EMAIL US: [email protected]
EMAIL US: [email protected]
Although the number of UK veterinary graduates has increased over the last 10 years, a third of veterinary practices receive fewer than four applications, and in a quarter of small animal practices it takes 6 months to fill a position. Bringing in new top veterinary talent is an opportunity to grow your practice and shift in a more strategic direction. So, what quick-win solutions can you do to attract motivated and compassionate veterinary talent to your practice?
It is important to establish an effective brand identity, which will help set your practice apart from the competition and help build its reputation among potential employees and clients. Your brand is the image you wish to portray to the world and is one of the practice’s most valuable assets. Create a brand identity that will resonate with veterinary graduates and convey the personality and value of working at your practice.
A job description is undeniably important when recruiting new talent. Job descriptions within the veterinary industry tend to have a precise and clinical tone. Try to use a ‘softer’ approach and include the following:
Make sure the description is succinct and list the most fundamental information near the top of the description.
Do more than just post a standard advert on a jobs board. Come up with a short, snappy title and include the type of work, location, salary range and out-of-hours rota. Convey a sense of urgency from the advert and give candidates several simply ways to apply. Showcase your practice culture and identity by thinking about the style, humour and tone. And be sure to enable the option of sharing on social media wherever you post the position.
Our scheme was developed with the help of industry expert, Dr Dave. It helps practices to recruit graduates and for them to become profitable members of the team within 6 months. The scheme could help you in the following ways:
Partnering with universities provides numerous opportunities for academic exchanges, collaborative programmes, further advertising and job vacancy promotion via email and social media channels.
Valuable information can be gained from conducting exit interviews, which will prove useful in all aspects of your practice’s work environment. You will find out about work culture, day-to-day concerns, processes, workplace ethics and employee morale. You can learn from this and change elements of your practice and how things are run to attract new employees.
Salary is likely to be the most influential factor of a job followed by veterinary CPD allowance, but it’s also important to make potential candidates aware of the other benefits of working at your practice. For example:
Although you may not realise it, one of the first things many potential candidates will do when evaluating your job opening is navigate to your practice’s website. If your website is unattractive, difficult to use or old fashioned, top veterinary candidates may lose interest. The website should portray your brands identity and play a part in enticing new talent to the practice.
