Fill prescriptions as fast as possible & SELL-SELL-SELL-SHOTS!! MORE SHOTS!!
Pros
Walgreens offers excellent pay & benefits. Being a national company that has a store on virtually every street corner across America means there is likely a job opening wherever you want one. There is also lots of opportunity for growth into the mid-level management positions of Pharmacy Manager (in charge of one store) or Pharmacy Supervisor (in charge of a district of stores). NOTE: While the fact that these mid-level management job opportunities exist is a PRO, they exist because these jobs are frequently vacated like hot potatoes - which is more of a CON. Walgreens frequently hires new graduates (who haven't worked a day as a pharmacist, but are waiting for their license to come in the mail) right into the role of Pharmacy Manager - so a big PRO from the perspective of opportunity to jump right in (over your head) at the manager pay grade. Because many districts are frequently understaffed, overtime is is often readily available - which is another big PRO if you just graduated & are looking to earn as much money by working as many hours as possible for the first few years out of school to pay-off your loans.
Cons
Walgreens pharmacies are practically ALWAYS open, so while you would think this would offer a lot of flexibility with a work schedule, it just means you are required to work ridiculous rotations of 7+ days in a row, several nights per week, every other weekend, and if you're lucky, you will be required to work only half of the 6 annual holidays, every year, for as long as you work for this company. Pharmacy budgets for tech hours are always ridiculously low; pharmacists are frequently over-worked, with ever-decreasing budgets for tech hours & ever increasing demands to perform additional tasks & duties (sell more shots!). The mid-level management positions of Pharmacy Manager & Pharmacy Supervisor have a very high turnover rate (due to managers quitting). Pharmacy Managers are not really allowed to manage, but are micro-managed themselves & treated like babysitters; they have no real authority, but are issued all of the blame regardless. The end result of this very high turnover is that districts are typically short-staffed, as such, underqualified & undertrained individuals are often promoted just to fill positions which, in many cases, must be legally filled or the pharmacy would have to close down. While Walgreens "talks the talk" when it comes to training programs & leadership programs (and they can point to leadership development courses that they offer) - it is all worthless if what you learn in the training is neither valued nor implemented in actual, daily operations - they fail to "walk the walk".