Pharmacy profession is expanding up the horizon and setting a new trend with respect to the educational system and career opportunities. It is clearing the confusion that is created in young minds regarding the line of work within this sector. Till today, both in India and abroad pharmacy professionals are allowed to work in retail pharmacies, clinical pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, pharmaceutical industries, chemical industries, research laboratories, sales, educational institutions and regulatory agencies with certain limitations. But now, changes are taking place creating broader prospects for the pharmacy professionals especially for the graduates who are more inclined towards careers abroad and looking for a new walk of life. Recently approved Pharm.D, post baccalaureate pharm.D programs by the Pharmacy Council of India are expected to open up career options to the graduates in and outside India.  The details of Pharm.D offering colleges are listed on PCI website www.pci.nic.in/.
Not an exaggeration but it is a fact that our everlasting appetite and a tendency to imagine ourselves in a broader perspective make us to look forward to the education system and job prospects abroad especially United States. USA is in the forefront of the educational research. In USA, even midlevel universities have extensive resources in research and academic experience. Their main aim is not only imparting education but increasing involvement from the creative minds. When compared to educational system in India, which is traditionally inclined towards one way information flow, the system in USA allows students to take more active role. The same principle applies to the job opportunities, which is why US is called the land of opportunities. However, for those graduating with chemistry, pharmacy, biotechnology or any other biological science degree finding a job is comparatively tough. The new grads compete really hard for jobs.  This is because very few companies are ready to hire a foreign graduate which is not because he/she is from a foreign country but that’s because of the candidate’s immigration status. Since the candidate’s eligibility to work depends more upon his/her non-immigrant visa status, figuring out the situation becomes difficult. Especially the current economic crisis is making things even worse. Many companies have closed and few are bankrupt leading to more layoffs.
However, for those who are willing to work hard and ready to face challenges, there are several education and working career options available in the United States. There is a number of Pharmacy schools that offers B.S., M.S., Ph.D, Pharm.D, Management programs and relevant specializations. During academic course work, in summer students are allowed to work as an intern. They are also permitted to work during actual semester under Curricular Practical training (CPT) program. Once graduated, the student is permitted to work in the United States for a period of 12 months under Optional Practical Training (OPT) status. However, this can be extended to overall 27 months depending on the job offer from the hiring company. During this OPT period students usually file for H-1 non-immigrant visa so that they can work for any sponsored company.
With respect to job opportunities for Pharmacy grads in specific areas, once you attain the degree you can choose to work in an industry pertaining to your field or a research laboratory or can also go for teaching. But if you have a passion to work in a drug store (a pharmacy), and therefore, willing to pursue pharmacy career in USA, then you must obtain a license to practice.  For this, a pharmacy graduate will be initially required to pass the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination (FPGEE) as part of FPGEC certification process. In order for a foreign graduate to pursue this examination, the applicant should possess a minimum of 5-year pharmacy degree from any accredited university. The examination is conducted twice a year at the respective Pearson VUE test sites throughout the USA and is being accepted by all the 50 states of USA.  For more information about the examination, you may visit www.nabp.net.
Once you pass this examination, you are allowed to work in a drug store (a pharmacy). There is another examination called NAPLEX, or North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination, which is a standard examination and a licensure program created by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) to help individual state boards of pharmacy to assess an individual's level of competency, skills and ability to apply knowledge to meet the responsibilities required in pharmacy.
The core pharmacy careers include positions as pharmacist, pharmacy technician, and pharmacy aide. Pharmacists are the ones who dispense drugs that are prescribed by the physician. They act as liaisons between the healthcare practitioner and the patients and take up the responsibility of advising physicians and patients about the dosages, drug interaction and side effects.  Pharmacy technicians work under the guidance of senior pharmacists and pharmacy aides do administrative work. Because of their dealing with drugs dispensing, their job becomes quite challenging and gives no space for mistakes. Despite the fact that there is a high demand for licensed pharmacists in the United States because of their growing health care needs of older population and a lack of pharmacists, the competition is certainly high due to the job responsibilities.   Because of the critical need for pharmacists and the services they offer, pharmacy profession became an integral part of health care system and trust worthy. Every day, millions of Americans walk to the drug store for assistance and advice for their health care needs. The growing needs of people are undoubtedly expected to show a dramatic career development for the pharmacy professionals. However, it is to be remembered that a career in pharmacy is not easy but a challenging job as it deals with safe and effective delivery of medications. There is no space for mistakes. 
Other career opportunities precisely include QC/QA, Regulatory Affairs, R&D, and Chemist positions in an industry or laboratory setting pertaining to chemistry, chemical, environmental and pharmaceutical sectors. These fields require a qualified professional with strong background in Chemistry/Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacology and GMP related issues. The industrial sector needs a professional with the knowledge of relevant area which enables the industry to train the particular person in an easier and timely manner. Each department in pharmaceutical manufacturing consists of different processes. Processes start right from finding a new drug molecule to making it into a product which is ready to be consumed.
R&D is the heart of the pharmaceutical sector which involves in the finding and getting of new molecule or formulation into the market. R&D is comprised of chemical, pharmaceutical and pharmacological aspects where, these are related to molecules, formulation and preclinical/clinical studies respectively. This department is strongly associated with the Quality Control department which is also called as Analytical department. As the new findings taking place time to time it needs new method of analysis. So as it needs an analytical R&D. All these fields have set on a platform which is set to have some standards as it is related to pharmaceuticals where there is no place for mistakes. The governing body for this purpose is Quality Assurance department. The novel compounds or methods are patented by their innovators. The process of patenting and related issues is handled by the IPR professionals. All the above departments together called a complete R&D and the processes carried out simultaneously. In order to get a perfect innovation, industry should have qualified professionals. This necessity of industry drives the pharmacy graduates into research. Persons with MS/PhD/Postdoc who are Specialized in Chemistry/Medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutics, pharmacology, QA/QC, and Regulatory Affairs find better place in R&D compared to persons with bachelor/baccalaureate degree. Doctorate and Post doctorate studies will place the professionals in best place in an R&D. 
Next to the R&D, the core and key functioning area is production of drugs within the prescribed standards and marketing it. Though production is the least preferred area but it is very challenging. Capability of problem solving attitude is very helpful here. Once the formulation is ready then it should be packed in a good-looking manner, which involves a lot of hard work. The graduates of pharmacy can choose any of the areas of his/her interest. If he/she completes MS then they can move to research and development or can move to bulk drug industry. The above opportunities are available for the pharmacy professionals who complete their MS/PhD/PostDoc  (Chemistry/pharmaceutical chemistry/pharmaceutics/pharmacology/regulatory affairs) in the United States. Pharmacy graduates with MBA are more preferred in the administration and marketing departments because of their smart skills.
Recently, the clinical trials have got boom with the intervention of new software where the strenuous biostatistical work has become easy and lot of time saving.  This job profile can match any pharmacy professional who has got experience on this particular software.
Coming to the best job of any profession that is, teaching and assisting to research in educational institutions, the doctoral degree is mostly preferred due the exposure of the person in particular specialization is damn high. In the USA, the teaching profession is only taken up by the research degree holders since it requires immense and important assignments. Irrespective of the competition, the universities take only PhD scholars as faculties who have wide knowledge on particular research area with minimum number of research publications and with extra curricular activities, which shows the strength of the faculty in motivating and imparting knowledge to the students.
As it is commonly said, USA is “land of opportunities”, the potential graduates in pharmacy can find place to work depending on his/her interest.