The Happy PharmD Blog
Coaching pharmacists into better jobs
Know Thyself: 7 Self-Assessment Tests To Take Before Your Next Interview
If you're in the job search, a few easy things that will make you stand out are 1) having strong self-awareness 2) fitting in with the team and 3) being about to tell others about your strengths as well as how you behave in typical work environments (note:...
How to Guarantee You’ll Hire the Right Pharmacist
Finding the right pharmacist for the right pharmacy position isn’t easy, but it’s crucially important. Lester Nathan, known as the Pharmacy Sage, understands the importance of the interview process because he has spent years helping pharmacists on both sides of the...
How One Pharmacist Launched Herself Into a New Career Trajectory
Recently, I sat down with my coaching client Liz to recap her story and journey through our coaching experience. Liz reached out to us at The Happy PharmD because she was feeling stuck in her career. "I felt like I had made all the wrong choices." She explained that...
Pharmacy Manager Proves You Can Manage Side Projects While Working Full Time
I recently had a conversation with Carlos Irula, a pharmacy manager with Kroger Pharmacy in Frisco, TX. Carlos graduated from the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 2014 and has since launched a side business called Care Commute. He’s a great example of how...
An Open Letter to My Future Self
Disclaimer: This is not a typical HappyPharmD post. It was inspired by something I saw and started thinking very deeply about what I would want to tell myself in the future. I hope you consider writing the same letter. 🙂 Dear Future Self, I hope this letter finds...
Pharmacy Students Develop Phone App to Improve Adherence
Medication non-adherence plagues pharmacists in all kinds of settings. Sometimes patients don’t fully understand their instructions because they’re distracted at the pharmacy. Sometimes they forget their instructions and simply need a reminder. In some cases, the...
How to Enter Pharmacy Informatics Without an Residency
This is a special guest post by YouTuber Brian Fung, PharmD. He made a video on the subject, and together we collaborated to make it into a wonderfully instructive article. Here's Brian's bio: Brian K. Fung, PharmD, BCPS is a Medication Management Informaticist...
5 Easy Ways to Start Using LinkedIn More Effectively
By now, you likely have a LinkedIn profile, you have occasional connection requests come into your notification box, you scroll through your newsfeed occasionally and "like" posts, and you update your LinkedIn profile when you make a career transition. Is this enough?...
Pharmacy Student Advice I Wish Someone Told Me
With great power comes great responsibility. A favorite (and overused) spider-man quote. Like something your mom has told you a thousand times. I love spider-man. He is my favorite superhero. Young, intelligent, and fresh to his new responsibilities. But in your...
How To Tackle Pharmacy Student Loans So You Can Experience Your Pharmacist Salary
20 Tips for Conference Travel
If you're like me, you love conference travel. If you're not like me, then this may be all uncharted territory. I'm currently at the AACP conference until Tuesday (and would love to meet up if you're here!) and have a bit of free time due to #13 (see below). If you're...
How Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Sparked a Unexpected Career Change
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu s a system of ground fighting concepts and techniques that enable a smaller, weaker person to successfully defend themselves against a larger, stronger assailant. Studying jiu jitsu can provide benefits for pharmacists beyond self defense; it can...
Relationships Over Network Connections – A Case Study
I'm a man who's committed all the networking crimes. I was a part of an MLM (oh boy, I won’t start with my mistakes)I sent unsolicited Facebook messages to inquire strangers if they were interested in my email newsletter. I sent LinkedIn connection requests without...
Why I Paid Off All My Debt Before Focusing on Investing
For pharmacists, deciding how to tackle massive student loan debt is daunting. There’s a unique financial balance between focusing on debt or investing. I learned at a very early age that investing in the stock market was ideal for everyone. My grandfather, who had...
The Pharmacist Salary Guide 2018
Looking for the 2022 Pharmacist Salary Guide? Click here. 2018 Pharmacist Salary Of all the factors that contribute to pharmacists’ employment decisions, salary is one of the biggest. In simplest terms, a pharmacist salary is unique in that pharmacists often...
The Tough Lessons One Pharmacist Learned About Franchise Ownership and Failure
A Short Review of LinkedIn Premium
Anyone notice that little button in the upper right-hand corner of their LinkedIn main page that says "Upgrade to Premium"? I've thought about it before, I've received messages directly from LinkedIn offering this free upgrade, I've clicked through the benefits to...
Want a pharmacy job? Become the answer to a company’s problem
Pharmacist Resume VS CV – What’s the Difference?
Multi-passionate
As a multi-passionate, I find it difficult to narrow down just exactly what I want to 'do with my life'. Perhaps this resonates with you: I love many things. I love helping people. Many things help people. I want to do all of the things. A few tenets I've found to be...
The Your Financial Pharmacist Student Loan Course Review
Student loans create a self-made prison. For pharmacists, the problem is especially huge. Those who have $100,000 in student loan debt could be paying $2,000 a month to their loans, with half of that going to interest. Given that the average pharmacist carries...
The One Thing Your Resume is Missing
OK, let's say you're at a place where you are motivated to make a change from your current position and you've applied for many jobs online. Ten, twenty, fifty... who's counting? You've heard nothing back, at this point, of substance. ::Radio Silence:: What you may...
How the PharmD Unveiled the World of Financial Independence and Entrepreneurism
This is a guest post from Rineil Perez PharmD. He shares how his community pharmacy position lead him to jump into entrepreneurship outside of pharmacy. As far back as I can remember, I was always interested in earning money and building wealth. I was naive about...
Coaching Client Finds Courage To Pursue What Makes Her Happy
This Could Be The Only Thing Holding You Back
When I talk with pharmacists who reach out to us here at the Happy PharmD, many conversations lead to a common question: What's holding you back from making a change? If we really get deep into the conversation, if the person is ready to open up and be vulnerable with...
The Key Ingredient Necessary for Pharmacists to Use LinkedIn Effectively
The 2018 Pharmacist Salary Guide
Of all the factors that contribute to pharmacists’ employment decisions, salary is one of the biggest. In simplest terms, pharmacist salaries are unique in that pharmacists often walk directly into a 6-figure income after graduation. While that’s great for students...
Pharmacy Veteran Finds Freedom, Flexibility In New Real Estate Career
The Complete Guide to Creating Your Pharmacist Resume
3 Interview Mistakes that Stop Job Offers
Developing Well-Being and Resilience in Pharmacy
The National Academy of Medicine has launched an initiative that focuses on clinician well-being and resilience. Why? Healthcare providers are subject to burnout at alarming rates, including about 50% of physicians reporting symptoms of burnout, which include:...
3 Ways to Do Less and Accomplish More
As pharmacists, we tend to be people pleasers. We want to do everything, for everyone, all of the time. Quickly we may find we are doing less for ourselves by giving as much as possible to others. While I don't support curbing the amount of giving that you want to...
Why a Writer Sought Our Help To Improve Her Cover Letter
Before enrolling in my cover letter and interview mastery courses, this pharmacy student lacked confidence. She knew there were hundreds of students competing for residencies, and she knew the competition was fierce. So she did the one thing she knew would at least...
Hi! I’m Jackie – I’m new around here.
Hi! I'm Jackie Boyle. I've met some of you, but definitely not all of you - so I am excited to announce that I have recently joined the #HappyPharmD team as a fellow pharmacy superhero! Saving pharmacists from unfulfilling work or life situations and pretending to...
2 Simple Options For Pharmacists Who Feel Trapped at Work
4 Immediate Steps For Pharmacists Who Fear Losing Their Jobs
How this Stressed Out Pharmacist Found Job Satisfaction
Every pharmacist has a little job stress. But too much stress leads to burnout, higher suicide rate, and just overall unhappiness. Paula is a community pharmacist who had enough of her situation. I won't dive into her story too deep because she shares her perspective...
The Pharmacist vs. the Corporate Puppet Master
What is Coaching and Should You Hire A Coach?
I hired my first coach when I couldn’t really afford to hire a coach. I was a pharmacy resident making $40K a year, but I wasn’t particularly happy in my daily work. I wanted to start a side-hustle to generate extra income for my family, but I constantly doubted my...
Want to Find Your Passion in Pharmacy? Do This
The Ultimate Guide to Researching a Pharmacy Company Before You Apply
This article is a resource from Career Jumpstart, a course to help pharmacists transition into a new and happier job (in or out of pharmacy). I recommend bookmarking this article for your use because each step recommended will take time to implement. Most of us don’t...
Happy PharmD: 2017 Year in Review
I love reading year reviews of the people I admire, and so I stole their ideas by sharing my year with you. I hope you gain insight from my failures and successes in 2017. What I learned and what I failed to change.Greatest Investment:CoachingCoaching has changed my...
Why Writing a Book is So Difficult and How to Finally Finish Your Book
You’re a fake, Alex. This thought plagues me every time I put my fingers on the keyboard. No one will buy your book. You don’t have a valuable career. You haven’t accomplished much. No one is going to listen. Who are you to write about pharmacy careers? Writer Joseph...
The Key Ingredient To Help Pharmacists Use LinkedIn Effectively
You probably don’t even know you’re doing it wrong. Think of it like this. You join a circle of people at a party. You make eye contact with one person, shake his hand, smile, hand him a business card, and then walk away. No words. No introduction. Just a card. Weird,...
9 Revealing Beliefs That Burned-Out Pharmacists Share
Nobody signed up for this. No one expected to be so tired of the daily tasks required of a pharmacist. No one expected to feel burned out and miserable at work. “I feel like I’m running a race with no finish line,” one pharmacist told me recently, and she isn’t alone....
How to Rebrand your Pharmacist CV so it Stands Out
We get it. Writing a CV is extremely daunting…. In all honesty, IT IS SOO ANNOYING! I can immediately hear all of the questions that run through your head when thinking about writing your CV… What type of template should I use? What date did I start working at that...
Summit Report: Results, What Went Wrong and What to Improve
Five months ago, I had a dream: The Happy PharmD Summit. I’ve been in the pharmacy space writing about careers for a little more than three years. If there’s one message that I’ve heard loud and clear—and repeatedly—from angry pharmacists, it’s that many people feel...
Success Stories: Tim Ulbrich Completed His Personal Finance Book in 6 Months – And Sold 700 Copies in 6 Weeks
About Timothy: Timothy is a pharmacist and founder of yourfinancialpharmacist.com. He works full-time as an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Associate Dean of Workforce Development and Practice Advancement at Northeast Ohio Medical University. After...
Announcing A Free Non-Traditional Pharmacy Career Conference
After writing for four years about the pharmacy profession, one issue comes up again and again: career dissatisfaction. Studies show many pharmacists are unhappy. Over 50% of community pharmacists wish to quit their jobs. APhA reported Pharmacists from all practice...
How Multiple Investments in This Young Pharmacist’s Future Created Freedom
After graduating from pharmacy school in 2009 and working in pharmacy for several years, Christine Tsakiris couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t on the right path. She spent one year of her eight-year pharmacy career in managed care and the rest of the time...
What’s the Difference Between a Pharmacy Job and a Career?
How One Pharmacist Published a Book—and Sold 700 Copies in 6 Weeks
How Three Preceptors Used Their Experience to Help Pharmacists Obtain Residencies
Brandon Dyson is a board-certified, residency-trained pharmacist. He’s also a preceptor. In March 2016, Brandon and fellow pharmacist Sam Oh launched a website, tldrpharmacy.com, which helps pharmacy students and practicing pharmacists by providing them with...
How A Pharmacist Turned Her Passion into a Secondary Income
How One Pharmacist Became a Holistic Health Coach and Herbalist
When she was in pharmacy school at St. John’s University in Queens, Marina Buksov was very happy with her studies and excited to become a pharmacist. Then, something changed. As she was considering her options after pharmacy school graduation, she started to feel...
How a Pharmacist Can Write a Children’s Book
Why Pharmacists’ Salaries Are Decreasing: A Conspiracy Theory
I recently spoke with a pharmacist who wanted out of her retail pharmacy job. Aside from the typical complaints about retail pharmacy, such as bad hours and being poorly treated, she said, “Everyone knows pharmacist salaries are going down. We are being replaced by...
53 Side Hustles Any Pharmacist Can Start Today
No matter what stage of life you are in, you should have some financial goals. As a pharmacist, you make a large sum of money—and you shouldn’t waste it. You may have heard the saying, “With great wealth comes great responsibility.” So true. However, I also believe...
How This Pharmacist Started in Real Estate and Renting Properties
How to Live Like a Pharmacy Resident after Residency
Do you remember the moment in pharmacy school when you had to convince yourself that all this effort and energy was earning worth six figures in the future? Remember the moment when you had to cajole yourself to study for another few minutes for that chemo exam by...