Official Journal of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Pharmacists’ perceptions of career opportunities in Australia

Hayley Taylor, BPharm(Hons)1, Greg Kyle, BPharm, MClinPharm, PhD2, Lynn Cheong, BPharm, PhD1
1 Discipline of Pharmacy, The University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia
2 Discipline of Pharmacy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

Abstract
Background: Anecdotal reports of an oversupply of pharmacy graduates are a growing concern for Australian pharmacists. How-
ever, limited data exists regarding pharmacists’ employment experiences and perceptions of current career opportunities in Aus-
tralia.
Aim: To understand Australian pharmacists’ and pharmacy interns’ employment experiences by exploring their satisfaction and per-
spectives on current employment opportunities.
Method: An electronic survey was distributed to pharmacists and pharmacy interns across Australia between March and June 2016.
National professional organisations for pharmacists assisted with the distribution of the survey. Follow-up interviews were con-
ducted to further explore survey findings.
Results: A total of 306 individuals completed the survey (83% pharmacists; 17% interns). The majority of pharmacists and interns
reported high satisfaction with current employment and professional practice opportunities; however, there is a misalignment
between their rated satisfaction and their perspectives on future employment prospects. Key themes that emerged included personal
networks for employment, salary and location, and concerns for the future of the profession. The results suggested a confused work-
force that are glad to have jobs, but not confident that they could move to other positions if required, or further, that there will be
even fewer jobs available in the future.
Conclusion: This study provided valuable insight to the Australian Pharmacist workforce, by improving our understanding of phar-
macists’ employment experiences and perspectives. Further exploration of themes identified in this study is required to better inform
the future of pharmacy professional practice and employment.

Keywords: pharmacists, intern pharmacists, pharmacy workforce, pharmacy job market, Pharmacy Practice.

INTRODUCTION support or refute that this perception is held by pharma-

In the past two decades, various factors have influenced
the employment market for pharmacists and interns.
Until 2007, the pharmacy media routinely reported an
Australian and international shortage of pharmacists
and not enough graduates to meet demand.1,2 Since
2007, a ‘doom and gloom’ outlook of graduate employ-
ment opportunities has been expressed, with graduate
oversupply becoming the new buzzword for current
and future pharmacists.3,4 This generates a belief that
the workforce is saturated, and there is a surplus of
pharmacists looking for work.5 Little data exist to
Address for correspondence: Hayley Taylor, Discipline of Pharmacy,
The University of Canberra, University Drive, Bruce, Australian Cap-
ital Territory 2617, Australia.
E-mail: u3068347@uni.canberra.edu.au
Subjects provided informed consent and this research was
approved by the UC Human Research Ethics Committee (approval
number: [UC-HREC file number: 15–215])
cists within Australia.
Current publications surrounding this topic discuss
the increase in pharmacy schools generating a ‘graduate
oversupply’ and a consequent shortage of job opportuni-
ties in metropolitan areas.6–8 In contrast, some publica-
tions also describe an undersupply in rural areas.6,7 The
increase in pharmacy schools was triggered by an inter-
national shortage of pharmacists from 2003 until 2007,
which was the stimulus for this increase.8 Among the
countries that increased pharmacy graduates, Australia’s
increase was most prominent. Some believe an increase
in the pharmacist population is threatening; however,
other literature states that increasing graduate numbers
is actually beneficial to the profession by enabling phar-
macy to address its clinical and primary healthcare
roles, and expand professional roles.9
Mak et al.10 conducted a small-scale research project
in 2010, which investigated the pharmacist workforce
employment status, practice profile and job satisfaction

© 2018 The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (2018)
doi: 10.1002/jppr.1377
2 H. Taylor et al.
levels in Victoria and South Australia. However, their
research was limited because the questionnaire was only
sent to registered pharmacists in two states; conse-
quently, their findings may not be nationally generalis-
able. Furthermore, as the survey was conducted 7 years
ago, the results may now be outdated.
In Ontario, Canada, a similar study into postgraduate
employment experiences was conducted.11 This study
surveyed recent graduates from pharmacy programs in
Ontario, with a follow-up telephone interview to discuss
their experiences in greater detail.11 This study was also
limited as it only sampled recent graduates and did not
provide any indication of employment experiences of
pharmacists at other career stages.
There is a range of other literature that skirts around
these issues, but does not directly address current phar-
macist employment opportunities and experiences in
Australia.12–15 Findings from this research project will
provide valuable insights to fill the information gap,
inform new graduates about the current situation for
employment, and add evidence to this space.
No other studies were found about perceptions of
and/or effects on pharmacist employment prospects and
career opportunities across career stages, demonstrating
project novelty.
The aims of this project were to:
1 survey pharmacists and pharmacy interns across
Australia to determine their opinions about the
pharmacist employment situation
2 explore the reasons for these opinions in a sub-
sample of respondents, and
3 compare responses from early career (10 years or
less pharmacist experience and interns) and more
experienced pharmacists (over 10 years registra-
tion).
METHOD
An electronic survey was conducted between March and
June 2016. Australian registered pharmacists and phar-
macy interns were recruited through the Pharmaceutical
Society of Australia (PSA), The Society of Hospital Phar-
macists of Australia (SHPA), Australian Association of
Consultant Pharmacy (AACP), and the Pharmacy Guild
(Guild), to ensure the maximum breadth of pharmacists
was included in the study to generate a representative
sample. This involved advertising through their social
media (e.g. Facebook), websites and sending the survey
link to their affiliated pharmacist and intern members via
emails and newsletters directly from the organisations.
This study was approved by the University of Canberra
Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (2018)
Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number:
[UC-HREC file number: 15–215]).
To participate, pharmacists and interns clicked the
web-link and completed a 24-question online survey.
These questions were adapted from the Canadian
study11 but tailored to an Australian environment. The
question types included multiple choice, Likert scale rat-
ings and free-text boxes. Basic demographic information,
current professional practice position and employment
situation, main area(s) of work and comparison of
expected versus reality of professional satisfaction and
salaries were also requested. Pharmacists and interns
were asked to voluntarily provide contact details, if they
consented to be contacted for a semi-structured tele-
phone interview during late July 2016 (full consent form
was emailed and returned before the interview). There
was no linkage possible between survey responses and
follow-up interview responses as no identifying details
were requested in the online survey.
This project used a mixed-methods approach. The
quantitative data was analysed in Statistical Product and
Service Solution v.23 (SPSS)16, using descriptive statistics
and Chi-squared analysis. The Chi-squared analysis was
completed for the main four-point Likert scale on the
overall satisfaction of professional practice position by
collapsing and dichotomising the results to take the four
options (strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly dis-
agree) into two (agree or disagree). The qualitative data
from the open text questions, and follow-up telephone
interviews were thematically analysed using NVivo
v.11.17 The qualitative data and interview transcriptions
were coded by investigator one (HT) and then reviewed
by investigator two (LC) to develop consensus on emerg-
ing themes and determine any recurring patterns using
repeated words by participants. Any discordance in cod-
ing was resolved by consensus.
RESULTS
Of the 355 participants who attempted the survey, 306
participants completed the majority of all questions. Of
the 306 respondents, 83% were registered pharmacists
and 17% were interns, with the majority (71%) of partic-
ipants aged younger than 35 years. Two-thirds of partic-
ipants were female (67%), which is similar to data from
the Pharmacy Board of Australia (61% female).18
Table 1 shows a good spread of completed surveys
from different states, not dissimilar to Pharmacy Board
data. Despite the majority of participants being early-
career pharmacists (10 years or less pharmacist experi-
ence), 31% of respondents had been registered more
than 10 years. Similarly, the majority of participants
© 2018 The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia
Pharmacists’ perceptions of career opportunities 3

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of respondents

Pharmacy Board data18

Survey responses (where available)

Age of respondent (n = 306)

18–24 years 22% 9%
25–29 years 31% 21%
30–34 years 18% 19%
35–39 years 8% 13%
40–44 years 6% 9%
45–49 years 4% 7%
50–54 years 3% 7%
55–59 years 6% 6%
60–64 years 1% 4%
80+ years 1% 5%
Male-to-female ratio 33%: 67% 39%: 61%
Primary registrable pharmacy degree (n = 306)
BPharm 83%
MPharm 15%
Other 2%
Current employment situation (n = 306)
Full-time in the pharmacy profession as an employee 68%
Full-time in the pharmacy profession as an owner/partner 3%
Full-time but not in the pharmacy profession 2%
Part-time in only the pharmacy profession as an employee 20%
Part-time in only the pharmacy profession as an owner/partner 1%
Part-time partly in the pharmacy profession and partly outside 3%
pharmacy
Unemployed/ no longer working (but not retired) 3%
State /territory predominately working in (n = 306)
ACT (18) 6% 3%
NSW (91) 30% 31%
NT (11) 4% 1%
QLD (60) 20% 20%
SA (21) 6% 7%
TAS (6) 2% 2%
VIC (75) 24% 25%
WA (24) 8% 11%
Main areas of work (participant could select all that apply) (n = 306)
Direct patient care in community pharmacy or hospital setting (245) 80%
Independent consultant pharmacist work (30) 10%
Practice or business management (27) 9%
Retail, non-professional activities (38) 12%
Industrial pharmacist activities (10) 3%
Academic work (16) 5%
Research activities (14) 5%
Post-graduate study in pharmacy (13) 4%
Other post-graduate study (12) 4%
Government or regulatory (14) 5%
Pharmacy owner (6) 2%
Administration activities (20) 7%
Other (30) 10%
e.g. medicines information, project management, healthcare
consultant for health IT company, clinical trials, pharmacist with
ICON cancer care, consultant and advisory role in health IT and
director pharmacy services.
Any additional pharmacy qualifications (n = 306)
No 54%
Yes 46%

© 2018 The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (2018)
4 H. Taylor et al.
Table 1 (continued)
PhARIA of main place of employment (n = 306)
Category 1 (highly accessible)
Category 2 (accessible – group A)
Category 3 (accessible – group B)
Category 4 (moderately accessible)
Category 5 (remote)
Category 6 (very remote)
Unsure
Estimated distance from primary residence to primary site of practice
(km)
Early career pharmacist or experienced (n = 306)
Early career pharmacist (212)
Experienced pharmacist (94)
PhARIA = Pharmacy Accessibility Remoteness Index of Australia
(68%) worked full-time in the pharmacy profession as
an employee, with a minority of participants (20%)
working part-time. Full details are provided in Table 1.
The overall satisfaction with current practice positions
showed that pharmacists are slightly less satisfied than
interns (Table 2). When asked to reflect on salary expec-
tations, 49% of pharmacists and 47% of interns reported
lower salaries than expected. Participants were asked
about any prior negotiations with their employer about
securing a better package, with 66% of pharmacists and
91% of interns accepting employment offers without
negotiation.
Both respondent groups shared similar views when
asked to reflect on the length of time taken to secure
their current position, with 49% of both respondent
groups taking less than 1 month.
In a free-text question where participants were asked
about the main issues they think are currently influenc-
ing employment in pharmacy, 233 participants provided
free-text comments. Some participants noted a ‘lack of
career progression’, while others acknowledged a lack
of opportunity, but stated that ‘pharmacists need to
look outside traditional roles and seek to expand prac-
tice into emerging areas’. Negative comments on excess
student numbers affecting the job market were also
noted by 31 participants. However, respondents noted a
problem with pharmacists’ reluctance to move into rural
and remote locations by 17 participants, aligning with
other comments made stating that competition in the
job market is not an issue in these regions. Selected
comments are grouped into themes and provided in
Table 3.
Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (2018)
Pharmacy Board data18
Survey responses (where available)
60%
6%
4%
5%
3%
1%
21%
Mean: 14.9 km
Range: 0.3–1000 km
69%
31%
Average years registered: 23 years
Maximum: 42 years
Table 4 includes selected examples of quotations from
the follow-up semi-structured interviews.
EMPLOYMENT/VACANCY
Networks
Many respondents reported that the pharmacy employ-
ment marketplace was dominated by personal networks
rather than jobs on merit. It was particularly noted that
in the private sector ‘If you had some key contacts you
could find employment’. Participants stated that ‘Many
jobs go unadvertised, and it is through the word of
mouth that these pharmacists have found employment’.
It was noted by many that pharmacy is a small industry
and pharmacists need to create a personal brand for
themselves. If someone knows that you are hardwork-
ing, you could be recommended to an employer, or if
you are already within that pharmacy group it defi-
nitely gave you an advantage. One participant stated
that ‘It is important in this career to establish networks
and get to know people who then may be influential in
providing you opportunities when they arise’. Many
interviewees reported getting their current job through
networking events, placements, working already in the
same pharmacy group, getting involved in pharmacy
organisations and essentially ‘just getting their name out
there’ and leaving an impression. Conversely, it was
found that if pharmacists had not networked and did
not know any contacts, then they found it more difficult
to gain employment, as the employers seemed to use
the pharmacists they knew.
© 2018 The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia
Pharmacists’ perceptions of career opportunities 5

Table 2 Comparison between intern and pharmacists’ results

Intern (n) % Pharmacist (n) %

Total (n = 306) (53) 17% (253) 83%

Type of professional practice position
Full-time permanent salaried position with benefits, e.g. car (5) 11% (74) 29%
Full-time permanent salaried position without benefits (20) 41% (64) 25%
Multiple part-time salaried positions all with benefits, e.g. car (0) 0% (3) 1%
Multiple part-time salaried positions, only some with benefits (0) 0% (9) 4%
Multiple part-time salaried positions without benefits (0) 0% (16) 6%
Full-time contract position <6 months duration (1) 2% (5) 2%
Full-time contract position >6 months duration (17) 34% (12) 5%
Other (e.g. locum, casual, as needed, etc.) (2) 4% (37) 15%
Single part-time job with benefits, e.g. car (0) 0% (10) 4%
Single part-time job without benefits (4) 8% (23) 9%
Expectations for type of professional practice position(s) align with actual position itself?
Very satisfied with alignment (13) 30% (43) 18%
Satisfied with alignment (19) 44% (114) 50%
Unsatisfied with alignment (7) 16% (53) 23%
Very unsatisfied with alignment (4) 10% (20) 9%
General satisfaction with quality of first professional practice position
Very satisfied with quality (13) 30% (44) 19%
Satisfied with quality (21) 49% (108) 48%
Unsatisfied with quality (7) 16% (54) 23%
Very unsatisfied with quality (2) 5% (24) 10%
Reflecting on salary expectations before starting current position, how does your salary reflect those expectations
Higher (5) 11% (25) 11%
About the same (18) 42% (93) 40%
Lower (20) 47% (112) 49%
Length of job search time required to secure professional practice position
<1 month (21) 49% (112) 49%
1–3 months (13) 30% (59) 25%
3–6 months (4) 10% (18) 8%
>6 months (5) 11% (41) 18%
Number of hours worked per week of pharmacy employment across Mean: 39.2 Mean: 36.9
all practice sites (n = 43/230) Range: 20–40 Range: 0–90
Expectations for hours/week employment align with your actual hours/week employment
Very satisfied with alignment (10) 24% (50) 22%
Satisfied with alignment (28) 65% (119) 52%
Unsatisfied with alignment (4) 9% (46) 20%
Very unsatisfied with alignment (1) 2% (15) 6%
Expectations or preferences for geographic location of primary site of practice align with your actual geographic location
Very satisfied with alignment (20) 47% (88) 39%
Satisfied with alignment (11) 25% (95) 41%
Unsatisfied with alignment (10) 23% (37) 16%
Very unsatisfied with alignment (2) 5% (10) 4%
Changed primary residence specifically for the purpose of Yes: 30% Yes: 25%
employment No: 70% No: 75%
If yes, estimated distance moved (km) Mean: 446 km (20–2774 km) Mean: 1073 km (8–5000 km)
Overall general satisfaction with employment and practice conditions
Very satisfied (16) 37% (34) 15%
Satisfied (13) 30% (96) 42%
Unsatisfied (12) 28% (64) 28%
Very unsatisfied (2) 5% (36) 15%
Number of advertisements/recruitment notices applied to prior to Mean: 7.5 (0–60) Mean: 4.8 (0–200)
securing current position (n = 35/157)
Number of unsolicited telephone calls (cold calls) made to prospective Mean: 3.8 (0–30) Mean: 3.1 (0–200)
employers (n = 30/152)
Number of job interviews attended (n = 40/178) Mean: 3.0 (0–6) Mean: 2.9 (0–200)

© 2018 The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (2018)
6 H. Taylor et al.

Table 2 (continued)

Intern (n) % Pharmacist (n) %

Prior to finalising current position of employment, negotiated with employer to secure better salary, benefits, moving or car allowance,
payment of registration/examination fees, continuing education support, workplace/practice conditions or any other aspects of
employment
Successfully negotiated change in initial offer related to (0) 0% (49) 21%
employment
Negotiated but was unsuccessful in changing offer related to (4) 9% (30) 13%
employment
Did not negotiate any aspects of employment offer; accepted (39) 91% (151) 66%
offer ‘as is’
Satisfaction with quality of patient care services provided at current workplace
Very satisfied (10) 23% (51) 21%
Satisfied (26) 61% (108) 47%
Unsatisfied (7) 16% (43) 19%
Very unsatisfied (0) 0% (15) 7%
No direct patient care provided at my workplace (0) 0% (13) 6%

Table 3 Sample quotations from the free-text boxes around the main issues influencing employment in pharmacy

What are the main issues currently influencing employment in pharmacy:

Employment opportunities
‘Over-enrolment of students leading to an excess of graduates’
‘Lack of opportunity – pharmacists need to look outside traditional roles and seek to expand practice into emerging areas’
‘Lack of career progression’
‘Very limited number of jobs for new pharmacy graduates/oversupply of pharmacists’
‘I would never have started my degree if I knew I couldn’t get into hospital pharmacy, and I knew that I was destined for community
pharmacy –hate having to help customers choose lipstick colours after 9 years study in total – hate community pharmacy’
‘Very poor community wages’
‘Older pharmacists are staying in the profession longer’
‘Pharmacy owners who are exploiting loopholes to own more than the legal amount of pharmacies and making it impossible for the
next generation of pharmacy owners’
Working conditions
‘Busy workplace reducing quality of patient care and forcing staff to overwork’
‘Money-hungry owners who overlook employees’ work satisfaction for monetary gains’
‘Poor working conditions’
Rural issues
‘People unwilling to move to rural areas to get work’
‘Competition in the job market, not so much an issue in rural and regional areas however’
‘New pharmacists are not willing to move to rural/remote locations’
Pharmacy profession
‘Pharmacy turning into a shop-keeping industry – losing respect as a health professional’
‘Erosion of the professional image of the profession from the promotion of discount pharmacy chains that focus heavily on cost and
profit margin’
‘The need to increase the scope of practice (which is happening but very slowly) to get back the professional pride that has been lost
(that is why most young pharmacists, such as myself, are using the profession as a stepping stone) – pharmacists feel like they are
dispensing monkeys’
‘Lack of management and leadership within the profession’

them in the government budget. Two hospital pharma-

Hospital Pharmacists’ Perspectives
cists interviewed expressed concerns about ‘being over-
In the hospital sector there were views that there are worked, understaffed and with huge pharmacist-to-
plenty of jobs available for pharmacists, but no room for patient ratio’. These ratios for example were as large as

Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (2018) © 2018 The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia
Pharmacists’ perceptions of career opportunities
Table 4 Sample quotations from follow-up semi-structured interviews (n = 11 participants)
Interview guide prompt
Tell me about the kind of practice
environment you are working in right
now?
How would you describe the current job
market for pharmacists in Australia?
What advice would you give someone
looking for a job as a pharmacist in
Australia right now?
Looking back on the process you took to
get hired, what would you have done
differently?
What are the best and worst things about
your current main job?
Why do you believe that pharmacists are
unwilling to negotiate better salary,
despite an apparent disappointing
salary?
Have you ever-changed geographic
locations based on career progression?
© 2018 The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia
7
Sample quotations
‘I work in a community pharmacy in Brisbane’
‘I work in a public hospital pharmacy. I have a split position where I work as a
rotational pharmacist, and working in clinical trials as the clinical trials pharmacist,
dispensing clinical trials medications and managing all of the special access’
‘For me, it was within the same pharmacy group that I’ve actually worked with as a
pharmacy student and now intern’
‘I applied for a few places and applied at this place at the recommendation of a friend
and went for the interview and I basically got the job after that’
‘Straight from uni, I applied for an internship at this same hospital. In the December of
my intern year, I applied for a permanent position and got it’
‘To give you an idea, I’ve got two clinical pharmacists for 180 beds. I feel really sorry
for them, they are being worked to the bone, beyond their ratios, beyond what they
could possibly fit in to the working week’
‘Internships are especially not hard to come by if you are prepared to move out of your
comfort zone, and more than 10 km away from where you live’
‘Compared to other health professionals pharmacists have quite reasonable job
prospects after graduation’
‘If you are unsuccessful finding a job where you want to work, you just need to be
prepared to look outside the area you were wanting’
‘Huge amounts of applications, particularly for intern positions where there might only
be one or two positions available and over 100 applications. This begs the question,
where do all these interns go when they can only take one or two?’
‘If you have some key contacts you can find employment’
‘Many jobs go unadvertised, and it is through the word of mouth that pharmacists
have found employment’
‘It is important in this career to establish networks and get to know people who then
may be influential in providing you opportunities when they arise’
‘You can’t just be lazy and expect all the opportunities to come to you’
‘Go where you can. Get the experience. Get those opportunities from perhaps those
smaller hospitals that are needing pharmacists’
‘I would have applied to a lot of places a lot earlier. I would have applied to mainly
hospital pharmacies, and so when it wasn’t successful for those roles, then I started
applying for community pharmacies’
‘The pressure to do more, and that employers expect an unsafe number of dispensing
from staff with long hours’
‘Owners/managers treating pharmacists like slaves – that graduates are entering a
workforce that is generally understaffed and highly pressured’
‘I would say the best is absolutely the customer contact that I have in community
pharmacy’
‘The best part of my job is I think probably 90 to 95% of my shift I’m actually talking
to patients as opposed to behind a desk’
‘The pay rate for the community are deplorable for such highly trained health
professionals and the availability of hospital jobs is so thin on the ground you could
very well end up working as a tech instead of a pharmacist’
‘The power is with the employer at the moment and pharmacists and interns don’t feel
like they have the grounds to negotiate for a better salary as the employer will just
hire someone who will accept the offer as is’
‘Pharmacists and interns are being given such poor wages, considering the
responsibilities they hold and the years of university they have completed’
‘I feel that the market is saturated in urban environments, but when you go to regional
and rural areas, there are a lot more opportunities. Also, a lot of these areas need
pharmacists’
‘People are not willing to move to regional or remote areas due to a fear of a potential
inability to obtain a position in a city when they decide to return’
Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (2018)
8 H. Taylor et al.

Table 4 (continued)

Interview guide prompt Sample quotations

Anything else you would like to share
regarding the job market or factors
affecting the job market in Australia?
‘I have never been out of a job, but if I were to want to change jobs I would find it
very hard’
‘Diversify as much as you can. Don’t pigeonhole yourself as a clinician, or as a
community pharmacist. Branch out and do as much as you can as possible whether it
be lecturing at universities or getting involved in PSA, SHPA activities’
‘I think a lot of these guys come through university expecting a job, but they just don’t
get it. I know a lot of people have gone into other fields like medicine or other careers
and whatnot. I think it’s very disappointing for those people personally. Universities
don’t promise people jobs, so there’s a disconnect between the educational institutions
and the employers’

90 patients to one pharmacist. Many also described

‘long hours, no breaks and overtime’. The participants
expressed the dangers surrounding the long hours, with
tired and pressured pharmacists meaning a greater
chance for errors to occur.
Community Pharmacists’ Perspectives
When participants were allowed to express themselves
in the open-text question during the survey, many par-
ticipants working in community pharmacy expressed
concerns around ‘the pressure to do more, and that
employers expect an unsafe number of dispensing from
staff with long hours’. Twenty-six participants expressed
concerns with workloads. Others voiced concerns such
as: ‘owners/managers treating pharmacists like slaves –
graduates are entering a workforce that is generally
understaffed and highly pressured’.
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
Those Who Had No Issues Finding Employment
Five of the 11 participants reported no problems finding
employment, and often see many opportunities arise for
pharmacists. Two of the three interns interviewed agreed
that ‘internships are especially not hard to come by if
you are prepared to move out of your comfort zone,
and more than 10 km away from where you live’. The
job opportunities seen were not just in rural areas but
often jobs advertised for metropolitan areas too. A par-
ticipants stated that ‘compared to other health profes-
sionals pharmacists have quite reasonable job prospects
after graduation’, and ‘If you are unsuccessful finding a
job where you want to work, you just need to be pre-
pared to look outside the area you were wanting’. It
appears there is still a positive view that if ‘pharmacists
are competent professionals and are committed to being
a pharmacist, there is [sic] some great opportunities’.
Those Who Do Find It Hard to Find Jobs
In contrast, many pharmacists believe that there is an
oversupply of pharmacists and not enough jobs avail-
able. Some participants expressed that ‘they have never
been out of a job, but if they were to want to change jobs
they would find it very hard’. At metropolitan hospitals
it can be more difficult finding a job with ‘huge amounts
of applications, particularly for intern positions where
there might only be one or two positions available and
over 100 applications. This begs the question, where do
all these interns go when they can only take one or two?’
Pay Rate
One topic that received the most mentions with the
majority of pharmacists and interns in agreement, is low
wages. The survey discovered that the majority of phar-
macists and interns reported a lower salary than
expected, but did not negotiate for a better salary. This
was further explored during the follow-up telephone
interview where participants stated that the rate, espe-
cially in community pharmacy, is ‘deplorable for such
highly trained health professionals’. They stated that
‘the power is with the employer at the moment and
pharmacists and interns don’t feel like they have the
grounds to negotiate for a better salary as the employer
will just hire someone who will accept the offer as is’.
They have also expressed their disappointment that
‘pharmacists and interns are being given such poor
wages, considering the responsibilities they hold and
the years of university they have completed’.
Many pharmacists acknowledged the shortage of
pharmacists in rural areas and that ‘employers are find-
ing it difficult to find pharmacist for full or part time
positions in regional areas of Australia’. Participants
said ‘people are not willing to move to regional or
remote areas due to a fear of a potential inability to
obtain a position in a city when they decide to return’.

Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (2018) © 2018 The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia
Pharmacists’ perceptions of career opportunities
There is a perceived unwillingness of pharmacists to
move to rural locations. The survey showed that 70% of
interns and 75% of pharmacists have not changed pri-
mary residence specifically for the purpose of employ-
ment. Many pharmacists admit that there are jobs in
rural areas and more opportunities, but they are unwill-
ing to move. There is an uneven spread of workforce in
Australia, with pharmacists and interns alike not want-
ing to move to fill those gaps.
CONCERNS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE
PROFESSION
When given the opportunity to comment on their future
concerns for the profession the following topics were
raised.
Issues with discount pharmacies: ‘Not only paying
low wages to their staff, but the overall effect of big dis-
count pharmacies closing smaller pharmacies’. ‘They
encourage price promotion, rather than service leading
to a single pharmacist pharmacy’. ‘They are eroding the
professional image from focusing heavily on cost and
profit margin’.
Another theme expressed by participants is that phar-
macists and interns are not willing to travel for work.
That ‘owners or recruiters have had people turn down
positions because they did not want to travel 40 minutes
across town to work every day’.
Concerns for job security were expressed by early
career pharmacists and experienced pharmacists but not
interns. They stated they had ‘fears for job security with
employment’; one stated that ‘I’ve been a pharmacist for
40 years now, and I’ve never been out of work. The
employment prospects if I wanted to change a job, well
I wouldn’t get another job, I don’t think, not on the
coast, in this location’.
Too many graduates and not enough jobs, especially
in big cities was cited. ‘Too many graduates seeking jobs
in metropolitan locations’.
Early career pharmacists were overall 65% satisfied
with their professional practice position. Experienced
pharmacists reported 74% overall satisfaction
(p = 0.131). This suggests that experienced pharmacists
may be slightly more satisfied with their positions; how-
ever, statistically, the same proportion are satisfied.
DISCUSSION
This study demonstrated that Australian pharmacists
and interns are generally satisfied with their current
employment. Their satisfaction with professional
© 2018 The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia
9
practice opportunities was also positive; however, the
comments made about factors affecting employment
prospects and current employment opportunities
revealed a negative undertone. The free-text responses
parallel some negative views on graduate oversupply
expressed in pharmacy journals.3 There is a disparity
between the free-text comments and the Likert-scale
results, where participants made negative comments in
free-text fields, yet rated themselves as ‘satisfied’ in the
Likert-scales. Further questions asked participants if
they changed primary residence for the specific purpose
of employment, and interestingly, the majority of
respondents have not moved. These data reflect the cur-
rent shortage of pharmacists in rural areas, as discussed
in the literature, whereby graduating interns and phar-
macists alike who grow up in metropolitan regions are
more likely to stay in such areas.7
When comparing with Mak et al.’s10 research into job
satisfaction, at the time of their survey 78% of pharma-
cists were satisfied with the profession. This appears to
still be a true reflection of the current employment situa-
tion. Mak et al.10 also discovered that 57% of pharmacists
who were dissatisfied with the profession were in their
early to mid-careers, and believed they had ‘no choice’ in
work areas. However, this research found no statistical
difference between early career and experienced pharma-
cists, with both groups rating themselves as ‘satisfied’.
The Canadian study investigating post-graduation
employment experiences of new pharmacists11 discov-
ered that fewer interns were securing full-time positions
with benefits, and more were relying upon temporary
part-time work with multiple employers. The interns
were also taking longer to secure a position (2–
3 months).11 In contrast, this project found 52% of Aus-
tralian interns secured a full-time permanent position,
and 34% found a full-time contract position for more
than 6 months. Furthermore, Australian interns gener-
ally secure a position in less than 1 month. This sug-
gests that the Australian pharmacy intern employment
market may have more full-time employment opportu-
nities than Ontario, Canada.
The main limitation from this research project is a
response bias where those least and most satisfied with
their professional practice positions may have been
more motivated to participate. The survey responses
were also skewed toward a younger age group, with
early career pharmacists being predominant. Further,
the telephone interviews had limited numbers due to
recruitment issues, with only a small number of partici-
pants consenting to participate. As this is the first
nationwide survey looking into Australian pharmacists’
perceptions of career opportunities, no other data exist
for direct comparison and validation.
Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (2018)
10
Further research into the evolving nature of pharmacy
is needed to explore the extent of under-service in rural
areas and saturation in metropolitan regions. Additional
workforce data would be valuable in workforce plan-
ning for mechanisms such as location-specific registra-
tions. This may mitigate graduates being concentrated in
major cities and could be implemented by having new
registrants (or other volunteers) receiving a Pharmacy
Accessibility Remoteness Index of Australia (PhARIA)-
specific registration for a specified time, or indefinitely,
before being granted unrestricted registration. Incentives
such as reduced registration fees could be used to
increase uptake. Furthermore, international pharmacists
could also receive PhARIA-limited registration before
being eligible for non-specific registration; to better dis-
tribute the available workforce according to need.
CONCLUSION
This study is the first to show Australian pharmacists’
and interns’ perspectives on employment prospects. It
has provided valuable insight into the Australian phar-
macist workforce by improving understanding of phar-
macists’ and interns’ opinions on employment prospects,
experiences and satisfaction with current employment
opportunities. Overall, pharmacists’ and interns’ opin-
ions are mixed as they are satisfied with professional
practice positions but express concerns over the growing
number of graduates, a maldistribution of jobs in
metropolitan versus rural areas, and growing concerns
for the future of the profession.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are particularly grateful to the participants
for completing the survey, and to the Pharmaceutical
Society of Australia (PSA), The Society of Hospital Phar-
macists of Australia (SHPA), Australian Association of
Consultant Pharmacy (AACP), and the Pharmacy Guild
(Guild) for helping distribute the survey. Funding: the
authors gratefully acknowledge the University of Can-
berra, Discipline of Pharmacy, for providing financial
support for this project.
Conflict of interests statement
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (2018)
H. Taylor et al.
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Received: 26 February 2017
Revised version received: 27 June 2017
Accepted: 19 July 2017
© 2018 The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia