What Percent of Pharmacists Work in Retail
As well as working as a community or hospital pharmacist, pharmacy graduates can also find opportunities in academia, the pharmaceutical industry and with regulatory bodies
Job options
Jobs directly related to your degree include:
- Community pharmacist
- Hospital pharmacist
- Research scientist (medical)
Jobs where your degree would be useful include:
- Clinical research associate
- Higher education lecturer
- Medical sales representative
- Medical science liaison
- Pharmacologist
- Physician associate
- Product/process development scientist
- Regulatory affairs officer
- Research scientist (life sciences)
- Science writer
- Toxicologist
Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.
Work experience
It's important to get relevant work experience to show potential employers that you're enthusiastic and that you can apply the skills you've 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.
You could find experience in a hospital pharmacy, although this may be unpaid work shadowing and last from a few days to a few weeks.
There may also be some opportunities to do a placement with a pharmaceutical company, depending on your areas of interest.
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.
Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.
Typical employers
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.
The majority of hospital pharmacists work for hospitals within the NHS. It's also possible to work for private hospitals.
Qualified pharmacists can work as locum (temporary replacement) pharmacists, either on a self-employed basis or through an agency.
Pharmacy graduates are also employed in industry by private sector organisations, such as pharmaceutical companies and food and drink companies, to work in areas such as research and development, quality assurance, marketing, sales and management.
Other types of employers include:
- the armed services - you can work as a military pharmacist for the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force
- universities and research institutions - for a career as an academic pharmacist
- veterinary pharmacy practices - you can work as a veterinary pharmacist for specialist practices, university veterinary schools, the pharmaceutical industry, and government departments and agencies such as the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
Find information on employers in healthcare, science and pharmaceuticals and other job sectors.
Skills for your CV
Studying pharmacy enables you to develop skills specific to the role of a pharmacist, including:
- knowledge of facts and theories relating to the discovery, design, development, manufacture and delivery of medicines
- knowledge of the properties and clinical uses of medicines
- how patients react to the medicines they take
- the ability to communicate effectively with patients and other health professionals
- production of pharmacy-specific scientific documentation
- operation of pharmaceutical instrumentation
- knowledge of the law and ethical concerns relating to the supply of medicines
- analysis of medicines
- an understanding of individual patient care and issues relating to public health.
You also develop a range of skills that are attractive to employers in other sectors as well. These include:
- interpersonal and communication skills
- the ability to work well as part of a team
- numeracy and computation
- critical evaluation and research skills
- problem-solving skills and the ability to think clearly and methodically
- time management and organisational skills
- commercial awareness.
Further study
Only small numbers of pharmacy graduates go on to 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.
Pharmacy graduates who want a career in scientific research and development may study for an MSc or PhD in fields such as pharmacy, prescribing and drug discovery and development, or in biomedical or chemical sciences.
Graduates who decide that they want to pursue careers outside pharmacy may undertake a relevant vocational or postgraduate course to broaden their skills and increase their knowledge of other areas.
For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search postgraduate courses in pharmacy.
What do pharmacy graduates do?
The majority (88%) of pharmacy graduates working in the UK 15 months after graduation are working as pharmacists.
| Destination | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Employed | 66.7 |
| Further study | 7.7 |
| Working and studying | 10.5 |
| Unemployed | 5.7 |
| Other | 9.4 |
| Type of work | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Health | 94.2 |
| Technicians and other professionals | 0.7 |
| Business, HR and finance | 0.6 |
| Childcare, health and education | 0.5 |
| Other | 3.9 |
Find out what other graduates are doing after finishing their degrees in What do graduates do?
Graduate destinations data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
What Percent of Pharmacists Work in Retail
Source: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/pharmacy