Pros
It was a great opportunity to do something different as a pharmacy technician outside of the retail setting. In addition, some of the staff members are really kind, patient and encouraging towards new employees.
Cons
The biggest thing for me was training, or lack thereof. When you start, you begin working at the help desk to get a better understanding of how the software works. It was tough, but doable. I was not given a timeline for how long training would last, just that I would start as account manager “when they felt I was ready.” I was told I would get progress reports from the help desk managers on how I was doing. I had to ask several times for these myself, never once being approached by a manager themselves. A month or so in, I was told in the middle of a Tuesday shift that I would be moving to the account manager position with no warning in advance. I was then given the account manager “training” schedule, which was only 3 days of shadowing employees on top of some not-very-helpful computer training. (This did not make any sense since I was shadowing/being shadowed for at least two weeks at the help desk training). I was then told I was getting 50-70 new clients right off the bat and was left on my own. At this point, I did not understand the position very well and was not comfortable taking on some many clients that expected someone to know the software backwards and forwards. When I went to my direct manager to ask for additional resources, I was told there was none and that I “had to figure it out as I went along.” I was told that I could ask questions to anyone, but that’s a lot of pressure to put on someone who had very little training and a lot of expectations. As such, I struggled mightily as I fumbled my way through figuring out the software to the best my ability on my own. Some people might thrive under this “do it all yourself” approach, but this was not for me personally. In addition, there is an expectation that you are to work unpaid outside work hours. I said in my interview that working outside work hours was a big no for me, and I was assured this does not happen. However, if your client needs something done after your work hours, you are expected to do it, no questions asked. Finally, there is no sense of community in a job that’s very isolating in the work itself. There is a group of staffers that have been there for a long time, almost since the beginning of the company, and those staffers tend to stick together, including “directors” and upper management. This sort of behavior by management displayed favoritism towards these other staffers and made me feel that much more isolated and alone while I was already struggling. Individually, these matters would be managable, but taken together, they made for an uncomfortable experience.
