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Ready, Set...Now What? Finding Your Perfect Job in Veterinary Medicine

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By Stith Keiser & Jessica Goodman Lee
February 2, 2010

 

I recently conducted a telephone interview on behalf of a veterinary practice seeking to add a new associate to their team. The candidate had submitted a resume in response to a job posting, and on paper it looked like he might be a good fit. On the phone, though, as I began to delve deeper, it became apparent that he had been changing clinics every 2 to 3 years over the past 20 years. Many of the jobs were not even included on his resume.
 
The little red warning light began to go off in my head, but what really set the sirens off were his reasons for jumping ship; his explanation was that he would become frustrated with something or somebody at a practice, and rather than address it he would just “move on.”
 
As we worked our way through the list of practices, the answer was almost always the same, “I really liked it there for a while, but then (such and such) happened.” As someone hired to find the perfect candidate for a position, I was disturbed by his attitude toward his employment history.
 
What struck me the most was not only that he continued to make the same mistakes over and over again, but that he seemed to take no ownership for his own role in these failed relationships.
 

Job Hoppers

Unfortunately, while this individual’s employment history may sound extreme, it is far from a rare phenomenon in our industry.
 
The American Animal Hospital Association published this disturbing statistic in 2009: the average turnover rate in veterinary practices is 30% per year, making it one of the worst turnover rates in any professional industry.
 
How can this be true for an industry full of compassionate and intelligent individuals who have dedicated themselves to the care of animals? Where have we gone wrong to end up with so many dissatisfied employees and frustrated business owners that must continue to spend precious resources to keep the door revolving?
 
While more often than not, both employers and employees cite personality mismatches as the cause for terminating a working relationship, we seem to realize this when it is already too late.
 

Find Your Dream Job

Moving from job to job is not a whole lot of fun. It involves updating your resume, interviewing, potential relocation, and many other things that can disrupt one’s life. The good news is that as a job seeker you have can stop this cycle of attrition by taking responsibility for your own desires and needs, regardless of whether a practice asks you the right questions. Asking the tough questions and taking a full self-inventory can help you avoid personality conflicts, unmet expectations, and disillusionment. Whether you are a practicing veterinarian or a new graduate, by taking advantage of foresight and insight (and often hindsight as well!), finding a position in which you are rewarded and content does not have to be an insurmountable task.
 
So how do you find this dream job? You cannot find the right fit in a position if you don’t first stop to consider what the right fit looks like. Too many veterinarians accept positions for the wrong reasons, or for what may have seemed like the right reasons at the moment, because they did not spend enough time evaluating their own needs and goals before accepting the position.
 
Long before you start worrying about a practice’s facility, equipment, or salary ask yourself the following questions:
●          With what type of personalities do I work best?
●          What are my own strengths and weaknesses?
●          What do I need to succeed, both professionally and personally?
●          How ready am I to practice veterinary medicine? (New graduates.)
●          What values are most critical to me?
●          Where am I willing to compromise?  
 
It is important to understand that we are all unique individuals with varying needs and expectations. The question, “What do I need to succeed?” is one that must be answered honestly by anyone seeking a new career or position.
 
Many young veterinarians are afraid to admit that they want and need strong mentorship, but by doing so they are setting themselves up for failure. Many practice owners are far removed from what it means to be a young doctor, and right or wrong, expect someone to hit the ground running.
 
To them mentorship may mean a couple of days following them in exam rooms, while for the new associate it means a supportive, structured program with an extended period of time before seeing clients on their own. If you aren’t willing to articulate what mentorship means to you, then you are not giving the practice an opportunity to decide what they are willing to offer; if mentorship means one thing to the candidate and another to the practice then neither party’s needs are met, and the relationship will most likely be doomed from the start.
 

Make a List

One new graduate created a list of things that she knew she needed in order to be happy and productive somewhere for the long term. Creating such a list is an excellent tool to utilize when weighing your career options. Dr. Rowland’s list included:
 
●          Expectation and appreciation of hard work
●          Competent, well-trained, caring staff
●          Opportunities to collaborate and present new ideas for patient care and services
●          Opportunities to teach staff and learn from more experienced doctors
●          Open communication
●          Known expectations for vacation, hours, referring, case transfer
 
Each of the above bullet-points reflects an aspect of Dr. Rowland’s self-assessment and understanding of her own needs:
 
The first point, expectation and appreciation of hard work, comes from her need to receive basic acknowledgement for her contributions or a job done exceptionally well.
 
Competent, well-trained, caring staff may seem obvious, but she added this to her list after she had spent considerable time as a new graduate interviewing at a brand new practice. While she was drawn to the beautiful facility and equipment, she realized that as a new graduate, she would have difficulty working with a staff that was receiving their initial training at the same time she was; an established and well-trained staff would be far more helpful to her.
 
Opportunities to collaborate and present new ideas for patient care and services aligned with Dr. Rowland’s desire to work in a practice where she would her input would be welcome with regards to the management and improvement of the practice. As she explains, “My personality type is such that I have no desire to work in a practice where I am expected to only show up to work and punch in and out. I can’t just sit back and keep quiet when I see room for improvement.”
 

Reevaluate When Necessary

A 2008 Tuskegee graduate is currently reevaluating her career goal to be a specialty and/or emergency practitioner, because she did not take her personality into consideration when she accepted her first position.
 
Since then she has learned that she needs to be in an environment where she can feel recognized and appreciated, and that a specialty/emergency practice will not usually provide this kind of support. This same veterinarian always knew that in her personal life she was a caretaker, but she hadn’t realized how much this would carry over into her professional life.
 
In tune to this trait now, she knows that she needs to be in a practice that allows associates to spend time in the exam room and have an emotional connection with the client. In the specialty and emergency practice where she currently works, the flow is not as conducive to her personality type as a general practice would be.

 

Don’t Repeat Mistakes

Recently I spoke with a young woman who had found a wonderful job after graduating from veterinary school but had to relocate after a year for personal reasons. Fearing she wouldn’t find work, she took the first thing that came along and ended up in a situation where she was forced to compromise her standards for client and patient care.
 
When I spoke with her she was extremely upset with herself for the choice she had made, but after talking for a while she was able to see it as a stepping-off point; she definitely knew now what she couldn’t live with, so the key in her new search would be to ensure that she didn’t make the same mistakes again.
 
When we found a position that interested her, she was extremely cautious and asked to return three times to the practice for day-long working interviews. She also asked to see the practice’s Medical Standards of Care, both to ensure that they had been put into writing and that she was comfortable with them.
 
The practice owner respected her apprehension and even offered her to the opportunity to see appointments to make sure she was comfortable with the standards of care. When she accepted the position both parties felt confident that they were embarking on a mutually beneficial and long-term relationship.
 

Never Too Late

Getting to know yourself before looking for a position, whether it is your first job after graduation or your fifth, enables you to solidify your needs and desires and allows you to weigh potential job opportunities based on your values.
 
It’s not enough to think about these things once and awhile; you need to put them in writing. Grab a small notebook and write these questions at the top of each page and make sure to carry it with you so that you can jot something down when it strikes you.
 
For example if you are still a student and something that comes up in class triggers a “must have” or a “don’t want,” jot it down. Not only will these lists help you figure out what is important to you in a position, but they will also provide an excellent basis for questions when speaking with a potential employer. Knowing exactly what you want and being able to verbalize it should impress any employer worth their salt.
 
Don’t be afraid to pull out your notebook and refresh your memory when talking to a potential employer. Are you doing a working interview? Read it before, read it after, and ask yourself the tough questions. Stick to it and make sure that you can live with the compromises you make, because taking a job for the wrong reasons, or without considering the reasons, will almost always lead to disappointment. When the needs of both parties are expressed and agreed upon, you are far more likely to land on your feet and create your own success wherever you are, rather than out pounding the pavement looking for a new position.
 
About the authors: Stith Keiser is a former hospital administrator and founder of MyVeterinaryCareer.com, where he has been matching veterinary professionals with practices since 2007. Jessica Goodman Lee is a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager and is the hospital administrator of Angel Veterinary Center in Flower Mound, Texas. She is also a veterinary matchmaking specialist for MyVeterinaryCareer.
 
Next month, Stith digs deeper into personality styles and offers suggestions on how to take the results of your self-discovery and leverage them as you weigh your career options.

 

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