Episode 238 - Protecting Your Team from Poachers

Julie South [00:00:05]: Have you ever wondered why some clinics never seem to lose good staff to headhunting competitors or recruiters, while other clinics are constantly battling to keep their best people from being poached? These clinics seem immune to the problem.

Here's the thing, they've built something so compelling that external job offers feel like a step backwards, not forwards. So stay tuned.

Welcome to Veterinary Voices, the podcast that celebrates and showcases employer of choice veterinary clinics. I'm Julie South and this is episode 238. Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetClinicJobs, the job board 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. If that's not happening for you right now, then head on over to vetclinicjobs.com because the average there is seven weeks from go to whoa.

Julie South [00:01:24]: Today we're talking about writing job ads that protect your team from poachers. How building a strong employer brand doesn't just attract great people, it keeps them as well. Stay tuned, because we'll go through three key strategies and you'll get an action plan for you to incorporate team protection into your clinic's recruitment marketing this coming week.

Let's start with talking about what's really happening out there. Recruitment agencies. Not all of them, but too many, unfortunately, are, in my humble opinion, double dipping. They headhunt someone from your clinic. Then they turn around and present another headhunted person as a solution to fill the gap they've just created in competitor clinics.

Julie South [00:02:17]: They're doing the same thing, except when you bump into each other down the track at, say, a conference, they'll suggest that if you were paying your staff enough, no one would leave. But here's what they're missing. People don't just leave for money. They leave for better culture, growth opportunities, work life balance, recognition and feeling genuinely valued.

The clinics that never lose good staff understand this. They've built something so strong internally that when the headhunters or shoulder tappers come knocking or calling, their team isn't tempted.

Most clinics try to solve the poaching or the headhunting problem after it's already happened. Someone hands in their notice and suddenly there's panic about counter offers and retention bonuses.

Julie South [00:03:14]: But by then, it's often too late. Not because the external offer was better financially, but because the person had already mentally checked out.

The other mistake is thinking that you can protect your team by controlling them. Restrictive contracts, non compete clauses, or creating an environment where people feel they can't even have conversations about their career. That breeds resentment, not loyalty.

The truth is, if your people are vulnerable to poaching, the problem isn't the poachers. And it is. But it's not.

Julie South [00:03:52]: It's that you haven't given your team a compelling enough reason to stay and or you haven't created a psychologically safe enough space to have the I've just been headhunted or shoulder tapped conversation straight after it's happened, not when it's too late to do something about it.

Now, this episode isn't about how to handle counter offers. That's an episode for another time, on another day. This is about building something so strong that the conversation becomes Someone approached me, but I love what we're building here. Rather than I'm leaving, let's look at those three key strategies I talked about at the beginning.

Strategy number one is to build a culture worth staying for. Your job ads should reflect a workplace culture so strong that your existing team reads them and thinks, yes, this is exactly why I love working here. If you were at the Vet Expo conference in Melbourne this year, you would have heard me talk about employer brand recruitment marketing and this internal brand building is just as important as external attraction.

Julie South [00:05:11]: When you write about professional development opportunities, flexible working arrangements, supportive team culture, or career progression paths, you're not just attracting external people, you're reminding your current team why they chose you and you're reinforcing their decision to stay.

Second, strategy number two you want to create employee advocates, not just employees. The strongest protection you can have against poaching is when your existing team becomes your biggest advocates. When your people are so genuinely proud to work at your clinic, they become your best recruiters. They share their positive experiences, they refer friends and colleagues, and when headhunters and shoulder tappers approach them, they often respond with something like thanks, but I love where I am.

This is where authentic storytelling in your job ads becomes so very powerful. Instead of generic descriptions, share real stories from your team about why they enjoy working there, what they've learned, and how they've grown. This isn't just marketing, it's validation for your existing staff that their workplace, your workplace, really is special.

Julie South [00:06:37]: And then finally, strategy number three is you want a clinic where transparent trust is so very obvious. Here's something that might sound counterintuitive. Make it clear that your door is always open for honest conversations about career goals and opportunities about shoulder tapping about being headhunted.

When your team knows that they can talk openly about their aspirations without fear of being pushed out, they're more likely to work with you to achieve those goals rather than looking elsewhere. This trust based approach shows confidence in what you've built. You're not afraid of your people having options because you know what you offer is genuinely valuable. And when people feel trusted rather than controlled, loyalty flows naturally.

A bit of a time for a shameless plug here, but VetClinicJobs really shines when it comes to showcasing authentic employee experiences.

Julie South [00:07:48]: They don't just post generic job descriptions, they help you create marketing assets that feature real stories from your team about why they love working at your clinic.

Here's something brilliant about the platform. When clinics have employee reviews on their VetClinicJobs clinic profile, those show up ahead of the job advert, so it's the first thing that job seekers see when they click the view more option about job opportunities. Encouraging your team to write reviews becomes another part of employer brand recruitment marketing because potential job seekers get authentic insights from current staff before they even read the job requirements.

Think about it. When potential job seekers see genuine testimonials from current staff, they're getting an authentic preview of your workplace culture. But there's a bonus effect as well. Your existing team sees their stories being shared, albeit anonymously.

Julie South [00:08:56]: They know what's theirs and they feel valued and proud to be part of your clinic's narrative.

The platform gives you flexibility to showcase employee voices properly. No character limits forcing you into boring bullet points. No extra charges for including team testimonials or workplace culture videos, which, when you have a job listed, you can present the authentic experience of working at your clinic, which both attracts the right new people and reinforces to your existing team why they made a great choice.

So make sure that you're taking advantage of all the quality of life filters available to you. Because when you can demonstrate things like everyone earns above the living wage, for example, or your professional development is supported, you're showing both potential and current employees that you understand what matters beyond just job requirements.

Let me quickly recap those three strategies for you. First, build a culture so compelling that your job ads remind your existing team why they love working there.

Julie South [00:10:10]: Second, create employee advocates by featuring authentic and genuine stories that make your team proud to be part of your clinic. And third, practise transparent trust by making it safe for people to discuss their career goals openly.

Remember, the best protection against poaching isn't controlling your people. It's about building something so good so great that they don't want to leave when those headhunters start calling or the shoulder tappers start tapping. You want your team's response to be thanks, but I'm exactly where I want to be.

Here's what I'd like you to do this week. This is your takeaway action plan. Look at your current job and ask yourself, would reading this make your existing team feel proud to work at your clinic, or does it just describe a generic veterinary role?

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

Julie South [00:11:39]: Next week in episode 239, we're talking about advertising part time roles without alienating full time staff because managing different working arrangements requires careful communication.

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 building something so good that your team becomes your biggest advocates because you work with a team that lifts you up every single day.

Referenced URLs:

• https://vetclinicjobs.com
• https://veterinaryvoices.com
• tania@vetclinicjobs.com
• lizzie@vetclinicjobs.com