So it’s finally reached that time when all of us
hopeful pharmacy students must submit our hospital pharmacy applications and
pray that our application gets a second look at least…
I know the feeling. I too have been sitting
at my laptop most days this past month, wondering how on earth I would answer
the complex riddles known as the Pharmalife profile question. In this time I
have found a few tricks or tips that have helped me put together a pretty
successful application and I thought I would share them here.
Remember: The
questions aren’t there to catch you out. From my understanding they are simply
trying to get to know what kind of a person you are, what you have done in the
past and what your ambitions are.
Top
tips:
·
- The Person Specification:
So
initially I found getting the person spec for each of my chosen trusts a good
start. These are incredibly useful. All the trusts I applied to have had more
or less the same person spec. So by linking your answers throughout the
application to this document you are showing them you are exactly what they are
looking for.
(Note: The London Collaboration
invites all those who meet the person spec to the assessment day)
- · Get a Whiteboard:
All
those who know me, know I swear by a whiteboard for everything. If you are a
visual person like I am it helps you organise your thoughts for each question.
I like to write down all the points from the person spec on one side and all
the experience I have on the other. I then match up the qualities on the person
spec to where I have demonstrated it. This prevents you from repeating yourself
and helps strengthen what you’ve learnt from your experience. It also helps you
write more coherent and direct answers to their questions.
- · Do your research!
I
know this one seems like a given but you would be surprised at the number of
people who don’t bother to actually click on the ‘About us’ tab on each
trust's website. There’s a great deal of valuable information that would look so
good in the ‘Further information..’ section of your application. The
information is all there and it shows you have gone beyond what’s on Pharmalife
and done your own research.
- · And Finally…. Read, Re-read and then get someone else to do the same:
There’s
no such thing as checking something too many times. Your hospital application
is your introduction to your future employer. Having spelling errors or
grammatical mistakes will only get your application tossed in the trash. So
check your work regularly and get others to check it too. The more people you
can get to look at it the better and higher the chance of catching pesky
errors. Your university's employment team are a good start and you can get your
work checked by different people within that team. I would avoid using online
spelling and grammar checkers as the best ones are never free and they can also
make mistakes. You can also ask friends, family... hell, ask your
neighbour if you have to. Just get those multiple checks before you press 'Apply'.
These are just a few of the things I found
useful when completing my application. I hope they help you all as much as they’ve
helped me and if you have any more tips you think others could benefit from just
pop them below!
S.
