Finding the right people: Ending your recruitment headaches
Recruitment is an ongoing challenge that you never complete – but you can be really good at it with time, thought and effort.
Our founder, Justin, likes to tell the story of when in his early days at White Cross Vets he enthusiastically wrote on the practice's website that they had no vacancies – only to be dragged into the boss’ office by the ear to be told that they were always looking for exceptional people.
And it’s 100% true – if there’s a talented, enthusiastic vet, nurse or support team professional excited by the idea of working at your practice, you want to talk to them.
The trick is to make sure your marketing is working to make it easy and enticing for these people to find you at all times.
You don’t want to be starting from scratch every time a team member hands in their notice or tells you they’re pregnant.
If you have a bank of great CVs and leads, these crises will become opportunities to give more good people a chance to fit into and expand your culture.
Make sure you have an attractive proposition
First of all, you need to know that the job you’re taking to the market is something that will get candidates excited.
Now, the role itself will be defined by what your practice needs. But what you offer on top of that should be defined by what the best talent wants.
There are little wins that everyone can achieve here.
For example, every practice offers CPD. Most will set a cap on what they offer, something like £500.
But why not say you offer unlimited CPD? In reality, you’re unlikely to turn down a CPD request if it has the potential to benefit your practice by bringing in a new skillset or opening up a new service your clients can benefit from.
You can caveat the offer by saying it’s unlimited where it’s in the practice’s interests. But that word, unlimited, is sure to grab eyeballs when potential team members are scanning through ads.
The same goes with any of the benefits and perks that your practice offers, it’s important to make sure they’re communicated to the fullest.
So don’t be shy about highlighting your experienced team members and fancy facilities. Brag about the culture that has kept team members with you for decades. Shout about your commitment to flexible working and supporting families.
The aim of the game here is to stand out from the crowd, and you want to use every lever available to you to make sure that’s what you’re doing.
What’s your strategy?
Once you know your lines for talking about the role, you can start thinking about the where and the how of advertising it.
You want to fish where the fish are.
That means that what works for a vet may not work for a receptionist, and vice versa.
Platforms such as LinkedIn and Indeed can be great, but they can also throw up lots of subprime candidates if you’re not careful. Vet specific job boards such as Vet Times can work well but can also prove expensive. Nowhere near as expensive as recruiters of course – but if your need is strong enough, holding your nose and paying them may be better than the alternative.
Of course, the best solution is the one closest to home – so make sure your team are hitting up their friends and offer generous finders fees if their recommendations join and pass their probation.
If you have team members who are plugged in to local vet or nurse Facebook or WhatsApp groups, this can be a great way to access talented people near you.
Whatever you decide to do, remember that the return on investment for hiring fantastic team members is always going to outweigh the cost of finding them.
Sell your ethos and values externally
Of course you believe your practice is a great place to work. And you’re probably right.
But to a veterinary professional looking for their next opportunity, you don’t want to be just another option. That’s why you need to sell your practice, ethos and values – to grab attention and stand out from the crowd.
That starts with your job ads and the recruitment page on your website.
These are where candidates will form their first impressions of your practice. You need them to be positive.
There are a few things to consider.
Is the story enthusiastic and focused on what’s important to the people you’re talking to?
Are you using great images of your team having fun together and enjoying their jobs?
Is it easy to find out everything needed, with big obvious buttons pointing people to where to send their applications?
Are you making it as easy as possible for them to reach out for a chat if they have any questions?
Something we’ve seen work really well is practices commissioning a videographer to create a short video about their practice culture and the team – when done well, like the video below, it really captures a practice’s personality.
Sell your ethos and values internally
No matter how great a place you are to work, people get comfortable in their routine and can take the everyday for granted.
That’s why it’s important to remind them regularly how lucky they are to work in a practice that values them and works hard to create a positive culture.
For example, many practices run an internal newsletter. But how many do it well?
It can be a slog, thinking of content every month and struggling to get team members involved. There are two secrets to making it work: find easy, repeatable and impactful content ideas that can feature every month; and work out who the team members are that will get involved reliably, and lean on them as much as possible.
If your monthly newsletter is going well, how about an in-house magazine? You can decide the frequency, length and structure, but it’s a great medium for celebrating success and recognising the efforts of your team.
Because it’s important to celebrate the wins. If you really want to make something like Google review requesting or your pet health plan central to your ethos, incentivise your team to get on board and reward them appropriately when they hit their goals.
Spread these good vibes and it’s only natural that others will want to join. And if everything goes right, your recruitment problems may be finding positions for all of your outstanding candidates rather than feeling lonely when your vacancies are ignored!
We’ve helped to fill hundreds of roles and coached practices to nurture cultures that lead to incredible, strong-rooted teams.
If you’d like to tap into that river of knowledge, book a chat with us below.
Vet practice marketing
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If you’re eager to improve your practice’s marketing but you’re unsure where to start, I’m taking on new clients for the next quarter! Book an initial discovery below!
