Ten tips for veterinary job hunting

When it comes to job-hunting in the veterinary profession, there are a few essential steps you can take to assist in finding your dream veterinary role. Here are our top ten tips:

1. Think about where you look – Your search should start at a veterinary-specific job board. The AVA Career Connect website is home to hundreds of ads for a wide range of different veterinary roles.
   
   
2. Register for online job sites – Register your name on a veterinary job site and set up alerts for potential jobs. This helps keep you in the loop and even if you are not looking now, it might be beneficial when you are ready to take the next career move.
   
   
3. Think about the words you use to search for a job – Avoid being too specific with your search terms or you may miss an opportunity. We recommend you are broad with your search terms and use words such as vet, vets, veterinary, locum, animal hospital, clinic, animal, small animal, large animal, mixed, equine, DVM, BVSc.
   
   
4. Try variety when searching – Be open to looking online, in print media and journal classifieds. You may also want to consider a veterinary recruiter as they will often do the online searches for you.
   
   
5. Be flexible with location – Don’t be too specific with your location or you might miss out on the dream job. Be sure to include a wide radius in your search as there may be an ideal job just outside from where you originally thought you’d look!
   
   
6. Think outside the box and consider other organisations – If you are open to working at organisations that are not practices (such as drug companies), consider looking on their company websites for any roles they may have available.
   
   
7. Use a mentor – Every vet needs a mentor in their career. Seek out yours and be prepared to pick their brains about potential career moves. They’ve probably ‘been there and done that’ and may be able to help you find your dream job via word of mouth.
   
   
8. Be proactive – If you think you know exactly where your dream job is but they aren’t advertising, be proactive! Get your resume together, drop it off and introduce yourself. You would be surprised how many people get jobs at places where there was no advertised position!
   
   
9. Plan your interview – This goes without saying. Be prepared when you head into an interview and don’t just answer questions, ask them too. You want to make sure the culture of the workplace is a good fit for you.
   
   
10. Be persistent – You won’t find your dream job in one day, so be tenacious and be prepared to keep looking until you find it.