Natural Gifts to Career Shifts: Mapping Your YouScience Results to Career Gold

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???? Dear Fellow Misfit PharmDs,

Last week, I encouraged you to take the YouScience assessment as your first move toward career change. Many of you messaged me saying you did. I love to hear it! Some of you may staring at your results wondering, “Okay… but what do I do with this?”

Don’t worry.

I’ve got you.

Let me show you how to turn these insights into actual career direction.

The Overwhelm of Possibilities

When I first got my results, I’ll be honest—I was both excited and overwhelmed.

I think too often once we get our degree we only look through the lens of “what can I do as a pharmacist?” That kind of thinking is like looking at the night sky through a straw.

Why would you ever do that?

Your PharmD degree is something that sets you apart and gives you a huge advantage in non-traditional roles. Yet, too often we see it as a limitation.

This assessment is set up to show you all possible careers that best suit your interests and natural strengths. This information can break your brain at first glance. I know it did mine. I just wanted to see what I could do as a pharmacist. Suddenly opening all possibilities felt like an overwhelming can of worms.

Would it make me reconsider everything?

Go back to school for an entirely new specialization?

Start from scratch!?

Tell me I should have never been a pharmacist in the first place?

After taking a big breath, drinking a can of Dr. Pepper Zero (and probably eating some dark chocolate if I’m going to be fully honest here) I saw what this assessment was really telling me: what I’m naturally really good at.

That’s a strong starting place.

When you know what your good at plus what you actually want to do it helps you narrow down which paths to pursue that are likeliest to bring you a lot of joy and satisfaction at work.

Reading Between the Lines: My PharmD Career Revelation

The assessment pinpointed things about me that explained so much about my career frustrations, but also opened up possibilities I hadn’t considered.

Here’s what jumped out in my results (and why it mattered):

1. Specialist Work Approach + High Idea Generation

• The assessment showed I’m happiest when I can dig deep into a topic and generate lots of ideas about it
• This explained why I felt stifled in retail pharmacy where I had to be a generalist touching many topics superficially
• It pointed toward roles where I could become an expert and innovate within that expertise

2. Future-Focused + Extroverted

• My results showed I naturally think long-term and get energy from teaching/sharing with others
• This helped me understand why I loved the patient education part of pharmacy but needed something bigger
• It suggested roles involving strategy, teaching, and building for the future

3. High Vocabulary + Strong Sequential Reasoning

• The assessment revealed I’m good at explaining complex topics clearly and organizing information logically
• This explained why I enjoyed breaking down complicated medication information for patients
• It indicated potential in training, writing, and educational content creation

Seeing these patterns helped me understand why creating PGx education was such a natural fit: It let me specialize deeply in one area, teach others, and build something for the future.

But here’s the thing—your patterns might point to completely different opportunities.

And that’s exactly how it should be.

How to Decode Your Own Results

Let’s break down how to analyze your results as a PharmD looking for your next move. Grab your results and look at them with me while you read this article. [And if you haven’t taken the YouScience assessment yourself yet stop reading and get it here. Use code: Jamie15 for a sweet discount of 15% off taking the assessment down to ~$41. Treat yo’ self]

Focus on these key areas:

Your Work Approach (Specialist vs. Generalist)

• If you’re a Specialist like me: Consider roles where you can be the go-to expert. Think medical science liaison, specialty pharmacy, consulting in a specific therapeutic area, or creating specialized training programs.
• If you’re a Generalist: Look at roles requiring broad pharmacy knowledge like medical writing, healthcare technology, or pharmacy benefit management.

Your Energy Source (Extrovert vs. Introvert)

• For Extroverts: Consider roles heavy in interaction like sales, training, management, or advocacy.
• For Introverts: Look at roles requiring focused independent work like drug information, research, or data analysis.

Read the rest of the article by clicking here. Hint: I'm teaching about how you view time orientation, your core drivers, real examples of aptitude stacking, and your next steps.

Next week, we’ll dig into how to research and validate these potential paths.

Until then, dig into those results and let them expand your view of what’s possible.

With grit and gratitude,

Jamie

P.S. Still haven’t taken the YouScience assessment? That’s okay! Use the code JAMIE15 for 15% off. The insights are worth way more than the <$50 investment in yourself.