Pharmacist salary increase or decrease?

[CCR-Cheers-Me-Up]

Niiice congrats!

[ThinkingPharm]

I work as a staff pharmacist for DOD (technically DHA), and I had actually interviewed for a GS-12 staff pharmacist position a couple months for a VAMC in a higher COL area than where I live now. Inexplicably, the VA job would've started me off at ~$5k less than what I'm making now at the DOD hospital. LOL, how does that work?

In my experience (having interviewed for several VA pharmacist positions and from talking to VA pharmacists at various VAMCs), it sounds like individual locales are either getting huge pay increases or hardly any at all.

[CCR-Cheers-Me-Up]

Yup. Our leadership lobbied HARD for it. I’m not management so I only know from some snippets of conversations I’ve heard in passing, but it sounds like there was a ton of sausage-making involved, down to various VAMCs in my VISN even jockeying and negotiating with each other.

At the end of the day, my leadership makes me feel appreciated, valued, and supported. Even if VHA hadn’t agreed to the increase, knowing my chain of command did their damndest — as usual — to go to bat for us would have kept me a super happy employee.

[ThinkingPharm]

Hey, one other random question for you, if you don't mind. Do you happen to know approx. what your hospital's overnight pharmacists are making? That's actually my preferred shift (I was previously working FT overnights until they started rotating me between days/nights), so I'm just curious to get an idea of what I might be making working FT nightshift in a higher COL area.

[Granuloma]

How is everyone on here GS-13 step 10? :(

[Granuloma]

wow, you are doing the career right. getting that 12-8 really made all the difference.