TREATMENT
BUSINESS
Real Veterinary Hiring
Problems (& Solutions)
Dr Dave Nicol, BVMS Cert Mgmt
I recently gave a talk where I asked delegates to tell me about their greatest veterinary hiring challenges,
then we problem solved live to help address those issues. In case you missed it, here are the top four
challenges and my solutions in summarised form.
The Top 4 Hiring Challenges
We struggle to find candidates that will fit with our culture.
1. Not getting enough candidates.
2. Getting too many candidates.
3. Not attracting "crazy" people.
The Solutions
1. We struggle to find candidates that will fit with our
culture
If you are struggling to find candidates that will fit with
your culture then you need to do one of two things. Either
change your culture (very hard) or depict what your culture
is accurately from the start (quite easy).
One way to do this is to infuse some personality into your
job advert. Most people’s job adverts are painfully boring and
look exactly like everyone else’s.
Instead, try to write about your practice accurately; using
real words and phrases that you would use to describe it if
you were talking to a stranger in a bar. A great way to do this
is to have someone interview you about what life’s like at
your practice. If you record this then you’ll find a few great
phrases to weave into your job advert that will start to add
some authenticity and personality.
2. Not getting enough candidates
If you aren’t getting enough quality candidates applying for
a role then three factors may be holding you back. Firstly
where are you posting your advert? If you’re looking for a
receptionist and posting onto a clinical job board then the
response rate will be poor. If you are not sure where to post
your advert then call up someone you know would be good
at the job and ask them where they would be looking for a
new job.
vet360
Next, you should assess whether you are offering
a job anyone wants to do, or be in an area anyone
wants to go to? Job design inevitably has an impact
on the number of people who will be attracted to a
role.
If you are recruiting for a job where the jobs advertised
massively outweigh the candidates applying as
is frequently the case with nurses/technicians or
experienced vets, then you may have to consider
strengthening your offering or networking to raise
awareness of your practice.
Finally, consider your reputation in the wider job
market? If you are not well thought of then this will be
inhibiting your ability to attract staff.
Any and all of the four above factors can be at play.
The best advice is to seek feedback from your current
and past employees. Scary but enormously valuable
information.
3. Getting too many candidates
Getting too many candidates applying for a role is
often a problem with customer service jobs or junior
roles in veterinary hospitals. The issue is the enormous
waste of time involved in managing large numbers of
applicants. Most of whom will be a poor fit when you
only have one job to offer.
Again we're going to use our job advert to help. By
writing as detailed, descriptive and honest job advert
as possible you will reduce the number of responses.
Adding the pay rate will also stop people from applying
who want more cash than you are prepared to pay.
Issue 01 | MARCH 2018 | 5