If you are looking to make your career in the medical fields, consider the best employment would be as a pharmacist. Pharmacy is the most growing field in India, in the medical fields. So there are multiple career opportunities for pharmacy students and biotechnology students or recent graduates.
In this article, we will discuss the role & responsibilities and requirements for being a pharmacist and we will also present a list of 16 potential opportunities in pharmacy field.
Requirements for a pharmacy career
Before you start career in the pharmacy field, ensure to consider the level of education you will need for your desired role. You may become an entry-level pharmacy clerk with a high school diploma, but advanced positions require doctoral or professional degrees.
Whichever pharmacy role you decide to chase, this requires strict attention to detail and a concrete understanding of the effects of pharmaceuticals. Pharmacists should fill prescriptions accurately and should ensure that the medications are safe for the patients and do not provoke any side effect, existing allergies or conditions. They should have a compassionate attitude toward patients, advice them on their medicinal regimen and prior inform about any possible side effects from the given prescription.
As their role requires frequent interactions with medical professionals, customers, medical suppliers, staff, and others, good communication skills are required. They require strong leadership and managerial skills to oversee their employees. Additionally, they should be able to manage the expenses, budget and finances and maintain dispensary accounts. Pharmacists also have to manage and handle the pharmaceutical inventory, oversee its storage & procure new stocks as required.
What does a pharmacist do?
Pharmacists fill prescriptions in pharmacies attached to clinics & hospitals or retail pharmacies. They also dispense over-the-counter medications after evaluating a patient’s requirements. Likewise, Other pharmacy career options include working for pharmaceutical companies, food & beverage companies, laboratories, and research organizations.
The pharmacists mainly involved in pharmaceutical research, quality assurance, and drug development. Another career avenue is writing on pharmacy related points for newspapers, science journals, and other media. Additionally, they may work as lecturer or professor in research institutions and universities. In all instances, they must follow with the appropriate legal and regulatory requirements.
Now lets talk about different fields of pharmacy and different types of career option in pharmaceutical fields. Read the total article from start to end carefully to understand the scope of pharmacy in India. You may find out the career that you may like to choose.
- Private hospital pharmacist
- Govt. hospital pharmacist
- E-commerce pharmacist
- Retail Store Pharmacist
- Industrial Pharmacist
- Teacher of pharmacy institutes
- Pharmaceutical production Industry
- Pharmaceutical Marketing
- Clinical Research Pharmacist
- Research fellowship
- Drug Inspector
- Jobs in food & health department.
- Start writing health care article
- Open a pharmacy shop
- Start working with the journal publishers
1. Private hospital pharmacist
The central and state, both government hospitals require pharmacists. Normally D.Pharm is their least requirement. But M.Pharm and B.Pharm students can also apply for the hospital pharmacist employments.
You will get a good amount of salary from this job.
You may find these jobs update and openings from the newspapers notification section and health department official websites.
2. Govt. hospital pharmacist
There is a lot of private hospital companies like Narayana Health, Apollo, Manipal hospital etc. They always need lot of pharmacists in their pharmacy department.
You have to make a proper Resume. Then go to websites of those companies and find out the career section of the company website and submit your resume there.
They will inform you by email or call if they have any vacancy in the same position you have applied for.
You can also connect them by direct calling to given number on the contact us section of their website or you may use your source.
3. E-commerce pharmacist
There is a lot of e-commerce pharmacy companies like Pharm easy, Medlife, Sasta sunder, Netmed, 1mg, etc. Now a days the internet users are increasing in India very rapidly, that is why the online pharmacy stores are also increasing to fulfill customer’s requirements. So in future E-commerce pharmacists going to be a vast pharmacy career option in India. There is a high demand for online executive pharmacists in India. Any pharmacy degree like D.Pharm, B.Pharm, M.Pharm and Pharm.D, holder can apply for these job.
4. Retail Store Pharmacist
In every cities, there are many retail pharmacies. Retail pharmacy chain companies like Medicare, Frank Ross, etc. they are hiring pharmacists. You can easily ask for jobs directly or by calling them or by career option section on company’s websites.
5. Industrial Pharmacist
In any large industry, there must be a health or medical center. They all need pharmacists. They will pay really very good amount of salary. You should have a direct connection with someone there, who is a currently working in that industry. Because these companies do not advertise for any vacancies.
Industries like Ambuja Cement, Coal India, etc.
6. Teacher of Pharmacy institutes
In case you like to teach & share your knowledge with the upcoming generation pharmacists, so teaching is the good profession option for you.
You should have an M.Pharma degree for the assistant professor position in Govt. or private pharmacy institutes or colleges.
If you have done Ph.D., then you may apply for a Professor post.
You can ask those institute’s management department for the job of assistant professor by contacting them directly or through the e-mail and attach your bio-data there. If they have any vacancies, they will connect you.
7. Pharmaceutical production Industry
The pharmaceutical manufacturing or production industry is a very large platform for pharmacy students to get the job. There are many pharmaceutical production outlets at Gujrat, Sikkim, Tamilnadu, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, etc. in India.
Production, Storage, quality assurance, quality control, etc. departments are in pharmaceutical production industries. So there are various pharma opportunities are available in market.
You can very easily find out the job opportunities by searching it on google or you can register and upload your resume on websites like Naukri.com, Monsterindia.com and linked.in, etc.
8. Pharmaceutical Marketing
Pharmaceutical Marketing is the most supreme and important field.
Companies pay a good amount of money in this field. Many a times sales incentives also gets added to the salaries according to the fulfillment of sales target.
You can easily apply for this job by registering on Naukri.com, Monsterindia.com and linked.in, etc. websites.
9. Clinical Research Pharmacist
Clinical Research is one most crucial parts of the clinical field. So this is also a good job opportunity for pharmacists.
Drug safety, Pharmacovigilance, adverse event management, etc. departments are there.
You can easily search and apply for these types of jobs. They will pay good pay-package according to your performance.
There is various service-based IT company like, TCS, Wipro, Cognizant etc.
10. Research fellowship
If you are interested in innovation or transformation or want to research on drugs or drug distribution systems, then you may go for the research fellowship.
You should be a NET qualified or GRADUATE PHARMACY APTITUDE TEST (GPAT) qualified candidate.
Research fellowship students can get a good amount of paycheck from Govt. of India.
Various pharma companies are waiting for suitable pharma students for research & development employment.
11. Drug Inspector
The Drug Inspector is a very honorable and prestigious job opportunity for pharmacists.
Both State and Central governments need Drug Inspectors. But you should be eligible and crack the required government exam for getting in to it.
12. Jobs in food & health department.
There is a lot of employment opportunities in Government foods & health department.
A pharmacy student can look for that job and can easily get those jobs. There are job position like Health assistant.
So you should follow all the notification or advertisement of vacancies of government food & health department portals.
13. Start writing health care article
If you have a good knowledge & understanding of drug or medical topics and if you have the good writing skill then go for the job of the health and medical content writer.
You can apply to companies like Omics international, Cognizant, etc.
However, you should have a minimum B.Pharm. degree with you before applying for these kind of jobs.
14. Open a pharmacy shop
You may start your very own medicine shop:
It has been observed most of the pharmacy qualified do not want to open a pharmacy shop.
May be they do not have enough money to invest or they may not want to take any risk or other difficulties. But starting your own pharmacy shop is a very scalable and profitable business.
You just need a trade license and a drug license, A pharmacy student has his own drug license for it.
Start franchise medicine shop:
In the Market, There are lot of pharmacy retail chain companies like Medplus Pharmacy, Netmeds Pharmacy, Apollo Pharmacy, etc. They are looking for franchise partners. You can apply for those franchise. For this business, you just need a drug license, a shop, and 10 to 15 lakh rupees of investment. This is Now-a-days one of the fastest growing fields in the pharmacy retail sector.
You can search for a pharmacy franchise on franchiseindia.com.
15. Start working with the journal publishers
There are a lot of drug & medical research journals publishing organizations.
They want journal editors and writers. You must have good writing skills, So that is a good pharma career for you.
Pharmacy students (M. Pharm, B.Pharm & Ph.D.) can look for jobs in the organizations like Omics international.
Hope this article will help to clarify on career that you may like to choose. ALL THE BEST!!