Attracting Top Pharmaceutical Talent Via Job Descriptions

If you’re not happy with the caliber of your pharmacy job candidates, take a look at your job descriptions.

Why are job descriptions so important?

As Stephen Covey once said: “Begin with the end in mind.” The beginning of your pharmacy candidate search starts with the job description; it’s where you’re able to describe the critical skills, abilities, education, and work background of a candidate who will succeed in the position.

Your job description is the start of your candidate search, and it has a huge impact on the quality of the candidates who apply for the position.

Read below for tips on how to create job descriptions that attract top talent.

• Be as specific as possible in your job titles. If you’re looking for a “PRN Retail Pharmacist,” make sure it’s the job title and not just “Retail Pharmacist.” Looking for a “Screening Pharmacist in a Closed Door Setting, with 5 Years’ Experience”? That should be your job title and not just “Screening Pharmacist.”
• Highlight the knowledge and skills that a candidate should have to be successful. Don’t get the must-have skills mixed up with “would be nice to have” skills, knowledge and background.
• Be honest and careful in your assessment of what skill/background is a must-have. In fact, don’t confuse a must-have skill with one that would be nice to have but isn’t necessary for a candidate to have to be able to do the job/succeed within it. Take a close look at your must-have skills to make sure that one or more of them aren’t really nice-to-have skills.
• Remember that the perfect person doesn’t exist. If you insist on looking for this perfect person, you could be turning away highly qualified people as you look fruitlessly for Mr. or Ms. Absolutely Right.
• Avoid the obvious. Just forget about placing such terms as “should be hard worker,” or “looking for a team player.” Such traits are given.
• Include why someone would want to work for you. After all, even though you have the final say as to who gets the job, you also want to make sure you’re able to attract the best of the best, so you want to show why such a talented person would want to work for you. Has your pharmacy been named a great place to work? Is your hospital known for its compassionate care for the underserved?
• Include information about specific goals. You’ll include the position’s responsibilities and role, of course, but it’s best to clearly include what outcomes are expected of someone in the position.

Need help in writing job descriptions for your pharmacy staff? Call the recruiting experts at Rx relief®. We can help write descriptions that attract the best of the best. We can also help you go through resumes and even perform preliminary screening steps for you. We look forward to hearing from you.