Times have never been better for those looking for a pharmacist job. Many of America's biggest retail chains are drugstores, and virtually every one has at least one full time pharmacist position, and some have more than one. Walgreen's is the nation's largest chain of drugstores, with over 5000 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico. CVS isn't far behind, with over 4100 stores in the country. Those two chains alone account for thousands of the pharmacist jobs in America, but they're just the tip of the iceberg. There are scores of smaller drugstore chains employing pharmacists, and then there are the thousands of independent pharmacies all over the country. Much of the recent growth in pharmacist employment has come from sectors not traditionally known for having pharmacists on staff.

More and more grocery stores are hiring pharmacists, and retail giants like Wal-Mart and Target have begun aggressively hiring pharmacists in their quest to be the single destination of shoppers. And this is by no means the complete picture when it comes to pharmacist employment. These retail consumer oriented positions only make up about 60 percent of all pharmacist jobs. The other 40 percent of pharmacists are found in settings like hospitals, nursing homes, managed care facilities, government positions, military, and administrative positions with the big drug and retail chains. Many pharmacists are also employed full and part time in colleges and universities, teaching courses in pharmacology. The field of pharmacy jobs is wide open and quite varied, and this situation will only get better, and salaries should go much higher in the foreseeable future. Pharmacists have to take the NAPLEX exam to be certified.

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will continue to be more pharmacy jobs available than pharmacists to employ them for the foreseeable future. America is aging, and middle aged and elderly people use more drugs than younger people. With the coming wave of baby boomers retiring, it's likely that a great many pharmacy jobs will go unfilled. In addition to the graying of America, another boon for current and future pharmacists' employment prospects is the fact that drug companies continue to spend billions researching and creating new and better drugs, which leads to more drugs being dispensed to more people. Add to this all the research being done in the field of genetics, which will enable scientists and doctors to design and prescribe ever more effective drugs, and it's clear that the pharmacist employment in America has only one way to go, and that's up. The only employment problem pharmacists should have for years to come is deciding which of many job offers to accept.

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