My Starting Point – Mayra Ruiz Gallegos – What’s Next?

Hello Carrington Flock! It’s time for another update. Check out my previous posts here and follow my journey through the Pharmacy Technology program in Mesa, Arizona. As I progress through my externship, I’ve already started looking for work.

Hoping To Get Hired On

The first day was the most memorable day of my externship. I’ve already mentioned that the people at my extern site are very motivating. Every day they remind me to just ask if I have questions; they’ve always made me feel very welcome. They are quite short on staff, so I’m hoping to get hired on when my externship comes to an end, even if it’s only part time. They have had a lot of externs, and many of them seem to get hired on.

But I’m not relying on that; I’ve been putting my resume out there already. I’ve already applied for another job at a mail-order pharmacy, and I’m going through that process right now, so we’ll see.

Once I finish the Carrington program I plan to take the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam, administered by the PTCB [Pharmacy Technician Certification Board]. It’s not a necessity in Arizona, but if I get the CPhT certification, I hope to be even more qualified, more employable and have the potential to earn a higher salary.

Foot In The Door

So for the next 12 months or so, I’m going to focus on my pharmacy technician career and try to get my foot in the door of the pharmacy industry. But in a year or so, I’m going to go back to school to study to become a pharmacist.

But I want to take a little breather from school first, it’s been a hectic nine months. Having a full-time job, going to school, and then going on externship is hard. You have to be on your feet a lot when you work in the pharmacy setting, and it’s tough to be on your feet all the time.

Hectic Schedule

I’ve had hardly any time to myself these past few weeks, because I go to my externship on Sundays too. They offered me hours on Sunday because I work a full-time job Monday through Friday so it’s hard for me to get 30 hours in during the week on top of 40 hours work.

I work my regular job from 6:30am to 3pm, and then I go to my extern from 3:30pm till 9pm. Sunday I can choose my hours – I try to do three or four hours to make up my 30 hours each week.

Thanks for taking the time to read these posts! In my next blog I’ll tell you about some of the key things I’ve learned during my externship experience