Working for Walgreens: Employment, Careers, and Jobs

This post provides exhaustive information about working for Walgreens, including employment, careers, and jobs that the Company offers, to help you learn all you need to know about the Company if you are interested in working there.

Please, read on:

Walgreens Company Overview

Walgreens is an American company that was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.

The Company operates as a pharmacy-led and health and wellbeing company through three divisions:

• Retail Pharmacy USA
• Retail Pharmacy International
• Pharmaceutical Wholesale

Retail Pharmacy USA

The Retail Pharmacy USA division through its retail drugstores and convenient care clinics deals on sales of prescription drugs and an assortment of retail products, such as health, beauty, personal care, consumable, and general merchandise products.

The Retail Pharmacy USA division also offers specialty pharmacy services and mail services, and controls in-store clinics.

This division, as of August 31, 2018 under the Walgreens and Duane Reade brands in the United States operated 9,560 retail stores, 7 specialty pharmacies, and approximately 400 in-store clinic locations.

Retail Pharmacy International

The Retail Pharmacy International division deals on sales of prescription drugs, health, beauty, personal care, and other consumer products through its pharmacy-led health and beauty stores and optical practices, and also through boots.com and an integrated mobile application.

The Retail Pharmacy International division operated 4,767 retail stores under Boots, Benavides, Ahumada in the United Kingdom, Norway, The Republic of Ireland, Thailand, Mexico, the Netherlands, Chile 618 optical practices, including 167 on a franchise basis.

The Pharmaceutical Wholesale division engages in the wholesale and distribution of specialty and generic pharmaceuticals, health and beauty products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and offers related services to pharmacies and other healthcare providers.

The Pharmaceutical Wholesale division functions in the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Egypt, Romania, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic, and has strategic partnership with Microsoft Corporation.

Why Work for Walgreens

Walgreens is a decent company to work for. The corporate team truly makes you feel like you’re important instead of just a worker.

Walgreens is a pleasant place to work as a college student because they work with your school schedule.

You can go other places to get hours as there are so many Walgreens locations, so you really don’t have to worry about not getting hours.

You are going to have a great experience working for Walgreens, and you will get empowered.

It is a great employer that offers livable wages and great opportunities to employees at all levels.

You would like to work at the Company if you’re ready to give up spending time with your family.

Walgreens is open 365 days including holidays and upper management could use more training in employee relations.

Walgreens is a good company to work for when you’re in school. They know that education is a priority. Pay is good and work is relatively easy.

There may be quite a lot of unpleasant quirks about Walgreens, but at the end of the day you will smile your way through.

All members of management will be helpful and willing to train you so you can grow not only as an employee, but as a person.

The hours at Walgreens are really flexible and they will understand with your school and study schedules. Even if you work only when you need money, they’ll be okay with that.

Walgreens Careers and Jobs

You will discover your true passion and purpose each day, and you will quickly be amazed by how powerful it can be to champion the health and well-being of every community in America when you join Walgreens in any of their career areas.

There is a space for everyone who wants to succeed and make a real difference in people’s lives at Walgreens, including their own.

Anywhere you go here, you’ll find supportive co-workers, a positive environment, and the tools you need to pursue your interests, grow your skills, develop your ideas, and advance throughout the organization.

Walgreens is championing the health and well-being of every community in America with over 8,000 store locations in all 50 states, the Columbian District, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

It is a company of pharmacists, store team members, IT professionals, accountants, nurses and more.

To make health and well-being within reach for everyone on a daily basis, each one of the members of the Company shares a common goal.

• Pharmacy

Walgreens has been growing along with the pharmacy job for over 100 years, so they actually know what it takes to stay ahead of present trends and help their patients get well all day.

Banking on their many years of experience in the industry, Walgreens has continued to innovate, expand, and put pharmacy at the forefront of their growth.

At Walgreens, pharmacy practice embraces an unmatched standard of quality care, and encourages pharmacists to take on new clinical positions in the community.

Walgreens can offer unparalleled opportunities to advance your pharmacy career and impact your patients’ health and daily living.

Walgreens pharmacists can look forward to practicing at the highest level at over 8,000 locations in all 50 states and Puerto Rico through focused efforts to care greatly for patients, and offer additional services such as immunizations, medication therapy management, and health testing.

As a Walgreens pharmacist or pharmacy technician, there are various opportunities for career growth that you can access as well as many locations you can choose from to work.

You have various options where you can work as a community pharmacist with Walgreens.

These include as an onsite pharmacist, in one of the Company’s retail locations, or within a hospital or a business environment.

It’s the opportunity to work on your skills and advance in a company where their pharmacists are uniquely valued.

• In-store

Walgreens in-store team members cheerfully serve their millions of customers each day, and they truly believe that sets them apart and makes them who they are.

They really are the face, heart and soul of Walgreens operation from the care they put into tasks such as processing and preserving precious memories in the Company’s Photo Center to filling a complex prescription in also the Company’s pharmacy to the true smile and affectionate greeting they give to a customer who just entered the store.

• Distribution

Walgreens couldn’t provide the products and services their customers and communities have come to wait for in their stores without the work of their distribution center team members.

Their distribution facilities are some of the most industrious in the industry, and the secret of their success is two-fold.

Walgreens has developed new technology that ensures each of their distribution processes is simplified and streamlined.

The Company has also created a workspace that adapts to individuals’ unique needs to encourage success.

The Company has therefore broadened their workforce by extending opportunities to people with disabilities in their CT and Anderson, Windsor, and SC locations, providing specialized workstations and other accommodations.

All individuals take pleasure in the same benefits and career potential. Delivering merchandise from Walgreens’ distribution center is no small achievement, but with their modern technology and various groups of dedicated team members, they accomplish it each day.

• Corporate Support Office

Working behind the scenes, you’ll discover talented and driven team members at Walgreens Corporate Support Office locations who create the strategies and initiatives for their stores and help lead them into new health and beauty categories.

The Company’s corporate support professionals help provide the framework for helping make health and well-being more accessible to more of their patients and customers each day, from Finance to Marketing, Human Resources to IT.

Whether you’re interested in scouting locations for new stores, increasing market share or creating system platforms to keep Walgreens flourishing alongside their communities, there are opportunities for people of various talents and backgrounds.

Walgreens Training and Development Programs

Walgreens has an award-winning career development and learning University where their team members are trained.

The so-called Walgreens University was founded in 2013 and offers hundreds of training, leadership development and career advancement programs to team members across the Company.

The following training programs are available for Walgreens team members who qualify:

• Career Development

Working at Walgreens provides employees good opportunity to develop successful careers from scratch.

The Company also enables a lot of employees to discover new talents and passions they never thought they have as they are moved round various departments in the Company.

Walgreens has provided the required tools and support to help its team members grow their careers.

You can find the support you need to maximize your potential – from informal enrichment and mentorships to formal certification and training, knowing that Walgreens wants you to grow, perform and succeed.

• Walgreens University Business Schools

There’s a Walgreens University Business School for you no matter your position in the organization.

Walgreens is building a business school for each of their functions. These schools serve as a valuable career resource that allows you to improve your skill set within a current business unit or take a deeper jump into learning more about a different role or area of interest.

For example, Walgreens Merchandising School engages you in the worlds of merchandising planning and the Walgreens store experience.

You’ll be taught all about the Company’s merchandising team and how to take their front-end store experience to the next level for their customers.

Walgreens also has a Beauty School that covers their three beauty roles, such as beauty area expert, beauty consultant, and beauty advisor.

You’ll be taught just how each role differs within the Company’s exciting beauty model, that’s creating a unique customer experience by offering beauty customers personalized advice across the best array of global beauty brands in a welcoming, inspiring and well-situated environment.

You will learn to create a unique, upscale offering for Walgreens customers by demonstrating a passion for beauty and combining this with their existing strengths.

• Walgreens University Leadership School

Walgreens invests through Walgreens University to ensure that their leaders care for their customers and team members, win together through collaboration and inspire others to fulfill their purpose.

Walgreens is developing leaders who can build their business today and into the future, whether you are participating in their award-winning and college credit-eligible LEAP program for assistant store managers, one of the dozens of leadership-focused open registration programs, or the EDGE program for directors.

• Pharmacy Technician Certification and Training

The Walgreens Pharmacy Technician Certification and Training program has been accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).

The training program is specially designed to prepare employees for success in one of the industry’s most modern pharmacy environments.

And by completing the program, you may be eligible to gain college credit.

• PTCB Certification

By providing review classes, study materials, and even sponsoring the cost of your exam, Walgreens fully supports this national certification from the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board for all of their pharmacy technicians.

• Pharmacist and Pharmacy Technician Continuing Education Courses

Walgreens online courses are an ideal way to earn free continuing education credit hours that are recognized by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).

Walgreens Student Internship Program and Recruitment Process

Internships at Walgreen will give you a feel of their working environment. This experience is not the type you get in a classroom.

Each day will give you a better working knowledge of your field and valuable insights no matter your discipline.

It’s an education you can take with you – no matter where your future leads you to. And it begins on day one with engaging projects, mentoring, and so many opportunities that enable you to achieve your aim.

Support Center Internships and Programs

Those who want to build a successful career have the opportunity at Walgreens. The Company has supportive co-workers with a positive environment.

There is also a provision of the tools you need to pursue your interests, grow your skills, and advance your career.

Interns experience life at Walgreens in a hands-on environment while the Company encourages students to provide new ideas and a different outlook.

For this reason, Walgreens’ 10-week internships make you part of the action from the first day with an inclusion of challenging business projects that drive department goals as part of the experience.

The Company’s goal is to help you sharpen your skills at one of the best-recognized names in healthcare and retail.

There are mentors to assist you, invaluable information sessions to attend, and state-of-the-art distribution center and one of the Company’s signature flagship retail store locations to visit.

You’ll also have social events and lots of fun to allow you to network and learn from team members and other interns in various divisions.

As a Walgreens intern, you will have the opportunity to work at the Company and also acquire the type of knowledge that travels with you wherever you go.

Internships are also available periodically in Walgreens other corporate groups:

• Finance & Accounting Internship Program
• Finance & Accounting Development Program (FDP/ADP)
• Marketing and Merchandising Internship Program (MMIP)
• Merchandising and Marketing Development Program Analyst (MMDPA)
• Supply Chain Internship
• Supply Chain Analyst Rotation Program (SCARP)
• Corporate IT Internship
• Corporate Software/Computer Engineering Internship
• Corporate Space Management and Property Merchandising.

Distribution Internships (Operations Internships)

You will fully get engaged in distribution logistics to learn one of the most sophisticated supply chain processes in the nation.

As you work side-by-side with experienced managers, you will be taken by your experience to every department and through each process.

It’s your chance to have a real impact in Walgreens distribution centers.

Retail Management Internships

You will be equipped step-by-step by Community Management Internship Program to become a Walgreens store manager in one of the most exciting and fast-paced retail environments in the nation.

You’ll work side-by-side with experienced store managers on everything from operations and management responsibilities to advertising and merchandising.

You’ll have the real-world experience you need to succeed in the Walgreens retail environment and beyond at the end of ten weeks.

Pharmacy Internships

If you really want to build a successful career at Walgreens, you’ll find supportive co-workers, a positive environment and the tools you need to pursue your interests, grow your skills and advance your career anywhere you go within the Company.

You will learn below more about the Pharmacy Internships that Walgreens offers.

• Corporate Pharmacy Intern Program
• Community Pharmacy Internship
• Pharmacy Education Assistance Programs
• Pharmacy Technician Externship Program
• Pharmacy Technician Job Shadow
• Resident.

Walgreens Values

• Trust

Walgreens actions are guided by their respect, integrity and candor to do the right thing.

• Care

Both Walgreens people and customers inspire them to act with commitment and passion.

• Innovation

The Company cultivates an open and entrepreneurial mind-set in all that they do.

• Partnership

They work collaboratively with their partners and each other to win together.

• Dedication

The people at Walgreens work with rigor, simplicity, and agility to deliver exceptional results.

Walgreens Job Application – How to Start a Career (the Hiring Process)

To apply for jobs at Walgreens, you can either go online through their website or take the easier way of going into the store and requesting a paper application.

However, be aware that not all stores have this in-person option.

If you are applying through Walgreens Career website, then keep in mind that it’s not linked directly from their website.

You don’t need to waste your precious time clicking a welcome button on the Careers home page as this does nothing, but instead click the “Career Areas” section at the top of the page and choose “In-Store”.

You mustn’t create an account before searching for jobs, but immediately you find a job you want to apply to, you will be taken to an account creation page.

Application Tips

You can apply for more than one job at once when you are applying for jobs at Walgreens. Even if the position seems like something you might like, still apply for it as you can move from that position to the one you prefer later on.

Don’t be anxious about the assessment section of the application: you’ll be fine answering the questions honestly to meet the standard of the applications.

Follow Up

You can use the online account you’ve created any time to log back in either to complete any applications you’ve left unfinished or check on the status of your completed applications.

The only option you have if you applied in the store is to either return to the store a few days later, or call the store and request to talk to the manager.

Be aware that the manager might feel rushed or pressured, so this will probably not be a good idea.

Interview Tips

Make sure that you are dressed nicely (at least in a pair of dark jeans and a polo) because Walgreens is very concerned with keeping their store looking nice, and that affects the employees as well.

You can inquire about the dress code and what is appropriate to put on to the interview. Ask if nice jeans are appropriate or you can get dressed in what makes you look comfortable.

Read more on Walgreens hiring process.

What to Expect When Hired

Ask which department you would be stationed in, and how many employees will work with you in the store.

If you are asked to fill a late shift, tell them if you are not comfortable with the idea of being there alone.

Don’t focus on the pay as much as the hours, because Walgreens pays fairly well compared to other retail outlets.

Walgreens Benefits and Compensation

Walgreens offers a large diversity of benefits to eligible team members meant to support their physical, financial, and emotional well-being while helping them balance work and life.

To add up to company-paid life insurance and voluntary life and personal accident insurance, the benefits below are available to Walgreens employees.

Time Off

• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Holidays
• Disability.
• Profit Sharing and Stock Purchase Plans
• Profit Sharing Plan – 401(k)
• Company Match
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

Company-Paid Life Insurance

Hourly and salaried benefit-eligible team members are qualified for company-paid term life insurance at a benefit equal to:

• 25,000 for all other hourly-paid team members
• 1.5 times yearly base salary for all salaried team members and registered pharmacists/nurses, all hourly-paid coordination band team members and above and assistant store manager.

Voluntary Life & Personal Accident Insurance

Hourly and salaried benefit-eligible team members may obtain a higher level of term life insurance on voluntary basis.

Health, Prescription Drugs, Dental and Vision

• Multiple Providers and Plan Levels
• Optional Orthodontia Coverage.

Other Benefits

• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Employee Discount
• Employee Purchase Program
• Flu Shots and Travel Consultations
• Added Benefits Program
• Child Care
• Prescription Savings Club
• Transportation Benefit Plan
• Work and Life Resources.

Walgreens Work/Life Balance

The work/life balance at Walgreens is rated a C+ by 264 employees putting it in the Top 50% of similar size companies in the US.

50% of Walgreens employees are satisfied with their work/life balance while 63% feel they are burnt out.

Employees need a well proportioned work/life balance to keep them happy and productive any time, any day.

About 73% of the employees at Walgreens work eight hours or less while 5% of them have a very long day – longer than twelve hours.

The majority of Walgreens employees feel burnt out.

In general, employees in the Product department and employees with Entry Level experience believe they have good work/life balance while employees in the Design department and those in the IT department think there is room for improvement.

Conclusion

If you are planning to start a career with Walgreens and achieve a great success, this post will help you get the knowledge you need to actualize the dream.

You will get to know about Walgreens and how you can start a career with the Company.

If you find this post helpful in finding out about careers and employment at Walgreens, kindly leave a comment in the box below.

You can also share any experience you’ve had with Walgreens if you are or had been an employee of the Company.

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