Your Job Ad Says "Supportive Team." But Who Are They?

How do you write a vet clinic job ad that attracts the right people?

[00:04]

Hello and welcome. You're listening to Veterinary Voices, culture storytelling conversations for veterinary clinics. They want to be found by their kind of people. Veterinary Voices is brought to you by Vet Clinic Jobs. I'm Julie South, and this is episode 286. It's the third in my series unpacking the Real Culture Story framework. The last 2 episodes explain Real Stories and Everyday Evidence.

I'll put links to both of those in the show notes so that you can hear how those pieces fit together.

Is your vet clinic job ad missing the human story?

[00:44]

Today, we're looking at A in REAL, actual people. And of course, I know you know that your clinic employs real, live, breathing people. But what stories are you telling right now, regardless of whether you have a live job ad or not, about the who?

Who will speak, who will answer when a vet or a nurse calls for help? Who will stand beside them when a case gets difficult? And who will understand like they do when the day has gone completely sideways and turned to custard? Who are the people a vet or nurse can already begin to recognise, trust, and imagine working beside?

Stay to the end and I'll show you how to turn 3 words that pretty much every clinic uses — supportive, friendly team — into human evidence that could make the right vet or nurse think, yes, this feels like my kind of people and my kind of clinic.

What does "supportive, friendly team" mean in a job ad?

[01:49]

Clinics say we have a supportive team. We encourage our vets to develop their interests. We have a great culture. And all of those statements are probably, hopefully, absolutely true.

But according to whom? Who has experienced it? And what did supportive look like when someone needed support? In the Real Culture Story framework, that's the work of actual people.

Why culture looks different depending who you ask

[02:20]

It takes your culture statements that might appear on LinkedIn or in a job ad, in the clinic's marketing or management voice, and gives them back to the people who experience that culture. And this matters because the owner experiences the clinic differently from the new grad. The senior nurse sees things the practice manager may never ever see. And the receptionist experiences the team from another position yet again.

Together, their real culture stories — real veterinary voices telling real veterinary stories — create the far more credible picture of what working at that clinic genuinely feels like.

From claim to evidence: what "actual people" adds

[03:11]

So let's separate actual people from the first 2 parts of REAL. Real stories asks, did this genuinely happen? Everyday evidence asks, does this reveal how the clinic ordinarily works? And actual people asks, can we hear and recognise the person who experienced it?

Imagine a clinic that says, new grads receive excellent support. Well, that's a culture claim.

What does good mentoring look like for a new grad vet?

[03:44]

Now imagine a new grad saying: "Like most new grads, I'd heard horror stories about large bitch spays, so I was dreading my first one. I asked one of the senior vets to be on hand, to be available. And she watched quietly until I reached the tricky part, then stood behind me and talked me through it. Once I was ready to close, she told me I'd done good and left me to finish it myself."

Only a fellow vet or nurse fully understands the significance of that moment. They understand the pressure of reaching the technically difficult part of a procedure while carrying responsibility for the animal on the table. They can picture the senior vet standing close enough to step in while still allowing the new grad to remain the surgeon. They can feel the relief of hearing, you're doing it right, and then the surge of confidence when the senior vet steps away and trusts them to finish.

Now we can see and imagine what support looked like.

Signs of a truly supportive vet clinic team

[05:05]

Available without taking over, reassuring without undermining, and close enough to help when needed, and then confident enough to step away. The person isn't decorating the story. The person is the source of the evidence. And that's actual people.

The large bitch spay story was told by one veterinary professional for another veterinary professional. A fellow vet or nurse understands why the senior vet's quiet presence mattered and what it meant to be supported through the difficult part and then trusted to finish the surgery.

Careers content vs client content: not the same job

[05:52]

A pet owner, on the other hand, may hear the same story very differently. Clinical language about a difficult stage of surgery could create concern rather than reveal the quality of mentoring.

That's why these stories belong somewhere clearly written for prospective colleagues, what we call a Culture Story Centre. Because it's career-focused content. Your client website introduces the people entrusted with caring for someone's animal. Your careers content helps a vet or a nurse understand what those people would be like to work beside. Same people, different questions, different stories, different audience.

How do you write vet clinic team bios that attract applicants?

[06:42]

Most clinic websites already introduce the team with photographs, qualifications, clinical interests, hobbies, and pets. Knowing that Jane graduated in 2016, enjoys rabbit medicine, and hikes with her 2 dogs helps a client know who may be caring for their animal.

Whereas a potential colleague is asking, what would Jane be like to work with? Would she make room for their questions? Would she notice when they're struggling? Would she treat them with respect when the pressure's on? And would she celebrate when they nail something for the very first time?

Before vets and nurses apply for a job, they're trying to imagine future working relationships with people that they've never met.

Why do vets and nurses choose one clinic over another?

[07:35]

Actual people gives those imagined relationships a face, a voice and a moment of proof. Because people rarely apply to work with a clinic name. They rarely apply to work with a logo or a set of values. They do apply to work with the people they believe are waiting for them on the other side.

Each person provides a different window into the same workplace. One team member may value being trusted to get on with the job. Another may value knowing help is immediately available. A nurse may talk about how the team responds when the day falls apart. And then a vet may talk about the freedom to pursue an unusual clinical interest.

Together, all of their voices allow someone outside the clinic to think, I understand these people. I can see myself working with them. And yes, this feels like my kind of clinic.

That's what vets and nurses are searching for during the job application decision gap — a job that catches their eye, and then their due diligence determines whether they apply or they keep scrolling. They may explore your website and social channels. They may ask colleagues or even an AI what it can find. And sharing your team's experience gives vets and nurses, and the tools that they use, meaningful evidence to find. It gives them people to recognise.

How do you make your vet clinic job ad believable?

[09:30]

Here's the actual people test. Can I tell whose experience this is, and does their presence make the evidence more credible and meaningful?

Putting a name beside a generic claim only gives the claim a name. Everyone is friendly and supportive, said Jane. The large bitch spay story gives us far more. We know what happened. We can hear what mattered to the new grad. We can picture the senior vet beside her. And through that experience, we learn something meaningful about both the people and the clinic.

The person isn't decorating the story. The person is the source of the evidence.

How to add real team stories to your vet clinic job ads

[10:19]

I promised you 3 things that you can do this week. Here they are.

Number 1, spot it. Choose one culture claim that your clinic regularly makes, perhaps its supportive team, good mentoring, or something like, we encourage professional development. And then ask, where have we seen that happen through one person's experience?

Number 2, source it. Find the person who lived that moment and ask, can you think of a particular time when that happened? What was going on? What did someone do? And what difference did it make to you? You're listening for the detail, the emotion, and the words that make the experience absolutely recognisably theirs.

Number 3, share it. Share the experience in their voice, with their permission, somewhere vets and nurses can find it. On your LinkedIn page, in your careers content, or ideally in your Culture Story Centre.

1, 2, 3. Spot it. Source it. Share it. That's this week's homework.

Wrap-up and what's next

[11:21]

And if you want the right vets and nurses to recognise your people, picture themselves working alongside them and think, yes, these feel like my kind of people, please get in touch, julie@vetclinicjobs.com.

Last week, everyday evidence helped us notice the ordinary moments that reveal how a clinic works. Today, actual people gives those moments the human source and the human voice, and gives someone outside your clinic people they can begin to know, trust, and imagine working alongside and beside.

Next week, we're going to look at the L in REAL, and that's about lived values, because values become visible through the decisions people make and the way they behave when those values are tested.

Thank you for getting to the end and thank you for listening. This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most fantabulous self, because you work in your kind of clinic with your kind of people.

Until next week.