Future of Pharmacy

If getting a job in pharmacy is so hard how does Aston do this... 'For example, in 2008/9, 2009-10 and 2010-11, 100% of our graduates gained graduate-level employment and pre-registration pharmacist places'?

At the moment the majority of graduates get a pre-reg place and this is what their graduate employment numbers are quoting. Some people say they struggle to get a pre-reg place but there are always places still advertiesed later in the year so the ones who can relocate and are not fussy will get a place.

The big concern people have is that with 3 new pharmacy schools opening there will be a lot more pharmacy students competing for the same number of pre-reg places. Then year on year there will be more graduates than jobs which means pharmacists will be prepared to work for less money or under worse conditions just to secure a job.

I think they may have changed the rules for visas for international students (although don't quote me on any of this) which will make it harder for them to secure a pre-reg place so I'm guessing they will be the first to be affected.

There is plans to try and bring in a cap on the number of pharmacy students but that will probably take a while to implement so there will still be a surplus.

The other side of the story is that the role of pharmacists is changing with them taking on new and different responsibilities which will hopefully open new employment opportunities.

So I think the real message is that you need to be doing pharmacy for the right reasons and not just because you think it is easy money at the end.

What is also stupid is the 5 year scheme where ur pre reg is integrated within ur year. U do 6 months hospital and 6 months community. This will mean u are paying an extra £9 grand and also not getting paid for pre reg. So all in all u are losing about ~£28,000.

I think you'll find that we only pay 500pounds extra for a guaranteed pre reg and get a minimum of 8500 for each 6 month pre reg

I'm really fed up of reading this negativity about the future of pharmacy! I think people need to have a serious look around and see how bad the general job market is becoming, pharmacy isn't the only market affected. There is a demand for so many jobs these days, I had an interview for a minimum wage job in a supermarket where there was over eight hundred applicants. It's not just unskilled jobs either - I only know about three graduates who have actually landed a job related to their degree, whatever subject that is and a lot of graduates I know are unemployed. My auntie has worked as a teacher for twenty years now at the same school - she used to love it, worked hard and got a promotion. She now hates it because of how much extra work she has to do to keep her job, and she hasn't even had a pay rise for it. There are so many job sectors where there is type of thing is happening and the demand for even the easiest of jobs is increasing.

Fair enough, the rise in pharmacy schools can contribute to the problems, but there are problems in the majority of job sectors nowadays anyway. The way I see it, you can either sit and cry because the pharmacy job sector isn't what it used to be or you could work hard, get yourself some connections and do everything you can to get yourself a job. It's not just pharmacy with an unpromising future, there are a lot more job sectors in much worse conditions.