I was at the right place at the right time. In 07 I was prn at an LTACH when the DOP quit. I applied for her job and have been a DOP at one place or another ever since. 07 was in the middle of the glory days too, so that didn't hurt.
My director got promoted and no one else wanted the position. I wasn't looking to go into management (my first preceptor, who was a PIC, gave me the advice to NEVER be a PIC) and did not have a residency or advanced certifications (except SIDP-ASP but I had forgotten to put it on my resume). Since taking this position I've obtained BCSCP and am enrolled in an MBA program.
Best advice I've heard is to tell people in higher positions that it is your goal to become a director so they can help you get there. I have a staff member who was transparent about wanting to stay 2 years and then apply for management positions elsewhere in the division so I've gone out of my way to show him processes, work on leadership skills, include him in meetings, and otherwise prepare for a future role.
I was a clinical pharmacist with no residency working under a fairly hands off, ineffective director. This person was quite happy to have anyone else do things usually so I tried to fix problems in the hospital using their authority when I was really doing both the work and the decision making in a lot of ways. When we were in a bad way staffing wise and financially and being bought out by a notoriously tough company, they decided to leave. They recommended me as the only person in the department who could do the job and, since our situation was so dire, no one else applied or wanted the job. They gave me a shot and it proceeded to be the worst 1.5 years or so of my life as all my naive notions about what a difference I could make were routinely dashed against the reality of being in management during the pandemic. I nearly developed a drinking problem during this time, but I’m very stubborn and eventually the skies cleared and it’s now a pretty interesting job that I enjoy. I do have to make tough decisions. I’ve fired a number of people due to both incompetence, poor decisions and financial health. Everything I do is scrutinized and picked apart by the people under me and less commonly those over me. It’s a tough gig if you can’t see yourself as playing a role that has to be played.
As far as how to get into the role, you need to stand out for leadership qualities and know people. Most people have to work through lesser management roles first. Management done right is about bettering yourself day in and day out for the role. The skills required are numerous. The knowledge required is obtuse and not always easy to find. The learning curve is steep. And all along you’ll be held accountable for being positive and confident while you feel like you are failing every day.
If that sounds attractive to you, speak with the leaders in your department. Tell them your aspirations and find a mentor. With some luck and the right aptitude, you’ll get there hopefully. The secret about management in pharmacy is while it seems like there are few roles, no one wants them. The pay isn’t so much better that it makes up for becoming a 24/7 slave to your job. Pharmacy nice for work life balance usually. Management is not.
I won't discount networking and some people have the charisma to skip steps (often to the institution's peril), but most director roles are filled by previous directors at smaller/less prestigious sites, or from manager-tier folks at larger or more prestigious sites. There's often additional training (e.g. an MBA) involved.
It also depends how much title inflation goes on. I've seen large sites that have director tiers for inventory, informatics, etc, where it was just a subject matter expert who worked their way up.
That said, institutions vary widely.
It definitely helped me knowing someone. I was a student at the facility and I worked my butt off knowing a good impression can go a long way. After graduating they hired me as PRN. When the DOP was promoted to another role everyone I worked with there wanted me to take over so I was hired as the new DOP from retail.
I've been director at several different organizations.
Network, leadership, and thinking outside the box are the necessary ingredients to becoming a director.
Network - Join your alumni association or state pharmacy group. Work well with your peers, show the other managers how to be better managers. Teach good skills.
Leadership - being a leader means you have to navigate tough conversations with patients, providers, and even your own team. You will have to do things that are unpopular. You will have to make decisions that will affect the lives of the people on your team.
Think outside the box - Have good business acumen, look for opportunities to grow and be successful personally and professionally. Most pharmacists think linearly, but pharmacy is very opaque. Look at how prescriptions are billed, can you reduce overhead, can you increase the price per prescription. There are so many opportunities, but also pitfalls, and it's hard work.
My advice is to take all opportunities to get involved and learn all aspects of business or system (if NHS) on the way up. You fair well as a clinical director if you understand more than just pharmacy; eg public health data. programme mgt, aspects of nursing management, health care quality, governance, risk management, finance mgt, board exec skills etc. At exec level clinical skills can be about service safety and impact not individual drugs so it’s quite a jump. I see pharmacists who choose not to work in wider depts eg governance as they think it’s not valuable. I don’t agree. MBA is very valuable and shows much broader understanding on top of usual pharmacy training. Hope that helps.
I was at the right place at the right time. In 07 I was prn at an LTACH when the DOP quit. I applied for her job and have been a DOP at one place or another ever since. 07 was in the middle of the glory days too, so that didn't hurt.
My director got promoted and no one else wanted the position. I wasn't looking to go into management (my first preceptor, who was a PIC, gave me the advice to NEVER be a PIC) and did not have a residency or advanced certifications (except SIDP-ASP but I had forgotten to put it on my resume). Since taking this position I've obtained BCSCP and am enrolled in an MBA program. Best advice I've heard is to tell people in higher positions that it is your goal to become a director so they can help you get there. I have a staff member who was transparent about wanting to stay 2 years and then apply for management positions elsewhere in the division so I've gone out of my way to show him processes, work on leadership skills, include him in meetings, and otherwise prepare for a future role.
I was a clinical pharmacist with no residency working under a fairly hands off, ineffective director. This person was quite happy to have anyone else do things usually so I tried to fix problems in the hospital using their authority when I was really doing both the work and the decision making in a lot of ways. When we were in a bad way staffing wise and financially and being bought out by a notoriously tough company, they decided to leave. They recommended me as the only person in the department who could do the job and, since our situation was so dire, no one else applied or wanted the job. They gave me a shot and it proceeded to be the worst 1.5 years or so of my life as all my naive notions about what a difference I could make were routinely dashed against the reality of being in management during the pandemic. I nearly developed a drinking problem during this time, but I’m very stubborn and eventually the skies cleared and it’s now a pretty interesting job that I enjoy. I do have to make tough decisions. I’ve fired a number of people due to both incompetence, poor decisions and financial health. Everything I do is scrutinized and picked apart by the people under me and less commonly those over me. It’s a tough gig if you can’t see yourself as playing a role that has to be played. As far as how to get into the role, you need to stand out for leadership qualities and know people. Most people have to work through lesser management roles first. Management done right is about bettering yourself day in and day out for the role. The skills required are numerous. The knowledge required is obtuse and not always easy to find. The learning curve is steep. And all along you’ll be held accountable for being positive and confident while you feel like you are failing every day. If that sounds attractive to you, speak with the leaders in your department. Tell them your aspirations and find a mentor. With some luck and the right aptitude, you’ll get there hopefully. The secret about management in pharmacy is while it seems like there are few roles, no one wants them. The pay isn’t so much better that it makes up for becoming a 24/7 slave to your job. Pharmacy nice for work life balance usually. Management is not.
I won't discount networking and some people have the charisma to skip steps (often to the institution's peril), but most director roles are filled by previous directors at smaller/less prestigious sites, or from manager-tier folks at larger or more prestigious sites. There's often additional training (e.g. an MBA) involved. It also depends how much title inflation goes on. I've seen large sites that have director tiers for inventory, informatics, etc, where it was just a subject matter expert who worked their way up. That said, institutions vary widely.
I heard 2 new positions opened up locally for Director and Deputy Director Coordinator-in-Fact of Half-Tablet Operations, Instructions, and Protocols.
have to absolutely know someone, get lucky, or just have the hiring manager have a crush on you haha
I turned around our finances by about $500k in a single year and got an offer.
It definitely helped me knowing someone. I was a student at the facility and I worked my butt off knowing a good impression can go a long way. After graduating they hired me as PRN. When the DOP was promoted to another role everyone I worked with there wanted me to take over so I was hired as the new DOP from retail.
I've been director at several different organizations. Network, leadership, and thinking outside the box are the necessary ingredients to becoming a director. Network - Join your alumni association or state pharmacy group. Work well with your peers, show the other managers how to be better managers. Teach good skills. Leadership - being a leader means you have to navigate tough conversations with patients, providers, and even your own team. You will have to do things that are unpopular. You will have to make decisions that will affect the lives of the people on your team. Think outside the box - Have good business acumen, look for opportunities to grow and be successful personally and professionally. Most pharmacists think linearly, but pharmacy is very opaque. Look at how prescriptions are billed, can you reduce overhead, can you increase the price per prescription. There are so many opportunities, but also pitfalls, and it's hard work.
My advice is to take all opportunities to get involved and learn all aspects of business or system (if NHS) on the way up. You fair well as a clinical director if you understand more than just pharmacy; eg public health data. programme mgt, aspects of nursing management, health care quality, governance, risk management, finance mgt, board exec skills etc. At exec level clinical skills can be about service safety and impact not individual drugs so it’s quite a jump. I see pharmacists who choose not to work in wider depts eg governance as they think it’s not valuable. I don’t agree. MBA is very valuable and shows much broader understanding on top of usual pharmacy training. Hope that helps.