Options with pharmacy
Studying pharmacy enables you to develop many skills. Some of these skills and abilities are specific to the role of a pharmacist and include:
You also develop a broad range of transferable skills that are very attractive to employers in other sectors. These skills include:
Undertaking a placement or gaining relevant work experience will greatly enhance your employability. It shows potential employers that you are enthusiastic and that you can apply the skills you have learned during your course to the workplace. Most retail chains offer summer placement programmes in community pharmacy lasting between six and eight weeks. Some employers will recruit their pre-registration trainees from these programmes. It is also possible to gain experience in a hospital pharmacy, although this may be unpaid and last from a few days to a few weeks. Experience in a retail environment or voluntary work in a healthcare setting will enable you to develop valuable skills including customer or patient care, and will increase your knowledge of over-the-counter medications.
Although some of the jobs listed here might not be first jobs for many graduates, they are among the many realistic possibilities with your degree, provided you can demonstrate you have the attributes employers are looking for. Bear in mind that it’s not just your degree discipline that determines your options. Remember that many graduate vacancies don't specify particular degree disciplines, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here. Look at your degree... what next? for informed advice on career planning and graduate employment, or login/register with My Prospects to find out what jobs would suit you, a helpful starting point for self-analysis.
Explore types of jobs to find out more about the above options and related jobs.
After graduating, many pharmacy graduates work as community or hospital pharmacists. Some courses offer integrated professional training. Graduates from these courses can go straight into a career as a fully qualified pharmacist without the need to do a pre-registration year.
A 2012 HESA survey of 2011 graduates indicates that six months after graduation, 70% of pharmacy graduates were in full-time paid employment. A further 19% were combining work and study. This means that almost 90% of students who graduated in 2011 went straight into employment. Of these, over 97% took positions in the health sector. Examples of jobs recently obtained by pharmacy graduates include:
Pharmacy graduates also work in other areas such as:
Complementary medicine and animal medicine are expanding areas in pharmacy.
The majority of community pharmacists in the UK work in large retail chains or independent pharmacies of various sizes. Others are employed by small or medium-sized chain stores, GP surgeries or health centres.
Around 6,000 pharmacists work in UK hospitals. The majority of hospital pharmacists work for hospitals within The National Health Service (NHS) .
Qualified pharmacists can work as locum (temporary replacement) pharmacists, either on a self-employed basis or through an agency.
Pharmacy graduates are also employed by private sector organisations (e.g. pharmaceutical companies and food and drink companies) to work in areas such as research and development, quality assurance, marketing, sales and management.
For an insight into possible employment areas see:
For further information on possibilities in other employment areas, see job sectors.
Statistics are collected every year to show what HE students do immediately after graduation. These can be a useful guide but, in reality, because the data is collected within six months of graduation, many graduates are travelling, waiting to start a course, paying off debts, getting work experience or still deciding what they want to do. For further information about some of the areas of employment commonly entered by graduates of any degree discipline, check out What Do Graduates Do? and your degree...what next?
Generally, only small numbers of pharmacy graduates go on to do further study directly after graduation. This is because a pre-entry postgraduate qualification is not needed to practise as a pharmacist and is rarely advantageous when applying for jobs within the profession. A 2011 HESA survey of 2010 graduates indicates that only about 2% of pharmacy graduates took up full-time postgraduate study. A further 22% were combining work and study.
Pharmacy graduates who want a career in scientific research and development may choose to study for an MSc or PhD, in fields such as biomedical or chemical science. Graduates who decide that they want to pursue careers outside pharmacy may undertake a relevant postgraduate course to broaden their skills and increase their knowledge of other areas.
These trends show only what previous graduates in your subject did immediately upon graduating. Over the course of their career - the first few years in particular - many others will opt for some form of further study, either part time or full time. If further study interests you, start by thinking about postgraduate study in the UK and search courses and research to identify your options.
For details relating to finance and the application process, look at funding my further study.
