How to attract and retain talent in the veterinary sector
Recruiting the right people and keeping them are closely connected. The salary, working pattern and opportunities that encourage someone to join a practice need to be reflected in their experience once they arrive.
For veterinary employers, that means looking at the whole employment offer: the work people do, the support available, how the practice is managed and whether they can see a sustainable future within the team.
The British Veterinary Association’s Good Veterinary Workplaces framework identifies areas including workload, fair reward, development and workplace culture as important elements of a healthy working environment. BVA guidance
The following steps turn those broad principles into practical decisions for practice owners, clinical directors and managers.
1. Understand why someone would choose your practice
Before advertising a vacancy, be clear about what you can offer the person you want to recruit.
An experienced veterinary surgeon, a newly qualified vet, an RVN and a referral specialist may be looking for very different things. Their priorities could include clinical support, a particular caseload, predictable hours, additional responsibility or time to develop an interest.
Speak with your existing team. Ask what they value about working with you, what surprised them when they joined and what they would change.
Use those conversations to identify your strongest, most credible reasons for joining. These might include accessible senior colleagues, continuity of patient care, a well-organised nursing team or a rota that people can plan their lives around.
Be specific. “Supportive team” becomes more meaningful when you can explain who provides support, when they are available and how a colleague can ask for help.
2. Design a role that is realistic and attractive
A vacancy is an opportunity to review how work is organised.
Before replacing a departing employee on identical terms, consider whether the original role still makes sense. Has the caseload changed? Does the rota fit demand? Have management, mentoring or administrative duties gradually accumulated?
Set out the responsibilities, required experience and available support. Separate essential requirements from preferences so you do not unnecessarily exclude candidates who could succeed in the role.
Consider whether you could accommodate part-time hours, a job share or a different balance of consulting and operating. Any adjustment needs to preserve appropriate clinical cover and a workable distribution of duties.
A role that combines demanding clinical work, supervision, management and frequent additional hours needs time and remuneration that reflect those responsibilities. A clearer job description can expose problems before recruitment starts.
3. Offer competitive, transparent pay and benefits
Pay needs to be considered in the context of the whole role.
When reviewing salary levels, compare positions with similar responsibilities, working hours, location, experience requirements and weekend or out-of-hours commitments. A higher annual salary may be less attractive if it involves substantially more time at work.
Publish a realistic salary range wherever possible. Explain how experience and responsibilities influence the offer, and make clear when a quoted figure is full-time equivalent rather than the amount payable for the advertised hours.
Candidates should be able to understand the wider package, including:
- Contracted hours and how additional work is handled.
- Annual leave and the approach to booking it.
- Pension and any additional employer benefits.
- CPD funding and time available to use it.
- Professional fees or other agreed expenses.
- Any weekend, on-call or leadership responsibilities.
Keep pay decisions consistent for existing employees as well as new recruits. Regular reviews can help identify situations where recruitment offers have moved ahead of the reward available to established team members.
Recognition matters, but thank-you messages and social events are unlikely to resolve a persistent concern about pay or workload.
4. Make flexibility practical and dependable
Flexibility can make a role accessible to someone who would otherwise be unable to consider it. In a clinical setting, this often concerns when people work and how predictable those hours are.
Explore options such as fixed working days, staggered shifts, shorter days, part-time positions or clearly agreed weekend patterns.
Discuss the details early. If you advertise a four-day week, explain the daily hours, breaks and other commitments. Candidates need to understand what an ordinary week would actually involve.
Check the impact on the wider team. An earlier finish for one person should not routinely create unplanned overtime for another. Handovers, appointment availability and support staffing may need adjustment.
Predictability can also be valuable without a reduction in hours. Publishing rotas with useful notice, limiting avoidable last-minute changes and making leave decisions promptly can help employees manage their lives outside work.
5. Write job adverts that answer real questions
A good advert helps an appropriate candidate decide whether the role is worth exploring.
Include the information people need: location, salary range, working pattern, weekend commitments, caseload, clinical facilities, team structure and the support available.
Explain any sole-charge work clearly. Describe development opportunities in terms of what the practice can support, rather than using a broad promise of progression.
For example, an illustrative advert might explain that a role includes scheduled case discussions with an experienced colleague, a fixed weekly day off and agreed time for clinical administration. Those details are more useful than a collection of general claims about being friendly, dynamic and flexible.
Use current photographs and accurate team information. Employee comments can help candidates understand the practice, provided colleagues are comfortable contributing and the material reflects their views.
An honest account of the role gives both sides a better basis for deciding whether it is a suitable match.
6. Run a responsive and well-organised recruitment process
The recruitment process is an early demonstration of how your practice communicates and makes decisions.
Acknowledge applications, explain the next steps and agree who is responsible for keeping candidates informed. Avoid unnecessary delays between conversations, interviews and feedback.
Plan interviews around the requirements of the role. Use a consistent set of relevant questions and clear assessment criteria, while allowing time to explore each candidate’s experience and priorities.
Give candidates a realistic opportunity to understand the workplace. A practice visit, a discussion with potential colleagues and an explanation of a typical day can reveal questions that a formal interview misses.
Discuss expectations on both sides, including the support someone will need and the responsibilities they are comfortable taking on.
Once you make an offer, confirm the agreed terms clearly. Keep in touch before the start date so practical questions do not remain unresolved.
7. Give new starters a structured introduction
Recruitment continues beyond the accepted offer. A new employee needs to understand how the practice works and where to get support.
Prepare before their first day. Arrange system access, an induction timetable, relevant information and a named colleague who can answer everyday questions.
Introduce clinical and administrative processes in manageable stages. These might include record keeping, handovers, referral arrangements, client communication, stock systems and escalation routes.
Agree an initial workload that reflects the person’s experience and familiarity with the practice. A highly experienced clinician may still need time to learn local systems and working arrangements.
Schedule check-ins during the first week and at agreed points over the first few months. Ask whether the role matches expectations, whether support is accessible and whether anything is making it difficult to settle in.
Resolve problems early. A small issue with communication, workload or access can become more frustrating if the new starter has to raise it repeatedly.
8. Provide clinical support that people can use
A promise of support needs to work during a busy clinical day.
Make it clear who colleagues should approach when they are uncertain, how urgent concerns are escalated and what happens when the usual senior person is unavailable.
For less experienced colleagues, agree supervision and development arrangements that match their needs. Mentoring requires protected time and sufficient capacity from the person providing it.
Experienced vets and nurses also benefit from opportunities to discuss difficult cases, share knowledge and reflect on their work. Experience does not remove the need for professional support.
Create opportunities for constructive discussion after challenging events. The aim should be to understand what happened, address any immediate concerns and identify useful learning.
People should feel able to ask questions and raise concerns respectfully. Managers need to respond in a way that encourages those conversations while maintaining clear standards and accountability.
9. Make development and progression specific
Career progression can take several forms. Some employees want to lead a team; others want to deepen a clinical interest, improve an existing skill or take responsibility for a service.
Discuss what development means to each person and where it connects with the practice’s needs.
A useful development plan identifies an objective, the support required, opportunities to put learning into practice and a review date.
For example, an RVN might want to develop nurse consultations, an experienced vet might want to mentor colleagues, or a clinician might want greater exposure to a particular area of practice.
Funding alone is not enough. People need time to attend relevant learning and appropriate opportunities to use their skills afterwards.
Explain what additional responsibility would involve, how performance will be assessed and whether the change affects pay. Avoid promising a future leadership or specialist role unless there is a realistic route to creating it.
10. Build a workplace culture through everyday management
Culture is visible in routine decisions: how disagreements are handled, whether workloads are distributed fairly and how leaders respond when something goes wrong.
Set clear expectations for respectful behaviour across the whole team. Receptionists, administrators, nurses, vets and support colleagues should all have a voice in matters that affect their work.
Managers need the skills and time to hold useful one-to-one conversations, give constructive feedback and address concerns promptly. Clinical expertise alone does not prepare someone for every aspect of people management.
Explain important changes and invite practical input. If feedback cannot be acted on, explain why and discuss any alternatives.
Recognise contributions specifically. Thank someone for the work they have done and the difference it made, rather than relying on occasional general praise.
Make participation in social activities optional. A positive workplace should remain welcoming to colleagues who have different interests or commitments outside work.
11. Invest in tools and systems that improve the working day
Technology and equipment are valuable when they support the work your team needs to do.
Ask colleagues where unnecessary friction occurs. Problems may include slow software, repeated data entry, unreliable equipment, limited access to clinical information or inefficient stock processes.
Prioritise improvements that solve an identified problem. Assess the cost alongside the training, maintenance and workflow changes needed to make the investment useful.
Advanced equipment may help attract someone with a particular clinical interest, but candidates will also want to understand whether they can use it, who supports them and whether the relevant caseload exists.
Include the whole team in reviewing systems. An improvement that saves time for a vet but creates significant extra work for nurses or reception may need redesigning.
12. Build relationships with future candidates
Keep a long-term view of recruitment.
Relationships with veterinary schools, nursing colleges and training providers can help students understand your practice and the careers available within it.
Where you offer placements or shadowing, provide clear learning objectives, appropriate supervision and a useful introduction to the team. Only take on commitments the practice can support well.
Consider experienced professionals returning after a career break as well as people entering the profession. Discuss their confidence, current skills, preferred hours and any structured support that would help them return successfully.
Maintain professional relationships with previous applicants and locums where they want to stay in touch. Someone who was unsuitable for one vacancy may be a good match for a different role later.
13. Find out why people stay before they decide to leave
Do not rely entirely on exit interviews to understand the employee experience.
Use regular conversations to ask:
- What do you most value about working here?
- What makes your week unnecessarily difficult?
- Are you getting the support and development you expected?
- What would you like to change over the next year?
- Is there anything affecting whether you can see a future here?
Listen without immediately defending existing arrangements. Agree actions where possible and return to the conversation to explain progress.
When somebody leaves, invite honest feedback through a suitable process. Look for recurring themes across departures, recruitment feedback and discussions with current employees.
People move for many reasons, and some departures will be outside the practice’s control. The useful question is which factors the practice can influence and what it should do differently.
14. Measure progress and choose clear priorities
Track a small set of indicators that helps you understand both recruitment and retention.
These could include suitable applications, time to respond, interview attendance, offers accepted and whether new starters remain beyond their first few months.
Alongside recruitment measures, review actual working hours, access to development and recurring themes from staff conversations. Interpret results in context: a single departure in a small practice can change a percentage substantially.
Turn the findings into a manageable plan. Choose two or three priorities, give each one an owner and set a review date.
For example, a practice might begin by clarifying salary ranges, protecting mentoring time and improving rota notice. Review whether the changes have been delivered and what employees and candidates say about them.
Creating a practice people can build a future with
A credible employment offer combines fair reward, manageable work, accessible support and opportunities that match people’s ambitions.
Recruitment gives you the chance to explain that offer. Everyday management determines whether employees experience it.
At Recruit4vets, we help veterinary practices recruit veterinary surgeons, nurses and specialists for locum and permanent roles. If you are reviewing a vacancy, expanding your team or finding it difficult to attract suitable candidates, speak to our team about the role, working pattern and experience your practice needs.