Pharmacy

Over the course of your degree you develop a wide mix of subject-specific and technical skills, you should consider these skills developed on your course as well as through your other activities, such as paid work, volunteering, family responsibilities, sport, membership of societies, leadership roles, etc. Think about how these can be used as evidence of your skills and personal attributes. Then you can start to market and sell who you really are, identify what you may be lacking and consider how to improve your profile.

Working as a Pharmacist

See the full video at Careers4U 

Prospects

After graduating, many pharmacy graduates work as community or hospital pharmacists. Some courses offer integrated professional training. Graduates from these courses can go straight into a career as a fully qualified pharmacist without the need to do a pre-registration year.

A 2010 HESA survey of 2009 graduates indicates that six months after graduation, 73% of pharmacy graduates were in full-time paid employment. A further 19% were combining work and study. This means that over 90% of students who graduated in 2009 went straight into employment. Of these, 97% took positions in the health sector. Examples of jobs recently obtained by pharmacy graduates include locum (temporary replacement) pharmacist, resident pharmacist, hospital pharmacist, community pharmacist and scientific classifier.

Pharmacy graduates also work in other areas such as scientific research; technical support, analysis and investigation; patent work; healthcare; scientific writing and journalism; publishing; management; management consultancy; IT; and recruitment and training. Complementary medicine and animal medicine are expanding areas in pharmacy.

Where are the jobs?

The majority of pharmacy graduates are employed by hospitals or community/retail pharmacies. Most hospital pharmacists are employed by The National Health Service (NHS), but some are employed by private hospitals and clinics. Graduates working in the community sector find employment with the big chains or with independent pharmacies. Some work as locum pharmacists, either freelance or as a locum for a chain. They are also employed within care homes to act as in-house pharmacists, but this number is relatively small.

Pharmacy graduates are also employed by private sector organisations (e.g. pharmaceutical companies, food and drink companies) in various industries, working in areas such as research and development, quality assurance, marketing, sales and management.

Jobs directly related to your degree

• Community pharmacist
• Hospital pharmacist
• Clinical research associate
• Research scientist (life science)

Jobs where your degree would be useful

• Scientific journalist
• Product/process development scientist
• Chartered certified accountant
• Production manager
• Quality manager
• Regulatory affairs officer
• Higher education lecturer

Although some of the jobs listed here might not be first jobs for many graduates, they are among the many realistic possibilities with your degree, provided you can demonstrate you have the attributes employers are looking for. Bear in mind that it's not just your degree discipline that determines your options. Remember that many graduate vacancies don't specify particular degree disciplines, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

You can find more about the skills you develop during your course, the jobs listed above, plus case studies and where to find these jobs at Prospects.

Included with the permission of AGCAS. For the latest version of this publication, see www.prospects.ac.uk. For permission to reproduce, contact copyright@agcas.org.uk