Valued characteristics of community pharmacy residency applicants

Objectives: To determine the attributes of postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) community pharmacy residency applicants and candidates that are most appealing to community residency program directors (CRPDs).

Design: A 22-question online survey, designed to collect residency demographics, desirable characteristics for consideration for interview invitation (applicants), and characteristics that should be displayed during an interview (candidates).

Setting: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)-recognized community pharmacy residency programs (CPRPs).

Participants: The CRPDs of 109 ASHP-recognized CPRPs throughout the United States.

Intervention: Not applicable.

Main outcome measures: Minimum applicant requirements; rank order of valued characteristics at application and interview stage of hiring process.

Results: The response rate was 71/109 (65.1%). Applicant work experience in chain pharmacy (90.1%) and independent pharmacy (77.5%) was most highly valued by CRPDs, with 85.9% preferring applicants with a minimum of 1 year or more of community pharmacy experience. A large majority of CPRPs (91.4%) indicated a preference for applicants who have been an officer of a student organization. Among CPRPs that required minimum grade point averages (GPAs), a mean GPA of 2.88 ± 0.34 was reported (range 2.0 to 3.5; mode 3.0). Pharmacy work experience (68.1%) and letters of recommendation (59.4%) were most frequently cited as top factors in the decision-making process for selecting candidates to interview. At the interview stage, CRPDs rated interest and knowledge about the residency (62.3%), time management and prioritization (50.7%), and self-awareness and commitment to improvement (43.5%) as the most important skills for candidates to demonstrate.

Conclusion: Community pharmacy work experience, organizational leadership experience, and positive letters of recommendation appear to be the most valued attributes of a community pharmacy residency applicant. Applicants should consider aligning themselves with these characteristics to successfully match to a community pharmacy residency.