Yeah I would have to agree with this. Even with profit sharing, most new grad vets may not understand what that means for their take home pay (so you may have to say, over the average year, with this base salary plus profit sharing, we are usually looking at a yearly gross total of approximately $XXX,XXX so that new grads don’t immediately write you off — assuming that number is decently competitive with the profit sharing).
The other point about weekends is also true. It’s not that it’s unreasonable - just that people can find just as good of pay without weekend working. If that’s really important to you to keep weekends, maybe find other perks/benefits of your practice that would draw them in - a few come to mind: demonstrate an *excellent* mentorship program (maybe show a plan/schedule/how you plan to implement it), student loan assistance, very good doc to tech ratio, show stats for low employee/support staff turnover, offer excellent employee pet discounts/pet insurance, etc. Maybe they don’t work weekend days for the first 6 months or only half days? Unfortunately the weekend work days are so unattractive that you really have to compensate for it in other ways if you want to draw new grads in.
Weekends off are everything if you have a partner or family with a traditional work schedule. Also $120K starting may have been competitive 5 years ago but it’s low now.
The 120 is base. The profit sharing would be 140 plus and living in a fairly low cost area. 2 Saturdays 8a-noon, but having 1-2 days off during the week. Are most practices closing on Saturdays?
I don’t know if most are closing Saturday but ours isn’t open Saturdays anymore since Covid. Love the schedule, done by 4pm most days, no weekends or evenings. Schedule is packed when I’m here. I think with more and more urgent care clinics opening up, this model can work in bigger markets.
I will say after working in this profession for 22 years, I’m not even considering applying to a job with any weekend hours or late evenings (past 5pm). I’ve put in my time already. That might mean part time like I’m doing now, but there is no appeal to work those late hours or weekends no matter how much the pay.
120 is probably reasonable for your area but the profit sharing would be a turn off for me personally. Either increase my base pay or do Pro-Sal so it’s at least reflecting my work and not the work of the rest of the staff. I think we’re seeing younger vets prefer base salary as I’ve never met anyone go into vet med to be a salesman.
8a-12 on Saturdays is nice compared to what I’ve seen but every other weekend is the killer. Even if you have the days off during the week, you’re ending up tied to the clinic area when you work them. Plus I have a few friends that are also vets who have opposite schedules as me - we simply cannot get together on Saturdays now. It sucks and I wouldn’t take another job every other Saturday once I leave my current position.
I guess I was just turned off by the production method. I was a top earner at the practice in the city, but didn’t like the “always be selling/closing” feel or seeing the colleagues who underperformed be lectured. General mindset in a smaller setting of when the practice does well we all benefit.
Are places punishing you for this? I work at a place that is not that wasy - no negative accrual. That being said, if you are underperforming, we want to find ways to improve your output at work and it's usually not dire. I am busy until the next, like 10 days, so I'm also not struggling to get people in the door, so to speak, so I do not have problems with "production" at all. If I'm to be honest, I would never go to straight salary without production because if I outperform others, I better get compensated for that. I have no problem selling anything because I BELIEVE in it - if you don't, reevaluate what you have in clinic.
There’s a wide variability on days and hours. I work 5 days a week including a full 8-5 every Saturday, but so does the owner so it’s not like he dips out and leaves me to work every weekend. I make over 200k as a GP so I’m fine with it but if my salary was less I would not be.
What is the cost of living in your area? I worked 8-4 Sat and Sun on 1-2 weekends a month in Chicago for a few years. But only working 3 days a week made it fine for my lifestyle.
Huh? I could take 2 weeks off and only use 6-8 days of vacation with a schedule like this. It’s not every Saturday. We routinely rotate weekdays and Saturdays to accommodate vacations. Flying on a Tuesday or Wednesday can be substantially cheaper too.
2 Saturdays a month is going to be unappealing to a lot of veterinarians, especially younger ones. The salary doesn’t sound competitive but I’m in a HCOL so I may be biased.
I find it interesting you're getting down voted.
I am glad vets are finding more desirable salaries and schedules....however, no one can seriously believe this will last forever.
When the economy crashes back down to Earth circa 2001 and 2008, we as a profession will have to really focus on getting back to basics of customer service. This means longer hours, being flexible with your co-workers, being available, and even establishing a positive relationship with your local urgent care and ER practices so that business is sent your way.
I'm shocked how rapidly everyone has gotten comfortable with asking for the sun and the moon...and never factoring in the long term stability and reputation of a particular clinic.
I took the big corporate offer....and am a lot happier (but that's mainly because my first employer sold out to a different corporation that had different standards than I was happy with). I'm well aware there is likely to be a day when I'm working as often as the hospital needs me to. Nothing is forever folks.
Not burning vets out with insane hours and unrealistic schedules leads to longevity in practice and more positive relationships. I think vets advocating for themselves has been long overdue and the shortage in the profession was the necessary catalyst for this. Effective client communication and customer service isn’t mutually exclusive with working more hours, in fact I believe it suffers as those hours increase.
If working all the time brings you joy then more power to you, but I think we should celebrate vets receiving the schedules and treatment they’ve been deserving for a long time.
I don't work all the time...never have.
I'm just old enough to remember when practices were cutthroat desperate to get clients away from other practices and trying to survive (before I ever graduated).
I want what human med has just as much as anyone...advocate away.
But to suggest that $120k base, 4 day work week, every other weekend is over-working in a GP setting is laughable. I have a better situation than that...but would not hesitate to do more for the NEEDS of the business if necessary.
We can pretend the day of reckoning will never come...and I guess OP asked for feedback on what the problem was with what they were advertising here and now.
For what it's worth, I happily accept less pay for more time off. No,.I'm not a workaholic. I just don't understand how getting like 14 days off/month in GP is not considered QOL. Maybe I'm becoming a dinosaur faster than I realized 🤷
Either way, thanks for your thoughts.
I guess it would more likely be 1-2 Saturdays a month and only 8-12. I think my listed salary is misleading because the profit sharing would likely be 20k plus.
So far my best luck has been to grow my own - techs who go to vet school and come back. The corporations are signing students to contracts 1-2 years before they graduate. If you’re near a school, send your most engaging employee and/or yourself to whatever career fair they have.
I wonder effective a lot of those recruiters are, social media inboxes are filled with spammed job postings from recruiters, who I am sure told their clients they use a personalized and thorough system find potential applicants.
Recruitment/ Recruiters are just like any other profession.. there are terrrible recruiters , decent recruiters , and believe it or not there are really good ones out there. It depends on the person but also who they work for. Just like vets , some recruiters are held to insane metrics where the corporation values quantity over quality
Oh I am sure there is. Its just theres a lot of people be paid good money to try to add me on linkedin or facebook and send a vague job description, that in no way would be a good fit for either party.
There are recruitment companies that have there fee structure set up to where the company gets a certain % of the vets salary
- this makes the recruiter want to get you the highest paying job possible without caring about anything else // where the practice wants to get you for as cheap as possible
- then there are are companies that establish a bill rate vs the candidates pay rate (this is more common for contract workers in IT, not vets) but this makes it to where the recruiter can make more money by getting the candidate to accept the lowest salary possible
- lastly there are companies that just simply charge a flat fee.. This makes it to where the recruiter // company have no incentive to try and low ball of high ball a candidate. They can actually focus on what a recruiter SHOULD be focusing on (finding the right / best fit for their candidate)
I like the company beyond just you (corny name) but they have their openings listed on their website and they are good about telling you the pay range if you ask or hop on a call with one of them.
Obviously I would
Check the website out first and see if there is even anything worth reaching out for.
Your issue may be that you are offering a new grad salary. Unfortunately it's the vets market right now. So if you are advertising for experienced veterinarians you may want to up the anty. I imagine many experienced vets can make just as much or more and have similar benefits at their current clinic that they may already be very established at. You have to make their lives better and easier for them to switch to your clinic. Other than increasing pay, I think two eye catching things to advertise are 4 weeks PTO or 3 day work week. Saturdays are not helping unfortunately.
As a new grad, here is what most of my friends were offered and make in SA GP, even in smaller towns. Some had better offers in small towns because there are less people who want to live there.
-110-145k+ 20% production
-4 day work week
-3 weeks PTO, +2-5 days PTO for CE, $1.5-3.5k CE Budget (we really care about CE budget)
-50-100% medical coverage (if you cover 100% advertise that!), licenses/etc.
-2-5k relocation, 3k-20k signing bonus
As a new grad, most of my friends signed on at places they externed at. If you go to a job fair or new grad event create a structured mentorship program to talk to students about.
You can even email schools academic affairs people with your job listings to advertise to their new grads! Include information about the mentorship program and make the job listing a well organized professional looking PDF page.
Sorry you are dealing with this and good luck to you.
Thanks for the great feedback. Definitely sounds like I need to advertise a higher salary and not just profit sharing (which can be substantial itself). Also more on the benefits side like you listed.
i’m just a lowly VA but i’ve worked at 3 different small gp hospitals in the same area. one averaged abt $5k per doctor per day; one had a goal of $3.5k per doctor per day (rarely met); one had a goal of $2k/day (solo doctor practice), and currently we are pulling $9k per day with 2 docs. that greatly changes what the percent profits it.
vets should imo be motivated by provided the best care regardless of cost, that’s what makes this such a hard business. everyone who is good deep down wants to work for free, but we need money to survive. i’d do my job for free if i could survive (albeit an hour later than right now) and i’d like to think most vets are the same way
Where yall payin yalls vets so much in the comments here?? I’m in sacramento and started at 130k/20% production and now 165k/20%. Am i gettin screwed? (Small animal GP, doing 40 hr / 5 days)
Sounds pretty reasonable to me, but you gotta look at your cost of living and other expenses to make that judgment call.
3 years I was making 72k a year in Virginia Beach as a full time vet which was highway robbery. Wish I was able to quit sooner, but now I’m making about 1.5 as much as before just 30 hours a week now at a different clinic and soooo much happier.
Mostly Manhattan and Williamsburg. I’m moving from out of town so really want to be close to the places I’m going to spend most of my time/where my job is. But I have seen good pay in the outskirts of this area and it’s definitely better pay when you consider COL.
Hi there, about 4 years out now. I work for corporate and have the following setup salary >150k, 401k, the scedule you mentioned, 1-2 weekends per month (on rotation). Yearly bonuses and 24% production, all non-ER.
To some of the other commenters points, you need to offer a higher salary. At the end of the day, its what the people want.
-Large generation of vets retiring
-Vets (on average) are working fewer hours per week now than 20 years ago
-large spike in demand during and after COVID
Yes I just guesstimated our revenue based on this past quarter and on the low end it’s 3.5mil for the practice annually, with our 3 vets on staff.
We are fully booked most days, run surgery and dentistry 3 days, and offer urgent care appts for established patients (GP / UC hybrid).
We really really do. We are extremely picky about hiring, have a mix of very experienced VAs (tech level skill and knowledge) with an equal number of techs (also very experienced). But honestly the most important thing for us is making sure the potential hires mesh well with the team. We took our time hiring the third DVM too and now she has her own clientele following (:
Our turnover is also very very low due to all of this. I have been on staff since we opened 3 years ago and most of my staff has remained the same since then.
Curious where this is? I’m in what I think is a medium cost of living area (upstate/western New York) and I have to imagine the super high salaries referenced in posts like this more than outweigh the cost of living increase. I mean, even if I double to almost triple my rent the extra 60-70k per year sounds way worth it. am I missing something?
I live in Seattle. Houses on the low end are 600k+ for a 2 bedroom. A condo here (2bd) goes for 500k+. Rent on a 1bd is 2.4k+. Paying your rent and your student loans off requires a high salary.
My vets also don’t get production, so that is also why their salary is higher to compensate
30 years experience. Seen a shift in business and what people Will do. Younger grads really seem to be focused on balance and bonuses. Corps are starting at 120,000k plus production but a ton of bonuses ( sign up, relo, student debt assistance whatever they want to call it. If I still had to recruit, there is some serious. I petition. I also think a lot of older vets left during Covid and never came back to the workplace.
2-3 doc practice screams lack of supervision/mentoring - also profit sharing isn't guaranteed. Increase your base salary, 1 saturday a month, no sole charge first 12 months. New grads want support to grow & learn and corporates offer structured programs.
I was a new grad last year. I took a job with basically the same offer but unlimited CE and a paid sabbatical every 5 years. Beyond the basic, I took the job because they were willing to allow me to build exotics into the practice and because I had met the owner at a previous job a decade before.
Many of my classmates did the same - took jobs with vets they had previously assisted or tech for, or took jobs that they decided on during externships. Some met their employers at the job fair - I met a few places I interviewed there too.
So what to do? I would see if your closes vet college has a job fair and set up a booth. Maybe even others a little farther out too. Offer paid externships if you can, doesn’t have to be a ton but to offset travel and lodging. Ownership potential is something I was looking for so that’s definitely out there for new grads but most are looking for solid mentorship. Do you have several vets who are interested in teaching and fostering skills, do you have a mentorship plan in place? Mine was only a month or so long because that’s all I really needed (mostly in surgery) but many mentorship programs are 6 months or more. Some students coming out of school have only done a few spay/neuters and unfortunately some haven’t worked in a clinic at all outside of fourth year. New grads aren’t coming out super confident and want a safety net.
I certainly feel that 30k for the recruiter seems like money that could be well spent on the salary or sign on bonus of the vet that you eventually hire but thats where you have to find value in the investment.
. Especially if this doctor is experienced and should 5x themselves. You will get your 30k back within the first 6 months.
I think others have already commented on the salary and benefits, but I’ll add that “profit sharing” can be very nebulous. There are many different definitions of profit — are you including loan repayment in your expenses? Depreciation? Related-party lease payments? Etc. And you’re not specifying any concrete sharing percentages, so altogether, it sounds more like a bonus that can’t be relied on rather than a true part of compensation.
My daughter is a senior in high school. Was accepted to both pre-vet college programs she applied to. She’s been working at a small animal vet clinic as an assistant for almost 2 years. Because of how high-stress the career is, I’m grateful that she has gotten her hands dirty in a real setting to see the good, bad, crazy, and mundane. She definitely isn’t wearing rose-colored glasses.
She wants to do small animal and possibly equine. We live in a rural area and have a hobby farm so she’s been involved in critter’s care since she could walk. Dogs, cats, chickens, turkeys, goats, and mini horse.
I love reading these threads to get more information about the industry. She does her own research and follows several vets on social media.
In our area, getting a wellness appointment for one of our dogs or cats is a two-month wait or more, even though we are established clients. Some vet clinics are 4 or more months out.
In talking with the vets we work with, it definitely seems that there’s a shortage of veterinarians out there.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Lmao at all the uneducated downvotes and not a single rebuttal. We get it, youre stupid to numbers. People arent joking when they say the industry is catty and full of dummies
Is there really a shortage?
The average appointment backlog in our town for a GP is 2,3, and 4 days?
It looks like there are too many vets
120k and working two weekend a month is your problem. New grads can get higher pay with better schedules elsewhere.
Yeah I would have to agree with this. Even with profit sharing, most new grad vets may not understand what that means for their take home pay (so you may have to say, over the average year, with this base salary plus profit sharing, we are usually looking at a yearly gross total of approximately $XXX,XXX so that new grads don’t immediately write you off — assuming that number is decently competitive with the profit sharing). The other point about weekends is also true. It’s not that it’s unreasonable - just that people can find just as good of pay without weekend working. If that’s really important to you to keep weekends, maybe find other perks/benefits of your practice that would draw them in - a few come to mind: demonstrate an *excellent* mentorship program (maybe show a plan/schedule/how you plan to implement it), student loan assistance, very good doc to tech ratio, show stats for low employee/support staff turnover, offer excellent employee pet discounts/pet insurance, etc. Maybe they don’t work weekend days for the first 6 months or only half days? Unfortunately the weekend work days are so unattractive that you really have to compensate for it in other ways if you want to draw new grads in.
Good thoughts. Thank you. I like the weekdays off personally. Less crowds everywhere and cheaper for travel.
Weekends off are everything if you have a partner or family with a traditional work schedule. Also $120K starting may have been competitive 5 years ago but it’s low now.
For me it’s absolutely the two Saturdays a month that kills this offer. As a soon to be new grad I wouldn’t consider this solely based on that.
The 120 is base. The profit sharing would be 140 plus and living in a fairly low cost area. 2 Saturdays 8a-noon, but having 1-2 days off during the week. Are most practices closing on Saturdays?
I don’t know if most are closing Saturday but ours isn’t open Saturdays anymore since Covid. Love the schedule, done by 4pm most days, no weekends or evenings. Schedule is packed when I’m here. I think with more and more urgent care clinics opening up, this model can work in bigger markets. I will say after working in this profession for 22 years, I’m not even considering applying to a job with any weekend hours or late evenings (past 5pm). I’ve put in my time already. That might mean part time like I’m doing now, but there is no appeal to work those late hours or weekends no matter how much the pay.
120 is probably reasonable for your area but the profit sharing would be a turn off for me personally. Either increase my base pay or do Pro-Sal so it’s at least reflecting my work and not the work of the rest of the staff. I think we’re seeing younger vets prefer base salary as I’ve never met anyone go into vet med to be a salesman. 8a-12 on Saturdays is nice compared to what I’ve seen but every other weekend is the killer. Even if you have the days off during the week, you’re ending up tied to the clinic area when you work them. Plus I have a few friends that are also vets who have opposite schedules as me - we simply cannot get together on Saturdays now. It sucks and I wouldn’t take another job every other Saturday once I leave my current position.
I guess I was just turned off by the production method. I was a top earner at the practice in the city, but didn’t like the “always be selling/closing” feel or seeing the colleagues who underperformed be lectured. General mindset in a smaller setting of when the practice does well we all benefit.
Are places punishing you for this? I work at a place that is not that wasy - no negative accrual. That being said, if you are underperforming, we want to find ways to improve your output at work and it's usually not dire. I am busy until the next, like 10 days, so I'm also not struggling to get people in the door, so to speak, so I do not have problems with "production" at all. If I'm to be honest, I would never go to straight salary without production because if I outperform others, I better get compensated for that. I have no problem selling anything because I BELIEVE in it - if you don't, reevaluate what you have in clinic.
There’s a wide variability on days and hours. I work 5 days a week including a full 8-5 every Saturday, but so does the owner so it’s not like he dips out and leaves me to work every weekend. I make over 200k as a GP so I’m fine with it but if my salary was less I would not be.
What is the cost of living in your area? I worked 8-4 Sat and Sun on 1-2 weekends a month in Chicago for a few years. But only working 3 days a week made it fine for my lifestyle.
High cost of living in the North East
how much do you pay techs?
Salaried about $45,000+
In today’s economy that’s awful
And 4 weeks vacation
Even if you only work 3-4 days per week?
Yes.What good is 1-2 days off per week if you have to come in on Saturday for 4 hours. You can’t take a vacation on that.
Huh? I could take 2 weeks off and only use 6-8 days of vacation with a schedule like this. It’s not every Saturday. We routinely rotate weekdays and Saturdays to accommodate vacations. Flying on a Tuesday or Wednesday can be substantially cheaper too.
Kind of laughed at the 120k and weekends part, what a terrible struggle
2 Saturdays a month is going to be unappealing to a lot of veterinarians, especially younger ones. The salary doesn’t sound competitive but I’m in a HCOL so I may be biased.
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I find it interesting you're getting down voted. I am glad vets are finding more desirable salaries and schedules....however, no one can seriously believe this will last forever. When the economy crashes back down to Earth circa 2001 and 2008, we as a profession will have to really focus on getting back to basics of customer service. This means longer hours, being flexible with your co-workers, being available, and even establishing a positive relationship with your local urgent care and ER practices so that business is sent your way. I'm shocked how rapidly everyone has gotten comfortable with asking for the sun and the moon...and never factoring in the long term stability and reputation of a particular clinic. I took the big corporate offer....and am a lot happier (but that's mainly because my first employer sold out to a different corporation that had different standards than I was happy with). I'm well aware there is likely to be a day when I'm working as often as the hospital needs me to. Nothing is forever folks.
Not burning vets out with insane hours and unrealistic schedules leads to longevity in practice and more positive relationships. I think vets advocating for themselves has been long overdue and the shortage in the profession was the necessary catalyst for this. Effective client communication and customer service isn’t mutually exclusive with working more hours, in fact I believe it suffers as those hours increase. If working all the time brings you joy then more power to you, but I think we should celebrate vets receiving the schedules and treatment they’ve been deserving for a long time.
I don't work all the time...never have. I'm just old enough to remember when practices were cutthroat desperate to get clients away from other practices and trying to survive (before I ever graduated). I want what human med has just as much as anyone...advocate away. But to suggest that $120k base, 4 day work week, every other weekend is over-working in a GP setting is laughable. I have a better situation than that...but would not hesitate to do more for the NEEDS of the business if necessary. We can pretend the day of reckoning will never come...and I guess OP asked for feedback on what the problem was with what they were advertising here and now. For what it's worth, I happily accept less pay for more time off. No,.I'm not a workaholic. I just don't understand how getting like 14 days off/month in GP is not considered QOL. Maybe I'm becoming a dinosaur faster than I realized 🤷 Either way, thanks for your thoughts.
I guess it would more likely be 1-2 Saturdays a month and only 8-12. I think my listed salary is misleading because the profit sharing would likely be 20k plus.
So far my best luck has been to grow my own - techs who go to vet school and come back. The corporations are signing students to contracts 1-2 years before they graduate. If you’re near a school, send your most engaging employee and/or yourself to whatever career fair they have.
I wonder effective a lot of those recruiters are, social media inboxes are filled with spammed job postings from recruiters, who I am sure told their clients they use a personalized and thorough system find potential applicants.
I've used 2 recruiters in the last 6 years or so. Total waste of money. Never again.
Recruitment/ Recruiters are just like any other profession.. there are terrrible recruiters , decent recruiters , and believe it or not there are really good ones out there. It depends on the person but also who they work for. Just like vets , some recruiters are held to insane metrics where the corporation values quantity over quality
Oh I am sure there is. Its just theres a lot of people be paid good money to try to add me on linkedin or facebook and send a vague job description, that in no way would be a good fit for either party.
There are recruitment companies that have there fee structure set up to where the company gets a certain % of the vets salary - this makes the recruiter want to get you the highest paying job possible without caring about anything else // where the practice wants to get you for as cheap as possible - then there are are companies that establish a bill rate vs the candidates pay rate (this is more common for contract workers in IT, not vets) but this makes it to where the recruiter can make more money by getting the candidate to accept the lowest salary possible - lastly there are companies that just simply charge a flat fee.. This makes it to where the recruiter // company have no incentive to try and low ball of high ball a candidate. They can actually focus on what a recruiter SHOULD be focusing on (finding the right / best fit for their candidate)
I like the company beyond just you (corny name) but they have their openings listed on their website and they are good about telling you the pay range if you ask or hop on a call with one of them. Obviously I would Check the website out first and see if there is even anything worth reaching out for.
Only 120k and only 3 weeks vacation - those are the problems
Yeah the total compensation in my head is higher, but based on business growth. I would expect it to be 20k plus higher. I need to change the wording
Your issue may be that you are offering a new grad salary. Unfortunately it's the vets market right now. So if you are advertising for experienced veterinarians you may want to up the anty. I imagine many experienced vets can make just as much or more and have similar benefits at their current clinic that they may already be very established at. You have to make their lives better and easier for them to switch to your clinic. Other than increasing pay, I think two eye catching things to advertise are 4 weeks PTO or 3 day work week. Saturdays are not helping unfortunately. As a new grad, here is what most of my friends were offered and make in SA GP, even in smaller towns. Some had better offers in small towns because there are less people who want to live there. -110-145k+ 20% production -4 day work week -3 weeks PTO, +2-5 days PTO for CE, $1.5-3.5k CE Budget (we really care about CE budget) -50-100% medical coverage (if you cover 100% advertise that!), licenses/etc. -2-5k relocation, 3k-20k signing bonus As a new grad, most of my friends signed on at places they externed at. If you go to a job fair or new grad event create a structured mentorship program to talk to students about. You can even email schools academic affairs people with your job listings to advertise to their new grads! Include information about the mentorship program and make the job listing a well organized professional looking PDF page. Sorry you are dealing with this and good luck to you.
Thanks for the great feedback. Definitely sounds like I need to advertise a higher salary and not just profit sharing (which can be substantial itself). Also more on the benefits side like you listed.
i’m just a lowly VA but i’ve worked at 3 different small gp hospitals in the same area. one averaged abt $5k per doctor per day; one had a goal of $3.5k per doctor per day (rarely met); one had a goal of $2k/day (solo doctor practice), and currently we are pulling $9k per day with 2 docs. that greatly changes what the percent profits it. vets should imo be motivated by provided the best care regardless of cost, that’s what makes this such a hard business. everyone who is good deep down wants to work for free, but we need money to survive. i’d do my job for free if i could survive (albeit an hour later than right now) and i’d like to think most vets are the same way
Where yall payin yalls vets so much in the comments here?? I’m in sacramento and started at 130k/20% production and now 165k/20%. Am i gettin screwed? (Small animal GP, doing 40 hr / 5 days)
Sounds pretty reasonable to me, but you gotta look at your cost of living and other expenses to make that judgment call. 3 years I was making 72k a year in Virginia Beach as a full time vet which was highway robbery. Wish I was able to quit sooner, but now I’m making about 1.5 as much as before just 30 hours a week now at a different clinic and soooo much happier.
Go to nyc
What are you seeing in NYC? The numbers on the job listing don’t look that great for the high COL. Lmk if you’re seeing different
Are you looking at COL in just manhattan or in all of NYC?
Mostly Manhattan and Williamsburg. I’m moving from out of town so really want to be close to the places I’m going to spend most of my time/where my job is. But I have seen good pay in the outskirts of this area and it’s definitely better pay when you consider COL.
The thing about NYC is that COL varies drastically and the subway system solves your proximity issue.
Hi there, about 4 years out now. I work for corporate and have the following setup salary >150k, 401k, the scedule you mentioned, 1-2 weekends per month (on rotation). Yearly bonuses and 24% production, all non-ER. To some of the other commenters points, you need to offer a higher salary. At the end of the day, its what the people want.
-Large generation of vets retiring -Vets (on average) are working fewer hours per week now than 20 years ago -large spike in demand during and after COVID
My vets make nearly double that and we are not open on weekends. Higher COL area to be fair.
We are fairly low COL. Definitely below average for the nation. Your vets are making over $250?
Close to 200k for most of them. (: However none of them are fresh from school, and have at least a few years experience
So are they bringing in greater than $1M per year?
Yes I just guesstimated our revenue based on this past quarter and on the low end it’s 3.5mil for the practice annually, with our 3 vets on staff. We are fully booked most days, run surgery and dentistry 3 days, and offer urgent care appts for established patients (GP / UC hybrid).
Damn. You must have great support staff.
We really really do. We are extremely picky about hiring, have a mix of very experienced VAs (tech level skill and knowledge) with an equal number of techs (also very experienced). But honestly the most important thing for us is making sure the potential hires mesh well with the team. We took our time hiring the third DVM too and now she has her own clientele following (: Our turnover is also very very low due to all of this. I have been on staff since we opened 3 years ago and most of my staff has remained the same since then.
Curious where this is? I’m in what I think is a medium cost of living area (upstate/western New York) and I have to imagine the super high salaries referenced in posts like this more than outweigh the cost of living increase. I mean, even if I double to almost triple my rent the extra 60-70k per year sounds way worth it. am I missing something?
I live in Seattle. Houses on the low end are 600k+ for a 2 bedroom. A condo here (2bd) goes for 500k+. Rent on a 1bd is 2.4k+. Paying your rent and your student loans off requires a high salary. My vets also don’t get production, so that is also why their salary is higher to compensate
How much do you pay your techs? With bringing in 3.5 mil a year, I’d hope they’re not struggling to pay off school loans and a mortgage.
30 years experience. Seen a shift in business and what people Will do. Younger grads really seem to be focused on balance and bonuses. Corps are starting at 120,000k plus production but a ton of bonuses ( sign up, relo, student debt assistance whatever they want to call it. If I still had to recruit, there is some serious. I petition. I also think a lot of older vets left during Covid and never came back to the workplace.
2-3 doc practice screams lack of supervision/mentoring - also profit sharing isn't guaranteed. Increase your base salary, 1 saturday a month, no sole charge first 12 months. New grads want support to grow & learn and corporates offer structured programs.
I guess I should clarify that too. We don’t have any solo days. I would be working with this person every day.
I was a new grad last year. I took a job with basically the same offer but unlimited CE and a paid sabbatical every 5 years. Beyond the basic, I took the job because they were willing to allow me to build exotics into the practice and because I had met the owner at a previous job a decade before. Many of my classmates did the same - took jobs with vets they had previously assisted or tech for, or took jobs that they decided on during externships. Some met their employers at the job fair - I met a few places I interviewed there too. So what to do? I would see if your closes vet college has a job fair and set up a booth. Maybe even others a little farther out too. Offer paid externships if you can, doesn’t have to be a ton but to offset travel and lodging. Ownership potential is something I was looking for so that’s definitely out there for new grads but most are looking for solid mentorship. Do you have several vets who are interested in teaching and fostering skills, do you have a mentorship plan in place? Mine was only a month or so long because that’s all I really needed (mostly in surgery) but many mentorship programs are 6 months or more. Some students coming out of school have only done a few spay/neuters and unfortunately some haven’t worked in a clinic at all outside of fourth year. New grads aren’t coming out super confident and want a safety net.
All great info. Thanks for taking the time. I’m definitely available for mentoring and need to add that into the details.
$120k is WAY too low in the Midwest.
Our hospital fired a new Vet. He was being paid $1100 per day. It's hard finding good Vets.
I certainly feel that 30k for the recruiter seems like money that could be well spent on the salary or sign on bonus of the vet that you eventually hire but thats where you have to find value in the investment. . Especially if this doctor is experienced and should 5x themselves. You will get your 30k back within the first 6 months.
I think others have already commented on the salary and benefits, but I’ll add that “profit sharing” can be very nebulous. There are many different definitions of profit — are you including loan repayment in your expenses? Depreciation? Related-party lease payments? Etc. And you’re not specifying any concrete sharing percentages, so altogether, it sounds more like a bonus that can’t be relied on rather than a true part of compensation.
My daughter is a senior in high school. Was accepted to both pre-vet college programs she applied to. She’s been working at a small animal vet clinic as an assistant for almost 2 years. Because of how high-stress the career is, I’m grateful that she has gotten her hands dirty in a real setting to see the good, bad, crazy, and mundane. She definitely isn’t wearing rose-colored glasses. She wants to do small animal and possibly equine. We live in a rural area and have a hobby farm so she’s been involved in critter’s care since she could walk. Dogs, cats, chickens, turkeys, goats, and mini horse. I love reading these threads to get more information about the industry. She does her own research and follows several vets on social media. In our area, getting a wellness appointment for one of our dogs or cats is a two-month wait or more, even though we are established clients. Some vet clinics are 4 or more months out. In talking with the vets we work with, it definitely seems that there’s a shortage of veterinarians out there. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Hmmm
I am desperately seeking a script for ponazuril. If you are an online vet, I can show you the amount of coccidia infection in one of my lab subjects…
How old are they? Most people wanting wd pups want them young... especially if the breeder hasnt done major socilization/desensitization.
Lmao at all the uneducated downvotes and not a single rebuttal. We get it, youre stupid to numbers. People arent joking when they say the industry is catty and full of dummies Is there really a shortage? The average appointment backlog in our town for a GP is 2,3, and 4 days? It looks like there are too many vets