Pharmacist interview questions

What this hire must get done

Write the scorecard before you interview, then hire against it. Set the bracketed targets from your own numbers.

What to tell candidates before the interview

Say the hard parts plainly. People who wouldn't stay drop out early, and the ones who stay knew what they signed up for.

• Say plainly that they'll be the only pharmacist, often named as pharmacist in charge on the license, and the person the board, DEA and accreditor ask for.
• Lay out the posted schedule: [weekday hours, or the days on site if the job is part time], after-hours phone coverage on [your rotation] backed by [your remote order review service], and when you'd expect them to come in at night, with how each is paid.
• Explain who they report to, [the CEO], and that drug policy runs through [the pharmacy and therapeutics committee] with the medical staff.
• Say which checks follow the offer, such as [your background check and drug screening], and when they happen, along with verifying the license in your state.

How to run the interview

1. Same questions, same order. Ask every candidate the questions below and the same follow-ups. It is the only way to compare people fairly.
2. Two interviewers. An owner or manager and someone who does the work. Take notes on what the candidate says, not on how you feel about them.
3. Score right after each answer. 5 sounds like the strong answer, 3 like the mixed one, 1 like the weak one. Use 2 and 4 for answers in between.
4. Rate alone, then compare. Compare candidates question by question, and talk only after everyone has scored. Big gaps are worth a conversation.

1. Technical · Order verification

   A swing bed patient arrives from a larger hospital with a long medication list. Walk me through what you check before you verify the new admission orders.

   Transfers are where drugs get duplicated, dropped or carried on past their stop date, and the software won't flag most of it.

   Follow-ups

   • What do you compare the orders against?
   • Which problems do you call the prescriber about, and which do you fix by policy?
   • What do you write down?

   5Strong

   Compares the orders with the transfer list and home medications, checks allergies and the reaction, current weight and lab results, duplicates across lists, interactions, and an indication and stop date for each antibiotic. Calls the prescriber with each question and documents what changed.

   3Mixed

   Compares the orders with the transfer list and home medications and calls about each problem, but doesn't write down what changed or why, so the next pharmacist can't follow it.

   1Weak

   Verifies what's on the screen and relies on the software's alerts.

2. Behavioral · Working with prescribers

   Tell me about a time you recommended a change to an order and the prescriber disagreed. What happened?

   In a small hospital the pharmacist has to win these calls with evidence and keep the relationship.

   Follow-ups

   • What evidence did you bring to the call?
   • What did you do when they pushed back?
   • How did it end, and what did you document?

   5Strong

   Names the case, called with the concern, the evidence and a specific alternative, listened to the prescriber's reasons, and reached agreement or escalated under policy when the risk called for it. Documented the intervention and the outcome.

   3Mixed

   Raised it clearly and it got settled, but can't say what evidence they brought, or didn't document the intervention.

   1Weak

   Verified it to avoid conflict, or kept arguing without a plan or a way to escalate.

3. Situational · Working with prescribers

   A new physician keeps writing orders that don't follow a protocol the medical staff approved. Each one ends up as a call from you. How do you handle it?

   Fixing the same problem one order at a time burns goodwill. A pharmacist who leads fixes the pattern.

   Follow-ups

   • What do you say in the first conversation?
   • What if the physician has a good reason?
   • When does it go to the medical director or the committee?

   5Strong

   Meets the physician privately, shows the protocol and why it exists, and asks what's behind their orders. If they have a point, takes the protocol to [the pharmacy and therapeutics committee]. If the pattern continues, uses the medical staff process and tracks each case.

   3Mixed

   Fixes each order politely by phone, but never raises the pattern with the physician or the committee.

   1Weak

   Complains to nurses or the CEO first, or stops calling and lets the orders through.

4. Technical · Controlled substances

   Walk me through how you review the dispensing cabinet reports for signs of diversion.

   Diversion rarely shows up as a count that's off. It shows up in patterns the pharmacist has to go looking for.

   Follow-ups

   • Who do you compare each user against?
   • What would make you open an investigation?
   • What has to be reported outside the hospital, and when?

   5Strong

   Compares each user with peers on the same unit and shift: overrides, cancelled removals, unwitnessed wastes and removals with no charted dose. Follows the diversion policy with nursing leaders and HR. Knows a theft or significant loss goes to DEA in writing within one business day, then a full report.

   3Mixed

   Reviews the discrepancy reports, acts on each one and knows the DEA deadline, but doesn't compare users with their peers, so a slow pattern goes unnoticed.

   1Weak

   Looks only at counts that come up wrong.

5. Situational · Controlled substances

   For several weeks, a nurse you've worked with for years has been your top outlier for opioid removals. The nurse manager says it's because that nurse works the busiest shifts. What do you do?

   In a small hospital everyone knows each other, and the hardest diversion cases involve a trusted colleague.

   Follow-ups

   • How would you test the manager's explanation?
   • Who else do you bring in, and who do you keep it from?
   • What do you write down along the way?

   5Strong

   Neither dismisses it nor accuses anyone. Compares the nurse with peers on the same shifts and reviews charted doses and wastes. If it doesn't add up, follows the diversion policy with HR and the nurse's leaders, keeps it confidential, and documents each step.

   3Mixed

   Checks the shift explanation against peers and drops it when it seems to fit, without writing up the review.

   1Weak

   Accepts the explanation without checking, or confronts the nurse alone.

6. Situational · Running the pharmacy alone

   Late on a Friday, the wholesaler tells you an IV drug the ER relies on is back-ordered for weeks. What do you do?

   Shortages are routine, and the errors come from substitutes nobody explained to the nurses.

   Follow-ups

   • Who do you tell, and when?
   • How do you pick a substitute, and who signs off?
   • What changes on the units, in the cabinets and in the order sets?

   5Strong

   Counts what's on hand everywhere and estimates how long it lasts, looks for supply from approved sources, and agrees an alternative and any limits on use with the medical staff. Tells prescribers and nurses that day, updates order sets, cabinets and labels, and watches for substitution errors.

   3Mixed

   Handles that day well, with supply, a substitute the prescribers agreed to and word to the units, but has no plan to track how long stock lasts or to check for errors in the weeks after.

   1Weak

   Waits for the shortage to end, or swaps in a substitute without telling anyone.

7. Behavioral · Running the pharmacy alone

   Tell me about a system you built or fixed so the pharmacy ran safely while you weren't there, such as overnight overrides or a handoff with remote pharmacists.

   A pharmacist who is the only one has to build systems that work at night, not just answer the phone.

   Follow-ups

   • What gap were you closing?
   • Who had to agree to it, and how did you get them there?
   • How did you know it worked?

   5Strong

   Names the gap, such as overnight overrides, a remote review handoff or an override list, what they changed and with whom, and a result they measured, like fewer overrides or problems caught at the morning review.

   3Mixed

   Describes a fix that helped, but it depended on them being reachable, or they can't show a result.

   1Weak

   Has no example, or the system is that they answer their phone.

8. Behavioral · Antibiotic stewardship

   Tell me about an antibiotic stewardship change you led. What data did you use, and how did prescribers respond?

   Stewardship in a small hospital is one pharmacist persuading a few prescribers, so you want proof they've moved practice before.

   Follow-ups

   • What was the baseline, and where did it come from?
   • Which prescriber was hardest to bring along, and what worked?
   • What did it look like after six months?

   5Strong

   Names a specific change, such as a culture review at a set point or IV-to-oral switches, the data behind it, like days of therapy or culture results, how they brought prescribers along with feedback rather than mandates, and the result.

   3Mixed

   Took real part in stewardship work, but followed someone else's plan or can't say what changed.

   1Weak

   Talks about stewardship in general with no change they made.

9. Situational · Compounding and inspections

   Your new technician has never made a sterile IV dose. How do you decide when they're ready to compound without you watching every step?

   The pharmacist signs off on the technician's sterile work, and a rushed sign-off is how contamination starts.

   Follow-ups

   • What does the training look like, week by week?
   • What tests do they pass, and who keeps the record?
   • What would make you pull them back?

   5Strong

   Uses a written training plan and watches them work. Has them pass the garbing and aseptic technique tests your procedures and USP <797> call for, such as gloved fingertip samples and a media-fill test, documents each one, and keeps checking every dose they make.

   3Mixed

   Runs the training and the required tests and keeps the records, but can't say how they'll keep watching the technician's work after sign-off or what would make them pull the technician back.

   1Weak

   Lets them compound once they've watched a few times.

10. Technical · Compounding and inspections

    In your first month as pharmacist in charge here, how would you find out whether we're ready for a board of pharmacy or DEA inspection?

    New pharmacists in charge inherit whatever the last one left, and the findings will carry their name.

    Follow-ups

    • Which records would you pull first?
    • How would you check the clean room and the compounding records?
    • What would you tell the CEO, and when?

    5Strong

    Pulls the controlled-substance inventories, order forms and loss reports, the drug policies and their review dates, and the clean room's certifications, monitoring and competency files. Watches the technician work, makes a dated list of gaps and tells the CEO what's at risk.

    3Mixed

    Pulls the right records and starts fixing gaps, but doesn't rank them by risk or give the CEO a dated plan.

    1Weak

    Assumes it's fine if the last inspection passed.

Work exercise: order review packet

Hand finalists [eight] made-up orders for made-up patients, with a transfer list and an allergy record. Plant problems: a drug ordered twice under two names, an allergy on the transfer list that's missing from the profile, a quantity that can't be read, an antibiotic with no stop date, and a home medication left off. Mix in clean orders. Give them [20] minutes to sort them into verify or call, write the question for each call, then role-play one. No dosing math. Have [a pharmacist from your network] score it.

Use made-up materials, never real customer work, and keep it to the time shown. Follow your own safety rules for anything hands-on.

Reference check questions

Tell finalists you'll call a former manager, and get their permission first. Ask about what they did, not whether they were nice.

• Tell me about a time they disagreed with a physician about an order. How did it end?
• How did they handle a controlled-substance discrepancy or a diversion concern?
• What did they build or change that kept working after they left?
• Would you hire them again to run a pharmacy on their own? Why or why not?

Questions to skip, and what to ask instead

Ask only what the job needs. Questions that touch age, health, family or pay history can break federal, state or local law, even when you mean well.

• SkipDo you have any health conditions that would keep you out of the clean room?

  AskRead every candidate the clean-room duties as written in the job, [full garbing and long stretches at the hood], and ask if they can perform them, with or without reasonable accommodation.

• SkipWhy the gap in your work history? Were you sick, or home with kids?

  AskAsk every candidate to walk you through their hospital pharmacy work and what they've done to keep their skills current, such as continuing education or a refresher course.

• SkipWhat's your current salary?

  AskLay out the pay plan, [salary and how after-hours calls and night trips are paid], and ask whether it meets what they need.

• SkipWill your family put up with after-hours calls?

  AskAfter-hours phone coverage is [your rotation], with trips in for [emergencies]. How does that fit with what you're looking for?

Common mistakes when hiring a pharmacist

• Hiring a strong clinician who has never run a pharmacy

  A pharmacist from a large hospital may never have written a policy, bought drugs or hosted an inspector, because someone else did it there. Here they do all three. Ask what they owned themselves, and use the inspection question and the references to check.

• Grading only the clinical answers

  It's easy to hire the candidate with the sharpest answers on orders and miss that they've never moved a prescriber or built a system. Weigh the stewardship, prescriber and running-alone questions as much as verification.

Pharmacist interview FAQ