Career-Rx Volume 1 Winter/Spring 2022

CAREERX Inspirations

THE UNIQUE PHARMACIST STRENGTHS AND SKILLS ASSESSMENTS YOUR WAY

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IDEAS FOR UPSKILLING

GENDER & JOB SATISFACTION RELATIONSHIPS ITʼS NOT WHAT YOUʼRE THINKING

PROFILE OF AN ALT+ PHARMACIST

SUE PAUL MINDSET AND PHARMACISTS TRUTH OR MYTH? FACT VERSUS FICTION

RETAIL CORNER:

YOUR CULTURAL WEALTH WHEEL AND YOUR CAREER

Winter 2022

COPY -RIGHTS

CONTENTS

FROM THE EIC COUCH

4. A GROWTH MINDSET IN PHARMACY

Action is a high road to self-confidence and esteem. Where it is open, all energies flow toward it…and its rewards are tangible .

What does a growth mindset have to do with us?

A growth-mindset activity and its declared value for pharmacists-to-be. We can take lessons here.

9. UPSKILLING FOR

~ Bruce Lee

PHARMACISTS A cultural re-orientation to prepare us for future jobs and careers. Being future ready requires a present day skills assessment for value and fit.

12. THE CAREER CULTURAL WEALTH WHEEL All the wealth we bring with us into our jobs.

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16. SHADES OF LEADERSHIP When to speak up for yourself and your contributions to teams and organizations.

Learning the dance of I and We for your contribution stories.

18. IS IT ABOUT APTITUDE OR ABILITY? Between aptitude and ability lies the valley of attitude and mindset.

21. RETAIL CHAMPIONS CORNER Defining and translating those transferable skills and abilities for interview story telling.

27. PROFILE: ALT+ PHARMACIST

30. YOUR DNA OF UNIQUE STRENGTHS The value of strengths assessments for careers.

35. PHARMACISTS, GENDER AND JOB SATISFACTION Emotional stability, stress tolerance, co-workers, operating conditions make for job satisfaction.

M

y first post-pharmacy +Alt career was in consulting, specifically in employee relations within the human resources division of a seven ‘supermajor’ oil company (what I call the Big 7). I loved that job, and most especially the fantastic team that I got to brainstorm with as we deployed a software system to manage the company’s core HR functions.

As a people advocate, the core functions of employee relations still resonate for me today and I try to pass on those values to my team and my mentees.

I ask them to think about the skills and abilities needed to function and thrive in a workplace, whether virtual or in-person.To think about how they wish or want to contribute to the world and Making the leap into that job then using the education and function served as a catalyst skills they have acquired, go for following my yellow brick out and make it happen, road inspite of admonitions remembering the richness of about not using my degree. their career cultural wealth wheel.

I learned then that a degree does not define you but it’s The mission and purpose of what you do with your total Career-Rx is to provide you education and how you with the inspiration and some follow your interests that of the tools you need to take makes for a more complete committed action toward career story when compared crafting a career that you can to the linear versions that we be proud of. are sold on while in school.

One that when you look back I returned eventually to at how time and chance pharmacy but have since then played a role, you would be let go of other roles and jobs happy that you chose a less that had no growth traveled path and made it alignments with my signature your own. strengths.Those decisions, one at a time, over the years Cheers to you and your have led me here today. career adventures.

OTITO F. IWUCHUKWU, PhD, MA

Welcome to Career-Rx. 20

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Career-Rx Winter 2022. ISSN 977-277132-007. All Rights Reserved. Get Fab Editorial Communications and Publishing makes no representation as to the efficacy of information provided herein. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without the express permission of the publisher.

Editor-in-Chief Otito Iwuchukwu

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Guest Editor Adebukola Imoyo

Cover Photography Stanley Okpor

Image Consultant Oktionz Images

“Where we help you with tools to take inspired action on your career journey”

Editor-in-Chief Your Pharm +Alt Advocate CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

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A GROWTH MINDSET IN PHARMACY What does it take to be a growth-oriented pharmacy professional?

What is Mindset and what does it have to do with my training?

While motivational speakers have popularized this concept over time, mindset is actually a psychological construct that has been extensively studied.

The foundational elements of research on mindset comes from the work of Dr. Carol Dweck, a psychologist and professor at Stanford. Her research bridges aspects of developmental, social and personality) psychology in order to understand the selfconcepts (mindsets) that drive our behaviors and our motivations for success.

A

s someone with the good fortune of being trained in a pharmacy school and then a medical school, I can tell you the difference in training and associated mindset is huge. Like night and day.

A growth mindset: which approaches intelligence as malleable; Something that can be improved with deliberate effort and practice.

The central premise of Dr Dweck’s work is that the concept of intelligence can be Why is Mindset So approached from two Important? different mindsets.

Mindset is important because it feeds into attitude.And attitude is the bridge THE MINDSETS between aptitude and measurable and improved A fixed mindset: ability. which presupposes that our talents and aptitudes are If we define intelligence as inborn and cannot be the ability to acquire and changed, or that we are born apply knowledge and skills or a certain way with certain as a being with the forecapabilities and that’s the mentioned ability, then we total sum of it. quickly realize that we are all as intelligent as can be.

As a human being, you and I are born intelligent. In terms of capacity, some may be born with a greater innate capacity to acquire and apply knowledge but no one is beyond the realm of improving on this ability.

A growth mindset therefore, is one that allows us to work on that ability known as intelligence.A mindset that allows us to take failures along the learning path as a part of the journey and not a one-time catastrophic event that cannot be recovered from.

Which can be summed up as having the right attitude.

One key differentiator has to do with confidence.With medicine, the confidence that after you received the full breadth of training and been tested for actualized aptitude and ability, you then go ahead and own your outcomes.

In pharmacy, on the other hand, I have observed over the years a type of confidence gap that if not appropriately mitigated, widens over time and tends to lock people in a fixed mindset regarding their abilities and their career trajectories.

A growth mindset allows us to work on our intelligence and make room for failures along the learning path.

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DOES THIS MINDSET THING WORK FOR PHARMACISTS?

In a pilot study carried out at a pharmacy school,* students in their first semester of the professional degree program were assigned to an online growth mindset training activity. Students were selected at random and presented with scientifically validated growth mindset questions either before (“Before Group”) or after (“After Group”) the activity.

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showed that 27 out of 38 students (71%) in the “After Group” reported thinking with a growth mindset compared to 14 out of 36 students (39%) in the “Before Group.”

While these results are interesting, students’ reflection comments from the activity provided greater insight into the activity’s effects on their understanding of growth mindset concepts.

“Dear Struggling student,

“Dear Struggling student,

If you ever feel like you’re not as smart as everyone else, that is not true at all. Over the years, I learned what makes students much smarter than I am is they put more effort in studying and understanding the materials. I taught myself to study more hours, seek tutoring, and never feel down because someone is ahead of you, they weren't just born that way they did something to be that way, so try your best to be the same.”

First important rule is don’t procrastinate.

Always try to complete assignments on time and use any available free time to review things you learned in class. This is also a good idea because if you don’t understand something, you will have plenty of time to get help. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Always go to your professor or join study groups.

Being too scared to ask questions will only hurt you even more in the end.”

These comments reflect the fact that certain attitudes and behaviors (procrastination, fear, not seeking timely help) can inhibit learning and growth.And taking action to work on these behaviors enhances learning.

NOTE TO STUDENT PHARMACISTS

APPLYING A LIFE GROWTH MINDSET

As student pharmacists, we may think that our quantitative and verbal ability is automatically lowered because we did not do well on a test (fixed mindset).As a result, we go on to tackle school work and test taking in an extremely competitive and non-collaborative manner since our focus is now on getting ahead and no more on learning.

So you didn’t get the grade you wanted or the job you applied for? The fallout of these two events can be different for different individuals based on the mindset used to process the data. In reality, none of these two outcomes have definitive impact on innate intelligence. It doesn’t make us less intelligent individuals, no matter what.

A person with a growth mindset will do the work, and then find others (peers or senior colleagues) to work with them and help them understand concepts they found hard. In the process of searching out these kinds of organic peer-to-peer learning, the individual also begins to develop the 21st century skills of collaboration and team work, necessary for the world of work; whether hybrid or in-person.

Applying a growth mindset, upon reflection, we would say,“I didn’t study hard enough” or “It was a hard exam and I had an emergency and although I tried my best, I did not get the outcome I desired. I’ll see how I can do better next time.”

For a job interview, one might say “I prepared very hard and gave it my best shot. I don’t have any idea about the other candidates I was up against or what the organization was looking for in a candidate.

I’ll keep trying.”

A growth mindset empowers us to keep trying and not give up.

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UPSKILLING FOR PHARMACISTS Successful upskilling will require a cultural re-orientation.

Once upon a time, right out of school, certain graduates of a certain profession were hired into a segment of the industry at a rapid pace, with significant sign-on bonuses and six figure salaries.

The profession bloomed and more citadels of learning were created to fill the profession’s projected demand.

Many years went by, a pandemic happened in between and graduates are now being offered even bigger bonuses and bigger starting salaries but few are biting.

What went wrong? Or do we ask what went right?

This article examines answers to this scenario using systems thinking and provides ideas for change through a career cultural orientation lens.

PHARMACY’S CULTURAL ORIENTATION

T

he concept of cultural orientation comes from culture studies and cross-cultural research.

Cultural orientation is a way of thinking, feeling and acting that is culturally determined.

In pharmacy, the predominant career cultural orientation in the last two decades has been one of graduates going into defined career paths (aptly named institutional or traditional paths).

Graduates either went into:

Systems thinking involves assessing all the factors and interactions that lead to a given outcome.

Although mostly ascribed to people and geographical regions, it turns out that professions have their intrinsic cultures fostered and passed on through a sometimes rigid educational curriculum and outlook.

Retail pharmacy Working for a national retail conglomerate, or a more medium sized pharmacy retail enterprise or going the independent route and becoming a pharmacy owner.

Hospital pharmacy Working in clinical areas under varying health care facilities such as ambulatory, long term care and other skilled nursing facilities.

Academic pharmacy Teaching and precepting either in clinically focused or other ancillary areas The latter two examples require additional training; usually in the form of one or more year(s) of residency or fellowship training.

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What does upskilling and reskilling look like in Pharmacy?

The pharmaceutical industry (also aptly named for developing drugs that pharmacists are well trained in their lifecycle management), was not an immediate area of consideration for many pharmacy graduates.

But today there’s a massive culture shift underway. More graduates (both recent and older) are realizing that there is more to our careers than what was once promised.

More than what they were taught to think, feel and act about future career prospects.

Upskilling for pharmacists in the digital transformation age may include but is certainly not limited to the following: •

Learning about customer or client relationship management and how to apply these principles to their current roles/industry segment

•

Becoming proficient or certified in project management — Understanding how these principles can be applied and crafted for the current role they are in so they can translate them to future roles

• Much like a cultural transplant from one region to another, how do we get acclimatized to new roles and ideologies?

How do we gain the skills required to pivot and pivot well?

Data analysis and interpretation — These do not have to be a huge undertaking.

Learning to use Excel to represent available data may be enough

•

Social media branding and image management

Behold the power of upskilling and reskilling.

•

Healthcare content writing — Learning principles of communicating in plain language to reach a larger audience

With this cultural shift comes another question — That of readiness. How ready, truly ready are we to enter a “new” cultural way of being?

UPSKILLING AND RESKILLING. Whatʼs the difference?

Upskilling is the process of On the macro level, upskilling acquiring advanced skills for is mandated at the one’s current occupation. organizational level by the irrevocable shifts in the This process can play out workplace due to differently when considered technological advances or from both the employers’ or changes in business models. employees’ perspectives.

Employers may decide to “Upskill devote substantial resources or to providing employees with additional training and Reskill?” education. Or employees may decide to acquire these additional advanced skills Take the pill counting and themselves through training dispensing process that and personal development. pharmacists are constrained to own — a misconception On a micro level, upskilling is due to public opinions driven an individual process, driven by incorrect assumptions. by the individual in question irrespective of the Even if pharmacists were only environment.This is where trained for this (which they you find growth and future- are not by any means), the oriented individuals preparing robots have either taken over, for the future in terms of or will be, and humans will no work and careers. longer be required for this.

This means that humans as pharmacists can now spend time building critical soft skills that will help retain clients and help improve other job related productivity and profit metrics.

In combining the micro and macro levels then, upskilling is both about the individual’s choices and the opportunities afforded by technological changes to traditional professions and careers.

That’s the question.

Reskilling on the other hand is upskilling for a different occupation.

The process of acquiring new or advanced skills for a completely different career or occupation.

Since reskilling involves retooling for a different career path, it may mean going back for more formal schooling. But this does not always have to be the case.

There are mini-certifications and full certifications that a person could acquire.

The main purpose of these certifications may be to explore whether the desired new career path is really what one wants.

At Career-Rx, we are all for upskilling and job crafting in a current career before you

pivot because then you can both understand and sell a translatable skills story.

Better news; If you are a student pharmacist, you have the advantage of learning these things now so you can be ready once you graduate.

RESKILLING AT WORK Reskilling for some has involved going into coding and software engineering; getting degrees in informatics and software development.

Others have gone into graphics and image consulting, while other have become real estate sales agent.And yet others have gone back for degrees in law and public health.

While on the surface these are all different careers, many of the traits and practices that carried pharmacists through a rigorous professional training program come into play here.

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BREAKING DOWN THE C-CWW The right side of the wheel deals with our personhood; fundamental strengths that enable high performance in any setting requiring our educational skillsets.

Our education is facilitated by communication and language skills we learned from our parents and family. We also get our

education to facilitate a goal or a dream. In our case, the professional goal of becoming a pharmacist.

The left side is where careers are built and strengthened.These are the strengths in the form of various capital that can help you build a career that works for you.

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s a pharmacist, what does your career map look like? Or what do you envision it to be?

While we may be inclined to map out a linear career based on life time earnings or based on our education alone, it is important to realize that we did not get to where we are currently by chance. So the likelihood of that happening for the next phase of our careers is low. But if you want to go somewhere different, you need a map and a tool kit to go with it.

One of the tools in the career toolkit I use in my work is adapted from Tara Yosso’s work.Tara is a professor of Graduate Education at the University of California in Riverside and her work centers around how students from communities of color use an array of knowledge, skills and abilities to help them navigate discrimination while pursuing educational equity.

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YOUR CAREER CULTURAL WEALTH WHEEL Every man [woman]’s ability may be strengthened or increased by culture ~ John Abbott We named this great tool the Career Cultural Wealth Wheel (or the C-CWW).

Behind the C-CWW The premise of the C-CWW is to help clients understand, identify and articulate their talents, strengths and experiences (TSEs) as valid and valuable additions to educational qualifications.

As far as education stands, we are all pharmacists. The unique factors that will serve to distinguish you or me from the over three hundred thousand Industry reported working pharmacists* would be our individual TSEs. *Self-employed pharmacists’ data not included

https://www.bls.gov/oes/ current/oes291051.htm#(1)*

Self-advocacy Involves using a strengthsbased approach to communicating those unique skills and motivations that may be overlooked.

One of the best ways to advocate for yourself is through storytelling—the ability to take a situation and use a storytelling approach to underscore how your talents and abilities tie into a role is a craft to master.

If you have ever sat through a behavioral interview, you might perhaps recognize that they are story-based.

Self-advocacy and Interview Stories Good story telling involves the use of certain basic features; identified through a multiple “C” approach; 1. Causality 2. Conflict 3. Complications 4. Character The first C or Causality arises because events in stories are related.

Typically, someone does something and this causes a chain of events.

The second C is the meat of the story, the situation or issue that needs resolution.

The third C, complication feeds into the second because no conflict ever walks alone.

The last C is the character or the actor in the story.

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SELF-ADVOCACY Storytelling for Behavioral Interviews Since many behavioral interviews follow the STAR method for Situation; Task; Action; Result (or the SOAR where T is replaced by ‘O’ for Objective), we can basically align each C in our storytelling framework with the letters in the interviewing method.The character is the interviewee and the task would be the conflict (that was caused or preceded by other events).

The action (and results) would align with complications (the story essence). And finally, the character resolves the story, in the intervieiwing case through R for results.

We learn and transmit knowledge through stories. Storytelling is therefore an ingrained strength. Like any muscle that requires conditioning, we also need to train our storytelling muscles.

Training is important for us to know what stories to tell and how long the story would be based on the circumstances.

No one wants to hear an interviewee drone on in a time-bound interview as it shows a lack of respect for your interviewer’s time. At the same time you should be able to go into interviews knowing only you can tell the story of you and tell it well.

SOCIAL MEDIA CAPITAL The last but certainly not least in our current hyperconnected world is the powerful capital instrument of social media.

Take the internet, where the world (web) is but the limit of our connections. Now we can move from the boundaries of two or three degrees of connections to an almost infinite degree, less geographic constraints.

With this capital ,we see ireal time our meaningful contributions to others’ lives as much we get to learn and connect.

It democratize our strengths and skills since we get to use them even outside of a formal work environment.

Building on this capital allows us to quickly pivot into other forms of employment.

VALUE OF THE C-CWW SUPPORT— INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PARTNERS Just as with a bicycle, not all spokes are the same. So also the case with the support component of the C-CWW. Our community (our support partners), comprises our families, friends, mentors, sponsors and our personal board of directors.

Although we classify them in one bucket for the purpose of our toolkit, the levels of support you get from the different layers of your community will vary.The point here is to realize that you have this, the richest capital of all and to invest in and with it through networking.

Talking about the power of community, there’s an African (Igbo) proverb that says:

Walking through this exercise always helps clients recognize the power and wealth they already have as they work or as they search for new opportunities.

The C-CWW is a powerful piece of a career exploration toolkit. Next time, we’ll take a deeper look at how to articulate all of the different skills and abilities we bring to the table as a result of cultural wealth acquisition.

Stay tuned!

“She who has people (community) is wealthier than she who has money.”

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THE SHADES OF LEADERSHIP THE LEADERSHIP CORNER — Where we examine signal traits and qualities for competent leadership of self and others

THE DANCE OF I VERSUS WE IN INTERVIEW SESSIONS

I

In interviewing for a position, don’t be afraid to own your strategic leadership or the leadership role you played within team-based projects.

n this edition, we would be looking at the most basic of all leadership qualities; the ability to describe accomplishments — who did what and how was it done? The figurative dance of “I” and “We” as it pertains to team and organizational outcomes.

First a caveat; no one achieves anything of measurable worth alone, contrary to popular media and opinions that may make us think otherwise.

To give a situational example, when I see or hear learners complain about how a professor never taught them anything of worth and how everything they learned was all on their own, I think “At least they gave you a structured syllabus to guide you on topics you needed to learn to be competent in that subject matter.”

Having sat on interview panels where candidates were promptly disqualified by some of the interviewers for using ‘I’ or ‘We’ too often, I am all too aware of the consequences that come with not learning to dance this delicate dance and doing it well.

It’s interesting that in a society that ranks as high on individualism as the one we live in, those candidates who use ‘I’ indiscriminately in conversations and interviews tend to put others off. For one, humans by nature are collaborative and team-oriented if left to our dealings.

We are social beings by nature and as a result, there is an unspoken understanding that cooperation will keep you in the tribe.This is what happens on a primal level where people who use ‘I’ a lot are often deemed uncooperative and selfish and subsequently disqualified from joining the tribe.

So what do you do if you have been the team lead and key decision maker for so long and are transitioning to a more horizontal team structure with consensus decision making?

Or if you are moving from a more consensus-based environment to one where you must be responsible for making decisions and leading their eventual implementation?

I say it’s all in the language.

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You can couple the ‘We’ and the ‘I’ to give your team credit and highlight your own contributions.This is where you as a leader can highlight your delegation and collaborative skills for example by stating how you facilitated the process of aligning stretch roles and assignments with strengths for your team.This can help highlight you as a true people developer and collaborator.And most importantly everyone gets credit.

Learning to balance the relationship between the royal we and I takes practice. On the one hand, you do not want it to appear as though you never contributed anything to the team/ organization but you also do not want to

make it appear like you did all the work.The latter is often simply untrue, and savvy interviewers latch unto this quickly.

Working on the premise of our initial caveat about no one achieving alone — owning your failures and giving credit to others when and where due is one simple way to avoid the think-traps of rugged individualism and do-ityourself ideologies.

While, we talk only about the language of leadership within the context of interviewing in this segment. Don’t forget to balance out your cover letters in terms of moderated use of ‘I’ and ‘We’.

Remember, you can always ask peers and trusted mentors to look through your documents and give you targeted feedback on your interview portfolio.

Owning your failures and giving credit to others when due is a mark of strategic thinking for self and team leadership

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DARTS: APTITUDE OR ABILITY? Using darts (dart-throwing) as a metaphor — unless born without upper limbs due to congenital issues, we are all born with the aptitude needed for this sport, which is the ability to throw an object at some defined target.

Whether we hit the target with precision or not, if we

can throw an object, we can throw a dart.The ability to excel in this sport and to play competitively now comes with practice, very deliberate practice over time; learning from our mistakes and fixing them by even more practice and entering competitions with other darters.

Thus, a proficient darter, even while born with the aptitude to throw, develops the ability to skillfully play this sport over time.

A skilled darter aims and throws precisely, hitting the bullseye accurately (or whatever defined outcome is used to rank them among skilled professional darters).

A BULLSEYE NOTE FOR PHARMACISTS Which is why as a pharmacist, recognize that the instructor-led learning in school only gave one the knowledge needed to become an able pharmacist.The skills that drive this ability on the hand are varied and do not always come to you by chance.

Some skills you developed while in school, and others you will develop on the job, and some you bring with you as a result of your lived experiences in combination with other sections of your career cultural wealth wheel.

REASSESSING OUR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL APTITUDES Distinguish between aptitude and ability and articulate it too.

“I have the aptitude to do it but I don’t have the ability to do it because of my attitude about learning to do it or trying to do it.”

I

am sometimes asked about the difference between skills and abilities for the purpose of a resume. I have also been reflecting a bit about the difference between aptitude and ability since I have seen students and early career pharmacists more often than not conflate the two concepts.

While similar, they’re not the same and understanding some of the intrinsic differences can help when going out and into the job market.

So how do we tell the difference?

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SOME PRACTICAL EXAMPLES Consider an ability to manage direct reports and resolve work or task-related disputes between team members. This singular ability involves the use of skills and strengths like strategic communication for influence and persuasion, negotiation, conflict resolution and effective delegation.

To note this well on a resume entails describing or relating a work-related outcome or an organizational return on investment due to this ability. One could write it as —

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PRACTICAL EXAMPLES… “Managed direct reports and resolved work task-related issues for a team of 15 direct reports with a zero percent attrition rate and hundred percent reduction in departmental cost to hire over 5 years.”

Depending on the context, a hiring manager can clearly see that you are a leader whom team members want to work with.

THE RETAIL CORNER STRENGTHS AND ABILITIES

Taking a more clinically focused example with a breakdown of ability, skills and outcomes: Ability: Overseeing patient safety metrics for anti-thrombotic therapy in cardiovascular therapeutic area at [name of institution; inpatient/specialized outpatient] X-bed facility.

Skills: Warfarin monitoring, patient counseling, electronic health record chart documentation, cross-provider collaboration, strategic communication with key treatment team stakeholders.

Outcome: reduced incidence of non-coagulation target goals by 98 percent over 3 years in our patient population, with resultant (30%) decrease in emergency room visits and hospitalizations due to non-optimal warfarin dosing.

Again depending on the context of the job you are applying for; the outcome statements make an impact and can serve as the difference between an interview or none.

RELAX AND REMEMBER TO DOCUMENT Remember, the ability to understand your strengths and abilities and document them on a resume using outcomes and results-oriented language will distinguish you from plenty of other knowledge-able pharmacists out there.

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One of the main ideas behind individuals working through some of the strengths exercises themselves is for them to get both familiar and comfortable with recognizing and owning their strengths and then translating them to people who don’t know you.

A final note to also remind you that you do not have to or need to do this work yourself.

Finding a good accredited resume writer to work with you is one way to go.

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FOR COMMUNITY

BY COMMUNITY Our column for Community Pharmacists— The unsung heroes of the profession.

T

his pharmacy specialty area ought to be called a training or proving ground for resilience at work.

Because when you bring community pharmacists on board your team, you get individuals with a winning mentality and disposition.

Skills and Abilities Coaching for Retail

KNOWLEDGE

Many of the pharmacists we have coached and mentored 1. Brand or formulary knowledge: through our leadership deep knowledge and academy often frame their insight of drugs covered by impact as a pharmacist with pharmacy benefits and phrases that include ‘just’.As health plans in “I am just a community Many pharmacists went into pharmacist.” And the first step 2. Clinical/ this specialty area because we take is to work through pharmacotherapy they wanted to help their the beliefs foreshadowed by acumen: communities through patient- statements like these, and keen insight based on level interactions without the remind them about the crossdeep knowledge of waiting room experience. functional skills they possess. pharmacotherapy in designated therapeutic Today however, many retail Let’s take an imaginary walk areas to enable pharmacists are looking for through one of those sessions implementation of other avenues to fulfill this here. appropriate medication mission.They are looking to protocols transition into other roles Suppose you were a hiring where they can use their manager for a healthcare 3. Technical learning: clinical acumen and other related field and were given mastering the learning and translatable skills learned on an agnostic resume that use of software the job to serve an presented you a candidate appropriate for the job organization’s mission and with the following job critical bottomline. competencies broken down by knowledge, skills and But, where to start? abilities (KSAs) with requisite interpretations.

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SKILLS

2. Cultural intelligence: 6. Initiative taking: ability to adapt and also seeing what needs to be 1. Communication: immerse oneself in a done on the job and effectively giving and diverse, cross-cultural doing it without external receiving information and work environment and directives ideas between self and successfully help with others 7. Time management: the organization’s successfully planning and goals/mission or vision 2. Interpersonal skills: organizing time for all job deploying successful 3. Emotional related activities intelligence tactics and methods for ability to recognize own interacting with others 8. Supervisory skills: feelings and those of assigning appropriate 3. Teamwork: others, and to manage work goals to direct working synergistically emotions effectively [in reports and scheduling with others to achieve a self and others] regular work review common shared goal meetings with teams 4. Social intelligence: 4. Conflict resolution: ability to navigate social successfully resolving ABILITIES environments and build conflict with others and relationships successfully 1. Problem solving: within teams ability to determine the 5. Cultural adaptation: source of a problem and Would you bring such a person in for a chat? You adapting oneself to a provide an effective most likely will, wouldn’t you? diverse, cross-cultural solution work environment Article continues on Page 26

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RETAIL PHARMACISTS Knowledge, Skills and Abilities…

What if we told you that person was you, our community pharmacist hero professional?

Community pharmacist professionals embody these KSAs every single day on the job. From solving insurancerelated issues with multiple doctors’ offices, patient benefits managers and patients; all valid stakeholders in the process of trying to get the right medication for the patient’s unique circumstances which could range from cashflow questions to plain old patient preference(s).

We liken this to working within a matrix environment, something that you might see on a job description and not necessarily relate to your current job.

Many of the KSAs above while separate, are inextricably linked.

Emotional intelligence or EI as an example is linked to interpersonal skills and Or take a broad functional conflict resolution while swath like customer initiative taking goes hand in relationship management; hand with problem solving. I your patient counseling and could go on but the point is, diplomacy skills (related to you have highly valuable being able to resolve a KSAs and being able to situation with an irate patient translate them to a new or family member) would fall work environment is under this, because an ability something that you have the to manage these interactions capacity to do with translates to increased brand appropriate support (or company) loyalty for the organization.

WHY IS IT CRITICAL TO TEASE OUT THESE KSAs?

PRACTICAL INTERVIEWING: QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

Many job interviews focus on behavioral interviewing or situational judgement questions which really focus on how you have used these skills and abilities and if it would translate to your being a fit for the job and the organization. Being confident of your skills in relation to the whats and the hows of behavioral interviews would ensure that you have a solid script for your interviews and that you don’t find yourself meandering during these mission-critical conversations.

What would a question and answer involving one of our listed KSAs look like?

Suppose you were applying for a manager or director role that involved significant supervisory ability, a lead question (and follow-up questions) could be:

In responding to behavioral questions, the STAR (situation, task, action, result) approach described following is a career recommended guidepost.

Situation — involves the context within which you performed relative to the question.

While you can most certainly draw from work experience, remember that volunteer experience is work experience, even if not compensated with a W-2.The key here is to be specific about the situation (or event) Task — Talk about your responsibility in the situation you choose to describe. Focus on your own responsibility even if it was within a team.

Action — Describe how you met the task requirements.Again, focus on what you did, rather than what your team or coworkers did.

Result — Explain the outcomes or results generated by the action taken.This is an opportunity to emphasize your accomplishments or what you learned from the situation.

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Lead Question: Suppose you have an employee who performed below expectations in the last performance review cycle.What actions might you take in this new performance cycle to help the team member reach their work potential?

Follow-up questions: Why would you take these actions? What alternative approaches are you likely to

consider if your initial approach does not work?

What impact do you think these actions might have on the employee?

Think about how you would respond to these questions using the STAR approach.You can see that questions like these require you to pull from the depths of your experience and your actual use of the supervisory skills on the job.

As community pharmacists, you do this every year during annual team performance evaluation cycle.You may also have had to carry out performance coaching for a direct report on the team.Talk about how that went, what you did and what you identified as

the result of the action you took (or did not take).

Behavioral type questions for many of the KSAs we have listed in this article can be found on online career sites.

You can also create questions based on a job description you would like apply for or based on most used cross-functional skills in your current role.

When you have these questions, write out your answers to them.

One way to hone this question practice skill is through mirrorwork and/or recorded video sessions.You can also ask for attendant peer and or mentor feedback from your community of power.

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PROFILE OF A PHARMACIST+ SPECIALTY AREA — PHARMACOGENOMICS FOCUS: CLINICAL ENTERPRENEURSHIP This is the column where we feature different pharmacy specialty areas and alternative careers. We provide space for pharmacists practicing in these areas to give experiential input on those key skills required for success in their chosen fields.

I have seen that my patients become more invested in their care once they see that it is being personalized for them. ~ Sue Paul

As this is the inaugural edition of our magazine, the team here at Career-Rx got first dibs.

We recognize a strand of bias in our selection since we feature our Editor-in-Chief’s specialty area.

The specilaty area selection for this issue is…drum roll... Pharmacogenomics.

Pharmacogenomics - Pharmacistsʼ Roles What is Pharmacogenomics (PGx)?

So channeling my inner first grader; PGx is the study of the differences that make us, us and how these differences The technical definition of the show up in individual science behind this specialty responses to the medicines area is: we take.

“The study of variations of DNA and RNA characteristics as related to drug response” Now, try defining DNA to kids in the first grade…

During an elementary school career visit (long before COVID-19 zoom visits), a first grader who learned that I was a PGx specialist asked me to explain what DNA meant.

After I explained as best I could in plain language, they put their hand under their chin and exclaimed “So DNA is what makes you, you!” I never forgot this encounter if for nothing other than the simplicity of this clear childlike interpretation.

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bases (A, C,T, G) arranged in complementary fashion in a double-stranded helical shape.

When a SNP occurs, it means that a base (nucleotide) at a given position (a locus/loci) on a DNA strand is replaced by a Pharmacists and PGx different base. So instead of a Pharmacists not only study C at position “35678” for this science, they also apply it example, we find an A or a T. in medication therapy These SNPs can have different management to ensure that a downstream effects on the person’s DNA is not proteins produced by the adversely impacting their DNA.These effects can be response to a given observed at the macro level as medication.They do this by reduced or increased function relating the various genetic of the proteins made by the differences to how the patient polymorphic DNA. processes the drug in the body (drug metabolism).

These differences can be detected through genetic The most common type of testing; regulated tests that genetic difference is called a are validated for accuracy and single nucleotide precision. Many tests are polymorphisms or SNP approved for use in the clinic (pronounced “snips”). All to guide therapy for patients DNA is made up of four taking drugs processed by affected proteins.

F

rom academic research, to being a part of the clinical team that decides which drugs are suitable for a PGx guided therapeutic implementation program, all the way to having their own independent PGx consulting practice. In a PGx consulting role they may work in close collaboration with genetic counselors and physicians to help patients with test interpretation and subsequent therapy modifications based on their genetic test results.

In this edition, we highlight one such independent practitioner — Sue Paul, Pharmacist and Clinical Entrepreneur; owner of SyneRxgy Consulting LLC. Read Sue’s story to see how we can both upskilll and job craft simultaneously. Sue mapped out her own pharmacy path and career in a way that worked for her by maximizing opportunities where she saw them. She also did not give up; a hallmark of a resilient practitioner and a mindset that surely helped in her entrepreneurial journey so far. Here’s Sue in her own words. *Interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Tell Us More About You and Your Career Path to Date.

I am a 1991 BS.Pharm graduate of the University of Cincinnati (Go Bearcats!)

I began my career in retail pharmacy (before cash registers at the pharmacy) and I honestly loved it.

time until after our 2nd child was born, then moved to a part time role at an independent pharmacy.

Nursing home called again when I was pregnant with child 3 (we had 4 children in five and a half years so it I was then contacted by an Associate Dean to consider a wasn’t that long) and I did both (independent /consultant move to long term care pharmacist) until 2010.

(LTC) where I worked fullAlthough it interfered with my personal life (I was late to my bridal shower), those inconveniences did not outweigh the aspects I enjoyed about it.

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CAREER PROFILE:

On Opportunities and Challenges in Consulting

AN ALT+PHARMACIST

“Telehealth is going to play an even bigger role – wonderful opportunities for chronic care management through remote patient monitoring.”

Due to cost-cutting measures at the LTC and reduced hours at the independent pharmacy, I moved into a per diem role in a hospital system (heard about the role through a friend) and made my way to their anticoagulation clinic and outpatient retail Meds-toBeds program.While there, I saw cardiologists prescribing expensive P2Y12i and wondered why they weren’t using more affordable anticoagulation medications.

This led me to the science of PGx that helped me understand why patients respond to medications so differently.

What kinds of decisions do you make and what percentage of your time is spent doing what?

During this time, I also investigated opening my own independent drug store but eventually decided I wanted to meet the patients where they were and not be constrained by a healthcare system if at all. In 2013 I started my own business (SyneRxgy consulting) which I had envisioned to be an inhome med reconciliation service for post-discharge patients.After hiring a business mentor however, and going through a business incubator, my mentor suggested I pivot to offices due to inefficiencies in my initial home model plan.

system, I had created a plan to work in the cardiology office doing ambulatory care that was not accepted.

Despite not being implemented in that setting, by the grace of God, and through networking, in 2016, I had an opportunity to use that business plan in a collaborative practice with primary care office.We were able to add PGx to the providers’ office and in the LTC facility where I was still consulting.

In that same year, I was in conversation with another pharmacist in my mentoring program, wondering about pharmacists out there who wanted to use their gifts and skills in non-traditional roles.

And that was how Medipreneurs, a community of entrepreneurial pharmacists was birthed.

diagnoses and lab data, I realized what a game changer this was as far as the care I could provide. My passion is deprescribing and making sure the patients can afford their medication, how to use it, and why they are using it.Working in the primary care practice alongside providers, highlighted the issue of lack of response to medications and how quickly recommendations could be implemented for the patients using PGx information.This has been another game changer. I have seen that patients become more invested in their care once they see that it is being personalized for them.

What do you do on a typical day? What are your current duties and responsibilities?

I currently work in the primary care practice 3 days a In 2018, Dan Krinsky and I week. I see 14 patients per day. started PGx101, a certificate It ranges anywhere from training program in PGx, in hypertension to HCV and I 2018 after recognizing the recently started seeing more lack of evidence-backed PGx patients for mood and information for health care medication adjustments.The providers. other 2 days I work on my businesses – meetings, Why did this type of networking, podcasts, and work interest you and routine business things like how did you get paying bills and business started? logistics. I have also had a recent influx of independent, I felt called to leave the health I truly loved taking care of my cash-pay customers, and I will system in 2015 and returned patients. I knew most of them visit them on those days. to LTC consulting upon by name. Once I began LTC request.While at the hospital consulting with access to

I spend 80% of my clinical workday seeing patients and the rest on administrative tasks like working on prior authorizations and making sure patients can get their medications.Visits are typically 30 minutes long. In any one visit, I gather information, adjust medications, order labs and address other issues like weight management and tobacco cessation. I liaise with the providers to make these changes, most of which are accepted, and send in the prescription changes under the providers’ names.

What part of this job do you personally find most satisfying? Most challenging?

Curiosity for one — if a particular subject grabs your interest learn as much as you can and find ways to implement it. Surround yourself with people who are doing what you would like to do and be open to thinking about opportunities differently.

pharmacist on the team to help manage medications allows them to do their genius work of diagnosing.

What opportunities and challenges do you see in the pipeline for the industry?

Opportunities for retail; more Can you suggest some clinical skills and practice with ways a new practitioner more states approving could go about provider status in addition to obtaining the necessary collaborative practice experience to explore agreements to help with this career path? medication management.

Telehealth is going to play an While developing my idea to even bigger role – wonderful start a non-dispensing opportunities for chronic care pharmacy, I visited pharmacists management through remote already doing similar things patient monitoring.

(Thank you Stu Beatty, Bella Mehta, and Allen Nichol). I What are some words picked and chose what I liked of career exploration from their practices and advice you have for our incorporated it into my own. audience?

Then just do it.

• Stay curious.

What are you most • Be flexible and learn as excited about regarding much as you can. the pharmacogenomics • Actively search out consulting field’s mentors. current state-of-affairs? • Call me 513-227-8337

The most satisfying part of the job is the patients and the teamwork with their provider.

The most challenging part is also the patients. It’s like trying to solve a puzzle to find out what motivates them and how The pandemic has certainly I can help. Once identified, it is opened the field of a lot easier. opportunity for PGx and consulting work. Mental health What skills would and substance use disorders students and early have burgeoned as have career pharmacists chronic disease states. PGx is need to be successful in a game changer to get patients this path? on the right medications faster to help improve outcomes. Having a PGx

IMAGE PROVIDED BY INTERVIEWEE

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Our strengths are our best assets; they enrich our lives and the lives of others around us.

My Clifton Strength Assessment Profile Report

UNIQUE STRENGTHS GLASS HALF-FULL OR HALF-EMPTY A strengths-based approach to career-pathing for pharmacists.

W

hen asked whether we approach life from a glass half-full or a glass half-empty perspective, many (I included) will probably choose the former.

For one, it makes us look good and socially acceptable to always declare optimism.

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Now if I were to drill down and ask you about your career and what you presume to be the present state-ofaffairs, would you answer in the affirmative? Or would you display a strong glass halfempty perspective, detailing all the things that are wrong today with our beloved profession?

While not claiming a complete glass half-full perspective here (I take the combination lens of realistic-pragmatist), I also know that asking the proverbial “What is wrong with X?” does not allow us seek answers to the better question of “What is right with X?”

A MORE AI FOCUSED APPROACH Having been too long on the wrong side, I have come to appreciate and apply the principles of AI or appreciative inquiry along with strengths-based approaches to working with students and clients.

rightly appropriate focus on the good (the strengths) in individuals.

“What is right with you and me?”

“What are our strengths?”

In doing this, people can find space to bloom and thrive “How do we highlight and consequently find necessary self-encouragement these strengths?” to work on weak areas Taking this approach does not without fear or shame. mean that one ignores So asking the question that weaknesses or systemic factors gone wrong, rather it started this column now in a means that there is more of a different way.

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STRENGTHS YOUR WAY

GROWTH MINDSET IN PHARMACY

THE DNA OF IT A strength is a good and beneficial attribute or quality of a person.Your strengths are literally your assets; they enrich your life and that of others around you. Identifying and articulating our strengths is key to charting interesting and unique career paths.

For a deeper dive into your strengths and how you show up as a leader in those unique strengths, there is no better tool that I have found to date than the CliftonStrengths Assessment , the validated strengths assessment tool from Gallup—the global analytics and advice firm that We are each as unique as our administers these strengths and being able to assessments to individuals identify what those are for and organizations worldwide. each of us is critical because our unique combination At Career-Rx, we have found might just be what an the CliftonStrengths employer is looking for (the assessment (formerly employer may be you if you StrengthsFinder) along with want to go the the VIA character survey entrepreneurial route). (formerly Values in Action TM

character survey) useful and recommend them to clients.

There are a variety of other personality-focused strengths assessments that can help you see how your strengths as embodied in your unique personality determines your approach to work and life.

None of these assessments can do the work of telling your unique story your way.

This is one of the areas that career coaching can help you with reframing your view of your current situation and supporting you on your career exploration journey.

How to Access the Assessments Take the CliftonStrengths assessment here https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx The free VIA Character Strengths survey can be accessed here. http://zybahlearning.pro.viasurvey.org/ **You get access to a career coach to help you debrief results from the VIA survey when you use the link above.

Final Notes: Realistic Pragmatic Career Glass-Full Perspective.

Realism — accepting the physical facts of life, while pragmatism is a way of approaching issues based on specific situations and not on generalizations and accepting only those things that make a tangible difference to one’s future decisions or actions.

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Taking this perspective means accepting that there are systemic changes that may need to be made to the practice and to the profession. But also recognizing that I am the one capable of making a change to own my career path, in spite of the issues.

I can take the time to work through the unique skills I bring to the table, find a community of people and practices to help me elevate those skills. It means using the many spokes of my career cultural wealth wheel to move me in the direction of my desired career destination.

…Continued

MINDSET AND CONFIDENCE We began with an observation about confidence gaps and then moved to mindset. So what exactly does mindset have to do with confidence?

A fixed mindset can also hamper the dynamics in teams since we want to be seen as the hero or heroine of a school or work story.This can lead to not recognizing unique Simply this — A fixed mindset opportunities for advancement can hinder our confidence. when they do arise.

Because if we believe all we have is all we can ever get, we A growth mindset on the tend to shrink and hoard both other hand builds and our knowledge and our enhances our confidence.And experience.We do not see there’s nothing like confident reasons to improve since we action to move a person in the are already where we think we direction of their dreams and ought to be in relation to goals.With a growth mindset, getting a pharmacy degree and we know our degrees do not a job in pharmacy. define us, rather it’s what we do with it that counts.We are

open to learning and expanding on our intelligence both in school or on the job and outside of them.

We ask for and receive feedback as a growth mechanism.

We are open to new directions, new experiences and different job opportunities if they keep us on the learning path.

What’s there not to love?

To your continued growth and career success.

A growth mindset builds and enhances the confidence needed for taking action in the direction of our dreams and desired goals.

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The types of coworkers and the nature of the work we do impact job satisfaction

PHARMACISTS AND JOB SATISFACTION What does Job satisfaction look like? How do we measure it well, if at all?

W

hat exactly is job satisfaction?

In attempting to answer this question fully, we quickly realize it’s not one-dimensional. Job satisfaction is not a unitary or singular construct.

Simply put, job satisfaction is the pleasure we derive from doing our jobs; the fulfillment or enjoyment that we get from a job Loving our jobs could cover any of the following: well done — the proverbial “I love my job” The feeling we get when we accomplish a jobsentiment. related task and do it well; the thanks we receive from delighted patrons regarding the outcomes When we (as trained pharmacists) say we love from our jobs; the compensation we receive our jobs, what do we really mean? from the job which relates in some measure to our perceived self-worth. Or it could be that we 34 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

really love spending time with the people we work with as we work together to solve thorny problems.

In other words, there are many facets to consider when we talk about job satisfaction.

surveyed for their job satisfaction levels across nine dimensions.As with many instruments of this kind, the survey is a self-reported assessment with questions related to each of the nine dimensions as depicted.

But, what does Job satisfaction look like?

And how do we measure it well if at all?

A Brief on the Another side to reported job Personality Model Used satisfaction levels that has always piqued my interest The five factor model (or relates to the role that FFM) is a model used by personality plays in how personality psychology satisfied we are with life in researchers to describe general (our jobs included). peoples’ personalities. Using this model, human behavior Last spring, this question was can be measured along a explored through a research continuum of traits or study that combined characteristics described by questions relating to job five factors.

This is what organizational psychologist, Paul Spector* tried to tease out when he developed an instrument to measure job satisfaction (mostly for US based workers). Using this survey instrument, workers are

satisfaction with questions about personality based on the five factor model of personality, alongside other measures of personality related to occupational success.

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PHARMACISTS JOB SATISFACTION These five factors are openness to experience (O), conscientiousness (C), extraversion (E), agreeableness (A) and neuroticism (N).The neuroticism factor is also represented as it’s opposite, emotional stability in many instances.The consensus among personality researchers is that all humans fall somewhere along a continuum for each of these factors.

Thus, for the O (openness), a person high in this factor would self-describe as a curious person, with a wide range of interests (those multi-potential individuals we know may simply rank higher in openness than average).

Conversely, a person ranking low in this factor may identify as or be described by others as a traditional person who prefers routine and structure and as such may not thrive in chaotic environment.

Sample descriptors or characteristics of persons ranking high or low on these factors are shown in figures.

What Did the Survey Measure?

One key question that the online survey was seeking to answer was whether conscientiousness would Personality has been shown to be a stable construct over correlate with job satisfaction.

If a person self-describes and an adult life-years.Although changes in personality (small is known as hardworking, shifts) can occur as a result of dependable and loyal, would this translate to greater having a growth-oriented satisfaction on the job, since mindset, our personalities they were driven to achieve generally tend to be more stable than not, due to fixed their goal of becoming and working as a pharmacist? genetic contributions to behavior.

Altogether, there were 157 responses, with 102 complete In terms of working response data. Survey professionals and respondents (US-based adults, organizations, the 25–64 years old) were more conscientiousness trait is highly coveted by employers female (94 percent) than male and predominantly selfbecause who wouldn’t want identified as Black (a fact that hardworking, organized and is reflective of the researcher’s dependable individuals social capital).There were working for and with them. more respondents in for This is a trait that is also indirectly selected for in high- private for-profit organizations (82 percent) and there were achieving professions like pharmacy and other medical more respondents in the South (55 percent) than other professions. three geographical regions.

Personality and Job Satisfaction Dimensions

The two personality traits that consistently showed a positive relational measure to job satisfaction were ES (emotional stability) and O (Openness).

Those with a higher degree of emotional stability and openness to experience (specifically the creativity component) were more likely to be satisfied with their jobs.

Taking a deeper look at the different dimensions of job satisfaction highlights this relationship.

As for our conscientiousness trait question, the only relationship with this trait and job satisfaction in the sample was with the fringe benefits dimension.

No demographic or personality trait correlated with pay as a job satisfaction dimension.This is probably in line with the concept of relative wage egalitarianism for working pharmacists.

While people generally work for compensation, this was not a factor driving job satisfaction for pharmacists.

Other factors rated more

important included the operating conditions dimension which ranked well below the mean of reported scores for all dimensions among all respondents regardless of race or gender.

Dimensions with the highest score for many respondents were the nature of the work

and co-workers. Many people who enter the helping professions like pharmacy do so because they want to help people and it should come as no surprise that the nature of the work that pharmacists do is one facet of job satisfaction that ranked the highest.

Overall, using a job satisfaction cutoff determined for the sample, eleven percent of pharmacists indicated dissatisfaction with their jobs with forty four percent indicating satisfaction and the remaining forty four percent indicating ambivalence. *https://paulspector.com/assessments/pauls-no-cost-assessments/job-satisfaction-survey-jss/

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UPSKILLING A Career Enhancement Note Whether we choose to upskill or reskill, we need to prepare ourselves for a different world by managing our expectations around how easy or difficult it might be. Rather we ought to be prepared to manage the change train we are embarking on.

To be competitive, pharmacists need to embrace a growth mindset, have a life-long learning approach and a beginner’s mind.There is also need to practice cross-functional collaboration in addition to a willingness to try new things.

If indeed the ship has sailed, we need to ride the wind of change and do it with grace.

The Career-Rx team

Which Personality Trait reported lower satisfaction Predicted Job with the promotion Satisfaction? dimension compared with non-Black respondents.

When all the factors were combined for a statistical Since this was a sample of analysis of predictiveness, the working professionals, the one trait that consistently survey also included some predicted job satisfaction was occupational scales with extraversion. Interestingly, this questions about personality prediction was in a negative traits related to managerial direction — people who were potential, stress tolerance, more extraverted were less reliability and service satisfied with their jobs orientation. Reliability and overall. stress tolerance were strongly predictive of job Demographics, satisfaction in this sample.

Personality and Job Satisfaction Satisfied or Not Satisfied?

Other highlights from the survey were the observed Factors that drive job relationship between age and satisfaction for working conscientiousness.Younger pharmacists are varied. In respondents (25–34 years) terms of personality traits, were seen to be lower in conscientiousness did not conscientiousness compared play as much a role as may to older respondents (35–64 have been presumed.The years). In terms of selfnature of work and coreported race, respondents workers were dimensions of who identified as Black the job that related to the

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greatest satisfaction levels.

Operating conditions ranked lowest among all the nine job satisfaction dimensions surveyed. Finally the trait of extraversion negatively predicted job satisfaction.

Pharmacists who are more extraverted were more likely to report lower job satisfaction.Whether this has any relationship to the operating conditions of their jobs remains to be assessed.

ENDNOTE — YOUR CAREER LIBRARY

Preparing for a vibrant career requires a ready traveller with the right kind of information and the tools to journey well

While these are the results of an official research study (publication pending), we at Career-Rx would like to know if these results align with what you have seen or observed ? Send us a note; we would like to know.

We wrap up this edition with a note on libraries.

Traditionally libraries are a powerhouse of information.

A collection of materials that are accessible for patrons’ use. In the same vein, as pharmacists we should have a form of a career library that we can access for information and help along the journey.

At Career-Rx, we would feature some of these resources in future editions for your benefit. Featured Materials in our library resources do not serve as should include human and tacit endorsements.You have technological resources. to do the work to ensure that Human resources include they are a right fit for your career and business coaches, own career strategic pathway.

Page Image Credits

Yours in career success and job satisfaction.

course offerings and contact (virtual or face to face) events.The value of this resource cannot be overstated as they can help us distill information into practical and helpful strategies for our development.

3, 12, 30, 37: Oktionz Images 4, 6, 13–15, 19, 26, 33, 34, 36, 38: Standard license — iStock by Getty Images 5: Natalie Pedigo/Unsplash 8: Sam Moqadam/Unsplash.com 10: Rubelson Fernandes/Unsplash.com 18: Afif Kusuma/Unsplash.com 19: National Cancer Institute/Unsplash.com 21: bear-1821456_480/Pixabay.com 23, 25: Standard license — Pexels.com

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