In this edition, Dr. Alexandre Moreira shares his experience of changing careers in pharmacy in search of more rewarding work in aesthetics. He discusses the challenges faced in this process and how he managed to achieve his goals.
Career changes are mostly very challenging and leave us full of uncertainty and insecurity. That's why anyone who sees a successful professional who is confident in his work may not imagine all the fears faced along the way, when he took a risk and set out to learn something completely new.
Strongly influenced by his mother, a chemical engineer, Alexandre talks about his great interest in working in the same field. He pictured himself working in laboratories in the future. But when he lived in Teresópolis (RJ), no local institution offered the program of his dreams.
He then chose a program close to his interests, and discovering Pharmacy was a pleasant surprise, thanks to a curriculum full of chemistry, in addition to the health training aspect, which Alexandre came to like quite a lot.
However, because of the perception that working in pharmacies is overly draining, with long hours and a setting that doesn't allow for a very good quality of life, after graduating in 2015 he began working in primary health care, a focus of work he liked quite a lot.
He was still working in primary care when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and he then focused on testing, due to the high demand at the time.
The Career Change in Pharmacy
As with many other health professionals who worked in the field during the pandemic, it was a quite turbulent time for the pharmacist. Although helping care for people was a very rewarding experience for him, he wanted more for his career, as he explains:
“I wanted more autonomy over my life and my time. To study more and expand my knowledge. In my previous jobs, that wasn't really possible.”
The aesthetics specialty then lit up as a possibility, one whose growing market he had been watching with interest. It was, however, an opportunity that could not be embraced without sacrifices.
It can be really hard to leave your routine and devote your own time and energy to something new. In Dr. Alexandre's case, he had to balance work and studies, in addition to traveling to attend the hands-on sessions of the postgraduate program.
He also considers how much new things can cause insecurity at first: “Whenever we face a new challenge, we're afraid and very wary of the unknown, not knowing what will happen and with a whirlwind of new information. But, thank God, there's no shortage of strength to face them and move forward.”
Facing challenges is the only way to overcome them. Understanding that his desire to change his career was much greater than his fears, Dr. Alexandre moved forward.
Applying himself to his studies in the specialization in Aesthetic Pharmacy, his interest in the field only grew. The new knowledge also had a big influence on his self-care and, as a result, on his confidence.
A New Challenge: Starting a Business in Aesthetic Pharmacy
Starting a business and looking for opportunities to practice was a new challenge. At first, the pharmacist says he went door to door, promoting his skills and offering his services at spaces focused on health and wellness.
During this search, he had his own practice in Divinópolis (MG) for a while, but found an opportunity to partner with other professionals, and today he works in a room at the spa Casa Liz.
Working in this space, Dr. Alexandre is able to combine his own scope of work with the activities of other professionals dedicated to beauty and wellness, and he is closer to the public actively seeking the procedures the aesthetic pharmacist offers. It is a collaborative environment of mutual referrals between professionals.
Today he is happy with his career and shows how rewarding it is to work helping his patients regain their self-esteem. The joy of a patient who was moved to tears in his office by the results of an alopecia treatment is an example of the reward he finds in his work.
Read also:
– Nepuga Specialist Welcomed Dr. Ana Carolina at Her Clinic
He is still working toward an increasingly full schedule, but already notices a considerable difference in the quality of life that the career change in pharmacy has been providing, especially the schedule flexibility that is now possible.
For the next steps in his career, Dr. Alexandre plans to keep studying, focusing mainly on trichology and body procedures.
Laís Bianquini
NEPUGA content team — Núcleo de Especializações Ana Carolina Puga.
