What is the one thing stopping vet clinics from getting suitable job applications?

[00:00]

Hello and welcome. You're listening to Veterinary Voices — culture storytelling conversations for forward-thinking vet clinics.

I'm Julie South, and this is Episode 283 — the final episode of the Elephant in the Room series.

Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetClinicJobs — helping vet clinics get applications from Their Kind of People.

Eight weeks ago we started this series by naming the first elephant in the room — the clinic with the reputation that everyone in the profession knows about and almost nobody will say anything about publicly.

We've covered seven elephants since then. Today we're going to bring them all together. Because when you look at all seven in the same room, something becomes very clear.

Stay to the end — because I'm going to name what every single elephant in this series has in common, and what that means for what comes next.

What are the biggest unspoken problems in veterinary clinic recruitment?

[01:21]

A super quick recap.

The clinic with a reputation it either hasn't earned anymore — or hasn't found a way to publicly undo and prove it's come a long way since.

[01:36]

The Decision Gap.

If you're listening to this and you're one of the thousands of clinics worldwide currently advertising for staff, you'll likely know there's a huge gap between the views your job board is telling you your ad is getting — and the number of suitable applicants you're receiving. It's probably a huge gap.

I call this the Decision Gap. And it's brought about by everything I've been talking about in Veterinary Voices for a very long time — the gap in information that vets and nurses need to know before they apply for your job.

[02:21]

In most cases, your job ad doesn't suffer from an exposure problem. People are seeing your ad. They're just not applying for the job you're advertising.

And this comes down to a trust problem — where vets and nurses read what you say, and in most cases what you say is blah, blah, vanilla. The exact same thing as the clinic down the road. And then they decide whether they believe you enough to take that huge leap of faith. Because changing jobs is a huge decision. And are they going to take that leap and apply?

As you know from the number of views your ad gets and the number of suitable applicants you receive — the answer to that is a flat-out no. They don't apply.

[03:12]

Then we talked about the skills shortage. It's real — one hundred percent, absolutely. But we talked about that being the ceiling, not the floor. Two clinics in the same town, same shortage, and yet they can have wildly different outcomes.

[03:27]

After-hours — two words in many job ads, or most mixed animal job ads — almost never say what a vet or nurse needs to know about the after-hours.

[03:43]

Then we talked about competitive remuneration — or compensation, depending on which part of the world you're listening to this in right now. Two words that tell a vet or nurse that you have a salary. But nothing else. And research shows that salary is the number one thing they want to know. If you'd like a copy of that research, please email me — I'm happy to send it to you: julie@vetclinicjobs.com.

[04:12]

Then we have the new graduate experience. The mentoring programme. Again, another two words. That may or may not include weekly catchups that become monthly and then disappear. And then there's a smaller group who leave the profession entirely. The job failed them. That's the new grad experience.

[04:33]

Then last week, we talked about the corporate or independent type of clinic. Half the profession says it matters — and yet almost no job ad says which one that job belongs to. And when vets and nurses find out for themselves — perhaps via a contact email address, or a Google search, or perhaps a few interviews in after they've spent time and energy getting to those interviews — they ask themselves why the ad didn't just say so. And sometimes they feel a bit duped.

Why do vets and nurses read a job ad but not apply?

[05:14]

Seven elephants. Seven different rooms. But only one pattern.

In every single episode, the elephant was the same thing — just wearing different clothes.

[05:31]

Information that vets and nurses need to make an informed decision. Specific, true, current information. And it's not in the job ads.

Sometimes because nobody thought to put it there. Sometimes because there's a fear of being undercut. Sometimes because the job ad template doesn't have a field for it. And sometimes because the clinic doesn't think it's relevant.

[05:57]

And yet in every case, vets and nurses find out anyway. Later. At an interview. On day one. Via Google. Through a colleague. A few interviews in.

[06:18]

And in every case, when they find out that way — when it could have been said upfront — it feels to them like something was withheld.

[06:34] (mid-roll)

Shameless plug and interruption here.

If you're wondering what a vet or nurse finds when they search for your clinic right now — how about you book a one-hour consult with me? We'll look at it together and you'll be able to see what's showing up for your clinic through fresh eyes.

Email me: julie@vetclinicjobs.com.

Now let's get back to today's show.

What does peer-to-peer culture evidence look like for a vet clinic?

[07:03]

There's a version of every one of these elephants that can go differently.

The clinic with the changed reputation that says so — in the words of the team who are living the change.

The job ad that tells a vet or nurse something specific about pay, about after-hours, about who owns the clinic, about what the mentoring programme looks like on paper — specific enough that the right person reads it and thinks: yes, this is my kind of clinic.

The clinic that doesn't wait for the exit interview to find out what the team really thinks — because they've been capturing it all along, in a form that travels, in a format that's findable before any job ad runs.

[07:52]

Every elephant in this series has the same answer.

It's not a better job ad. It is specific, current, peer-to-peer, vet-to-vet, nurse-to-nurse culture evidence — captured from the people, the vets and nurses who work in clinic, and then published in a format so that those vets and nurses who need to find it can find it, and then kept current so that it reflects the clinic as it is right now.

[08:19]

That's what turns "mentoring programme" into a week-by-week documented framework with a new grad saying what month three felt like. And that's what makes a clinic trustable — when vets and nurses dive into the Decision Gap and find what they're looking for, because there's been a link, there's been information in the job ad that points them somewhere real.

Does the culture evidence need to be in the job ad itself?

[08:59]

And something you absolutely need to know about all of this.

In most cases, the Decision Gap information doesn't need to be in the job ad itself. The job ad's purpose is to signal the vacancy. We've talked about this.

But you need to be able to validate and verify the claims you're making — the culture claims — because you're hiring critical thinkers. And the vets and nurses you want to hire will check. They will ask. They will go looking. Because they are trained to think critically.

[09:58]

So you need somewhere they can go to confirm that what you're saying is for real.

Evidence. Specific, current, peer-to-peer evidence. In a form that's findable before any job ad, before any interview, before any decision has to be made on the basis of two words that say absolutely nothing. Two words that are meaningless.

What is the REAL+CULTURE+STORY framework for vet clinics?

[10:26]

Next week we're starting a new series.

The new series is called The REAL+CULTURE+STORY Framework. It's how we build the peer-to-peer culture evidence stack for clinics that want to put meaningful information into the Decision Gap — and control what shows up. When they do that, it helps them find Their Kind of People. Because it's their kind of people that apply.

If you've been listening to this series and thinking — yes, but what do I do with all of this — make sure you tune back in next week.

And in the meantime, email me: julie@vetclinicjobs.com.

[11:17]

Thank you for listening to this episode — especially to all eight episodes of the Elephant in the Room series.

This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most fantabulous self — because you are working with Your Kind of People.

And remember — every elephant in this series was the same thing wearing different clothes. Information that could have been said upfront. And wasn't. That's the only thing that needs to change.

Until next week.