Making Weekend and After Hours Work Sound Appealing

Julie South [00:00:03]: What if the problem with filling after hours emergency shifts isn't that people don't want to do them, it's that you haven't made them worth doing? Here's the thing: you can't write appealing job ads and expect them to work if your current team can't honestly endorse what you're offering.

Welcome to Veterinary Voices, the podcast that celebrates and showcases employer of choice veterinary clinics. Hi, I'm Julie South and this is episode 240. Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetClinicJobs - direct hiring reimagined, no recruitment agency involved.

You owe it to your team to be able to make job offers from your job ads. And let's face it, success when it comes to job ads should lead to your new hire starting within a few months.

Julie South [00:00:55]: If that's not happening for you right now, then head on over to vetclinicjobs.com because the average there is five weeks from go to whoa.

Today we're talking about how to write job ads that make weekend and after hours work sound appealing. But the secret isn't in the writing. It's in making sure these shifts are genuinely appealing before you advertise them.

Stay tuned, because we're going to go through three strategies for writing job ads that attract the right people to after hours emergency work. Plus, you'll get an action plan for you to transform your after hours job ad approach this coming week.

In most clinics, the reality is that someone has to cover weekends, emergencies and after hours calls, especially in the regional areas that don't have dedicated after hours emergency clinics set up. But too many clinics approach these shifts with something along the lines of "be on the roster or find another job" attitude.

Julie South [00:02:09]: And then they wonder why no one's applying for their jobs when emergency after hours is part of the role.

Here's the truth: if you can't honestly say that your after hours arrangements are genuinely attractive to the right people, then word will get out and your job ads will struggle to convince anyone they should consider these roles.

The clinics that successfully fill these shifts have made them genuinely worth doing, and they write job ads that will attract those who are happy to accept emergency after hours as part of the roster. Most clinics, unfortunately, treat after hours and weekend work like a necessary evil that everyone should just accept as part of the job.

They offer minimal additional remuneration, expect people to bounce back immediately after being called out at 2am in the middle of winter, and then create guilt around recovery time. Then they write job ads that essentially say "we need somebody to do the shifts nobody wants" and wonder why they only attract desperate applicants or no one at all.

The bigger problem is that many clinics try to make after hours work appeal to people who fundamentally don't suit it, instead of recognising that there are veterinary professionals who actually thrive in these situations when the conditions are right.

Julie South [00:03:42]: Some clinics also create unsafe situations by pressuring team members to take calls they're not comfortable with, whether that's due to location, situation or their own gut feeling about safety. This creates anxiety around the whole after hours system.

Let's talk about three key strategies for writing compelling after hours job ads. The first one is you need to make it genuinely worthwhile through proper remuneration.

Before you write one single word about after hours opportunities, ask yourself: would you want to do this for what you're offering? Getting up in the middle of a freezing cold winter's night to handle an emergency isn't just about the clinical work. It's about disruption to sleep, family time and personal life.

Clinics that successfully fill after hours rosters usually pay very handsomely for this disruption. They recognise that convenience fees exist in every other industry, so why shouldn't veterinary after hours work be properly remunerated as well?

If you were at the Vet Expo conference in Melbourne this year, you would have heard me talk about employer brand recruitment.

Julie South [00:05:06]: Marketing and authentic value proposition is central to this. You can't market something as attractive if you haven't made it genuinely attractive through fair remuneration.

Strategy number two: you need to support recovery without guilt. Make it genuinely okay for those who get called out to start late, to have a day off in lieu perhaps, or take recovery time without being guilt tripped. This isn't about being soft, it's about sustainable systems and recognising that fatigue is cumulative.

Other professions like aviation, forestry and transport have long recognised this principle and there's a good reason for veterinary and medical professions to embrace this understanding as well. When someone's been called out at 3am and dealt with a complex emergency, expecting them to be all bright eyed and bushy tailed and fresh for a full day of consults the next morning is unrealistic and potentially dangerous.

The clinics that get this right build recovery time into their systems and communicate this support clearly in their job ads.

Julie South [00:06:23]: This approach actually attracts better quality applicants because it shows you understand the real impact of after hours work and have mature systems to manage it.

Strategy number three is reframe after hours work as skill development and create some safety. Here's a reframe that's beneficial for your clinics: you need to - and I use "sell" in air quotes - you need to sell emergency after hours work as exciting because new skills are honed and refined in the wee small hours when you only have yourself to rely on.

For veterinary professionals who love growing their skill sets, after hours work is where the rubber hits the road. This isn't just marketing spin, it's genuinely true. These are often the most challenging skill building cases where vets really get to stretch their abilities and develop confidence in their clinical decision making. And developing that confidence also helps build resilience, which is a very good thing for both the individual and the profession and the clinic.

Julie South [00:07:40]: But you also need to make it safe both physically and psychologically. It must be okay for team members to say no to calls that don't feel safe. Whether it's due to location, the situation or just their gut feeling, they need to be able to say no without any career consequences.

Additionally, consider developing trust and collaboration with neighbouring clinics. Yes, they're competitors during the day, but they can be support networks at night. Joining forces to share emergency after hours call outs reduces the burden on everyone and creates a more sustainable system.

A bit of a shameless plug here: VetClinicJobs really shines when it comes to presenting after hours opportunities authentically.

Julie South [00:08:35]: And that's because you get the space to tell your real story about your after hours arrangements, the remuneration, the support systems, the recovery protocols. You can showcase your clinic culture through team profiles where team members can share what it's really like working at your clinic.

From exciting emergency after hours cases that challenge and develop skills through to the routine vaccinations and wellness checks that form the foundation of great veterinary care, you can be completely honest about what the role involves while highlighting the genuine benefits for the right person.

This authenticity is far more compelling than generic job descriptions that make after hours sound like a burden everyone has to share.

Let me quickly recap those three strategies. First, make after hours work genuinely worthwhile through proper remuneration for the disruption and the inconvenience. Second, support recovery without guilt by building sustainable systems that recognise the real impact of night callouts. And thirdly, reframe these opportunities for the right audience while ensuring both physical and psychological safety.

Julie South [00:10:04]: Remember, you can't write appealing job ads for unappealing working conditions. If your after hours arrangements aren't genuinely attractive, fix that before you try to recruit for them.

Here's what I'd like you to do this week. This is your takeaway action plan. Review your current after hours job ads. Do they honestly reflect genuine value for the disruption involved? Do they speak to the people who would thrive in these roles? Or are they trying to convince reluctant day shift people? Rewrite them to attract the right people for the right reasons.

If you're struggling with creating sustainable after hours systems that work for your team, I highly recommend that you check out Dr. Jocelyn Birch Baker at Smooth Operating Vets. Dr.

Julie South [00:10:55]: Jocelyn specialises in helping veterinary clinics create smooth operating systems that make challenging shifts genuinely attractive.

And for insights into what the data is showing in relation to veterinary job advertisements in Australia and New Zealand, then email tania@vetclinicjobs.com for your copy of our monthly Veterinary Employment Job Advertisement Market Intelligence Report and mention you heard it here first.

Next week in episode 241, we're talking about when no one applies - troubleshooting job ads in a talent desert. Because sometimes the problem isn't your job ad, it's the market reality that you're working in.

Thank you to VetClinicJobs for making this episode possible. Until next time, this is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most fantabulous self by recognising that making difficult work appealing isn't about spin, it's about creating genuinely good working conditions, because you work with a team that lifts you up every single day.

Referenced URLs:

• https://vetclinicjobs.com
• https://veterinaryvoices.com
• https://smoothoperatingvets.com
• mailto:tania@vetclinicjobs.com
• mailto:lizzie@vetclinicjobs.com
• mailto:jocelyn@smoothoperatingvets.com