The skills shortage is real. But it's not why your ad isn't working - the elephant in the room - ep. 278

Veterinary Voices — Episode 278
Elephants in the Room: The Skills Shortage Isn't the Whole Story

[00:00]

Two clinics. Same town. Same skills shortage. Same regional labour market.

One's been advertising since forever. The other has been running a different kind of recruitment programme and had multiple suitable applicants within weeks.

Welcome to Veterinary Voices — culture storytelling conversations for forward-thinking vet clinics. I'm Julie South and this is Episode 278, the third in our Elephants in the Room series.

Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetClinicJobs — helping vet clinics get applications from their kind of people.

Stay to the end, please, because today I want to talk about the difference between a ceiling and a floor — and which one your clinic is likely dealing with.

[01:10]

But before we get into it, let's be clear about something first.

The veterinary skills shortage is absolutely, 100% real. It's not a myth and it's not an excuse anyone's hiding behind.

There genuinely aren't enough vets and nurses to go around — anywhere in the world right now. And that's affecting every clinic, everywhere.

But here's what the shortage explains — and what it doesn't.

The shortage explains the size of the pool. Job ad volume is high. There are more vacancies than there are people to fill them. More competition for the same applicants.

That's the ceiling that everyone in the profession is operating under.

What it doesn't explain is why one clinic's pool is smaller than the clinic down the road.

Same ceiling. Different floor.

[02:30]

If you're a practice manager, the one responsible for posting job ads, or maybe you're the owner — here's the thing. And I say this kindly, respectfully, and with love.

You're not a marketer. You're a vet or a nurse.

Marketing isn't your training. It's not your background.

So when the applications don't come — when the ad sits there for months and nothing happens — the explanation you reach for is the one right there in front of you. The one everyone's talking about. The skills shortage.

And that's because it makes sense. It fits.

That's not denial. It's that nobody's ever explained there might be another explanation to look for. And if you did go looking, where would you even start?

You'd probably start with the job ad. Except every job ad looks roughly the same as every other job ad — because everyone's working from the same template, reaching for the same explanation, with no reason to think something else might be going on.

[04:00]

Quick interruption — shameless plug. If you're wondering what a vet or nurse finds when they search for your clinic online right now, book a one-hour consult with me. We'll look at it together and you'll see what's showing up through fresh marketing eyes. julie@vetclinicjobs.com

[04:20]

Here's what I've seen.

Clinics running an ongoing culture story programme — real team members, named, saying specific and current things about what it's like to work there, on their own careers page where Google and the AIs can index it — these clinics are getting multiple suitable applicants in a short timeframe. Sometimes within days. Definitely within weeks.

And then down the road, a clinic in the exact same labour market, dealing with the exact same shortage, has been advertising since forever and is getting nothing. Or unsuitable applicants.

Same ceiling. Same shortage. Wildly different floor.

[05:30]

Why does culture storytelling change that floor?

Because the shortage tells you how many vets and nurses are in the pool. What it doesn't tell you is how many of them can see themselves in your clinic.

That's what culture storytelling does. It gives vets and nurses enough real, specific information to self-identify — to look at your clinic and think: yes, this is my kind of clinic. These are my kind of people. I want to work there.

A generic job ad can't do that. It doesn't give anyone enough to go on.

It's vanilla.

So the vets and nurses who would thrive in your clinic scroll right past it — the same way they scroll past every other job ad that says "passionate team" or "supportive environment" or "great work-life balance."

They're not ignoring you because of the shortage. They're scrolling past because nothing you've put out there has given them a reason to stop.

[07:00]

The clinic running an ongoing culture story gives them that reason.

Not by shouting louder. By saying things that are true and specific enough that the right people recognise themselves in it.

So when the applications aren't coming, it's worth asking one question before assuming it's the shortage:

Have you given the vets and nurses who would be your kind of people enough to go on — enough to see you as their kind of clinic?

If the answer is not really — that's the floor. And it's something you can do something about.

Email me: julie@vetclinicjobs.com

[08:30]

Next week in Elephants in the Room, we're talking about after hours — two words that appear in many vet clinic job ads and almost never say what a vet or nurse actually needs to know.

This is Julie South, signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most fantabulous self — because you're working with your kind of people.

And remember: the shortage is the ceiling that everyone's under.

What you do about your own floor is absolutely still up to you.

Until next week.