Episode #132 – If Nothing Changes, Then Nothing Changes & Why Your Animal Health Job or Veterinary Job May Not Be Getting Better Than It is Right Now

Angela: Welcome to “The Animal Health Employment Insider,” brought to you by The VET Recruiter. In this podcast,  executive recruiter Stacy Pursell, founder and CEO of The VET Recruiter, provides insight and practical advice for both employers and job seekers in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. The VET Recruiter’s mission is to help Animal Health and Veterinary organizations hire top talent, while helping animal health and veterinary professionals attain career-enhancing opportunities that increase their quality of life.

In today’s podcast episode, we’ll be talking about how if nothing changes then nothing changes and why a professional’s Animal Health job or Veterinary job may not be getting better than it is right now. Hello, Stacy, and thank you for joining us today.

Stacy: Hello Angela, it is great to be back here today.

Angela: Stacy, what exactly will we be talking about today? The title for today’s episode is an interesting one.

Stacy: Yes, it is. Today I want to address those professionals in the Animal Health industry or Veterinary profession who believe their job is not great and they are not super happy where they are in their current job situation or their situation is not changing for the better. Now I know for a fact that these professionals currently exist in the employment marketplace.

Angela: I imagine you regularly speak with candidates who are in that situation where they are not perfectly happy in their current animal health job or veterinary job.

Stacy: That’s right Angela. I talk with numerous animal health and veterinary professionals on a daily basis. In fact, I recently spoke with someone who said that she never gets a day off at her  current employer which happens to be a veterinary practice. She indicated that she’s overworked and wants more time off. However, despite all of that, she said she can not find time off to interview, even though my firm has a potential position for her that would her give more time off, more freedom, and a better quality of life.

Angela: Really? She couldn’t find time off Stacy to interview for what could be a better veterinary job than the one she has right now? Never having a day off sounds like a terrible situation.

Stacy: She said she was working every day and could not find a day off to go interview. So the reality is that her situation is not going to change at all likely in the near future, and the reason that it’s not going to change is her. She’s not willing to take the steps necessary to change what she doesn’t like about her current employment situation.

Angela: Something tells me this story is not an isolated incident. I’m sure you have run into this before Stacy.

Stacy: Sadly, it’s not an isolated incident. I’ve run into this situation  a number of times during my career as an Animal Health recruiter and Veterinary recruiter. And my motto for addressing this kind of situation is “Nothing changes until something changes,” and that’s what I tell the animal health and veterinary professionals involved in these situations: “Nothing changes until something changes.”  If you want to change your situation then you have to change it. You have to take the steps necessary to make a change and create a better life for yourself.

Angela: And is that why a person’s Animal Health job or Veterinary job may not get better if nothing changes or they don’t take the steps necessary to make positive changes just like the title of our podcast episode today. Isn’t that right Stacy?

Stacy: Yes, that’s right. And you have to understand that people must take some personal responsibility in changing the circumstances of their employment situation. It’s one thing to suffer in silence. It’s another thing to complain about your circumstances, but then not do anything to change them. Don’t complain about your situation if you are not willing to do anything to change it.

The bottom line is this: nothing is going to change in the lives of these professionals until they make the decision to change their situation and then take the steps to do what is necessary to change it.

And if you’re not happy with your current Animal Health job or Veterinary job and a recruiter presents a job opportunity to you that could clearly be better than the job you have right now, what would you have to lose by at least considering it and exploring it further? I can’t think of anything you would have to lose by at least exploring your options. It never hurts to have a conversation.

Angela: That makes perfect sense. Stacy, why are people hesitant about changing their situation, even if they don’t like it?

Stacy: Fear is one reason. We’ve talked about that before. Fear can be False Evidence Appearing Real. So is an allegiance to the status quo. “The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.” We’ve also discussed that. However, these aren’t reasons as much as they are excuses. People come up with excuses for why they don’t want to try to change their situation, and fear and an allegiance to the status quo are certainly two of those excuses.

Angela: What can people do to break out of this cycle of thinking and this cycle of behavior? It almost seems like they’re paralyzed and they can’t do anything about it.

Stacy: That is a great analogy. It is like they’re paralyzed. They feel as though they’re stuck in a situation and there’s nothing they can do about it. They feel trapped, and they don’t think there’s any real way for them to escape. But that’s not the case. They can improve their situation. They just have to be willing to do so. Yes it may involve taking a risk but the most successful people took risks to get where they are.

Angela: What are some steps people can take to do that?

Stacy: I’m glad you asked, because I have some specific suggestions regarding what people can do. The first step is to recognize your situation for what it is and define it.

Angela: What do you mean by “define” it?

Stacy: I mean you have to recognize all of the aspects of your situation, including those factors that are contributing to it. There may be things affecting you that you’re not fully aware of. It’s important to recognize these things from the outset. It might even be helpful to write them down.

Angela: That makes sense. What’s the next step?

Stacy: The next step is to accurately assess the situation. This is critical because you might just be having a bad day at work. You might even be having a bad week. Even if that’s the case, the reality might not be as bad as you think it is. What you don’t want to do is have a knee-jerk reaction to something.

To do this, make two lists. In the first list, write down all of the positive aspects of your situation. In the other, write down all of the negative aspects. Try to think of as many things as possible for both lists. Then compare them. This way, you can be sure that you’re not over-reacting and that any course of action you take based on your assessment will be warranted.

And the next step in the process is the most important.

Angela:  Tell us about that Stacy. Which step is that?

Stacy: The decision to actively change your situation. You’re basically saying to yourself, “Nothing is going to change until I make it change.” This is a big step. We’ve already talked about how difficult it is for some professionals I speak with in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession to get past this step.

To successfully get past this step, you have to make a commitment to yourself that you are going to do whatever is necessary to change your situation. Without that commitment—and your desire to carry out that commitment—nothing will truly change in your situation.

Angela: Where does a person go from there?

Stacy: Next is thinking about the concrete steps you can take to make the changes you want to make. Specifically, that means addressing all of the negative aspects of your situation and plotting options for changing those negative aspects into positive ones.

This is an important step because you must visualize what your life could be like when you change things for the better. When you visualize it, your desire for making the necessary changes becomes greater. And the bottom line is that you can’t change anything or make anything better unless you have the desire to do so. You might think it would be nice if your situation was different, but just thinking about it is not going to change anything. The only thing that will change anything is action, and that’s our next step.

Angela: How’s that, Stacy?

Stacy: By building a plan of action. In our previous step, we discussed formulating ways to change the negative aspects of your situation into positive ones. In this step, you must incorporate those ways into a concrete plan. When you were formulating ideas, you might have come up with a number of different ways to change your situation. Now the time has come to pick which avenue or avenues you want to take and create your plan.

Angela: How about a contingency plan? Can a person create one of those, too?

Stacy: Absolutely. I 100% endorse a contingency plan or a fallback plan. Sometimes people call this “Plan B.” Often, people discover that their “Plan B” was a better course of action than their “Plan A.”

And let me also say that it’s certainly okay for a person to solicit advice from people they trust. I advise that. That’s one of the genuine advantages of networking, the opportunity to bounce ideas off people and see what they think about your plan. They might think of something that you have not and provide you with additional ideas or a way to tweak an existing idea.

And this all leads to our final step.

Angela: Which is what Stacy?

Stacy: To take action! Even if you’ve made the commitment and you’ve created your plan, you still have to execute your plan. You have to take action. We’ve talked about this many times before, Angela , but you know that I’m a big proponent of taking action and being proactive as opposed to being reactive. This topic is a prime example of why that’s the case.

Angela: It certainly is. Stacy, we’re just about out of time. Is there anything else you’d like to add before we wrap up today’s episode?

Stacy: Yes, there is. For those listeners who want to change their current employment situation and are interested in exploring other Animal Health jobs or Veterinary jobs, I invite them to visit our website at www.thevetrecruiter.com. We numerous employment opportunities available on our website, and new ones are posted on a regular basis. We also have job opportunities that are not posted on our website that are part of the hidden job market so reach out to us and send us your resume so we can consider you for existing and future job opportunities.

Angela: Thank you, Stacy. Once again, the website address for The VET Recruiter is www.thevetrecruiter.com. Once you get to the site, navigate to the “Jobs” section. There are also different categories of jobs posted. Stacy, as always, thank you so much for joining us today and for providing all of this great information.

Stacy:  It is my pleasure Angela. I look forward to our next episode of the Animal Health Employment Insider!

Angela; Remember we are your source for veterinary and animal health career related topics and animal health and veterinary jobs. If you are a hiring manager or employer in the Animal Health Industry or veterinary profession needing to hire top talent to fill critical job openings reach out to us today. We want to help you.