Workforce shortages are an ongoing challenge in the veterinary professions, so recruiting and retaining the right staff members is really important for the success of your practice.
Assessing your practice needs
The first step in successful recruitment is to be clear about your practice needs. Assess what your vacancy is and consider what solutions there could be. It could be a permanent position, a fixed term contract or locum cover to provide more time to assess your longer-term needs.
Creating a job and person specification
Create a detailed job and person specification including what the person’s role will be and what they will need to succeed in it. Include the levels of qualification and experience, the range of procedures and surgical tasks expected, the areas of work (small animal, emergency care, exotics, etc) and the levels of supervision, team direction or management required. Encompass your standards of care, ethos and approach, and include the CPD and personal development support available.
Building a positive culture
Attracting recruits is not just a one-off exercise to fill a specific vacancy. Amongst such a close-knit profession, your practice’s reputation as an employer will be a significant factor, so it is vital to pay consistent attention to creating a positive culture and prioritising staff welfare. Word of mouth and recommendation amongst friends and colleagues are common ways to successfully recruit, and can add confidence for both candidates and employers. Many practices offer a ‘referral bonus’ to reward staff who successfully introduce a new recruit.
Using a recruitment agency
There can be benefits to using a well-established veterinary recruitment agency to find staff. A good agency will have a list of candidates looking for work and an established network of contacts through the profession. They have the expertise to help a practice to nail down the details of a role, create adverts, market the role, screen applications and assess candidates. They should also be up to date with the trends and dynamics of the market and able to provide insight into compensation packages and candidate expectations. An agency’s success at finding the right person for your practice depends on their understanding of your practice’s culture, personality and needs, so communication around this is important, and many agencies will build effective long-term relationships with practices.
Different agencies may have different pricing models, based on a percentage of the successful employee’s compensation package, or on a fixed fee basis, but rates can vary according to market conditions so negotiation may be possible.
Advertising job vacancies
There are many opportunities for practices to advertise job vacancies in veterinary media, job websites and on social media. If you are writing your own advert, it is essential to ensure that it is legally compliant with the requirements of the Equality Act and must not discriminate against protected characteristics including race, age, pregnancy and maternity, disability, sex, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender re-assignment and marriage and civil partnership.
Crafting an effective job advert
It is important to bear in mind that first impressions are influential, and the content of your advert will be what either attracts or deters candidates. The advert needs to do more than state the requirements of the role – it needs to sell your practice and its culture and values to the people you want to attract. Consider what your ideal candidate will be looking for: what will be important to them? What details will they need to know? What are the benefits your role can offer them? Why is your practice a great place to work?
Standing out in a competitive market
In such a competitive market, you need to consider what your advert needs to stand out from the crowd in the context of the media you are using. Imagery and audiovisual media can help to grab attention and engage people with your advert. On social media and job websites, you may be able to use video to good effect to ‘tell a story’, allowing candidates to get a feel for your practice, its location and the role you are offering. If you have a limited word count, especially in print advertising, think very carefully about what you include and what you must leave out. Is the free fruit you offer your team really going to be persuasive, or is it more likely a candidate will want to know what salary is being offered? If the magazine or organisation has a recruitment team, seek advice about what is working best to get adverts seen and to fill positions.
Recruitment can be a slow and costly process, with a big impact on your practice’s success, so it is worth investing the time and resources to get it right. It is also likely to be something you will need to repeat at intervals from staff turnover or through growth, so consider your recruitment efforts with a broad view, encompassing the welfare of your staff, the marketing of your practice’s brand, the contacts and relationships you develop and the reputation of your practice.
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For more comprehensive information and to ensure you cover all aspects necessary for a successful launch, we invite you to read our Modern Veterinarian’s Guide to Opening a New Practice. An invaluable tool crafted by industry experts, it provides you with essential insights, best practices, and practical tips to ensure your success.
