28 Questions to Ask a Pharmacist (With Example Answers)
Even though you may not know exactly what questions you’ll be asked in an interview, giving thoughtful answers to the most common ones may help you show off your relevant skills. For pharmacists, the interview is especially important because the job requires good communication skills with other people, which are best tested in a face-to-face meeting like an interview. 28 Questions to Ask a Pharmacist
This article talks about the most common questions asked at a pharmacy job interview and gives you some sample answers to think about.
General questions
The purpose of these questions is to help the interviewer learn more about you and where you come from.
- Which class did you like the most? Which one was the hardest for you?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- What can you give that nobody else can?
- What are your greatest accomplishments, and why are you proud of them?
- When did you go above and beyond what was asked of you?
- Tell me about a time you had to be in charge of something.
- Tell me about a time you and a coworker had different ideas.
- What do you want to get done in your first 30, 60, or 90 days on the job?
- How do you like to help people the most?
Questions about work and history from the past
These questions help the interviewer decide if you would make a good pharmacist.
- Tell me about a time you had a problem in a pharmacy and how you solved it.
- How do you keep up with the latest pharmacy trends and new drugs?
- Tell me about a time when you helped someone get a shot.
- How do you teach people how to take care of their medicines?
- What sorts of problems do you have to deal with every day?
- Tell me about a time when you helped a patient understand something that was hard to understand about their health.
In-depth questions
The purpose of these questions is to help the interviewer learn more about your skills and knowledge:
- Tell me about a time when you fell short of what a patient wanted. What went wrong, and how did you put it right?
- It’s hard to give great service to everyone when you have a lot of clients. How would you arrange their needs?
- Tell me about a time when you were so busy that you couldn’t get everything done. What did you do?
- Tell me about a time when you needed facts to solve a problem.
- What do you think of as a clinically important drug interaction?
- How good do you think you are at figuring out when a patient wants drugs? Have you had trouble like this? If you did, how did you handle it?
Sample interview questions and how to answer them
Here are some common interview questions for pharmacists, along with tips for how to answer them and examples of answers.
What made you want to become a pharmacist?
Interviewers ask this question to find out what made you want to work for a certain company and do a certain job. They are also interested in how much you want to help people.
Make sure your answer shows that you know the job and why you want it. How you answer this question will determine the rest of the conversation. Give a response that shows you know what the job calls for and are ready to do your best if you get it.
Example: “Since I was a child, I’ve been interested in medicine. But learning how different drugs treat different illnesses is the most interesting part of being a doctor. This is why I chose pharmacy, and I’ve been preparing for it for a long time. I think I have what it takes to help customers and help the pharmacy reach its goals.”
What do you do if a customer asks you about a drug you don’t know much about?
This question is meant to see how well you can do research, talk to people, and help customers.
If a customer asks you about a drug you don’t know much about, you should be honest and open. Ask the other team members what they know about the medicine. If not, tell the customer you will find out more about the drug and get back to them when you do.
“I would tell the customer that I didn’t know much about the medicine, but I would find out if any of my coworkers did. If they aren’t, I’d tell them I’d look into it and let them know as soon as I knew more. I’d get their contact information and get back to them within 24 hours.”
How do you deal with a situation where a fight between two technicians is hurting customer service?
As a pharmacist, it is your job to manage technicians and settle disagreements so that customer service doesn’t go down. Show in your answer that you can solve problems and lead people to do the most work. Interpersonal skills are a big part of this job, so it’s important to be comfortable with and good at building relationships with other employees.
Example: “I’d get both of them together before the store opens. I would let each person tell me what was bothering them, and then we would work together to find a solution that everyone could live with. I would tell them that they can always come to me if they are having trouble getting along with a coworker.
How do you deal with a customer who comes to the pharmacy with a half-full bottle of medicine and says it doesn’t work?
Patients don’t always do what their doctor or pharmacist tells them to do when they take their medicine. In this case, you need to explain how you would use your people skills and knowledge of customer service to solve a problem and make a patient happy. Show sympathy for the customer in your answer and explain why you think the medicine didn’t work. If the problem is on your end, refund the money if you can.
“I would ask the person why he or she didn’t think the medicine worked. If the medicine needed the full dose to work, I would tell the patient in a calm voice that they needed to take the full amount to see results. But if it seemed like the pharmacy was to blame, I would do what I could to make it right.”
What is the most important business part of a pharmacist’s job?
A pharmacy is a business that tries to make money, but its main goal is to help people. The recruiter asks this question to see how well you know how a pharmacy works as a business. Use this chance to show that you know how to run a successful pharmacy, such as how to get customers, keep costs low, and grow the business.
In your answer, show that you know about other things that pharmacists have to do, like management, conflict resolution, logistics, keeping track of inventory, and customer service. The hiring manager will be able to tell from your answer if you will be a good fit for the pharmacy and how much value you can add to the business.
“A pharmacist’s main job is to give patients the best care possible, and I think that’s the most important thing about this business.” By giving each patient personalized care that meets their specific needs, the pharmacy earns their loyalty and turns them into long-term customers and promoters of the business.
Tell me about a time you went above and beyond to do a great job.
Like any other business, pharmacies do well when they always do a good job of taking care of their customers. Because there is a lot of competition in the business, good pharmacists must always be able to meet customer needs. Your goal should be to always go above and beyond what the customer expects, so they don’t even think about going somewhere else.
Even though you may have just finished college, your answer doesn’t have to be about getting a job. Tell a story about a time when you went out of your way to help someone else. It could be something you did for a friend, an old coworker, or a patient at your job.
Use this opportunity to show how good you are at solving problems and how much you care about your duties and responsibilities. Show the hiring manager that you are willing to go above and beyond when necessary. Give a real-life example that shows how your answer works.
“At my old job, there was a woman who picked up her prescription every week in a motorized wheelchair. I asked her why she didn’t just order the medicine instead of going to the pharmacy, which would have been less stressful. She told me that she didn’t have much money and couldn’t buy something so nice. When I asked her how far she had to walk to get to the store, I found out that she lived just down the street from me. So, I offered to give her medicine for free every week by leaving it on her doorstep.
