Personal Placement Service - decision time!

Personal Placement Service (PPS) is a service offered by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists which takes place at their Midyear Clinical Meeting (MCM).  It allows employers and potential employees to meet face-to-face for a mini-interview at Midyear.  In addition to traditional job opportunities, PPS is also a venue for those interested in pharmacy residencies.  Participation in PPS is not universal so it is important to understand the factors which will predict whether a PGY-1 residency program will participate in PPS.  The programs most likely to participate are:

• Large programs which offer both PGY-1 and PGY-2 positions
• Large employers which may also have multiple job openings as well
• Pharmaceutical industry fellowships
• Programs geographically located close to where the MCM will be held ( this will be Florida in 2013)

Decision time is here because early-bird prices for PPS applicants expire on October 21st (prices go from $70 to $130 for students).  Although the ASHP meeting is not until December, if you are interested in participating in PPS, you should consider getting started now so that you can secure an interview slot at the meeting.  Once you register for PPS, employers and residency directors will be able to find you in searches for PPS participants.  You will also be able to express your interest in participating programs.  Because PPS involves scheduled interview times, not everyone who wants an interview will receive one.  Programs will be looking for your qualifications as well as whether what they are offering matches what you are looking for.  

Although what happens at PPS is an "interview," different programs have different practices.  Some may treat PPS as a pre-screening activity where they will ask tough questions and try to get to know each applicant so that they can decide who moves to the next round.  Others will treat PPS as an opportunity to showcase their program and attract interested applicants.  It will be tough to determine which is which but if you are extended an offer to interview at PPS, it is always a good idea to ask whether there is anything specific you need to do to prepare for the interview.

To best take advantage of the PPS experience, avoid looking at programs which are located in your city.  Programs will want to use that time to look at applicants more geographically distant and you can always work on scheduling a visit with programs in your town when things are less hectic.  Make sure you make that face-to-face connection, however.  It is strange for a program to receive first contact with a local applicant when the application arrives.  You don't want the program to think they are your last choice or back-up program if they are not.

More about PPS will be posted on this web site in November.

Meetings Meetings Everywhere!

Today's blog post is about the wealth of pharmacy meetings which are scheduled between now and residency application deadlines (early January).  Each one offers slightly different professional development and/or residency applicant resources.  Lower student registration prices reflect the costs for members of the organization. Organized by date...

September 14th, 2013 Utah Society of Health-System Pharmacists ($40 for students)
University of Utah Campus (HSEB), Salt Lake City, Utah

• Opportunities to network with local residency preceptors and directors
• Residency "speed dating." Students rotate between stations to learn about PhORCAS, the Match, letters of reference, ASHP Midyear residency showcase, PPS, letters of intent

October 4th - 5th, 2013 Nevada Society of Health-System Pharmacists ($25 - $35)
John Ascuaga's Nugget, Reno, Nevada

• Opportunities to network with local residency preceptors and directors
• Professional development roundtables (details TBA)

October 12th - 16th, 2013 American College of Clinical Pharmacy ($165 - $230)
Albuquerque, New Mexico

• Opportunities to network with residency and fellowship preceptors and directors
• Residency-related programming:  Emerge from the crowd: how to become a standout residency candidate
• Clinical Pharmacy Career Path Roundtables where you can speak with practitioners about 15 different specialties in clinical pharmacy
• Opportunities to meet residency and fellowship preceptors and directors via the Residency and Fellowship Forum
• CV and portfolio development workshop
• Mock residency interviews

October 15th - 18th, 2013 Academy of Managed Care Pharmacists ($120 - $140)
San Antonio, Texas

• Opportunities to meet preceptors and directors via the showcase of managed care residencies and fellowships
• CV review clinic
• Programming on understanding the residency match

October 31st - November 3rd, 2013 California Society of Health-System Pharmacists Annual Seminar ($225 - $305)
Anaheim, California

• Opportunities to meet preceptors and directors via the residency showcase
• Student programming

December 8 - 12th, 2013 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Meeting ($270 - $375)
Orlando, Florida

• Opportunities to network with residency preceptors and directors
• Residency-related programming (the Match, applications, PhORCAS, interviews, PPS, CVs)
• Opportunities to meet preceptors and directors via the residency showcase
• Opportunities for a mini-interview with some residency programs

Pharmacy Specialties? There may or may not be student or residency-specific programming, but why not go to network? 

• Society of Infectious Disease Pharmacists (September 9th, Denver, Colorado)
• Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (September 27th, Chicago, Illinois)
• Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group (April 2014)
• College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (April 2014)

Scramble blues?

We've learned in the last few weeks that nothing has gone completely according to plans in the scramble.  It made sense to us that programs would want to see information from scramblers populate in their PhORCAS "inbox" starting on March 25th.  What happened instead is that perhaps programs were waiting to hear from those still interested in an effort to save students the time and expense of loading a bunch of stuff into PhORCAS without prior contact with the program.  We feel this is unfortunate and it may have put some students who were trying not to be a nuisance at a disadvantage over the "squeaky wheels."  We did hear of a few cases of programs responding with "don't email us" or "don't call us" so this was definitely not always the case.  We also wondered why students didn't seem to be given the opportunity to make changes to their pre-match application without forking over another $25 per program.  Dr. Sebranek spoke with Janet Teeters at ASHP last week and made her aware of this issue.  This is something they were definitely interested in hearing about.  Ms. Teeters couldn't confirm whether the cause of programs disappearing from PhORCAS before April 1 was the filling of positions or programs already receiving plenty of inquiries/applications.  She mentioned that the moratorium on offers before April 1 may become mandatory in the future.

What to do now?

Option 1: Keep your eyes peeled for new positions coming open in PhORCAS.  Since there is no cost to the programs, it would seem they would want to put their openings in there.  In case inertia is the issue, keep your eyes peeled in other places as well such as the pharmacy association email distribution lists and web sites which display openings (especially ACCP).  Continue to let people in your area and in your speciality (ex. managed care) know you are still looking.

Option 2: Start planning for next year.  Look for job openings in areas which are related to your practice site of interest.  Think about casting a wide geographic net and don't forget about rural areas where demand might be higher.  One Roseman student started working per diem for a hospital shortly after graduation.  This position eventually turned into a full-time night-shift position. That position eventually turned into a 9 - 5 M-F shift in a hospital in another city.

Hang in there and continue to feel free to reach out to Dr. Sebranek or myself for assistance.

Upcoming Dates -- Residency Match 2013

March 22, 2013 at 12:00 PM Eastern Time

• Match results are released to applicants and program directors.
• The PhORCAS application portal will be reopened so that unmatched applicants may begin updating their information (CVs, letters of intent, letters of recommendation, etc.).  Previous information will be accessible in the system for students who used PhORCAS pre-match.
• The list of programs with openings will be preloaded into PhORCAS.
• New applicants may participate in the scramble however they must register for the match and PhORCAS and pay associated fees. 
• New programs and new positions for existing programs can be added.

March 25, 2013 (update: 12:00 PM Eastern Time)

• Designation portal is again open to applicants in PhORCAS. No distinction will be made between "in progress" and "complete" applications. The fees of $25 per application will again apply.
• Programs may designate a new application deadline or they may keep the default deadline of May 31, 2013.   April 1, 2013
• Available applicant list is posted for programs.

April 1, 2013

• The Commission on Credentialing has asked for a moratorium on position offers to applicants until this date in an effort to give programs and applicants sufficient time to make good decisions without the fear of competition with the best applicants/programs. This is non-binding but Dr. Sebranek and I believe this recommendation will be followed by the residency programs.
• Programs will begin to remove remaining unmatched positions as they are filled

April 22, 2013

• Matched applicants must sign and return their letter of confirmation to their residency program.

May 31, 2013

• PhORCAS closes for the post-match process.

What will you be asking during interviews?

Most candidates will go through the process leaving a favorable or neutral impression, but occasionally candidates come up with questions which are perceived very negatively by the residency program.  They are negative because they are judgemental or delve into privacy issues.  Other questions which leave a negative impression are those which leave the residency preceptors with an impression that the candidate doesn't want to work hard or that the candidate is "high maintenance."  Here are some examples of questions which are best left out of your interview.

1. What problem areas were identified during the last ASHP accreditation visit?  It's fine to ask about what the program is hoping to improve upon; it is not okay to try to identify "dings" from accrediting bodies.
2. Why was so-and-so ex-resident let go from this residency program? Personnel issues are private as all pharmacy residents are considered employees.  There is really not a good way to ask about this topic. 
3. Why did so-and-so ex-resident quit this residency program? See #2 above.
4. Why did this program have an unmatched position last year (or the year before, etc.)? Because the matching process starts with the candidate and not the program, there are many reasons the program may have an unmatched position which may have nothing to do with the program's quality.  Sometimes the highly competitive programs are all going after a common pool of candidates, for example. Use other questions to try to assess the quality of the program but keep in mind that you should also be thinking about "fit."
5. What time would I be allowed to leave for the day as a pharmacy resident? This question implies that there is something in this resident's life which is a greater priority than the residency.  Candidates indeed have practicality concerns when it comes to childcare and similar responsibilities, but consider instead asking the current residents about the hours of their "typical day."
6. How did I do on the interview? Even if you have done well, this will leave a negative impression because it makes it seem like you are needy for constant feedback.  Asking this question is not worth the risk because you can't change how you did and even if they think you are a good fit, another candidate may outrank you.
7. Where will you rank me or how many candidates will you be ranking? This relates to the question above.  The "how many candidates" question is a problem because there may be candidates who will not be ranked and answering the question may reveal which candidates fall into that category.
8. How many candidates were interviewed? The temptation to try to calculate where you will end up in the match is very high in this process. It is far more valuable to focus your efforts on asking detailed questions about the residency as that will help sell your committment to finding the best residency for you vs. revealing your anxiety about "getting something" in the end.

Copy and Paste? Not a bad idea but fix the formatting

I'm posting again today because I've identified an interesting problem. Some of the institution names are very long and complicated.  Here's an example: University of North Carolina Hospitals and Clinics/UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.  I talked to a bunch of people from this institution shortly after their name changed and they often forgot the "Eshelman School of Pharmacy" partly because it was new.  This was an amusing joke to the offenders, but it is not taken the same way when someone from the outside messes things up.

The point I'm trying to make is that the people at these institutions will know the name of their facility intimately and will notice it immediately if you refer to it as a "Medical Center" when it is a "Hospital" or when you leave out "at Brooklyn," "at Stanford" or "& Trauma Center" at the end of the institution's name.  Misspellings will also leave a negative impression.  When in doubt, use the name from the ASHP residency database as that is the name they will use in PhORCAS and the Match.  Include the whole lengthy drawn out name, even though it doesn't fit very well on the page.  Leaving something out could offend the wrong person and you never know...

This advice applies to your letters of intent and attached letters used by your references.

ASHP online residency database searching TRICK!

The searching abilities of ASHP's online residency directory are very limited.  If one wants to search things other than city, state, zip or program name from the gigantic list of PGY-1s, some additional tricks are necessary.  Google lets you search within a web domain.  All pages within the residency directory are within the same web site domain, which lets you search by keywords within that domain.  Here's how it works.

Step 1: Copy and paste the URL from this page through the word "directory/"

Step 2: Go to the google search page and paste in that partial web address.  Type into the search box "site:" and make sure there is no space between site and the "http" part of the address.

Step 3: Put a space after "directory" and then put in the term you want to search for.  Here's an example of a search for "transplant"

Gearing up for Midyear!

Step 1: Registration

The base meeting registration fee is $255 for students who are members and $355 for students who are not members of ASHP.  This fee provides you with access to all of the following:

• Keynote presentation (Bill Clinton)
• Educational symposia from Sunday - Thursday (except ambulatory "intensive study")
• The residency showcase
• All poster sessions
• All industry exhibits

There are other activities associated with additional fees which range betwen $80 and $295 each.  Many are courses for pharmacists about how to run a residency program (RLS) and courses for pharmacists needing to recertify for a certain credential (like BCACP).  The only one of these activities targeted towards students is the board prep on Saturday. 

Step 2: Personal Placement Service

This is a separate registration and fee which allows you to interview with employers and/or residency programs at the meeting.  The fee for students is $125.  Not all residency programs participate in PPS and PPS participation does not guarantee you will be granted an interview with your desired site at the meeting.  You need to contact them, provide a copy of your CV and then be invited to interview at PPS.  To check whether a program you are considering is participating in PPS, please check this online list.  This list is expected to change frequently between now and the meeting.  Not all programs listed are recruiting for PGY-1 residencies so it might be advisable to contact them directly.

If you are considering PPS, register early so that potential employers/programs can find you and contact you.  Setting up interviews if you register for PPS on site might be problematic if all of the interview slots have been booked by candidates who registered in advance.

Step 3: Network

Many colleges of pharmacy and large health systems conduct social functions at the Midyear in order to develop new contacts and reconnect with alumni.  Roseman's social function will be held Monday night at the Luxor and is open to all Roseman students registered for the meeting.  For other social events, it is recommended that you wait to be invited rather than spontaneously dropping in on a social event.  If you do attend, make sure you are wearing your most formal business attire.  Students in cocktail attire will stand out in a bad way.

Step 4: Residency Showcase

Start with a list of which programs strongly interest you.  Make sure you have researched each one thoroughly using the ASHP Residency Directory and the program's own web site.  Write down questions that you want to ask each program.  Not all programs should be asked the same questions since each will have different information available in the directory and on their web site.  Visit the Midyear web site to figure out which program will be in the showcase on which day since different programs have booth space on each day.  The showcase will be open on Monday from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m., on Tuesday from 8:00 - 11:00 a.m., and on Tuesday from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.  As of this posting, a list of dates for specific programs was not available; however, in "early November" per the web site, ASHP will provide an Excel file which can be sorted and filtered to help you figure out how to find the programs you are wishing to talk to by booth number.  There will also be an interactive floor plan map which can help you find exactly where on the very large exhibit floor each program will be.