About volunteering

I'd like to start volunteering at my local hospital. Should I go through their HR dept or through the pharmacy first? I'd eventually like to get into a hospital setting and I thought that volunteer work would look good on my resume. Thanks in advance.

Hi Ari - Getting your foot in the door is the best way to get aquainted with the hospital and position yourself for future employment there. I would go through the HR department or whichever department in charge of volunteers. There is less opportunity is just the pharm. vs. the entire hospital.

The best way and most frequent way to land a job is through personal contact, networking,and recruiting. It is "who you know" that will get you in the door for an interview.

Once you are in the hospital take time to volunteer in several different units to give you an understanding and "feel" for the different areas of the hospital. If possible take classes to improve your hirability in the area you are interested in working.

Hope this has helped you - best of luck.

Kris
ResumeWonders.com

Ari in Lexington, Kentucky said: I'd like to start volunteering at my local hospital. Should I go through their HR dept or through the pharmacy first? I'd eventually like to get into a hospital setting and I thought that volunteer work would look good on my resume. Thanks in advance.

Neither one...HR is for hiring...You need to call volunteer
services in the hospital. First off, see if they even allow
volunteers in the hospital pharmacy...some do, some do not. If you are in a hot spot hospital/college area, then your chances just got lowered
of even getting in...because of pharmacist interns, etc...If you do
get into a hospital pharmacy as a volunteer, then do not expect much
to happen...you would not be an employee, and you are not covered under any hospital insurance, more then likely, you would not be dealing with the public, you would not be dispensing medications, you would not be labeling meds. you maybe allowed to do some minor BS paperwork, you would be allowed to unpack drugs (if you are morning shift), you would be allowed to run drugs in other areas of the hospital...

however, the post above is correct, at this point, your goal is to a great job as a volunteer as you are working as a volunteer, showing up ontime, etc, doing a good job, doing what you are told, etc, and other things could be working out in your favor..

1: networking
2: volunteer on resume does not look shaby...
3: Over time the pharmacist could see you as a potential
hire, I have heard that volunteers have been hired directly,
or the pharmacist may know of other opportunities, IE: he may
know another pharmacy that might need a pharmacy tech, you just
never know.

Thank you Kris and John for taking the time to reply. I had no idea how to go about this, so I really do appreciate the input.