16.5 Career Building Counsel

The secret to success with almost any job is to identify and seize opportunities that arise. However, if you find that these aren’t always apparent or readily available, you may need to make your own. There are specific ways that you can cultivate opportunities, both within your current company and outside of it.

Achieving Career Goals

Defining solid goals can help you visualize what you hope to accomplish on your career trajectory. Climbing the ladder at work may require you to marshal skills and demonstrate qualities that supervisors can easily recognize as efforts to foster opportunity. Some suggestions include:

Build a Good Relationship with Your Supervisor

Always show your supervisor (pharmacist or senior technician) a reasonable degree of deference and respect. Ask your supervisor how they prefer to be addressed. Be personable and respectful of your supervisor’s experience and knowledge. Learn about their preferences, hobbies, or interests so that you can ask about them when appropriate to build a trusting relationship, though do not get too personal. Avoid any romantic relationships at work. If tensions arise between you and your supervisor, take positive steps to ease them. Your supervisor has power over your raises, promotions, benefits, and references for future employment. When you disagree, discuss these differences in private.

Foster a Positive Attitude Under Stress

Be an encourager rather than a complainer, and do not give in to the temptation to behave in ways that are elitist or superior. Remember that you are part of a healthcare team, and cooperation is extremely important.

Reflect a Desire for Self-Improvement

Get in the habit of asking questions respectfully and listening to the answers. Sometimes people are afraid to ask questions because doing so might make them appear less intelligent or less knowledgeable. Nothing could be further from the truth. Listen to the advice of others who have been on the job longer. If you make a mistake, own up to it. If you are criticized unfairly, adopt a non-defensive tone of voice and explain your view of the matter calmly and rationally. This behavior is key to performing with integrity, an important part of being a professional.

Become Known for Reliability

Health care, like education, is one of those industries in which standards for reliability are very high. You cannot, for example, show up late for work or take days off arbitrarily without good reason and prior supervisor approval. Unreliable employees in the healthcare industry do not keep their jobs for long, so make sure that your employer can always depend on you to arrive at work on time. Staying late does not make up for a tardy arrival. Tardiness can play havoc with other people’s work schedules and workloads and lead to preventable medication errors. Finish dressing, grooming, and eating before you enter your work area.

Excel in Your Performance

Demonstrate that you can get things done and that you put the job first. Develop work habits to ensure accuracy, and expect to be held responsible for what you do on the job. Work steadily and methodically. Employers expect you to devote your full attention to your responsibilities for the entire length of your shift. Rushing through a task because it is close to the end of your shift places patient care at risk. Keep your attention focused on the task at hand, and always double-check everything you do, even close to quitting time.

Turn Problems into Opportunities to Develop and Implement Solutions

Instead of complaining about problems, look for creative fixes that improve systems and situations. This can earn you recognition and new responsibilities, and often a new title and an increase in benefits. When a crisis occurs, do not overreact, but keep looking for solutions. Take time to think and then act, and do not keep the crisis a secret from your supervisor.

Nurture Healthy Professional Alliances

In all organizations, two kinds of power systems exist: (1) formal, or structural, hierarchies; and (2) informal collegial relationships, or alliances. Cultivate friendships on the job, but make sure that you are not seen as part of a clique or an exclusive group. Even as a new employee, begin to build power through trusting, supportive connections with your colleagues and in professional organizations outside of the job. If a problem or an opportunity arises, then you will probably hear about it first through your allies. If an impending change in the workplace affects you, advance notice may give you the necessary time to plan a strategic response. Most of the big lucky breaks in life come through knowing the right people at the right time. By cultivating alliances, you can control your luck more than you might expect.

Develop Specialized Expertise

How can you become a person who makes things happen? Become highly knowledgeable about a specialty within your company or field, inventory control, insurance billing, non-sterile compounding, and so on. Be the most expert technician that you can be in that area, then move on and master another area. Soon, others will be asking for your advice, and your reputation (and your salary) will grow. You can also choose to pursue additional certifications in pharmacy or in allied health to create more opportunities.

Build an Active Professional Reputation

Many people assume that if they work hard and are loyal, they will be rewarded. This is often but not always true. Management personnel may be so involved with their own concerns that you remain little more than a face in the crowd. Being pleasant to others helps you to be noticed, as does making helpful or useful suggestions. Volunteer to serve on committees within the institution. Make yourself indispensable to the organization. Be open and flexible to learning new positions, and be proactive, accepting new responsibilities within the pharmacy. When you have won an award or achieved some other success, see that your name is publicized in institutional newsletters, community newspapers, or the publications of professional organizations. Give presentations at professional meetings, civic groups, churches, or synagogues. Write or contribute to articles for publication in professional journals.

Commit to Ongoing Continuing Education

Pharmacy is a rapidly changing field. Staying current on new drugs, dosage forms, medication safety, laws, and regulations is important. Accept the idea of continuing education (CE) as a way of life. CE may include reading pharmacy journals and newsletters or attending workshops at professional meetings. You may need to take formal course work (in person or online) or attend CE programs every year to maintain your certification and keep current on the latest trends. Think of your job-related learning as a regular “information workout,” as necessary to your employment fitness as aerobic workouts are to your physical fitness. Reading Pharmacy Times on an ongoing basis will help you keep abreast of new drugs. For a taste of this excellent source for ongoing news, visit https://PharmPractice7e.ParadigmEducation.com/PharmacyTimes.

Develop Depth and Breadth in Operational Skills

Higher-level positions require initiative and the ability to work independently, efficiently, and without procrastination. They generally integrate skills beyond those of basic competence for an entry-level technician in one or more of the following areas:

• advanced calculations

• ability to precisely check work of other technicians

• advanced communication and public relations/marketing skills

• advanced knowledge of computer and automation applications

• billing and documentation procedures

• inventory ordering and purchasing

• leadership, organizing, and management skills

• staff training responsibilities

• supervision skills and ability to build cooperation among team members

Acquire Additional Certifications, Diplomas, and Degrees

Advanced technician positions (sterile, hazardous, and nuclear certifications), first aid, BLS/CPR, phlebotomist, emergency medical services (EMS), and OSHA certifications provide a range of skills and greater job opportunities and pay. Look at as stepping stones or stackable skills that help advance your career in many ways, offering you unforeseen opportunities to move both laterally into more rewarding areas for you personally, and vertically, into greater supervision and management positions.

Additionally, graduate degrees, such as an MBA or a degree in human resources or health system management, offer you even wider-ranging opportunities in pharmacy and health care. They assist your marketability as an employee by always building on the extensive pharmaceutical education, training, understanding, and experience you received as a CPhT.

Become Active in Professional Pharmacy Organizations

Being part of a profession means taking an active role in advancing the profession, especially if you are seriously considering taking on one or more advanced roles. As paraprofessionals in pharmacy practice, technicians have an obligation and a vested interest to make their ideas heard in the local, state, and national forums that discuss issues facing their field. The future of the technician role is in the hands of those within the profession. This self-governance, something that is increasing for technicians, is one characteristic of a professional. As the status and role of pharmacy technicians increase, those within the profession should get involved in the decisions and movements affecting it. Apply for membership in the American Association of Pharmacy Technicians (AAPT) or the National Pharmacy Technician Association, and get involved.

American Association of Pharmacy Technicians

The AAPT was the first professional organization for pharmacy technicians. It was organized in 1979 and is still run today by volunteer pharmacy technicians. The mission statement is as follows:

• Provides leadership and represents the interests of its members to the public as well as healthcare organizations

• Promotes the safe, efficacious, and cost-effective dispensing, distribution, and use of medications

• Provides continuing education programs and services to help technicians update their skills to keep pace with changes in pharmacy services

• Promotes pharmacy technicians as an integral part of the patient care team

There are low membership rates, especially for students and those entering their first year of practice. All members are eligible to take necessary continuing education courses online at no cost, and the organization also has blogs run and written by peers, current information updates, and a career center. Several states have local chapters for networking, CE, and involvement. For more information, visit https://PharmPractice7e.ParadigmEducation.com/PharmacyTech.

National Pharmacy Technician Association

The National Pharmacy Technician Association (NPTA) is the largest professional society for pharmacy technicians. Low-cost membership is offered to technicians, students, and educators. NPTA is an advocacy organization that updates its members on relevant news and provides online continuing education courses.

Get Involved

There are several ways to get involved in your professional network to help advance within the profession:

• Serve on AAPT or NPTA committees, participate in state and national conferences, and run for office in your local chapter of these organizations, as appropriate.

• Attend the meetings of your state pharmacy board and state chapter of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) and volunteer on committees if allowed; each state NABP chapter welcomes technician input and participation.

• Apply for membership in the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and/or the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA); volunteer to serve on local chapter committees and eventually the Pharmacy Technician Advisory Group of the ASHP, which is charged with advising the ASHP’s staff and Board of Directors about actions, products, and services pertaining to pharmacy technicians.

• Explore opportunities with the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) Certification Councils at the national level.

• Participate in your state pharmacy association’s annual pharmacy legislative day activities.

After attending local, state, or national meetings, report what you learn to your employer and fellow technicians. Learning about and voicing concern about issues facing technicians and taking ownership in decisions made to advance their roles give you a sense of control over your own destiny, especially when you do this with others. Participating in professional organizations can also provide needed CE credits for recertification.

Current issues that face technicians are standardization of technician training and education programs; expansion of technician responsibilities to assist with the projected shortages in pharmacy workforces; salary and benefits enhancements; and implementation of state requirements for national certification. Contact your local technician organizations and inquire about how you can participate in decisions affecting the future practice of pharmacy in your state.

Training and experience as a pharmacy technician can lead to other health-related jobs, such as EMT.

Springboard to Other Healthcare Disciplines

Some pharmacy technicians use their training and experience in customer service and knowledge of drug therapy as a springboard to other associated careers or higher-paying health professions. In the allied health field, many healthcare-related assistant or technician positions may require only one or two years of study. Examples of such rewarding occupations include technician positions in emergency medical treatment (an EMT), anesthesia, chemotherapy, electrocardiology, emergency room, endoscopy, health information, home health (assistant/aide), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), medical billing and coding, medical laboratory, nuclear medicine, operating room (OR), radiology, respiratory technology, or certain kinds of surgery.

Some pharmacy technicians like the profession so much that they want to advance into a career as a pharmacist. Some of the most successful practicing pharmacists started out as pharmacy technicians. If your grades in prerequisite course work are above average and you do well on the standardized Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) (like a science-related SAT), this may be a good plan, and the experience of working in a pharmacy (with good references and letters of recommendation from your supervisor) will be a big bonus. This experience will allow you easier admission than inexperienced applicants. You may still be able to work as a pharmacy technician some nights or weekends as you attend pharmacy school, and many chain pharmacies offer scholarship help and loan forgiveness if you elect to take a job with them for a set number of years after graduation and receiving your certification.

Other students may use their technician experience to pursue a higher-paying career in nursing, physical therapy, or clinical nutrition. However, these careers, as well as pharmacy, will take four to six years of full-time study to complete. You may be able to work as a technician part-time while taking courses.