Pharmacy Fellowships the First Step to a Successful Career

Once you complete your graduation in pharmacy and a residency you go in for pharmacy fellowships that emphasize research, an exciting avenue full of opportunities leading to highly successful careers. Better still; opt for pharmacy fellowships industry based with a leading drug company that works in conjunction with a reputed university. You could go in for clinical development, marketing, drug safety or regulatory matters. With practical hands-on pharmacy fellowship industry experience of about a year or two, you are positioned just right to become a highly sought after specialist with unique skillsets.

Alluring as it seems a post PharmD pharmacy fellowship is not easy to acquire. The most sought after areas are:

Drug safety

Research based on health economics and outcomes
Managed care
Regulatory Matters
Medical information
Marketing and Market research

Thinking of a pharmacy fellowship is one thing but getting into an actual pharmacy fellowship industry position is another. You need to prepare intensively for a grueling interview that will test all your skills, besides professional ones, to the utmost. You could start preparations right from the moment you are in the first year.

In any case you must make it a point to attend the Annual Midyear Clinical Meeting held by the American Society of Health System Pharmacists with an emphasis on patient treatment and drug knowledge. It is a crucial step to pharmacy fellowship industry experience. It is expensive, time consuming and hectic but well worth the effort if you are looking at a meaningful pharmacy fellowship program. Be prepared mentally and physically for exhausting round of interviews and put your best foot forward.

Advance preparation, knowledge and some practice surely helps you achieve success at this ASHP meeting. Interviews focus just as much on your personality and personal achievements as they do on knowing just how exactly you will fit into the mold. It helps to engage in a variety of other activities that look good on your CV and sound good during interviews. Develop your personality, your hobbies and skills to a point where you can mention them with pride. Interviews typically last from Saturday to Tuesday, held over 3 sessions. Know about the company, its products, business approach and its people when you prepare for the interview. Just as they ask questions, you too are expected to ask intelligent questions to show your knowledge and to satisfy yourself that the pharmacy fellowship is suited to your career objectives. Your success at the first interview will determine whether you are called for subsequent interviews for the pharmacy fellowships industry placement. If you get as far as being invited to a reception dinner, you may safely assume you are almost there and can hope for a pharmacy fellowship. 

As they say, expect the unexpected and only by being fully prepared through assisted interview training will you be able to handle such situations with finesse and satisfy interviewers that you are the right man for the pharmacy fellowship and will suit their purposes. At the end of the interviews, please do not forget the courtesy gesture of handing over a thank you card. It could be the decider for you from a list of short-listed candidates for the pharmacy fellowships industry position.