Veterinary Recruitment Reimagined - Vet Clinic Jobs Uncovered

Do you agree that traditional recruitment is desperately calling for a better way? Are you sick of being at the mercy of unverified employer review sites and Google to shape your clinic's employer reputation? Are you frustrated by the lack of insight into what it's really like to work at a clinic you've got your eye on? Today, we unveil Vet Clinic Jobs, the reimagined approach to veterinary recruitment that has the potential to totally revolutionise the industry. Welcome to the Vet Staff Podcast, your go-to guide for navigating the Vet recruitment scene and boosting employer brand power. Discover practical strategies for both employers and employees to enhance your personal and clinic brands. Get ready to rock the recruitment market and create an exciting workplace where everyone loves going to work. On Monday mornings, i'm your show host, julie South. Welcome to Episode 138. Before listening to the very first rebranded Vet Staff Podcast, formally pause close and wet noses. Today I'm super excited to announce that Vet Staff, the company my husband and I own, now has a sister. How exciting is that? I can tell you it's the longest gestation ever. It took three very long years to get from conception to inception. I started with Vet Staff back in late 2019 and I was just starting to get into the swing of things. When that thing called a pandemic hit Before our borders closed and everything changed. The marketer in me started noticing that Vet Clinics weren't really doing anything to either protect or promote their reputation as good employers. Their employer brand marketing was pretty much non-existent Pre-pandemic. I spent a lot of time extolling the virtues of Vet Staff's clients to potential job applicants. Job applicants Vets and nurses didn't want to be put forward to some clinics because they'd heard about the toxic culture. I'm sure you know how it goes. They heard about it from a friend who had an uncle whose neighbour took their pet there because someone knew they worked there once. I'm sure you get the picture. Here's the information that wasn't only out of date but had gotten so massively twisted in retailing along the way that it just actually didn't make sense anymore And that bad rep was still hanging around and damaging clinics' recruitment efforts. The relationship, fortunately, we had with those supposedly and I'm in air quotes here toxic culture clinics was great. They weren't toxic at all. That's why they were our clients And the CEOs and directors gave us carte blanche permission to feed back to them anything we heard that was negative so that they could fix it. These are the types of clinics that Vets staff just loves working with. I took them at their word and discovered that what I was hearing was true from years ago, but it wasn't any longer. These clinics had worked long and hard to address the negativity and I quote, old boys' attitude that was once how it was, but wasn't any more The principles. The owners, hr and practice managers had done a lot of work on themselves and the clinic's culture and practices to turn things around. It was a bad reputation they no longer deserved to have. It was after hearing this time and time again and we still hear it from time to time today that I realised Vets clinics need to do need a bit of a leg up with their employer brand marketing. I also realised that the Kiwi DIY attitude was alive and well when it came to recruitment. That is, that many independently owned clinics wanted to do their own recruitment Great, fantastic. So then I started asking myself how can we help clinics do this in a way that made it both easy and affordable for them? yet they still got to benefit somehow from Vets staff's professional skills and expertise. Three years ago, i started working on a program that would make it possible for good employers to shine online as good employers. There were a couple of full starts along the way. That meant I had to go back to the drawing board, and then we had the pandemic happening and while all that was going on, we were also listening to vets and nurses bemoan that it wasn't easy finding out what a clinic's culture was like before they applied for a job. To check out a clinic's culture, because job applicants do as much due diligence They want to background check an employer just like an employer wants to background check an employee. So to check out a vet clinic's culture, they had to go visit a lot of different websites. Sometimes a clinic's own website was out of date. Sometimes they didn't even have a website. They relied instead on their Facebook page, which was all as it should be client focused and not employee focused. Some job applicants only wanted to work for corporates. Others only wanted to work for privately owned clinics, but there wasn't always one easy way to find out about the clinic's ownership just from looking at its website. Others wanted to know what equipment they'd be using, what hours they'd be working, what was the nurse to vet ratio? were the nurses being paid above minimum wage and, if so, what did that look like? What did the staff think about working there? What was it really like? That information was always what we provided to our job seekers. Whenever we introduced a new job seeker to a clinic, we'd give them information on the clinic so they knew whether it was likely to be a job that they were excited about going to on Monday mornings or not. But the longer I stayed at vet staff, the more I then started to hear from vets and nurses who'd applied to a job they'd seen on Facebook or seek only to discover or another website, only to discover that they hadn't done enough background research. They'd been seduced at the interviews and then they'd crash landed within a few weeks into the new job, realizing that they'd made a huge error in judgement. And they were again back in the job market looking for their next job, but this time they were going to us to help them find it. So all of this was telling me that there needed to be one place where vet clinics that were good employers could shine online and the vets and nurses looking to make their next career move could find them. If all of the information job seekers wanted could be found in one place, how useful would that be for both the good employers advertising for staff and the job seekers trying to find the good employers. Ta-da, that's where Vet Clinic Jobs started to take shape. Vetclinicjobscom is the sophisticated job board, married to a veterinary business directory, that enables good employers to shine online and be found by vets and nurses looking to make their next career move. Unlike other job boards, have advanced search functions limited to location and salary. At vetclinicjobscom, job seekers can search by clinic ownership type, for example, whether a clinic is privately owned or corporate owned. They can search by whether a clinic has a new grad development program in place for vets and or nurses, because many have them for vets but they don't always have them for nurses, so nurses, too, can see whether this is available in a clinic. They can search by whether everyone gets paid at least the living wage, which is above the minimum wage. Once a clinic has loaded up their information on the business directory, job seekers will be able to see what equipment the clinic has, the hours they work, the hours that they're open, the nurse to vet ratio, their values, their mission and their vision, plus a whole bunch more, and this is all in one place. What's more, for the clinics, they can advertise their jobs for free. Yup, it won't cost the clinics a cent to advertise your jobs at vetclinicjobscom. For clinics that want to go the free route, some of the advanced search features are available, but not all. Obviously, we'd like vet clinic jobs to be commercially viable, so we've made it totally affordable at just $99 New Zealand per month for as many jobs as you want to list. We've also made it possible that clinics that are currently fully staffed and aren't currently advertising any jobs right now to start building a list of people who want to work for them in the future. This means that if a vet or a nurse knows that you're a clinic they want to work for, but there aren't any current vacancies, they can start following you. So the minute that you post a vacancy, they're the first to know. We know that some clinics have a folder of potential job applicants, and that's great until there's a change in personnel or the list gets forgotten about. With vet clinic jobs overseas, vets and nurses can start following a clinic anywhere in the world because they like what they see that the fit is right for them to start with. So how cool is that? But wait, there's more. We also wanted a place where employees were empowered as well that they could honestly review a clinic as an employee, anonymously. But unlike other employer review sites, the employer has a degree of protection that they weren't totally at the mercy of someone's bestie who was starting a vigilante slaughter campaign because they felt that their friend was, or had been getting a rough deal where they worked. Employees can anonymously review a clinic and we encourage as many employees as possible to do this. But, although anonymous, a form of verification is required to prove the legitimate employee-employee relationship with the clinic first. If we don't have that verification regardless of whether it's a one-star or a five-star review it won't be published. So we have verified anonymous reviews. So what does all of this mean to you? If you're an employer, someone responsible for recruiting at your clinic, then please visit vetclinicjobscom and set up your clinic's business profile. Like I said, you can do it for free if you don't want any of the bells and whistles enabled, so that you can shine online as a good employer. If you have job vacancies, you can list them there for free, as well as many as you have. We're not talking about one vacancy. If you've got five vacancies, you can list them all, but you've got to set up a clinic business listing. First A free one will enable you to list your jobs for free if you want. You just won't have all the search functionality that I mentioned earlier. Once you've set up your clinic's business profile, then let your team know so that they can review you as a good employer. If you're worried about bad reviews, maybe from some historical thing that happened, like I mentioned before then get in touch with us and we'll show you how you can handle those if they're no longer justified. If they are justified, then let's have a chat about culture, because you're going to be burning through staff and it's only going to get harder in today's tight veterinary job market. And while we're on the subject of employer's reviews, i did a bit of research at one employer review website recently. There are quite a few, actually. You may not realize that there are a number of employer review websites. All of them are unverified and anonymous. It's easy to fake reviews, for fake reviews to be posted If you think that employer reviews aren't important or don't apply to you because you're small or you're a corporate or you're whatever. It's worth noting that, according to a career arc survey, 82% of job seekers now consider an employer's brand and reputation before applying for a job. At 82%, that doesn't leave very many who don't. If you Google Employer Review sites, according to Rally Recruitment Marketing, as at July 2022, there were 1919 Employer Review sites. I went to one of those and it was interesting and I use that quote in air quotes. Interesting to say the least. It had changed considerably since the last time I visited, which was a few years ago. Firstly, you can only create an account if you review an employer first, but you don't have to verify you're in a legitimate position to make that review. Now, if you didn't know about that requirement that you had to review. When you're creating a profile and you are looking to see what a potential employer's reviews look like, it's easy to think that the reviews are bona fide. That's not necessarily so. This leaves the employers, who don't do anything to protect their reputation as an employer through active employer branding, hugely exposed to the likes of Google, glassdoor, indeed, comparably and other review sites. I decided to do some employer review analysis on one of the most well-known sites under their heading of veterinary. I was only interested in veterinary clinics and or veterinary hospitals, not veterinary supply companies, veterinary labs or universities. I spent quite a bit of time and effort analyzing the data. Here's a summary of the key findings from my study on employer reviews in the veterinary industry. From one employer review site, the total employers examined 763, across 28 countries. The total individual reviews analyzed 8,332. Of the 763 employers, only 414 were considered eligible for my research, as I focused specifically on veterinary clinics and hospitals that provided employer reviews. Some employer files solely contained salary information, without any star ratings. Due to changes in the employee account creation process, salary information for numerous employers was outdated. So here's the important bits that I uncovered. The average employer rating was 3.6 out of 5. This rating signifies a score barely above the midpoint of neither here nor there indicating an average or neutral evaluation. Now ask yourself whether you would want to work for an employer with a 3.6 rating based on feedback from current or past employees. Personally, i wouldn't. That wouldn't spin my wheels. Ideally, i'd prefer an employer with a minimum four star rating, the as well as having an overall rating. Additional fields for assessment were culture and values, diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, senior management, compensation and benefits and career opportunities. Let's look at further details regarding the reviewer demographics. As I said, the total reviews were 8,332. The average number of reviews per clinic was 19.93. So let's call it 20. Let's break it down by country. If you're in New Zealand thinking that this big overseas review site won't apply to me, hey, it does. In New Zealand there were three clinics reviewed from five reviews, with an average rating of 3.6. Australia total reviews 138. Number of clinics reviewed 11. Average rating 3.4, so lower than New Zealand's, and the average reviewer's per clinic was 12.5. In the UK, total Reviews 2002, the total number of clinics reviewed was 25. The average rating was 4.1. Though up there I'd consider working for one of those clinics and the average reviewer's per clinic 160. For the United States Total Reviews 5108. Across 249 clinics reviewed, with an average rating of 3.4. And there were an average of 20 reviewers per clinic. With vet clinic jobs, one of the things that we wanted to do was to help mitigate the potential damage that these types of review sites can have on a vet clinic employer. At vet clinic jobs, all reviews are verified, regardless of whether it's a one star or a five star review. This means that anyone reading that review knows it's from a bona fide source. If we can't verify the reviewer's authenticity, then the review doesn't get published, righty. So, knowing all of this you might be wondering. So what, julie? Let's look at that. If you're an employer that's currently fully staffed, then congratulations. You probably realise that you're in the minority. However, i'd still like you to go to vetclinicjobscom and register your clinic, at least for a free account, if and when the time comes to advertise a vacancy, you're ready to go. Once you've registered your free account, then I'd like you to invite your existing staff to review your clinic as an employer as well. Be early in the game with getting reviews so you can start shining online as a good employer. You can also invite former employees as well. It doesn't have to be just current, it can be former. Once you've set up your free employer account, send the link to your team and ask them to review your clinic. If you're a clinic that's currently advertising a staff vacancy, then definitely set up an account for your clinic so you can list your job for free. I'd also like you to invite your team to review your clinic. When you've got a few reviews under your belt, then you can give your staff the link to your job advertisement at vetclinicjobscom and ask them to share it among their colleagues, among their peers, among their friends and family, the university friends. If you're going the free route, there won't be as much info on your clinic as a premium listing, but it can still be shared and you can still have star reviews worth sharing. Hopefully, if you opt for a premium listing, you'll have a more comprehensive job advertisement plus more info for your team to share about your clinic. Now, if you're an employee, you can make a difference at your clinic whether you're looking for a job or not at your clinic and start shining online as well. You can let whoever's responsible for recruitment at your clinic know about vetclinicjobscom so they can create a free account for your clinic. You can also review the clinic where you're working now. It won't cost you a cent. If you're looking for a job, you can register a confidential job seeker profile and start receiving updates, because this is the first official announcement we've made about vetclinicjobs. There are a few clinics and a few jobs listed already, but not many, so please help us spread the word. If you're in New Zealand, we've preloaded, as far as we know, we hope, every vet clinic's basic information with at least a name and an address. This means that all Kiwi clinics have to do is claim your clinic and go from there. For all other countries. You can set up your clinic's profile by visiting vetclinicjobscom and clicking the Join Today button on the right at the top of the page. Likewise, you can set up your job seeker profile as well and review the clinic where you're working and tell the clinic where you're working to help them start shining online. I hope you are as excited about the potential of vetclinicjobscom to help you find your next job or to start shining online as a good employer as we are. Thank you for spending the last half an hour or so of your life with me. I really do appreciate it, so thank you. Please visit vetclinicjobscom and have a dig around. Also, check out the resources page. We'll be updating that with more resources each month, and that will help both employers and employees with their recruitment and or employer brand marketing. This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be the most fantabulous version of you. You can be Kaketi, anno. Take care, god bless. The Vet Staff podcast is proudly powered by vetclinicjobscom, the new and innovative global job board reimagining veterinary recruitment. Connect in veterinary professionals with clinics that shine online. Vetclinicjobscom is your go-to resource for finding the perfect career opportunities and helping vet clinics power up their employer branding game. Visit vetclinicjobscom today to find vet clinics that shine online, so veterinary professionals can find them. Visit vetclinicjobscom.