The Attraction Gap: Why You're Trying To Solve Recruitment At Exactly The Wrong Time - ep. 257

Closing the (Recruitment) Attraction Gap - Episode 257

Host: Julie South [00:00:04]:

Welcome to Veterinary Voices—culture storytelling conversations for forward-thinking vet clinics. I'm Julie South and this is Episode 257.

Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetClinicJobs—helping forward-thinking vet clinics build recognition before they need to recruit.

Over the last few weeks or so, we've talked about network expansion, recruitment momentum and why big numbers don't measure what actually matters.

This week we're talking about the attraction gap. Why? Knowing you need to attract the right people and actually being able to attract them are two very different things.

Host: Julie South [00:01:10]:

So stay with me to the end, because I want to leave you with a question about the timing of when you try to solve your recruitment problem.

Right now, somewhere in Melbourne, Australia, a clinic manager knows they need to do something different because they feel like they're spinning their wheels when it comes to their job ad.

They know recruitment is hard. Everyone says it's the skills shortage, but they want to know they've done absolutely everything they can.

So they try a few different social media posts, updating their website, asking staff to share. But here's what they don't know. How do you actually bridge the gap between understanding what needs to happen and making it happen?

Host: Julie South [00:02:06]:

So they default back to what they do know. They post the job ad, hope someone sees it and wait.

The gap between knowing and doing is keeping them trapped in the same cycle.

The attraction gap is the space between knowing you should attract people and actually being able to attract them.

Here's what that attraction gap looks like in real life. You know, theoretically, that vets and nurses are watching clinics long before they apply somewhere. You know they're forming opinions about which clinics feel like their kind of clinic. You know recognition matters more than reach.

But knowing doesn't tell you what to do on Tuesday afternoon when you're covering reception because someone called in sick and then you've got three surgeries backed up and someone just resigned. You need to advertise again.

Host: Julie South [00:02:51]:

The gap isn't about the information. The gap is about implementation when you're already stretched thin.

Most practice managers are caught in this impossible timing trap. When you're fully staffed, you're not thinking about recruitment. Why would you spend time on it when there's no vacancy?

And then someone resigns and suddenly you need to advertise now, right now, not in three months—now.

So you post the ad and you're back to hoping someone finds you. You don't have time to close the attraction gap when you're desperate and you're never thinking about it when you're not desperate.

Can you see the cycle?

Host: Julie South [00:03:31]:

You might try random things between hires. Post something on social media. Ask staff to share your job ad. Update your website careers page.

But these things feel like you're pushing water uphill. You're not sure if anyone's seeing what you're doing, taking notice. You're not sure if it's making any difference.

So you stop when it gets busy, which is exactly when you should be building momentum. So you go back to what's familiar—posting job ads and waiting.

Host: Julie South [00:04:03]:

The attraction gap creates a predictable pattern.

Month one: you post everywhere, compare platforms, choose the one with the biggest numbers.

Month two: you rewrite the ad, add more benefits and tweak the wording.

Month three: you upgrade, perhaps to premium features. Boost posts on social media, and you spend more money.

Host: Julie South [00:04:35]:

By month three, recruitment agencies start circling. LinkedIn messages, cold calls. "We have the perfect candidate for you," they say. The temptation of the easy button.

But you're not ready to spend 15 to $20,000 yet. Besides, you went down that path once before, and their suitable applicant turned out to be someone you already knew and it turns out was anything but suitable.

So you keep trying.

Host: Julie South [00:05:12]:

Month four: desperate diversification. Maybe social media will work. Maybe asking staff to help will work. Maybe something, anything, will work.

Month five: expensive surrender. Either you call an agency or you stay understaffed while your team burns out.

That's the attraction gap playing out in real time.

But here's what makes it even more painful. When you do finally fill the role, the gap doesn't close. It's still there. It just resets.

Host: Julie South [00:05:41]:

Next time you need to advertise, you're starting from cold again. Unknown, unfamiliar, interrupting strangers with a job ad.

The cycle repeats because the attraction gap never got bridged. You solved the immediate problem, but you didn't solve the system problem.

From the outside, this looks simple. Just build continuously, be consistent. Create content and build recognition before you need it.

But from the inside, when you're the one trying to do it while running a busy veterinary clinic, it feels impossible. Where do you even start? What do you create? Where does it go? How do you know if it's even working?

Host: Julie South [00:06:32]:

That risk keeps most clinics trapped in the familiar cycle. At least posting job ads is a known quantity. You know it probably won't work well, but at least you know what to expect.

Right now, one clinic is in month three of advertising. They're getting recruitment agency messages, but they're not yet ready to spend that much money. They're hoping the next platform will be different. They're hoping something will change.

But nothing's changing, because they're trying to close the attraction gap—even though they don't know it as that name—at exactly the wrong time, which is when they're desperate, when they have no time.

Host: Julie South [00:07:31]:

Meanwhile, another clinic isn't hoping. They started closing the attraction gap months ago, before they needed to advertise, when they had time, when they could think clearly, when they could build something permanent.

That clinic isn't in the five-month cycle. When they need to advertise, it's a calm invitation to vets and nurses who already know them.

Not because they got lucky, because they built the bridge across the attraction gap before they needed to walk across it.

Host: Julie South [00:08:26]:

And if you're already in month three or four right now, you might be thinking that this doesn't help you much. But here's the thing. You can start building recognition even while you're advertising, even if and even when you are advertising right now.

Right now, when someone sees your job ad, they have questions—questions that your ad can't answer. Where do they go to find those answers? If the answer isn't obvious, they'll continue scrolling.

You need to start building that decision bridge, the place where vets and nurses seeing your ad can go to answer their questions and decide if you're their kind of clinic.

And remember, we've talked about this before on this podcast back in Episode 243. Your clinic's website is designed to prove to pet owners that you're their kind of clinic, not to vets and nurses.

Host: Julie South [00:09:22]:

Doing what I'm talking here won't solve today's crisis instantly, but it will mean that your current ad gets to work better. And more importantly, you won't start from scratch next time, or the time after that.

The attraction gap can start closing now, provided you start now.

That decision bridge—it's a permanent place where your team's real stories live. Not on social media, where they disappear, not on your website that's designed for clients—somewhere built specifically for vets and nurses to make sure that you are their kind of people.

If you want to know more, then get in touch. julie@vetclinicjobs.com.

Host: Julie South [00:10:17]:

I promised you a question. So here it is.

What if the reason you can't close the attraction gap isn't that you don't know what to do, but that you keep trying to solve it at exactly the wrong time?

Or the wrong place, or the wrong way? But let's just focus on one of those for now. The wrong time.

When you're desperate, instead of when you have time. When you're reactive instead of when you could be strategic. When you're scrambling instead of when you could be building.

Because the attraction gap doesn't close during a recruitment crisis. It closes between recruitment crises. But most clinics aren't actually thinking about recruitment between crises. And that's exactly why the gap never closes.

Next week, we're starting a new series about what happens during those five months when clinics are trapped in the recruitment cycle. We'll walk through each month, each predictable stage, each failed attempt to make the old system work better.

Because once you can see the pattern, you can see why it keeps repeating and why closing the attraction gap requires stepping out of this cycle entirely.

This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most fantabulous self.