Episodes

Vet Science Student Q&A - part 2 of 2 Although today’s episode specifically answers Massey students’ questions, as you’ll hear, the information Janet shares is relevant to just about most people. Because her profession requires full disclosure – which you can read in its entirety at smartmoneyadvice.co.nz I’ll just go over the top level stuff. Qualifications Bachelor of Business Studies - Massey University Diploma in Business endorsed in Personal Financial Planning - ...

Mindset – how to stay sane when your world appears to be spinning out of control crazy through Covid Lockdown

Language of Appreciation at Work - Questionnaire
During Lockdown last year, I uploaded a questionnaire onto VetStaff’s website to help employers / employees discover how people like to be appreciated at work. It’s a free questionnaire – you don’t have to provide your email or anything like that, takes about 5 minutes to complete, and helps you discover how you like to be appreciated at ...

Julie South interviews Jocelyn Birch Baker of Smooth Operating Vets + High Street Veterinary Clinic in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

Jocelyn’s vision at Smooth Operating Vets is to ensure all veterinary women have the opportunity to work in a team where everyone knows their talents and calmly does their very best in an encouraging and supporting place…. That women can return to veterinary practice after the birth of their babies with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need, to work ...

Julie South interviews Jocelyn Birch Baker of Smooth Operating Vets + High Street Veterinary Clinic in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

Jocelyn’s vision at Smooth Operating Vets is to ensure all veterinary women have the opportunity to work in a team where everyone knows their talents and calmly does their very best in an encouraging and supporting place…. That women can return to veterinary practice after the birth of their babies with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need, to work ...

This week Massey University Veterinary Science students asked Julie South questions relating to their first job interview & recruitment.

The questions asked were:
Why should we go through a recruitment agency when we can get a job ourselves – doesn’t it just cost the clinic more to use an agency and won’t they then hold that against us? Is it money they could have paid us instead?
Is it okay to ask about salary at the job interview?

I've heard from several vets over the course of my placements...

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE - EQ - part 2 (of 2) Strategies to become more emotionally intelligent 6 ways emotionally intelligent people lead #1 – Learn more about the inner workings of YOU #2 – Get an honest & objective assessment of YOU – from people you trust who’ll tell you how you are, not how you want to be #3 – Journal & Track – discover cause & effect # 4 – Listen #5 – Putting yourself in the other person’s shoes #6 – open yourself up NB: in the podcast I talk about my own ex...

Today we’re looking at emotional intelligence (EQ) and how essential having a high EQ score is to your professional and personal success and development.

In today’s workplace - workplace performance and career success, and even employee health, which were once thought to be a function of someone’s IQ – or intelligence quotient - are, in fact, tied in with EQ – or someone’s emotional intelligence.

If you’re unfamiliar with EQ - it’s each person’s ability to recognise, understand, and manage the...

Has the idea of volunteering your amazing veterinary skills - either as a veterinarian or veterinary nurse - kinda got you a little bit excited?

If so, then Dr Yvonne Clark's experiences - on beautiful holiday-resort islands - Sardinia in the Mediterranean and Rarotonga in the South Pacific - will give you a bit of an insight into what volunteering is like.

Dr Yvonne Clark is a companion animal veterinarian who originally qualified in Australia.

She's worked in the UK, Australia, Sardinia, NZ...

15 signs it’s time to change jobs + 4 next steps 1. By the time Sunday night comes around, you’re in “dread mode” – you dread going to work on Mondays 2. Time drags – you struggle to immerse yourself and be in the zone like you used to 3. Little things start getting you down and you no longer believe in the clinic like you used to … favouritism, perhaps things don’t get fixed fast – it’s always been like that but no...

The WHAT, WHY, WHEN & HOW to conduct EXIT INTERVIEWS at your Veterinary Clinic Questions to ask at Exit Interviews What is their reason for leaving?Do you feel you had opportunities for growth or promotion within this clinic?How well do you believe your work was recognised and appreciated?Do you feel you were given adequate training and assistance?How fairly were the rosters / after hours / on call requirements distributed among you and other veterinarians / peers?Working conditions and ...

Asking good quality questions gets you good quality answers In this episode you'll discover 15 questions veterinary clinics can ask job applicants to help them determine whether the new-hire will mess or mesh with your veterinary clinic team. Determining and hopefully, matching clinic values, is imperative if you want your next new hire to mesh with your existing team. The alternative is to hire someone who messes with your team - usually because of a total mis-match in values and integrit...

Gen Z are those grads who started entering the workforce a few years ago.

They’re also called the i-Gen – as in iPad and iPhone and Zoomers.

Generational “personalities”

Generational personalities don’t come so much from the actual year someone was born – or the span of years – but from events that a generation of people – a cohort – experience as they grow up at a certain time in society’s history.

It’s these significant events that shape the values of a cohort.

It shapes how they live, wo...

This is part 2 of my catch up with (retired) veterinarian Dr Bryan Gregor. If you’ve been listening to my podcasts for the last 7 episodes or so, you’ll have heard me talk about the fan girl moment I had when Dr Bryan Gregor – show host of the VetPodcast called me out of the blue to talk ‘podcasting’. The Vetpodcast and Paws Claws & Wet Noses have complementary audiences - plus we're both a bit geeky when it comes to things podcast-y. As I’ve said a few times, The VetPodcast is where Paw...

If you’ve been listening to my podcasts for the last 6 episodes or so, you’ll have heard me talk about the fan girl moment I had when Dr Bryan Gregor – show host of the VetPodcast called me out of the blue to talk ‘podcasting’.

This is part 1 of 2 of my catch up with Dr Bryan.

The Vetpodcast and Paws Claws & Wet Noses have complementary audiences - plus we're both a bit geeky when it comes to things podcast-y.
As I’ve said a few times, The VetPodcast is where Paws Claws & Wet Noses dreams of b...

This is a bonus episode because Immigration New Zealand recently announced that, effective 1 November 2021, employers who have migrant workers (visa holders) on their staff will now require to be accredited under the new Immigration New Zealand requirements.

In this episode Richard Howard - Licensed Immigration Consultant - of Pathways New Zealand (based in Hamilton and Wellington) answers questions and helps allay fears some clinics may have.

Richard recommends making sure you've got all your...

Dr Megan Alderson of The Strand Veterinarian in Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand, talks about implementing various wellness progs into her veterinary clinic - her trials and tribulations.

Dr Megan is very open and forthcoming with the information she shares:

what's worked and didn't work
her clinic's budgets and
how much she budgets for staff wellness and wellbeing
She also shares how her personality style worked against her, until she realised she needed to change her approach (which she did).
...

Part 2 (of 2) with Dr Francesa Brown on how to have a healthy vet clinic and a healthy bottom line. Dr Brown covers: What KPIs to measureWhere to start in supporting your team to be / get / stay healthyWhat questions to askHow to implement and how not to implementJohari WindowsThe real and true cost of staff turnoverShe also asks for input / support / information as she gets ready to start her next research project. VetStaffleading veterinary sector recruitment in New Zealand | veterinaria...

This week is part 1 of a two-part series with Dr Francesca Brown of Otago Polytechnic. If you don’t know Dr Francesca, she’s a veterinarian who graduated from Massey University’s class of ’98. After graduating and gaining experience in clinical practice Francesca moved to education and then into leadership in Allied Veterinary professional education, at both Otago Polytechnic, as the Head of the School of Veterinary Nursing and nationally as the Chair of the Educational Standards Commi...

The veterinary practice management software company ezyVet launched MindfulMay as a way to give back to the global veterinary sector.

Starting in May 2021 with two webinars, ezyVet wants to create a worthwhile resources (veterinarian to veterinarian) that helps make a positive difference.

In this episode Julie South catches up with Pip and Lance from the marketing department of ezyVet in Auckland, New Zealand.

Mentioned in this episode:

ezyVet Mindful May's resource page: https://www.ezyvet....

Did you know there are questions you just can’t ask your coworkers … your colleagues... at work …?
I’m not talking being PC-on-steroids type subjects, I’m talking Privacy Act breaches – and that’s what this episode of PCWN is all about.

If you’re tasked with hiring OR you’re a job-seeker who’s considering your next career move OR you’re someone, like me, who often has to open their mouth to change feet, then this episode is definitely for you.

Check out episode 013

Email for you to request co...

IndieVets - the collaborative and expanding group of independently owned and operated kiwi veterinary clinics - opened its doors early in 2021.

Its ethos is "local vets for local pets".

Julie asks Steve:

What does he say to those people who think he sold out on the whole local thing because he created, then sold, Pet Doctors to an Aussie ASX corporate?
Will he sell IndieVets? How can he guarantee that?
Why should independently owned and operated clinics join IndieVets - what's in it for them?...

This episode is to help veterinary clinic employers AND employees navigate the troubled waters of Covid-19 vaccination rollouts

Given there’s been a bit of talk in the media lately about vaccinations and testing – or lack thereof - and the government’s commitment to get Godzone Aotearoa New Zealand’s population vaccinated this year, today’s episode is all about the Covid-19 vaccination rollout and how to manage it in your clinic.

In this episode:
can someone decline to give "vaccination" infor...

Dr Alejandra Arbe-Montoya a PhD candidate from the University of Adelaide and Julie South discuss: Why veterinarians are leaving clinical practice,Moral Distress – what it is and why it needs to be included as part of the curriculum at vet school,How setting personal boundaries can help when you find yourself morally distressed,What types of communication you need to practice,How to handle Moral Conflict, andWhat being a Conscientious Objector means in the veterinary context.When Dr Ale's not...

Does the thought of negotiating have you breaking out into a sweat or in hives? Would you rather do anything but negotiate? Many veterinary recruitment deals are lost - the dream candidate, the dream job - because the veterinary clinic or the candidate - didn't know how to make the job happen. There are many cases for using a professional recruitment agency in your veterinary clinic's hiring process. For me - Julie South - one of the really important aspects of when a recruit...