by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS
The VET Recruiter®
The key to growing your Animal Health or Veterinary career is not where you went to school. It’s not how much experience you have or how many employers you’ve worked for. It’s actually much simpler than that.
The key to growing your Animal Health or Veterinary career is the willingness to be open to opportunities.
While the key itself is simple, understanding the key is not as easy as it looks. I say this because I have spoken with some professionals who misunderstood what it meant to be open to opportunity and what it didn’t mean.
“Open to opportunity” vs. “looking for a position”
There is a situation that I encounter sometimes that unfolds in a similar fashion each time. I reach out to someone about an Animal Health or Veterinary opportunity with one of my clients. I typically start the conversation by asking, “How open are you to other opportunities at this time?”
The person will respond by saying, “I’m not looking for another position.”
The problem is that I didn’t ask if they were looking for another position. And of course, I know that this is the case, so I tell them, “I know you’re not looking for another position because you didn’t reach out to me. I reached out to you to see how open you are to opportunity.”
This situation is all about mindset or perspective, and it’s critical to have the proper one. Without it, a person is less likely to recognize the benefit that is available to them. With that in mind, it’s important to discern the difference between “looking for a position” and “being open to opportunity.”
“Looking for a Position”
If you’re looking for a new position, then you are an active job seeker. This means you have taken one step or multiple steps in your efforts to secure a new employment situation for yourself. You have either made the decision that you want to leave your employer in the near future or you’re seriously considering doing so.
In your quest to find a new Animal Health or Veterinary opportunity, you may have applied for various jobs online, submitted your application or resume to employers, or reached out to a recruiter like myself. Because you are “looking for a position” and are an active job seeker, you have taken action or will soon do so.
“Being Open to Opportunity”
Contrary to “looking for a position,” there is really no action you have to take to be open to opportunity. For the most part, all it really involves is listening. Specifically, it involves listening to other opportunities that come up in the Animal Health industry or Veterinary profession for which you could be a fit and has the potential to be a strategic move forward in your career. At this point, it is important to note what being open to opportunity does NOT mean. When you’re open to opportunity, you:
- Are not saying, “Yes, I will resign from my current employer and leave tomorrow to take another position.”
- Have not made the decision to leave your current employer, either in the near future or years from now
- Are not “cheating” on your current employer or doing something that would be considered disloyal
- Are not committing to anything other than listening to what the opportunity entails
It is crucial to fully understand what being open to opportunity is NOT before you can take advantage of what being open to opportunity actually is. Not understanding the difference is how professionals unknowingly sabotage their Animal Health and Veterinary opportunities in the marketplace and limit their options for growing their career and enjoying more professional success.
Animal Health and Veterinary opportunities and options
As I’ve mentioned before on numerous occasions, success is all about options. The more options you have and the better those options are, the more leverage you have and the more success you can achieve. If your options are limited, then so are your chances for success. It is a simple formula, but one that has real-world applications, including within the job market.
When a person remains open to an Animal Health or Veterinary opportunity and decides they want to at least listen to what the opportunity entails, all they’re doing is creating another option for themselves. As I explained in a previous article, “I Am NOT Open to Opportunity,” once they hear about the option, they are welcome to do whatever they want with it:
- They can listen to the opportunity and decide that they do not want to move forward.
- They can listen to the opportunity and decide that they do want to move forward.
Note that there is also a difference between being open to opportunity and exploring an opportunity. Just because you’ve agreed to the former does not mean that you must do the latter. Basically, a person can do one of the following two things:
- They can decide that they’re not interested in the opportunity if they believe that it is not better than the position they currently have and not explore it.
- They can decide that they’re interested in the opportunity because they believe that it is better than the position they currently have and then explore it.
Unfortunately, some professionals do not give themselves these options. That is because they automatically say, “I’m not looking for a position” without at least hearing about the opportunity. As humans we seem to be programmed to say “no” before we say “yes”. As a result, by not being willing to listen, some professionals are unconsciously sabotaging their Animal Health and Veterinary opportunities in the marketplace.
The bottom line on Animal Health and Veterinary opportunities
The bottom line is that you do NOT have to be looking for a position to be open to opportunity. And being open to opportunity is not the same as agreeing to explore an opportunity. Being open to opportunity is all about creating options for yourself, and just because you create an option for yourself does not mean that you have to take that option.
People sometimes make things more complicated than they have to be, even when it comes to simple ways to position yourself for more professional and career success. This is one of the many reasons why it is beneficial to get on the radar of an experienced Animal Health recruiter or Veterinary recruiter who can make you aware of relevant opportunities when they come up in the marketplace. A good recruiter can help you to navigate your career and the job market. Recruiters can rely upon their expertise to provide you with the information and knowledge you need to not only create more options for yourself, but to also made sound decisions regarding those options.
Don’t sabotage your Animal Health or Veterinary opportunities in the marketplace. Be open to hearing about other career options which gives yourself leverage in your career which helps you to continue to strategically grow your career.
If you are looking to make a change or explore other Animal Health or Veterinary employment options, then we want to talk with you. I encourage you to contact us or you can also create a profile and/or submit your resume for consideration.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of Animal Health and Veterinary organizations. If this is something that you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.
Copyright © 2020 The VET Recruiter
The VET Recruiter is The Animal Health Executive Search Firm and The Veterinary Recruiting Firm
Stacy Pursell is an Animal Health Executive Recruiter and Veterinary Recruiter and Workplace/Workforce expert for the Animal Health Industry and Veterinary Profession.