This is a collaborative post
With the current cost of living crisis and an often unstable job market in general, many people are looking for a career that can provide them with flexibility, a good rate of pay, and a diversity of rewarding experiences.
Many find that locum pharmacy work ticks all of those boxes. As a healthcare professional, you’ll benefit from competitive pay, and from the knowledge that you’ll always be able to find work with relative ease. Let’s explore what you need to know about getting started.
Getting qualified
To become a qualified locum pharmacist in the UK, you first need to complete an MPharm degree. After that, you’ll have to spend a year in a paid training position, before you can take your final assessment. Then, you’ll be able to register with the GPhC (General Pharmaceutical Council) as a fully qualified pharmacist.
Seek experience
Getting locum pharmacy work will tend to become easier the more experience you get. Try to work in a number of different settings, to broaden your horizons. This could include local, community pharmacies, hospital settings, and even more research oriented environments. The more diverse your skill set and experiences are, the more likely you’ll be able to get the jobs you want to get.
Updating your CV and professional portfolio
While it’s important to get lots of experience, it’s perhaps equally important that you’re able to illustrate all of that experience to potential employers. Make sure that you constantly update your CV and professional profiles, so that you have it all ready to show when a position that you like the look of comes up.
Use locum agencies
Once you’re qualified and have the relevant experience, one of the most effective ways of getting locum pharmacist roles is to use a locum agency such as Pharma Seekers. You simply give them your CV and relevant qualifications, and then they’ll alert you to locum positions as and when they come up.
Be flexible
While you’ll likely have some clear ideas about the kinds of positions you want to work in, initially, you’ll have to be quite flexible. Some of the positions won’t be perfect – they might be in awkward locations or at slightly unfavourable hours, but the more experience you get, the easier you’ll find it to get positions that perfectly suit your requirements.
All the while, you’ll be building up your professional network, providing you with greater access to availability as soon as they come up.
This brief overview is obviously somewhat of an oversimplification, but it covers the main points of how to become a locum pharmacist. While it can take a while before you’re able to get the roles you really want – perhaps around 5 to 6 years from when you start your degree – once you’re fully qualified, you’ll have a career for life.
As any locum pharmacist will tell you, it’s absolutely an investment worth making in your future, especially in the current job market.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post