Abstract
A mail survey of 1,505 pharmacists in every major work setting and position was conducted. The purpose of this paper is to report the vocational interest profiles for 364 industrial pharmacists, 288 males and 76 females, employed in sales, marketing, administration, manufacturing/quality control, and research and development. Limitations include small samples for three female groups and the lack of a random sample. Patterns of interest profiles were remarkably consistent in most instances with respect to sex role differences, associated scales and related work activities. Among males, there were several group differences on the enterprising, social and realistic general interest scales, and on the sciences, mathematics, public speaking, law/politics, merchandising, business management and sales basic interest scales. Among females, there were group differences on the enterprising, conventional and sales scales. Group comparisons were made using the LSD procedure and alpha = 0.01. There were fewer significant differences among female groups primarily because of small cell samples. The most significant aspect of this study was that reliable vocational interest profiles were constructed to serve as a guide for students and practitioners in selecting an area of industrial pharmacy to pursue.