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Help Behind The Counter

Melody Shanbaum provides pharmacists to clients who
have temporary vacancies.

JENNIFER JOY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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t was seven years ago when
Melody Shanbaum got the
idea for her business. Her
husband Herbert, the owner
of three pharmacies in the De-
troit area, often found it difficult
to fill temporary vacancies with
top-notch pharmacists.
After hearing her husband's
concerns, Ms. Shanbaum con-
-at suited with Oakland County's
small business counselor and
launched her Pharmacy Em-
ployment Service.
The West Bloomfield resident
now has 30 pharmacists working
for a wide range of accounts in
Oakland, Wayne, Macomb and
Washtenaw counties, including
Sinai, Providence and Harper
hospitals.

•8

Ms. Shanbaum's
clients include
county jails,
federal prisons and
military bases.

Ms. Shanbaum's clients also
include county jsils, federal pris-
ons, military bases, educational
facilities, insurance companies,
retsil chains, independent drug
stores and home infusion com-
panies.
Home infusion firms put to-
gether intravenous devices and
other pharmaceutical systems
that are delivered to home-bound
citizens by nurses.
A mother of five children be-
tween the ages of 5 and 16, Ms.
Shanbaum holds a master's de-
gree in business from the Uni-
versity of Detroit. She previously
worked at Ford Motor Co. in the
accounting and finance depart-
ment.
Balancing the needs of her
family and business means her
typical day starts at 6 a.m. and
ends at about 1 a.m.
Ms. Shanbaum says her busi-
ness started slowly and has
grown by word of mouth. She be-
lieves her insistence on offering
only high-quality pharmacist
temporaries has kept previous
clients coming back and attract-
ed new ones.
One of Ms. Shanbaum's phar-
macists was recently placed in
a position with an insurance com-

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Melody Shanbaum talks temps.

pany that needed someone to con-
duct research for just three
weeks.
It's difficult for a company to
find someone willing to work only
a few weeks, she says. That's
where her service can be espe-
cially useful.
Although many of her phar-
macists eventually have the op-
portunity to be hired into an
organization as a full-time em-
ployee, she says some pharma-
cists like working on a temporary
basis.
"Some are homemakers who
need a schedule that will work
around their children, some want
to make a career change, some
like working in different loca-
tions and some are retired but
still young enough to work," she
says.

Only licensed, experienced
pharmacists are accepted by Ms.
Shanbaum. Applicants must
meet several strict requirements
before being hired.
Ms. Shanbaum checks refer-
ences, experience, and the appli-
cant's record with the Board of
Pharmacists and the Drug En-
forcement Agency.
If an individual is hired and
placed in an organization, Ms.
Shanbaum follows up by con-
tacting her client for a perfor-
mance evaluation.
In the next five to 10 years, Ms.
Shanbaum hopes to expand her
business outside of metropolitan
Detroit.
"I'd like for it to continue to
grow as it has been," she says.
"And I'd like to do more perma-
nent placement." CI

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