How to Hire a Veterinarian? Simple Guidelines To Choose The Right Employee

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How to Hire a Veterinarian
How to Hire a Veterinarian

It’s time to hire a new veterinarian professional in your team. There can be plenty of reasons for hiring a new employee, like to ease the workload on current employees, to replace a colleague, or you need an experienced vet for your animal hospital or clinic’s growth. In any case, how to hire a veterinarian can be a little challenging, after all, you will be risking the animal health by hiring an unskilled veterinarian.

Before your run to post a job ad you need to make some decisions about what qualities are you looking for in your new employee? Do you want to hire an experienced or a new graduate? Do you want a veterinarian with some new skills to expand your work line? Will they work as a mentor or a vet nurse? Will he/she be working full time or part-time?  Asking questions will help you pinpoint your requirements and then hiring the right person. After all, being a good veterinarian is a state of the art.

It is not easy to find a good veterinarian. Here are 3 important practices that you should follow in order to hire a good employee.

Checklist for hiring a veterinarian

Checklist for hiring a veterinarian

·         Do you have a unique practice of choice?

Do you follow certain practice management and culture in your clinic, which makes you different from other animal hospitals and clinics. Veterinary medicine is not a big profession, treating your colleagues right, keeping a happy and positive environment at work, get the word around in the market.  If you will practice a negative work environment and ill-treat your employees, then a bad image will get around.

·         Do you follow a training or mentorship program for new graduates?

A new graduate is always scared that after hiring they will be left alone with their work. Mentorship is what a new grad is looking for when hired in a veterinary hospital. A structured program helps to ease down at work.  Try to set up a four-week training program for new graduates and veterinarians as well. Follow the phase training method. This will allow the introduction of effective practices.

·         Do you post ads where a new graduate will be able to see?

Gone are the days of posting ads in only one veterinary journal then sit and wait for the resumes to be sent.  With the introduction of the internet and social media everything around us has become so fast including hiring. Now you can use Facebook, LinkedIn, job cast, CareerBuilder, zip recruiter, monster and many other websites to post an ad on different websites. Ensure that the reach of your ad is wide.  Posting an attractive ad is also important. Do not expect to get a good response for boring and dull ads. An ad should be exciting. There are a lot of people involved in a veterinary career and there are many hospitals around. You would want to make sure that your ad is different than others and eye-catching. Make your ad is designed in a way that shows your unique practice qualities and makes the people want to jump and contact you for an interview.

 How to decide if the applicant should be hired?

How to decide if the applicant should be hired?

Being a veterinarian is a full-time job. When you are planning on hiring a veterinarian, it is essential to look for proper education and skills in a candidate. However, it is also necessary to hire an employee who fits in your clinic’s culture and mesh with your core values and practices. You may practice great client services, high-quality pet care, strong teamwork or attention to detail. If your team is not able to adhere to these practices your work might get affected and there will be a tense environment at work.

“The key point in the entire veterinary employment process is to hire team members whose values and morals mirror yours and those of the practice,” says Dr. John Wilde

So the question arises on how to hire veterinary professionals who fit your work culture? The first step is to determine the core values of your clinic practices.  Then ask questions in the interview and make observations to understand the applicants’ values and priorities.

Some questions to consider when making conclusions on applicants’ answers.
  • Will he or she fit into your veterinary practice cultures?
  • Do he/ she have a similar temperament as the other members of your team?
  • Does he/she fit in your working environment?

If you make a mistake of hiring a wrong employee for your veterinary hospital or clinic may have negative consequences.  Every clinic has a unique culture and every employee has different duties and priorities at the job. These unique and different practices are what make veterinary professionals and veterinary practices less or more appealing to clients. Therefore, it is important to stay to our practices and values instead of compromising with your clinic’s culture.

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