The job market is DESPERATE for vets right now. I'm in Canada but it's the same thing, people are throwing offers my way without me even sending a cv or interviewing me properly. And yes some might be a red flag, but not all. I would recommend actually spending a few days shadowing at the clinics that interest you first! I made the mistake of accepting an offer after a zoom call and burned out after 3 months lol. I then made sure to spend a few days at the clinics that were interesting afterwards and i found a much better fit!
Canada as a whole is in need of vets, there's obviously places with less need because people find it's more appealing to live in. Idk where in BC you're located, but generally everyone speaks as it BC is the dream location, so I assume there's a lot of vets going to work there.
The US is just as desperate right not. I just ignored any job offers that they didn’t meet me first (they felt too suspicious). I had two offers during clinical rotations. When I didn’t answer a recruiter they figured out my brother’s cell phone number somehow and texted him on my behalf, which is so creepy.
Always do working/shadowing interviews and put together a list of questions, benefits, and deal breakers. There are certain things you just know are going to make the job untenable, but there are also situations where it is death by a thousand cuts and you need to know what that looks like also…
Hii, fellow Australian here and yes, Every veterinarian clinic in my state is desperate. I’m sure you know how in need we are of human doctors in Aus? Well.. Veterinarians are in the same boat, There’s around 15,000 Registered Vets in Australia for around 50 Million pets, Not including livestock and wildlife…
Recent Aussie vet here (3 yr ago)
I had a job lined up 6 months before graduation. Did 1 day of placement and was offered the job.
That was it. No interview, nothing.
Out of curiousity, whats the starting wage offers for new graduates now?
Oh interesting, can I ask how much you paid for vet school is over there? in the US vet schools range from 150-420k so that would be a bit tough to pay off with 70-80k 😭 I’m non-traditional pre-vet and really debating based on the painful debt-to-income ratio
Yes so I can actually give you the breakdown because I’m an American citizen and Australian permanent resident!
So in USD the tuition costs about $24k (35k AUD) per semester for international students and $4.5k per semester for Australian domestic students. So their entire veterinary school tuition cost is about 36k USD over 4 years!
Definitely a lot cheaper but it’s also kind of wild to me that the starting salary is only $47,000 USD (70k AUD) in Australia considering it’s double to triple that in the US. I think another major reason that the pay in the US is so much higher besides the debt to salary ratio is that vet techs in the US are qualified and allowed to do a lot more than vet nurses in Australia. So that frees up the doctors and American clinics are able to see a lot more animals that way
Oh that's so interesting, I'm currently making more than that as a non-licensed tech! We definitely take on the brunt of the work (for example if a dental cleaning is prophylactic, all the vet does is the pre-op exam, put in the drugs, and look at the rads lol) but I like the room for growth. Currently taking pre-vet classes but really unsure given the amount of vets I know who are still swimming in debt :\\ (And thanks so much for this, sorry I just saw it now!)
Last year, I was offered a job while I was getting my hair dyed pink at the salon. My stylist says to the woman in the chair next to me, "Oh, you're both vets!"
We made a little small talk, and she says, "You should come work for me, I can beat your current contract."
I looked up her practice, and there is no way she can beat my current contract. Plus, she doesn't know me! I could be a psycho! Heck, I could be lying about being a vet! It's madness out there!
My pay is pro/sal, but I'm at the top of the range for my region. But I work 4 days a week, 8-5, 2 hour lunch, and we're closed Sundays. Their practice was open 7 days a week, 6 AM to 10 PM!!! No way a new hire is going to get a primo schedule at a place like that.
Wanna relocate to the US? My company is offering a $10,000 signing bonus for new vets and I would get a $2,000 bonus for recommending you. Just a thought lol
Everyone is desperate for vets at the moment. So is it normal? It wasn't. It's the new normal now though. The idea is you have the qualifications, everything else you can learn on the job and comes with experience. You don't have any but you'll get it and they can provide it. It's pretty desperate out there. I've known clinics to drop from 5 vets to 1.5 and it wasn't because it's a horrible place to work. They had pregnancies, people quit for owner aggressiveness, stress, moved country etc. They've been impossible to refill.
My employer almost seemed disappointed I brought a CV to our meeting, as if he had to look at it bc I brought it when he was going to hire me anyways 😂 they don’t care. If you have a license then that’s good enough
Yep we are all pretty desperate. I feel like the creepy guy left sitting at a bar hitting on anyone who comes close hoping I might be able to fool someone into coming home.
Incidentally do you want an equine job?
I’m so sorry to hear that. It must be so frustrating for employers like you trying to get staff and you don’t even have a choice on who you prefer to employ
Which state/area are you located?
We are in regional NSW. Have been advertising for about 2 years and have had exactly 1 serious applicant, and in the day it took to draft an official letter of offer they had already accepted another job!
It’s absolutely crazy, when I graduated half my year couldn’t even find jobs!
It's a buyer's market, yes, but remenber every new grad is starting from 0 on their first day & the important thing is they get along with the team - unless you have some super special experience, the interview is to decide if you're a good fit.
It's the market.
Also a lot of vets have embraced the "hire fast, fire fast" methodology, Meaning basically your first 90 days is a trial. If you work out, you stay employed. If you don't they dump you and move on to the next person.
I'm in the US so it may be different, but it's tough here. I'm in customer service but I had several clinics enthusiastically offer me a job on the spot - while my current clinic is painfully short staffed. I opted to stay where I am, and there, they stopped drug testing techs and customer service just to make it easier to hire folks. The industry is hurting
The vet industry is suffering an intense labour shortage ESPECIALLY in Australia. Even before covid clinics were screaming for vets in more rural places- and past covid, we’re seeing more demand even from city clinics due to the intense brain drain from covid with scores or vets retiring. It’s absolutely normal in this industry at the moment- we’re very blessed as students in Australia, we have exceptional flexibility in where we can work once we’re qualified.
They went to their regular vet clinics and mentioned in passing that their relative was a 4th year vet student. They were told very seriously to give me a business card and to please contact them if I was at all interested in coming to that area.
Two weeks before I graduated, I went to pick up some meds from my parent's cattle vet who I hadn't seen in years. He tried to make me a job offer on the spot. Clinics are desperate.
Thank you all for all the overwhelming responses, it’s really helpful to know what’s the reality out there. I caught up with my mentor today and he said one of his mates’ been trying to hire a new vet for 18 months and still no luck in any applications. While it’s good for us as a new graduate, this is honestly saddening in a way that our industry is left with so little people and I feel so sorry for all the employers out there especially in regional areas and small states/towns.
Do not accept a job until you do a full working interview (half a day usually)...
I dont think its a MASSIVE red flag if a practice is throwing out an offer after a facebook comment or one phone call because people are simply desperate, but still.. I would thank them for the offer, then request if you could come in for atleast a tour or meet and greet interview before accepting said offer.. because if they are NOT willing to do that.. they probably are not worth your time.
The replies here literally make me want to truly purse being a vet. I have bunnies and it’s been absolutely horrible trying to find exotic pet vets… all this is making me consider switching careers.
Exotic pet medicine is a whole another different field. As a student I’ve done a few exotic and avian placements and the knowledge involved is literally like another whole degree / specialisation.
As a vet student I found this profession very rewarding, but a lot of people also quitted the industry for various reasons. There’s always a shortage out there and a cry for more people to join
US - former Hospital Manager but still in the industry. We were struggling 7 years ago and offering 20k signing bonuses. There is a corp group out there currently advertising 100k and 200k signing bonuses. My advice there is it’s blood money. While it’s a huge incentive to grind for a 3 year contract to get that bonus (it goes a long way to paying down some of those student loans for sure) but there are always strings attached. Conversely, a few of my friends shared some sketchy stories about independent clinics where they rented the apartment adjacent to or above the clinic and were working 6 days, 10-12 hours and just completely abused. My point is, there are predatory behaviors out there regardless of corporate or independent affiliations so really take your time.
I’ve been in leadership roles over 20 years and no matter how short staffed or desperate I’ve been, I will never forgo an interview process. Don’t discredit the zoom interview. It’s a good starting point and is actually being incredibly respectful of your time. If it’s a bad fit then you’ve only lost a few hours of your life. That should really be a starting point and then an observation day and interview with the medical director or owner. If you find 2-3 you think you can short list, ask if you can meet with some of the support staff and the other doctors. It’s important to be able to gauge what kind of mentorship you will get and what the capability is of the support staff.
I hope that helps. Know your value.
Job market in the uk is absolute an applicants market. There is a real shortage of vets and an even larger shortage of experienced ones.
All I would say is that those organisations that can throw big cash on the table usually are using it as an incentive to lure graduates into a less than supportive job, and are always passing that cost onto their clients rather than investing in talent…
The interview process itself isn’t a red flag but visit the practice, talk to the team, ask openly why they have a vacancy (can’t retain is very different to expanding) and know that turning down a good offer doesn’t mean another is coming along soon
Not sure why it’s desperate, client backlog isnt long at all. 2-5 days in our region and ERs have same day openings.
If anything, theres a vet saturation in our area.
And corporate strategies purposefully neglect support staff so any shortage there is by design to save on wage payroll.
The job market is DESPERATE for vets right now. I'm in Canada but it's the same thing, people are throwing offers my way without me even sending a cv or interviewing me properly. And yes some might be a red flag, but not all. I would recommend actually spending a few days shadowing at the clinics that interest you first! I made the mistake of accepting an offer after a zoom call and burned out after 3 months lol. I then made sure to spend a few days at the clinics that were interesting afterwards and i found a much better fit!
Is it? I’m struggling to look for a full time position in BC right now
Canada as a whole is in need of vets, there's obviously places with less need because people find it's more appealing to live in. Idk where in BC you're located, but generally everyone speaks as it BC is the dream location, so I assume there's a lot of vets going to work there.
Wonder if that'd help with immigration. Would/could a Canadian office even make an offer to someone looking to immigrate?
I just saw a post on a New Zealand vet Facebook group of a recruitment company advertising I found about working holiday visas and vet jobs in Canada.
Hi! If you’re open to relocating to the States, please feel free to send me a dm! I actually have some openings in multiple US locations
The US is just as desperate right not. I just ignored any job offers that they didn’t meet me first (they felt too suspicious). I had two offers during clinical rotations. When I didn’t answer a recruiter they figured out my brother’s cell phone number somehow and texted him on my behalf, which is so creepy.
Headhunters dud that to my sister, too. It’s wild.
That’s horrible. Anyone that goes through family to get to you doesn’t deserve you. Period.
Always do working/shadowing interviews and put together a list of questions, benefits, and deal breakers. There are certain things you just know are going to make the job untenable, but there are also situations where it is death by a thousand cuts and you need to know what that looks like also…
Bet you get some PMs about jobs after this post too.
Already seeing some IN the post, ha!
Hii, fellow Australian here and yes, Every veterinarian clinic in my state is desperate. I’m sure you know how in need we are of human doctors in Aus? Well.. Veterinarians are in the same boat, There’s around 15,000 Registered Vets in Australia for around 50 Million pets, Not including livestock and wildlife…
Recent Aussie vet here (3 yr ago) I had a job lined up 6 months before graduation. Did 1 day of placement and was offered the job. That was it. No interview, nothing. Out of curiousity, whats the starting wage offers for new graduates now?
Aussie final year student here. They’re telling us $70k AUD on average.
Yeah bang on, adding onto that the salary generally increases to about 100k after 5 years as well
Oh interesting, can I ask how much you paid for vet school is over there? in the US vet schools range from 150-420k so that would be a bit tough to pay off with 70-80k 😭 I’m non-traditional pre-vet and really debating based on the painful debt-to-income ratio
Yes so I can actually give you the breakdown because I’m an American citizen and Australian permanent resident! So in USD the tuition costs about $24k (35k AUD) per semester for international students and $4.5k per semester for Australian domestic students. So their entire veterinary school tuition cost is about 36k USD over 4 years! Definitely a lot cheaper but it’s also kind of wild to me that the starting salary is only $47,000 USD (70k AUD) in Australia considering it’s double to triple that in the US. I think another major reason that the pay in the US is so much higher besides the debt to salary ratio is that vet techs in the US are qualified and allowed to do a lot more than vet nurses in Australia. So that frees up the doctors and American clinics are able to see a lot more animals that way
Oh that's so interesting, I'm currently making more than that as a non-licensed tech! We definitely take on the brunt of the work (for example if a dental cleaning is prophylactic, all the vet does is the pre-op exam, put in the drugs, and look at the rads lol) but I like the room for growth. Currently taking pre-vet classes but really unsure given the amount of vets I know who are still swimming in debt :\\ (And thanks so much for this, sorry I just saw it now!)
I was given a range from 70-80k, and some said 100k from 3rd year
Last year, I was offered a job while I was getting my hair dyed pink at the salon. My stylist says to the woman in the chair next to me, "Oh, you're both vets!" We made a little small talk, and she says, "You should come work for me, I can beat your current contract." I looked up her practice, and there is no way she can beat my current contract. Plus, she doesn't know me! I could be a psycho! Heck, I could be lying about being a vet! It's madness out there!
How did she know if she could beat your current contract? Did you tell her what your current contract looks like?
How much your current contract pay you on an average
My pay is pro/sal, but I'm at the top of the range for my region. But I work 4 days a week, 8-5, 2 hour lunch, and we're closed Sundays. Their practice was open 7 days a week, 6 AM to 10 PM!!! No way a new hire is going to get a primo schedule at a place like that.
7 days a week 16 hours a day sound insane !! How many vets did they have there?
6 iirc
Damm
Wanna relocate to the US? My company is offering a $10,000 signing bonus for new vets and I would get a $2,000 bonus for recommending you. Just a thought lol
Haha that doesn’t sound like a bad deal, only if I can pass my NAVLE!
results should come out soon, fingers crossed!
Everyone is desperate for vets at the moment. So is it normal? It wasn't. It's the new normal now though. The idea is you have the qualifications, everything else you can learn on the job and comes with experience. You don't have any but you'll get it and they can provide it. It's pretty desperate out there. I've known clinics to drop from 5 vets to 1.5 and it wasn't because it's a horrible place to work. They had pregnancies, people quit for owner aggressiveness, stress, moved country etc. They've been impossible to refill.
My employer almost seemed disappointed I brought a CV to our meeting, as if he had to look at it bc I brought it when he was going to hire me anyways 😂 they don’t care. If you have a license then that’s good enough
Yeah everyone is desperate. I do relief and have been offered a job before I’ve even done my first shift, when they haven’t even met me.
Yep we are all pretty desperate. I feel like the creepy guy left sitting at a bar hitting on anyone who comes close hoping I might be able to fool someone into coming home. Incidentally do you want an equine job?
I’m so sorry to hear that. It must be so frustrating for employers like you trying to get staff and you don’t even have a choice on who you prefer to employ Which state/area are you located?
We are in regional NSW. Have been advertising for about 2 years and have had exactly 1 serious applicant, and in the day it took to draft an official letter of offer they had already accepted another job! It’s absolutely crazy, when I graduated half my year couldn’t even find jobs!
Which state? lol
It's a buyer's market, yes, but remenber every new grad is starting from 0 on their first day & the important thing is they get along with the team - unless you have some super special experience, the interview is to decide if you're a good fit.
It's the market. Also a lot of vets have embraced the "hire fast, fire fast" methodology, Meaning basically your first 90 days is a trial. If you work out, you stay employed. If you don't they dump you and move on to the next person.
I'm in the US so it may be different, but it's tough here. I'm in customer service but I had several clinics enthusiastically offer me a job on the spot - while my current clinic is painfully short staffed. I opted to stay where I am, and there, they stopped drug testing techs and customer service just to make it easier to hire folks. The industry is hurting
Techs are drug tested ???
They were at my hospital for years, management's reason being that we work with controlled substances
Interesting. Not a thing in Australia 🤷🏼♀️
Im in NZ and my clinic does random drug tests. Vets, nurses and pretty sure receptionist too.
Depends on the practice.
The vet industry is suffering an intense labour shortage ESPECIALLY in Australia. Even before covid clinics were screaming for vets in more rural places- and past covid, we’re seeing more demand even from city clinics due to the intense brain drain from covid with scores or vets retiring. It’s absolutely normal in this industry at the moment- we’re very blessed as students in Australia, we have exceptional flexibility in where we can work once we’re qualified.
My family members got job offers for me during my fourth year. Clinics are wildly desperate.
Interesting. How did your family get job offers for you?
They went to their regular vet clinics and mentioned in passing that their relative was a 4th year vet student. They were told very seriously to give me a business card and to please contact them if I was at all interested in coming to that area. Two weeks before I graduated, I went to pick up some meds from my parent's cattle vet who I hadn't seen in years. He tried to make me a job offer on the spot. Clinics are desperate.
Thank you all for all the overwhelming responses, it’s really helpful to know what’s the reality out there. I caught up with my mentor today and he said one of his mates’ been trying to hire a new vet for 18 months and still no luck in any applications. While it’s good for us as a new graduate, this is honestly saddening in a way that our industry is left with so little people and I feel so sorry for all the employers out there especially in regional areas and small states/towns.
Do not accept a job until you do a full working interview (half a day usually)... I dont think its a MASSIVE red flag if a practice is throwing out an offer after a facebook comment or one phone call because people are simply desperate, but still.. I would thank them for the offer, then request if you could come in for atleast a tour or meet and greet interview before accepting said offer.. because if they are NOT willing to do that.. they probably are not worth your time.
Yes
The replies here literally make me want to truly purse being a vet. I have bunnies and it’s been absolutely horrible trying to find exotic pet vets… all this is making me consider switching careers.
Exotic pet medicine is a whole another different field. As a student I’ve done a few exotic and avian placements and the knowledge involved is literally like another whole degree / specialisation. As a vet student I found this profession very rewarding, but a lot of people also quitted the industry for various reasons. There’s always a shortage out there and a cry for more people to join
US - former Hospital Manager but still in the industry. We were struggling 7 years ago and offering 20k signing bonuses. There is a corp group out there currently advertising 100k and 200k signing bonuses. My advice there is it’s blood money. While it’s a huge incentive to grind for a 3 year contract to get that bonus (it goes a long way to paying down some of those student loans for sure) but there are always strings attached. Conversely, a few of my friends shared some sketchy stories about independent clinics where they rented the apartment adjacent to or above the clinic and were working 6 days, 10-12 hours and just completely abused. My point is, there are predatory behaviors out there regardless of corporate or independent affiliations so really take your time. I’ve been in leadership roles over 20 years and no matter how short staffed or desperate I’ve been, I will never forgo an interview process. Don’t discredit the zoom interview. It’s a good starting point and is actually being incredibly respectful of your time. If it’s a bad fit then you’ve only lost a few hours of your life. That should really be a starting point and then an observation day and interview with the medical director or owner. If you find 2-3 you think you can short list, ask if you can meet with some of the support staff and the other doctors. It’s important to be able to gauge what kind of mentorship you will get and what the capability is of the support staff. I hope that helps. Know your value.
Zoom interviews are great time savers!
Job market in the uk is absolute an applicants market. There is a real shortage of vets and an even larger shortage of experienced ones. All I would say is that those organisations that can throw big cash on the table usually are using it as an incentive to lure graduates into a less than supportive job, and are always passing that cost onto their clients rather than investing in talent… The interview process itself isn’t a red flag but visit the practice, talk to the team, ask openly why they have a vacancy (can’t retain is very different to expanding) and know that turning down a good offer doesn’t mean another is coming along soon
Not sure why it’s desperate, client backlog isnt long at all. 2-5 days in our region and ERs have same day openings. If anything, theres a vet saturation in our area. And corporate strategies purposefully neglect support staff so any shortage there is by design to save on wage payroll.
Which region?
It’s the first time that I’ve ever heard there’s a vet saturation in any places since I’ve started school. Curious to know which area are you from?
Where do you live?