Episode #271 – What a Good Animal Health and Veterinary Recruiter Does . . . and Does Not Do
Joel: Welcome to “The Animal Health and Veterinary Employment Insider,” brought to you by The VET Recruiter. In this podcast, Animal Health executive recruiter and Veterinary recruiter Stacy Pursell of The VET Recruiter provides insight and practical advice for both employers and job seekers in the Animal Health and Veterinary industries. The VET Recruiter’s focus is to solve talent-centric problems for the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. In fact, The VET Recruiter’s mission is to help Animal Health and Veterinary companies hire top talent, while helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals attain career-enhancing opportunities that increase their quality of life.
Today, we’ll be talking about what a good Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter does and does not do. Hello, Stacy, and thank you for joining us today.
Stacy: Hello, Joel. As always, I’m glad to be here with you.
Joel: Stacy, you’ve talked about the role of a recruiter and what an Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter does before on the podcast. On multiple occasions, I believe. What’s the reason for revisiting this topic?
Stacy: A couple of reasons, the first being that I still think there are misconceptions about recruiters in the marketplace. I don’t believe all people have a firm understanding of what recruiters do and what their role is in the job market. And second, I also think that some of the members of the younger generations don’t have as much experience with recruiters. That’s certainly the case with new Veterinary graduates and Veterinary students, too. Joel, I’ve probably mentioned this on the podcast before, but our firm is placing students before they graduate from Veterinary school, and many of them are landing six-figure salaries right out of school.
Joel: Really? Wow, that definitely shows how much in demand veterinarians are right now.
Stacy: It certainly does, and that’s why I want to discuss what a good Animal Health and Veterinary recruiter does and what they don’t do.
Joel: We may have talked about this on the podcast before, too, but if the job market is so good, why would a professional need a recruiter in the first place?
Stacy: We have touched on that before, but it’s a great question and one that I’m sure some people in our listening audience has about recruiters and the current job market. To recap and to also set the stage for today’s discussion, I’d like to list the five major reasons it is a good idea to build a relationship with a recruiter, even if the job market is good.
First, when you work with a recruiter, you can be informed of job opportunities that you would not have known about otherwise. This is known as the “hidden job market.”
Second, you can save time and energy on your job search. All you have to do is be open to opportunities and be willing to explore opportunities when they are presented to you.
Third, you can gain valuable insight and information about employers. Once again, some of this information you would be able to get on your own.
Fourth, you can gain an edge with salary negotiations during the offer stage of the hiring process. Recruiters have a lot of experience with negotiating salary, and they will lend their expertise to you.
And fifth, you can stay on top of what’s happening in the profession, the industry, and the marketplace.
Joel: Wow, those are some good reasons to work with an Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter.
Stacy: Yes, and I have two more reasons to add, and these reasons fit in with the theme of today’s podcast episode.
Joel: Which reasons are those?
Stacy: A good Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter will not cost you money and they will not waste your time.
Joel: Candidates aren’t the ones who pay recruiters, right?
Stacy: That’s right. A reputable recruiting firm will not charge candidates for placing them with an employer. If you’re working with a recruiter and they want to charge you money to place you, run the other way!
An Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter is paid by the client or employer that hired the recruiter to fill their position. The employer pays the recruiter for helping them to fill the position.
Joel: And the employer has no problem paying that fee?
Stacy: They do not, and for a couple of good reasons. First, because the recruiter is often able to find higher-quality candidates than an employer is able to find. And second, because the recruiter is also able to help the employer find and then successfully recruit and hire the right candidate in a shorter amount of time. We’re talking about both quality and quantity, the quality of the candidate and the quantity of time it takes to find them.
Joel: Stacy, I have a question, and this is something that I’ve often wondered about. Do candidates ever accuse recruiters of only caring about your commission check and not them or their careers?
Stacy: Unfortunately, occasionally but it is rare.
And yes, there are some recruiters in the employment marketplace who only care about their commission checks. But those recruiters usually do not last very long in the recruiting profession. On the other hand, good recruiting firms that have a stellar reputation and years of experience do care about the careers of the people they place. They know that every placement has to result in a win-win situation for both the candidate and the employer. That’s the only way to sustain long-term success. If both parties are not happy, then the situation is destined for failure.
Joel: And Stacy, is this not a personal branding issue, too? A recruiter who truly only cares about their commission check is going to brand themselves the wrong way, right?
Stacy: Yes, absolutely! On the one hand, you’re branding yourself to job candidates as a recruiter who only cares about a commission check and not people’s careers. On the other hand, you’re branding yourself to your clients as a recruiter who does not present candidates who are not the best or most highly qualified.
Joel: Because that kind of recruiter would be in a rush to present candidates quickly because they only care about their commission?
Stacy: Correct. And The VET Recruiter has been in business for 25 years, helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals and employers enjoy win-win placement situations. We have a passion for helping people and for solving problems. We put people first in our process.
Joel, not only will a good Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter not cost you money if you’re a candidate, but they will also not waste your time.
Joel: Stacy, what do you mean by that, exactly?
Stacy: I’d like to use the example of an Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter reaching out to someone about a job opportunity. When a recruiter does that, the opportunity has the potential to be better than their current job. The reason for that is simple. The recruiter knows that the person is not likely to be interested in a job if it isn’t better than what they already have. And not just better by a little, but the opportunity is clearly better, and sometimes in multiple ways.
Joel: So if you’re a professional and an Animal Health recruiter or Veterinary recruiter reaches out to you about an employment opportunity, there’s a good chance that the job they have is clearly better than your current position?
Stacy: Yes, that’s another reason to be open to what the recruiter has to say. It’s not a good idea to tell the recruiter “No” without hearing the specifics of the opportunity. It’s also not a good idea to say, “I’m not looking for a position.” That’s because the recruiter already knows you’re not looking for a position, but they also know you might be interested in an opportunity that is clearly better than your current job.
Joel: So there’s really no downside to listening to what a recruiter has to say and to the opportunity they have?
Stacy: That’s right, although that does come with one caveat. Unfortunately, not all recruiting firms in operation right now are experienced and reputable. One of the reasons for this is the hot job market and the shortage of veterinarians within the profession. Because of these conditions, there have been new recruiting firms popping up in the recent few years.
Joel: But as you said, The VET Recruiter has been in business for decades.
Stacy: Correct. The VET Recruiter has been in operation since 1997. We have a track record of success getting results for our clients and also the candidate with whom we work. And speaking of employers, I’d like to discuss that side the employment marketplace now.
Joel: How so?
Stacy: As we discussed earlier, it’s the employer who pays the recruiter’s fee. However, just like an experienced and reputable Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter will not waste the time of a candidate, they will also not waste the time of their client.
Joel: And time is at a premium in the job market right now.
Stacy: It is, especially for employers. They’re trying to find qualified candidates in a tight labor market, and that’s especially the case in the Veterinary profession. They can’t afford to waste time when they’re trying to hire candidates to fill important positions. Now, more than ever, employers need recruiters to help them find and hire the talent they need to stay competitive in the marketplace.
Joel: But experienced and reputable recruiters.
Stacy: Yes, that’s the qualifier, experienced and reputable. And a third adjective that I would use is skilled.
Joel: Skilled how?
Stacy: Since we’re in a candidates’ market, employers must be proactive in their hiring efforts. There are not a lot of passive candidates looking through job ads right now. That’s why they’re passive. Not only that, but the employers of these passive candidates are also doing everything they can to keep their top employees. The last thing they want to do is lose a top team player, especially to a competitor. They know that if someone left, it would be difficult to find, recruit, and hire someone who is comparable.
Joel: And this is where a recruiter comes in.
Stacy: This is where a recruiter comes in. It takes a tremendous amount of time, energy, and effort to hire in this market. There are many hiring managers and veterinary practice owners who simply don’t have the time to devote to doing this, especially considering how difficult market conditions have made it to hire. After all, Veterinary practices and hospitals are already very busy due to the increase in demand for Veterinary services during the past two years.
Joel: That does make sense. So how does an experienced and reputable Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter save time for employers?
Stacy: A couple of ways, actually. They save time by being able to identify the top candidates in the employment marketplace, regardless of whether or not they’re actively looking for a new job. Then they save time by successfully engaging the candidate and presenting their client’s employment opportunity.
Joel: Which has the potential to be better than their current job.
Stacy: Right, because the recruiter doesn’t want someone to make a move unless it is for a better opportunity than the one they have now. And that brings us to the second way that a recruiter saves time for their client: their ability to convince the candidate that their client’s opportunity represents the next best step in their career.
This is the skill of persuasion, or influence and it’s the # skills that an Animal Health recruiter or Veterinary recruiter must possess, if they’re going to be of value to their client and also save them time during the recruiting and hiring process.
Joel: Stacy, why do professionals need to be convinced to consider an employment opportunity that is clearly better than their current job?
Stacy: That is a great question and a logical question. Even if the opportunity is clearly better than their current job, some professionals don’t want to consider other opportunities because they’re comfortable where they are. Because of that, they want to maintain the status quo. Or they could be afraid of change, or they might think that just because they’re open to opportunity or might consider an opportunity, that makes them disloyal in some way to their current employer.
So yes, sometimes a professional has to be persuaded that an opportunity represents the next best step in their career. As you’re well aware, people have to be convinced of things that are actually good for them all of the time, in both the personal and professional realms. In certain instances, people have to be convinced of things that will benefit them.
Joel: And as we’ve said before, a good Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter is trying to create a win-win situation for both the candidate and their client, is that right, Stacy?
Stacy: That is 100% right. As I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t do the recruiter any good if the candidate is not a fit for the employer, or vice-versa. The recruiter is utilizing their skill of persuasion to convince a candidate that they would be a good fit for a better employment opportunity.
I have countless stories of people I’ve placed in situations like this one.
Joel: What kind of situation, exactly?
Stacy: There’s one story that stands out in mind. When I first called this person about an opportunity, he said he was very happy where he was and he wasn’t interested in making a change. However, with some gentle nudging and encouragement—in other words, some persuasion—he went to the next step. He interviewed for the position and received a fantastic offer.
With the raise in pay he received for accepting my client’s offer, he and his wife were able to:
- Pay off their debt.
- Have a baby.
- Start saving money for their baby’s future.
- Buy a house.
- Get a MBA.
He told me it was one of the best decisions he’s ever made. Although he wasn’t open to the opportunity initially, he eventually made the decision to at least be open to it. That decision turned out to be a life-changing one.
Joel: Wow, that is a great story? Stacy, we’re just about of time. Is there anything else you’d like to add before we end today’s podcast episode?
Stacy: Yes, I’d like to close by saying that good Animal Health and Veterinary recruiters are specialists. They specialize in persuading top passive candidates to explore better employment opportunities that will advance their careers. From the employer perspective, when it comes time to recruit and hire top talent, why would you not want a recruiter to put their skills to good use? To draw a parallel, why would a world-class surgeon not be in the operating room?
Recruiters are specialists, and when you allow to do what they do best, you can get the type of results you’re looking for.
Joel: Stacy, thank you so much for joining us today and for all of this great information about the basics of negotiation in your Animal Health or Veterinary career.
Stacy: You’re very welcome, Joel, and thank you. It’s been my pleasure, and I look forward to our next episode of “The Animal Health and Veterinary Employment Insider”!