind, then only can you proceed in that direction. Merely setting the goal to search for a job will not yield the desired results. Along with the desire to get a job, you should also develop a concrete plan to secure one. Visualize all the necessary steps that you need in order to get the job that you want.

-Prepare! Preparing efficiently and well in advance is an essential component of an important aspect of life. The same applies to a successful job search. Right from practicing for your interview with your potential employer to drafting the right cover letter and resume, to the appropriate advice of career counselors, everything counts. Although you may feel that you have done your best, you still need to keep practicing until the time you find the right job.

-Network. Building the right type of network plays a crucial role in job hunting. The majority of jobs are secured through personal contacts like recommendations and recruiting agencies. Rather than wasting time searching for jobs in classifieds and internet, you should focus your attention on building strong personal networking that will enable you to obtain the job that you have always wanted.

-Strategic planning. Adopt a specific and strategic approach to your job search. Write down your resources, problems, possible solutions, expectations and the time frame within which you plan to achieve the objective. This will help you to think clearly and move ahead in that direction.

Staying motivated when searching for a job, especially in a tight market, is not easy. Following the steps above, you’ll be able to achieve steady progression toward your goal and stay motivated.

About the Author:
Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Tony Jacowski.

From the minute you walk into that interview room, the interviewer is observing and judging you. If you have made some kind of faux pas as soon as you enter the interview room, no matter what you say during the actual interview process, the deal is sealed. The right impression has to be made and there is no alternative.

Be careful while introducing yourself during the interview process. Your self-introduction can make or break your chances during the interview. You may have the best qualifications, and you may be the best-suited candidate for the job - but if you did not introduce yourself to the panel appropriately, you lose vital points and it may very well cost you the job.

You may think that this is not necessary, because the interviewer already has your resume with your name and other relevant details on it. But all they have is some points on paper regarding your experience and skills. What they really want to know is whether you will fit into the structure of the organization, whether you are a team player and whether you are going to help the organization to the best of your ability.

What they are looking for during the self-introduction is an insight into your personality and the kind of person you are.

Here are some strategies you can use to effectively introduce yourself.

-Unique - Make your introduction unique. The interviewer is probably used to hearing the same old “Hi, I am Dan and I am here for the interview.” If you really want to grab the attention of the interviewer, be unique and different in your self-introduction. This does not mean that you need jump into a song and dance routine, but it does mean that you be different and show them your creative side.

-Relevant - This means that your self-introduction needs to have a professional tone to it. The interviewer is not interested in hearing something as irrelevant, like the fact that you were born on the same day as some famous leader and thus naturally have leadership qualities. Introduce yourself in a way that will highlight your skills and strengths, and tone down your weaknesses.

-Bond - Introduce yourself and create a bond with the interviewer. This does not mean that you have to kiss and hug them. It just means that you find something in common with the panel and strike up a conversation. This will reflect that you have the ability to make anyone feel at ease with you and around you and this will earn you brownie points.

-Arousing - Arouse curiosity during the self-introduction process. Make statements that will arouse the curiosity of the interviewer and will make them ask questions. This will help them know you better and make a difference in your interview process.

Interviewing can be an unnerving process. Follow the steps above to make a good first impression.

About the Author:
Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Women - How To Achieve Your Career Ambitions

  • Filed under: Careers
Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Tony Jacowski.

What is your career ambition? Would it be ideal if you were in a job that offers you a sense of security and puts you through a lot of challenges? Would this make you happy? However, directly connected to the education that a person receives, the surroundings that a person has been brought up in, the kind of people he or she mixes with, career ambitions are multifaceted and multidimensional.

Do you find yourself under pressure and having to put up with less-than-ideal job options, terrible employment alternatives, and squashed career ambitions? Women frequently tend to perfect their abilities in bigger companies, but leave as soon as their career ambitions are not completed.

Women’s position in the workforce is unique because many of them also aspire to have families and raise children. And working as a part-timer or having flexible working hours can signify that career ambitions are limited.

It is astonishing that nearly 30 years after the Sex Discrimination Act came into power, many women are still inadequately represented in the most influential places.

Some Things You Can Do

What you really need to do is keep yourself motivated. You also need to make sure that your skills are up-to-date and match what employers are looking for. After all this has been done, you may find that you need to go back to school or take a class or seminar in your chosen career field.

If you’ve followed all the steps above, and find that, despite numerous interviews, you are unable to land a job offer, it may be due to any of the following reasons:

-You are not adequately illustrating your career path
-You lack the required credentials or experience
-You are suffering from an obvious lack of individual readiness
-You are not dressing the part
-You have not thoroughly researched the company or industry
-You are not communicating clearly
-You are not asking enough pertinent, thoughtful questions

It is up to you to make sure that the interviewer receives all the details they need to make up their mind to give you the position that you have applied for. In the last part of the interview you have the chance to ask questions that cover facts about the company and the position, and that shed light on points made during the interview.

Finding Opportunities

Surf online on a daily basis and see what opportunities you can find. You should sign up for as many “jobs by email” lists as you can. Make an effort to pursue any job that is even just a little bit associated to what you want to do.

When you’re looking for a job, and have certain ambitions that you want to fulfill, you need to be aggressive. Follow the tips above and you will be well on your way to career success!

About the Author:
Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

A Career In Information Brokering

  • Filed under: Careers
Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Tony Jacowski.

All that you need to make substantial profits in information brokering is an Internet connection and a computer. Besides these, if you also have the ability and the know-how to perform adequate research on various, different subjects and topics, you can attract lots of clients.

Information brokering is a worthwhile niche in the vast information and marketing industry. It is indeed a lucrative business for all information brokers, since a sector of the marketing industry specializes in finding and marketing the required information.

What Brokers Do

Information brokering is composed of information marketers who sell books, reports, newsletters, tapes, CDs, DVDs and information on various, different topics. Every business needs reliable and instructional information in order to market their products and services and keep their customers satisfied. This is where information brokering comes in. Information brokers provide a vast array of authoritative and accurate information from issues of everyday life to multi-day seminars.

Information brokering companies who sell such information, first need to thoroughly research on the desired topics and then assemble it into saleable formats. Information brokers help the direct marketing companies by doing the research in order to find the information these companies are seeking.

Ghostwriters

Ghostwriting, article writers and researchers are all information brokers and apt at providing information brokering services. Ghostwriters are good at compiling full length reports and articles. Although they get paid for the job all at once, a company can recruit an efficient ghostwriter time and again to write a book or report. A ghostwriter may be assigned the responsibility of writing for multiple projects. An article writer is also very much similar to ghostwriter.

Just like a ghostwriter, an article writer also does the necessary research in order to write an article. This article, which is then bought, may be used for various purposes including web pages, information in search engines, or for any other purpose deemed useful. Informational articles written by article writers and used as web pages can be used to earn a decent living.

Researchers

Besides, ghostwriters and article writers, researchers are also considered as information brokers. Often, companies that need information on their new products and services recruit personnel to do research in order to provide their customers with the necessary and useful information. In these cases, the hired researchers need to perform a thorough and adequate research on the current market conditions, the competitors and their products and services, the demand and supply for the product, demographics and other relevant factors. The researchers need to assemble their findings in a report. The valuable information in the compiled report is then used by the company in order to evaluate if their innovative idea product or service is feasible and viable enough to be launched into the market.

Information Brokering and You

Information brokering can prove to be quite a tricky affair initially; but with time, as information brokers get the hang of it, they learn to make the right choice of service from the different researches like online, document delivery, or public records. In addition to these, manual and telephone research are also a part of information brokering services. Before selecting an information brokering service, make sure they have experience in the product that you need information on. To do this, you can go through a few of their samples and contact some more information brokering services before you finally decide on one.

About the Author:
Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Fae Cheska Esperas.

Due to the fast-changing technologies in the health care industry, new career opportunities have been made available for those interested in pursuing jobs in the said field. Most of these involve technical and administrative support, and of course the heart to provide quality health care service. Why not check these jobs and see what’s in for you? One of them might be your key to a successful career.

1. Medical Transcriptionists

One of the fastest-growing health care jobs at present, medical transcriptionists are responsible for keeping live updates on medical research and development. They put the words of medical experts into writing, which then become useful documents in different medical studies, as well as ongoing medical reviews and research.

2. Medical Equipment Technicians

These are people with a background in fixing medical equipment. They are becoming a dire need nowadays since new medical and laboratory machines have to be maintained to provide quality results.

Your city wants you to be part of the Health Care Team.

3. Medical Assistants

Normally assigned in the medical office, medical assistants are the ones who take care of administrative matters such as medical records, prescriptions and other paperwork. They also keep the patients calm and well-informed about their health condition. Medical assistants also conduct necessary preliminary procedures such as first aid and checking of vital signs.

4. Laboratory Assistants

Laboratory assistants on the other hand prepare laboratory equipment and specimen samples to be used for tests and other examinations. They are also in charge of keeping the laboratory safe and clean.

About the Author:
Fae Cheska Esperas is a 22-year old writer who aims to help individuals find success in their careers.

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Fae Cheska Esperas.

If there are things you should remember when applying for a job, of course there are also some points you should be careful not to do. You may have graduated from the best school, or garnered the highest honors, but sometimes it’s those seemingly minor details that keep you from getting that job you’ve always wanted.

Here are some things you MUST avoid during your job application:

1. Submitting an “OLD” resume.
Employers are always looking for the most recent updates in your career life, so always update your resume, from the work experiences to your contact details. Most applicants overlook this and would just recycle their old file stored in the PC, not realizing that they have already changed phone numbers or even addresses. Also, attach your most recent photo.

2. Coming late for the scheduled interview.
Coming to the scheduled interview at a later time would only show that you are a potential tardy employee, even if you’re really not that kind of person when it comes to work. Try your best to come on time. If you are serious in your job search, then prove it. don’t be late.

Your career success begins here.

3. Casual outfits.
Sure you are comfortable wearing jeans and shirts, but in a job interview, it’s much better to attract respect from your employer as well as the people around you. Keep yourself clean and neat at all times.

4. One-word answers/Talking too much.
Either of these two quite upsets your interviewer. One-word answers are frustrating especially when your employer sees a bright future in you. Meanwhile talking too much hinders him from making more inquiries to gauge how qualified you are for the job. Allow the interviewer to ask you questions; at the same time, allow yourself to speak especially about the important details your interviewer is looking for.

About the Author:
Fae Cheska Esperas is a 22-year old writer who aims to help individuals find success in their careers.