Julie South [00:00:06]:
This is Veterinary Voices, episode 224 and I'm Julie South. Veterinary Voices is all about showcasing veterinary clinic employers of choice, those clinics that are absolutely great to work at, not according to us, but according to their teams. Veterinary Voices is brought to you by vetclinicjobs.com, the job board, direct hiring, reimagined no agency. To find out more about the clinics that we profile, visit vetclinicjobs.com this is the last in the what's it really like to work alongside the teams at Whanganui Vet Services and its sister clinic Vets on Carlton? Series 2 sister clinics in the Manawatu small, small seaside city of Whanganui on the southwest coast of New Zealand's North Island. If you're a veterinary professional who's qualified to work in New Zealand and you're looking to make your next move, then you definitely owe it to yourself to check out this series. If this is the first time you've tuned in so far, we've caught up with The Managing Director, Mr. Tom Dinwiddie, head of the reception team, Diana Coffey, head veterinarian Dr. Dave Rankin and last week head veterinary veterinary nurse Bridget Schwartz.

Julie South [00:01:34]:
All of them have said how much they enjoy going to work each day. Now you can kind of think that they have to say this because they're on this podcast, right? And yes, that's a fair enough comment to make. But what about all those completely 100% anonymous reviews that have been made by other team members at these two clinics? Not sure what I'm talking about. If you go to vetclinicjobs.com/vets-on-carlton you'll see that they currently currently have an average 4.7 stars out of 5 across 7 reviews. Today we're catching up with one of Massey University's recent grads, Dr. Aidan Wildbore. As a new grad, whether you're a veterinarian or a veterinary nurse, your first job is likely to be the one that will make or break you. It'll either keep you in the industry or have you rue the day you ever decided to stay study veterinary medicine.

Julie South [00:02:32]:
This means that mentoring is critical and equally critical is that the attitude at the top, at the management and head vet level. The head vet nurse level lives, breathes and eats that same mentoring is important belief. Stay tuned and hear what Aidan has to say about working with all those people we've heard from so far. The managing director, the head vet, the front desk and the head nurse at Vets on Calte, is this your first job?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:03:08]:
First vet job, yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Julie South [00:03:10]:
So you're in New Zealand.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:03:10]:
I graduated 20, 23. Prior to that, I was dairy farming.

Julie South [00:03:13]:
You're a Massey grad?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:03:14]:
Yes.

Julie South [00:03:15]:
What does a typical day look like for you, Aidan?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:03:17]:
So, yeah, basically we don't know what. What we're stepping into with the day. Basically, anything can happen in Whanganui. We might say start a morning in small animals, but we could end out on farm with an equine emergency in the afternoon, for example. So there's plenty of variety. It's a really supportive team that we work with. Yeah. Even if things are a bit stressful, it's not usually stressful.

Julie South [00:03:38]:
How's it been coming in as a new grad? What's the support been like for you?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:03:43]:
Oh, absolutely. Excellent. I actually don't feel like a new grad, really. We've got a lot of freedom to do things the way we want to do it, bring in our new knowledge from wherever we've graduated from, but we've still got the backing of all the senior vets, basically, so that we are still responsible vets. We've got a lot of freedom, but we're really well supported.

Julie South [00:04:03]:
I've heard stories from some new grads who go into a clinic where they're experienced vets. Like, you have very experienced vets who. Who may, you know, medicine changes and it changes very fast. Sometimes the very experience vets are stuck in their ways and they're absolutely not interested in this new fangled science that's coming out of vet school now and just suck it up and get on with it.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:04:38]:
So that's not our culture. We've got experienced vets that stay very up to date with new information and that's. They're quite keen on that. Some of our old vets, I would say, are not stuck in their ways. They. Yeah, they take what is they think will work and I guess filter out the rest. But when we are faced with something, we get the opportunity to go around. All the experienced vets, ask them for advice and we get a different opinion from each, but nobody tells us what to do.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:05:05]:
We are basically to make up our own mind on each thing. We're given advice, but we don't have to take any of it.

Julie South [00:05:13]:
As a new grad, what are the. How are the clients with you?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:05:16]:
Great. Yeah. Actually very, very trusting, very understanding, and I've actually reckon I've developed quite a good little client base very quickly here and in Whanganui.

Julie South [00:05:24]:
Where did you come from?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:05:25]:
Before, So I grew up in Wellington in Kapiti, but Whanganui has been a second hometown probably for the last six or seven years, purely because my granddad lives here. As a child, I've always been up to Wanganui to see him and my grandmother.

Julie South [00:05:42]:
How would you. And what is your most satisfying case to date?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:05:46]:
Oh, hard to. Hard to put a finger on that one. It's probably large animal case, actually, where I basically diagnosed a BVD outbreak in a herd and basically put management protocols in place for that.

Julie South [00:05:59]:
How did that feel?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:06:00]:
Really satisfying, actually. And it very reinforcing in terms of, I guess, my vetting ability, especially being a new graduate. Again, plenty of support from everyone around, but it was one of those cases where I walked in. I had a gut feeling at the beginning, still did a really thorough workup, but then basically, yeah, through that thorough workup, confirmed my initial suspicions, so didn't cut any corners and then able to put my knowledge into place to put a plan in place to manage it. Oh, bovine viral diarrhea. Yeah. Causes abortion in the cattle.

Julie South [00:06:33]:
If you had to describe your team in three words, what three words would you choose?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:06:38]:
Family, supportive, laid back.

Julie South [00:06:42]:
Now, we go to work because we need the money, but we go to work because it feeds something inside of us. Most people. What does being a veterinarian at Wanganui Vet Services feed for you?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:06:57]:
Well, I guess firstly, I am a vet because that was a dream probably for 15 years, so that's why I'm a vet. But coming to work here, it's a great social time too. We don't feel very isolated coming to work, and it's just a whole lot of great fun. And at the same time, we're helping animals, helping people, clients, helping farmers.

Julie South [00:07:17]:
Is being a vet everything you thought it would be?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:07:20]:
Yes, I would say so. A lot of hard work, that's for certain. But it's a lot of fun, very rewarding.

Julie South [00:07:26]:
What would you say to young men in their last years of high school? Obviously good on science, need to have some people skills because there's two legs attached to the four legs that you're treating.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:07:41]:
Yes.

Julie South [00:07:42]:
What would you say to them about veterinary medicine?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:07:44]:
I'd say it's a great career if you're willing to put in the effort. A lot of people think they can't do it, but there's a lot of people out there that can. That think they can't.

Julie South [00:07:52]:
We need more boys coming through.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:07:55]:
We do.

Julie South [00:07:55]:
With a dream. And that's why I'm asking you, because.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:07:58]:
Yeah, that's a tough one. I don't know why guys don't like to come to vet school. And I guess one thing, this is just going off topic a bit. One thing I think is it's seen as a girl's job. But it's not.

Julie South [00:08:10]:
But it never used to be.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:08:12]:
No, it didn't. And I think it's a shift into urban culture because when I say it's not a girl's job, it's not that it isn't a girl's job, it's just not a predominant. I don't think it should be a predominantly girl's job. It was a little bit like horse riding. You don't get many boys riding horses anymore. That's seen as a girls sport.

Julie South [00:08:26]:
I hadn't thought about that. But you're right. Yeah.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:08:29]:
And I think what happens is we've got like, I don't think there'd be many sons coming in to the vet clinic when they bring their little cat or their little dog into the clinic. And it's usually the girls that come along for that. So it's the girls that are actually seeing vet medicine and that's I think where they, they get the dream is coming into the vet clinic. And again, because the horse industry is female dominant now, it's gone from being a working animal to being a pleasure animal. Again we get the, the girls are interacting with the vets a lot more and the only guys really interacting with the vets are the farmers. Sons. Yeah. And so I think it, I think guys are somewhat shielded from the industry in terms of the exposure to it.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:09:11]:
And it's a social or cultural thing, not necessarily something that it's almost like we need to target, we need to actively target like careers exposed and stuff. Actually target guys. Yeah.

Julie South [00:09:22]:
I hadn't thought about it that way. When you're on farm, do you see many lads out there?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:09:29]:
Plenty of shepherds and stuff. But again a lot of them are quite happy to stay. It's, it's the generally people that are going to go through vet school. I've got, already got high aspirations and a lot of the people we deal with on farms are laborers so they generally aren't going to go down that path. I was a bit different in that I was come from a medical family. I went dairy farming for the experience and the money as opposed to purely for a job. But yeah, I think guys, there's just not enough guys that have got that motivation. Looking at the industry really, it's not a high paying job either.

Julie South [00:10:03]:
Tell me about it.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:10:04]:
Yeah, but I guess the other thing with viewing that is that there's other ways to make money in the world and it doesn't just have to be through your job.

Julie South [00:10:11]:
I'm just going to say, Aidan, no pressure or anything. Yeah, but you got a responsibility here to the next generation of male.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:10:21]:
Yeah.

Julie South [00:10:22]:
Kids. No pressure or anything. You can be a role model. No pressure.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:10:27]:
Thank you.

Julie South [00:10:28]:
But seriously, I guess the responsibility does come on the very. How many guys were in your year at Messi?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:10:36]:
20 of us. And my understanding is that the year following have been a lot less.

Julie South [00:10:41]:
Yeah. Because every time I've gone to Messi I haven't seen that many. That many. You know, I get invited to talk from time to time. So you grew up on the capital coast in Wellington?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:10:52]:
Yep.

Julie South [00:10:52]:
What's Whanganui like to live as an outsider?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:10:58]:
Oh, I found it very, very welcoming actually, because I've heard there's a lot of towns in New Zealand where if you come in as a foreigner you're excluded. But I mean I'm getting on. I'm only what, been here 12 months, I've already got a lot of friends and in terms of clients, there's a lot of clients that have already accepted me and that includes farmers. 12 months, I've been told five years to start being accepted in an area but that's already happening within 12 months. So I think it's a very welcoming and very, I would say forgiving and non judgmental town in terms of its culture.

Julie South [00:11:29]:
When you say, you know, have accepted me, what does that mean?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:11:33]:
I guess I'm a new person and people need like if I'm going to deal with somebody's animals particularly it's life, people need to trust me. And when people come back and start asking to say may again, that means they've developed my trust. And if that's after only a couple of meetings, then I'd say people aren't to stand offish here. They, they're not, not judgmental because I'm also dark skinned and some places that would be a problem but not at all here.

Julie South [00:12:04]:
What do you like about Whanganui when you're not working, what are you doing? Are you taking advantage of the great outdoors?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:12:10]:
I like farming so I've got a few cattle I run. So yeah, I'm out on farm in my spare time. If I'm not down back in K, do a bit of bike riding, mountain biking, that sort of thing. It's a good place for fishing, really good place for fishing. And there's plenty to do. Like we've got the river here, we've got walks, there's heaps of activities to do here.

Julie South [00:12:29]:
What sort of person do you think would fit?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:12:31]:
I'd say somebody that's very motivated but also flexible and laid back. Who would be some key features responsible, which I'd assume most vets are very people oriented. The people that come to Carlton do expect good service and so I think yeah, somebody that really focuses on the people and goes the extra mile for them would be a good thing.

Julie South [00:12:54]:
What sort of management style?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:12:56]:
Well, I guess because we. Well, it's going to change because the current manager is the one retiring so would be under Tom. Need to be able to take initiative because responsibility is given to vets as opposed to direction. So we are expected to operate I guess fairly independently while carrying I guess the banner of the clinic really. Tom's pretty very flexible as a boss but he still expects high standards.

Julie South [00:13:23]:
How about the skills of the veterinary nursing team?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:13:27]:
It's mixed. We've got some new nurses there but some very experienced nurses. So it's very well nursed. There's plenty of nursing support there.

Julie South [00:13:34]:
So the vet coming in, would you be best? I don't want to put words into your mouth. Would be best to be a type of vet who, who knows how to rely on and use the skills of use the nursing.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:13:51]:
The nursing capacity would be one thing also because of their level of experience there, being able to provide a reasonable amount of direction would be. Would be key because it's only a two vet practice. I guess they have to be able to almost be managers in themselves while working under the manager because sometimes we might have only one vet there or two vets there depending on the day. Being adaptable is good because often with the locomang coming over is it working with a different vet every day or.

Julie South [00:14:18]:
The second men coming over rather?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:14:20]:
Yes, yeah, yeah. Well, us. Us we use the wrong word.

Julie South [00:14:24]:
Intra team. From you personally, your personal perspective, cpd, professional support. How do you feel that you have expanded and grown as a new grad that you don't feel like.

Aodhan Wildbore [00:14:40]:
I would say in terms of cpd, they're very flexible on cpd. There is no structure. It's adapted to each vet and some of that requires our initiative. If we've got an interest and we want to follow that up in terms of cpd, that's our responsibility. They're very flexible. We don't have say a fixed amount of CPD we have to do or a minimum amount but they're flexible on what we do and generous in that respect. And in terms of growth, plenty of growth, because they do make sure we get out with the senior vets on farm and that sort of stuff and allowed to try new things. Yeah, in terms of stuff where we need to develop but that needs supervision, they've got it getting us out on farm to do that.

Julie South [00:15:18]:
How did you feel as a new grad when it came to you being put on the encore roster?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:15:25]:
Well prepared because I got put on during calving time when we actually usually have a backup vet behind us. So I wasn't out by myself. I didn't need to call on that vet. But I always knew I had someone behind me if I needed it. And they didn't put me on straight away either. They left me three months to settle in first and then went from there.

Julie South [00:15:43]:
Is there anything that I haven't a question I haven't asked you something you think is important for somebody else coming in to know that you would like to share?

Aodhan Wildbore [00:15:53]:
Nothing negative. There's no surprises here. It's a very open clinic.

Julie South [00:16:02]:
As you heard. Management at Whanganui Vet Services and its sister clinic, Vets on Carlton, is a clinic that's right in into mentoring, support and empowerment for its new grads. If you're a veterinarian who wants to work with people who lift you up and support you and you're looking to make your next career move, then maybe, just maybe, vetsong Carlton could be your next clinic. If you'd like to know more about Whanganui as a potential place to live, then check out the video@vetclinicjobs.com vetsoncarlton all the links are in the show notes for you, and if you want to know more about the job they're looking to fill, then check out the video that Tanya's recorded about it. Again, links are in the show notes for you. And just in case you didn't know or realize, @vetclinicjobs.com you're applying directly with the clinic, there's no middle person recruitment agency involved. And now, changing the subject ever so slightly, if you're listening to this episode and you've been advertising your job on a regular job board for absolutely ages to find staff and you're still looking, then let's chat, because advertising on vet clinic jobs will seriously get you the results that you're looking for. Because this isn't your regular static job board where nothing happens.

Julie South [00:17:28]:
We have clinics that have listed with other job boards for months, absolutely ages, with no results, no job offers made. And then they come to us and within just a couple of months they've found their next dream team member. These aren't flash in the pan once off events, they happen time and time again. But you have to be ready to do things a little differently because if you always do what you've always done, you're always going to get what you've always got, which is usually nothing. Right? Thanks for listening. Remember to check out vetclinicjobs.com vetsoncarlton for more information about the teams that we've been talking with over the last few weeks and to tune back in again next week when you'll be able to hear about some of the success stories of the clinics that had advertised their jobs and made job offers within a couple of months after spending months and months and months, in one case about a year, advertising without success on other job boards. Until then, this is Julie south signing off and inviting you to go out there and be the most fantabulous version of you you can be because you work with a team of people who lift you up and want to see you shine bright. Until then, Kakati Anno, Sam.