Looking to advance in your career as an early career pharmacist or pharmaceutical scientist? Here’s what you need to know about FIP YPG’s career development toolkit!
By Ayodeji Matuluko
Why did FIP YPG create a career development toolkit?
Early career pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists who responded to FIP YPG’s 2019 needs assessment survey expressed a need for career development resources. Career development has always been a priority for FIP YPG and influenced by the findings from the survey, it was determined that a ready-made resource would be beneficial to provide sufficient guidance to pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists who are in the early phase of their careers.
The Career Development Toolkit for Early Career Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists was developed by a broad range of FIP YPG members in 2020. The Toolkit aims to be a guide for early career pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists to help them to develop their careers and build their expertise in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.
The toolkit is aligned with the FIP Development Goals, particularly FIP DG 2: “Early career training strategy”, FIP DG 4: “Advanced and specialist development”, FIP DG 5: “Competency development”, FIP DG 6: “Leadership development”, FIP DG 8: “Working with others” and FIP DG 9: “Continuing professional development strategies.”
What is included in the toolkit?
This toolkit consists of various chapters that guide users towards creating a personalized career development plan. Users will have an opportunity to reflect on their own development, identify their own development needs and recognize the skills/tools needed to progress with their career development.
The toolkit also comes with various case studies from FIP YPG members, who work in diverse areas in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences and provide examples of how they have applied key skills in their professional development. The toolkit has worksheets (included in a separate workbook) that users can work with while going through the toolkit.
When was the toolkit launched?
The toolkit was launched on December 14, 2020, during an event that was well attended by over 100 early career pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists globally. A recording of the launch event can be accessed by FIP members on the FIP website through this link.
Navigating the FIP YPG career development toolkit
- Career paths and opportunities in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
The toolkit begins with a detailed outline of the different career paths and opportunities in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.
Additionally, toolkit users are provided with a practical resource to guide the selection of a career path through the use of the 100 and more jobs in pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical sciences list!
2. The career development cycle
The career development model used in the toolkit outlines key stages in the continuing professional development cycle, which include Reflection, Planning, Action, and Evaluation.
“Reflection” includes thinking about your skills and competencies to identify an area for development. “Planning” includes thinking about the options you have and identifying how you will develop your skills. “Action” focuses on specific activities you can do to develop your career, including building a CV and how you will develop particular skills. “Evaluation” includes appraising how well the actions you carried out met the objectives you planned and how you developed the competencies you identified in reflection.
The cycle restarts with “reflection”, because during “evaluation”, you might start to think about your next area for development.
3. Global frameworks to support professional development
In the toolkit, we also present FIP’s global frameworks which are aimed at supporting professional development. These frameworks are the Global Competency Framework (GbCF) and the Global Advanced Development Framework (GADF), which can be found here and here.
4. Developing transferable skills
Skills development is very key to advance in one’s career in an increasingly changing world. In the toolkit, we discuss key skills which pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists need in their career, and in particular, this section is interspersed with different case studies from FIP YPG members who have applied some of the skills in their work setting.
The skills highlighted include: communication, negotiation, analytical skills, interpersonal skills, conflict resolution skills, leadership, resilience and personal branding.
5. Activities to develop skills and expertise
We also highlight key activities to further develop one’s skills and expertise, including ‘Mentorship’, ‘Training and certification’, and ‘Networking’.
FIP YPG provides opportunities for networking and most recently our relaunched mentorship program which runs for nine months, pairs FIP YPG members with FIP members. FIP Mentors support their mentees by providing general advice, assist in setting goals and help the early career pharmacist or pharmaceutical scientist stay on track with their career development
6. Making successful career changes
The final section of the Toolkit discusses the factors leading to career changes and presents key strategies to make successful career changes, with case studies from two FIP YPG members presented as examples.
Where can you download the toolkit?
The toolkit can be downloaded here. The worksheets which users can work with while going through the toolkit are available here.
How can you take advantage of career development opportunities from FIP YPG?
To find out more about the career development support and activities available to FIP YPG members, visit the FIP website here: https://www.fip.org/grants-and-opportunities-for-young-pharmacists
Also become a member of FIP YPG by clicking on this link: https://www.fip.org/join-fip
Acknowledgements
FIP YPG would like to acknowledge the immense contribution of the Project Team and Working Group who developed the Toolkit:
Career Development Toolkit Project Team
Ayodeji Matuluko (Nigeria)
Emmanuel Oluwagbade (Nigeria)
Sherly Meilianti (Indonesia)
Karima Bennara (Algeria)
Funmbi Okoya (Nigeria)
Career Development Toolkit Working Group
Adam Pattison Rathbone (UK)
Antria Pavlidou (Cyprus)
Aska Patel (Canada)
Austin Green (USA)
Dimitrios-Ilias Balourdas (Greece)
Gizem Gulpinar (Turkey)
Yoonjung Choi (Republic of Korea)
