Veterinarian Hiring
Veterinarian hiring in today’s employment marketplace and job market is challenging, to say the least. In these current conditions, there is a shortage of qualified candidates in comparison to the number of job opening that exist. As a result, hiring veterinarians requires a proactive investment of time, energy, and resources on the part of Veterinary practices and employers. Let’s look at these elements separately:
#1—Proactive effort
Employers can not be reactive in their Veterinary hiring efforts due to the challenging nature of market conditions. Instead, they must be proactive during every step of the recruiting and hiring process. If they’re not, then they will miss out on the opportunity to engage and hire top talent.
#2—Time, energy, and resources
Since employers must be proactive, they must spend ample quantities of all three of things to ultimately be successful, or at the very least, successful on a consistent basis. Without making an adequate investment, Veterinary practices and veterinary employers will not meet their goals for hiring the candidates they need to fill their open positions.
In addition to these factors, employers must be aware of the essential components of veterinarian hiring.
Essential components of a veterinarian hiring plan
If an employer wishes to hire veterinarians, then it must have a plan for hiring veterinarians. The problem is that some employers do not have a plan at all. They just post jobs in their website or on job boards and hope and pray that the right candidate will apply for their position. (That’s why it’s called “posting and praying.”) With this in mind, below are five essential components of a veterinarian hiring plan:
#1—Identification of talent
Simply put, you can not hire the best candidates in the employment marketplace if you do not know who the best candidates are. That’s why veterinary practices and veterinary employers must take an inventory of all the ways that they identify talent. At the very least, they should track the origins of their current employees, especially their best employees.
#2—Engagement of talent
Knowing who the top candidates are is just the first step in a hiring plan. The next step is to engage those candidates in a meaningful way. This means convincing them to be open to hearing about your opportunity and organization and even be willing to explore the opportunity further.
#3—Recruiting of talent
Just because a candidate is open to hearing about an opportunity, it does not mean they will automatically be interested in it. This is a common mistake that employers make when it comes to veterinarian hiring. Top candidates need to be convinced. In other words, they need to be recruited. When recruiting top talent, it’s important to “sell” both the opportunity and the organization to the candidate. And remember, always emphasize the WIIFM, which stands for “What’s In It For Me.”
#4—Hiring of talent
The hiring process does not end when a candidate accepts an offer of employment. That is far from the case. That’s because they have yet to show up for their first day of work. However, convincing them to make a verbal commitment to your organization is an important component and an equally critical step in the hiring process. The golden rule of the offer stage of the process is this: when you’ve decided upon your best candidate, make sure that you make your best offer.
#5—Onboarding of talent
Onboarding has never been as important as it is right now. That’s because “ghosting” has become a trend, with some candidates “ghosting” their employers on their supposed first day of work and simply not showing up. One thing to remember is that the onboarding process starts as soon as the candidate accepts the offer of employment and not on their first scheduled day of work.
Simple steps for better veterinarian hiring
While the essential components of veterinarian hiring may seem daunting to some Veterinary practices and employers, especially those who are short-staffed and don’t have the resources to adequately address them all, there are things they can do. These are steps that don’t necessarily require a lot of time, but that can pay dividends if you implement them strategically.
Below are three simple steps for better veterinarian hiring:
#1—Ask for employee referrals.
Just about every employer has at least one or two great employees. Since that’s the case, it makes sense to ask those employees for the names of friends or colleagues who they think might want to make a job change. Referrals are one of the best ways to identify qualified candidates, and this is especially the case now.
#2—Focus on creating a great employer brand.
Recruiting and hiring is about more than just offering a new job to someone. Top candidates in the employment marketplace want more than just a new job. They want an opportunity that has the potential to change their life for the better, one that comes with an engaging and compelling company culture. Your organization’s website and its social media channels can be used to be help create this stellar employer brand.
#3—Work with an experienced veterinary recruiting firm.
An experienced veterinary recruiting firm already has relationships with some of the best candidates in the Veterinary profession. (This means they’ve already mastered the first essential component of veterinarian hiring, which is the identification of veterinary talent.) When you partner with an experienced veterinary recruiting firm, you can stay connected to top talent, which is typically defined as the top 5% to 10% of candidates in the marketplace.
The VET Recruiter: 20+ years of veterinarian hiring
The VET Recruiter is an experienced and reputable veterinary recruiting firm with more than 20 years of experience. We have created a strategic and proven hiring process that continues to get the results our clients want on a year-over-year basis.
Click here to see the 20 steps in The VET Recruiter’s veterinarian hiring plan.
Our detailed and comprehensive hiring plan is yet more evidence of our commitment to serve our clients at the highest level possible so we can present the best candidates in the shortest amount of time for their open positions. We are happy to put our expertise to work for both our clients and also for those veterinarians who want to grow their careers by exploring other employment opportunities.
And of course, we would love the opportunity to help you, as well.
Click here to see examples of The VET Recruiter’s placements. These are all examples of real positions we have filled in the Veterinary profession.
We also invite you to contact us for more information regarding our veterinarian hiring process and how The VET Recruiter can help your organization identify, engage, and recruit the best talent available in the Veterinary profession.