Current Pharmacy Job Market

Hi everyone,

So I read through a lot of posts advising people to stay away from Pharmacy and blah blah etc as apparently it's a dying profession and all.

Always had a passion for healthcare and got in to study pharmacy in Nottingham but some of the posts I read really made me think twice about pharmacy as a profession.

Wanted to see what you guys think the situation is like for pharmacy, I mean surely it is still much better than every other course apart from medicine, dentistry, veterinary sciences, nursing, right?

I don't want the stress/risk of applying to medicine/dentistry but to do a course that can maximize my job prospects in future as my family are struggling financially and I want a career that can really help them out.

My niece is looking at studying Pharmacy, too. We looked into things for her and were a little put off but what we read. Essentially there is not a cap on how many people can study MPharm each year. The number of entrants onto MPharm courses is increasing every year, there is no talk of a cap for any time soon. What this means is that pharmacy schools are profitting big time, but at the expense of students and already qualified pharmacists. A surplus of graduates looking to work in a specific field means two main things: job security is worse, salaries are worse.

My niece got As for Triple science and we're encouraging her to look into Nursing, which she is.

Some reading you might find helpful: http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/opinion/comment/with-no-control-on-student-numbers-tomorrows-pharmacists-will-have-a-bleak-future/20067055.article

Also, it depends which area of Pharmacy you can find employment in, but generally the average figure seems to be about £34,000 for experienced Pharmacists.

Bearing this all in mind, we think it is just too much of a risk to embark on a 4 year degree which would cost her more than a typical 3 year BSc and leave her with less time to play catch-up with regard to work experience.

If Pharmacy were a 3 year degree and the numbers were capped (or at least limited to students who achieved ABB or higher) then I would say it is worth the risk if you really feel like going for it. As things stand, I would say look at something else, just to be safe.

Thanks for the replies everyone. It's not too late to decide if I want to start my course in September or take a gap year. Thing is I'm a guy so nursing isn't really my thing, but I definitely think it has very promising prospects and glad your niece has decided to take it on.

Been trying to assess courses and so far have found this:

http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/careers/what-do-graduates-do/


If anyone has any better sources of information, I'd greatly appreciate it but from the looks of things, either this table is just wrong, or pharmacy really is the next best thing out there?

As I say I think it's not the best choice, because you have to imagine what the situation will be like in 5-6 years (when you are looking to start work) and then in another 5 years after that. What about 30 years from now, when you're mid-career and have a family to support?

From what we have read on pharmacy forums and other snip bits of information, it seems there is a lot of resentment among pharmacists because of the uncapped numbers, and quite right too.

Would you still be happy to work as a pharmacist if wages decreased by 20%? Wages won't go up, that's for sure, and neither will job openings. You have to be entirely besotted with the career to risk going through with it IMO. If you're doing it because it, "seems like a good idea", listen to the advice and take a gap year (and have a long hard think)!

Good luck whatever you do (pharmacy or otherwise).

Yep, appreciate all the advise. A possible reason pharmacy is brought up so negatively and frequently up for debate though is many people believe it should be in line with healthcare professions like medicine/dentistry, hence the suggestion of capping it in the first place. Every other course out there, has and never will be capped, and there are hundreds of universities out there offering other courses i.e. Engineering, Law, Accounting etc. Would these courses really bring better chances of professional employment?

Just want to ask if there's any course you'd recommend to have a more secure future than pharmacy apart from the ones I've already mentioned?

Judging from the table and a site called unistats, everything else I've not mentioned looks worse than pharmacy in terms of prospects so I really don't know what my career path would be if I do decide to take a gap year to consider what else is out there.

Job security and pay are two things people going into Pharmacy should think long and hard about, IMHO. It used to be the case that not enough people were attracted to the profession, now schools are churning out graduates with very little regard to anything other than getting their £9000 a year in fees. When you enter the job market in 5 years time, you will be doing so alongside hundreds of other graduates, all competing for the same pool of jobs (alongside everybody already in the at-saturation job market). That isn't to say you won't find a job - despite everything, many people are actually fine - but moreso that getting said job will be more difficult. You will need to actively work to stand out.

The only case where I'd recommend someone do Pharmacy is if they genuinely want to be a Pharmacist. You need to accept that you will have a Masters degree and professional qualification which took 5 years of dedicated study to obtain, only to be paid in the region of £30,000 (give or take 5K) for a highly, highly responsible job where, in practice, nobody really respects you. If you are smart enough to qualify, ultimately, there are better options out there. Only do it if it's something you actively want and feel that it suits you as a role.

But yeah, absolutely don't do it if you have visions of working your way up to a 40-50K salary and people swooning over your professional status. You certainly won't get any of that.