Category: Career Interview/Q&A

After graduating as a Veterinary Technologist, I worked in remote general practice in a northern Canadian community for 6 years. We provide services of a general practice, and also emergency and on-call services. I learned a lot, while also working a lot. Ultimately, very quickly my work-life balance became too heavily weighted on the side of work, including the emotional burden of vet med itself, and I experienced burnout. After a lot of deliberation, I chose to leave the field, but after a couple years of healing, I recognized how much I still loved veterinary medicine. When I decided to return to vet med, I chose to do so as a locum RVT.

I was looking for a way to return to veterinary medicine that would allow me to maintain healthy boundaries while being able to support colleagues with additional help, as well as working to my passions. Locuming seemed like the right fit to my needs.

Veterinary Technology degree
Experience in the field
Set up as a self-employed business

The two very best parts for me are the freedom to clearly lay my boundaries and to provide support to my colleagues when I work as a locum in a vet clinic, which I find exceptionally rewarding.

Some of the downsides are that in order to locum from my base in the Yukon, every time I work I must leave home, as well as the uncertainties that are inherent in self-employment.

Something that is both one of the best bits and is also a downside is the constant adaptation required when joining new teams at a vet clinic. Fun and challenging at the same time!

Because I travel, I tend to locum in a large chunk of time, then return home and have downtime.

When I am providing locum services, then I am doing RVT tasks, and every clinic I go to has me do slightly different things.

My typical day may include working in GP, sometimes in ER. Some clinics request me to run anesthesia, some prefer me to run RVT appointments.

Sometimes I’m the only RVT in the clinic on certain locum contracts, which means I do a bit of everything.

But always, I build rapport with my colleagues, build trust with animal-patients and communicate with pet owners.

My regular tasks as a self-employed locum also include answering emails, sales/marketing my services, booking locum shifts, dealing with accounting such as sending invoices.

In my downtime, I explore other professional interests. I write a blog about my locum experiences, I take the opportunity of time to volunteer with spay/neuter/exam clinics as I can, I have begun speaking on the how-to’s of being a locum RVT.

As a locum RVT, I think it’s helpful to be a person who is open to different ideas and to change. Communication is also a very important skill to develop.

There are many ways to provide locum services, and I think that anyone who is interested in locuming has the potential to make a niche for themselves based on their particular strengths, but change is a strong theme in locuming, so being open to change is important, in my opinion.

Starting up as a self employed business felt like a barrier. It felt scary to transition from being an employee to being self-employed, with all the inherent uncertainties. I found it difficult to find advice online on how to start as a locum RVT, so I adapted what I could find on being a locum vet (not quite the same for an RVT, though some similarities), and also contacted my provincial and national VT associations and got advice from them. And then I worked through the steps and kept moving forward until I was out locuming. I remember feeling a lot of fear and panic as I was getting set up. I’d been out of the field for nearly 3 years by the time I was setting up as a locum, and so that all added to my feelings of uncertainty.

1. Experience in the field to develop confidence in technical skills.
2. Network.
3. Start your business.

My best advice for someone looking to start as a locum RVT is to just begin. Just begin researching the path and to understanding both the pros and the cons of locuming, just begin the steps to become self employed, just begin…and then be kind to yourself as you learn and grow. Have confidence in yourself and know your value.

I was pretty lost in life and found a patient care assistant (PCA) job with Medivet. I knew I always wanted to work with animals, I just never considered veterinary nursing because I did not know much about it. My PCA position kept me on my toes and gave me real insight into just how much RVNs do in practice, and I loved that there was always something new to learn, no matter how much experience you had. I was lucky enough to become an SVN within 8 months, then qualified as an RVN 3.5 years later. I haven’t looked back since, it’s set me up for life.

After being a HRVN throughout covid, I fancied a bit of a break from practice and was trying to find a work from home job. I came across a temporary role within VetCT and thought it was the perfect opportunity. Little did I know I’d fall in love with the company so much!

Veterinary experience, preferably with a professional qualification such as MRCVS/RVN or a veterinary radiographer

The best bit is that I get to chat with radiologists, specialists and colleagues from all over the globe. I have built strong friendships with people I have never even met before and I love that. I have never worked for a company with such an awesome culture, too. Everybody is so darn nice.
The downside would be that I do not get to see my colleagues everyday. It can be quite isolating.

A typical day would be ensuring XRs/CTs/MRIs/Fluoros are assigned to the correct radiologists and get back to the clients on time, troubleshooting cases, liaising with clients, triaging cases. Liaising with colleagues if a radiologist raises concern over image acquisition (if client needs further support/advice with protocols). And generally keeping radiologists/specialists happy 😊

A sociable, friendly, fast-paced & organised person who doesn’t shy away from anything IT/Tech related 😊

1. Keep checking job bulletin boards for new roles with VetCT such as Indeed & LinkedIn
2. Educate yourself on image acquisition

Give yourself enough time to get your head around all the different SOPs/workflows… there are A LOT!

After my graduation in Spain I performed a rotating internship at the Vet School (Santiago de Compostela) and decided that I wanted to pursue specialisation in Internal Medicine

After working alongside my university professors at the Vet School during my rotating internship decided I really enjoyed reading about Internal Medicine and decided I would like to specialise in that field

I decided to move to the UK because there are more opportunities to apply for a residency programme than in Spain. I worked in first opinion practice for 2 years while I was improving my language and clinical skills, and in the meantime I started a Internal Medicine certificate at Liverpool University. I then completed a rotating internship at a private referral hospital, after which I obtained an internal medicine residency in a different private referral hospital. After my residency I started working at Southfields and alongside my clinical work I started to coordinate the rotating internship programme here. I passed my certifying exam and became a diplomate in 2022.

Being able to work on the area of small animal medicine I like the most, with interesting cases every day. I also love to teach and supervise interns and residents and help coordinate the internship programme

We start clinical rounds at 9am and after that we see consults and supervise clinical cases of residents and interns. In the afternoon, we perform the workups and procedures from the hospitalised patients. We do rounds at 5pm in the evenings

A person that is passionate about improving their knowledge and skills in a certain area of veterinary medicine, and that would be committed to give that knowledge back to the veterinary profession by training and teaching of interns, residents and the veterinary community.

I had to get use to the way of working in clinical practice and referral hospitals in the UK, and to keep improving my internal medicine knowledge and language skills.

1. Acquire some experience in first opinion (at least 1 year)
2. Attend CPD, consider starting a certificate, visit referral hospitals
3. Apply for a rotating internship

1. Study a lot and visit referral hospitals to get to know specialists working on your are of interest
2. Think hard about where you want to pursue your training and why
3. Don’t give up applying for internships/residencies if you are committed to this career path

I went into a busy first opinion practice which had a high medical and surgical caseload, which also had a wide selection of equipment. I really enjoyed my job and I developed my skills quickly.

Around the 18-24month mark after graduating I started to feel that I wasn’t enjoying general practice as much as I used to. I think I’ve always known I’d want to pursue the referral setting to provide a higher level of care.

Rotating internships generally require a minimum amount of time in general practice (1-2 years) and having good teamworking, communication and time management skills.

I am loving the internship, every day I’m absorbing lots of knowledge from the clinicians. The team at NDSR is very friendly and everyone is happy to help you learn. The main downside of any internship is the long hours that can sometimes come with it!

Generally the interns would arrive at 8am, help the nurses with any admits, patient checks, issues etc. From 9am we will be helping the specific discipline we are assigned to with cases including diagnostic procedures. We help write the referral letters and developing a plan for each case.

Internships can be brutal at times but someone who has a good sense of humour, resilience, time management, a good attitude and a want to learn would make a good intern!

There are lots of people applying for the same spots so there’s a lot of competition. Showing off your individuality in the interviews is the best advice I can give.

1. Spend the first few years developing your skills as a day one vet before considering applying as you need to learn to implement your knowledge in general practice.
2. Spend time researching the company you’ll want to apply for and why you’re selecting that specific hospital.
3. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t get it! Keep applying as you’ll be getting more experienced as time goes on.

The main thing to realise is that you are going into an internship to learn and you won’t have an extensive knowledge of every single discipline. I was never the cleverest of vets but I’ve felt that going into the internship with an open mind to learn has really helped me. The more you put in, the more you’ll get out!

After graduating as a veterinary surgeon I worked full time in small animal clinical practice. Developing and honing my clinical skills in my first job, completing a medicine certificate in my second job and eventually taking on a senior position as the lead veterinary surgeon. This provided maternity cover for the clinical director and gave me insight into this role.

Then the COVID pandemic shook the world and made leading a clinical team that little more challenging. I was part way through my covering role and had started to explore what my career would look like after this. Did I want to be a clinical director? The profession felt like it had reached a crisis point and I realised I really wanted to be part of the solution. I knew I enjoyed mentoring and coaching the new graduate students, but found I was often unable to give it the space I felt it deserved in practice. I had a huge passion for education and spent time volunteering for BSAVA. So I started looking for roles in academia.

I found and applied for a clinical teaching fellow role at The Harper and Keele Veterinary School. Following interview I was offered a position and within the first few weeks I knew I had made the right move. I was part of a team who shared my passion for learning, education and supporting the next generation. The role was part time and I maintained my clinical role for the rest of the working week.

Whilst working as a clinical teaching fellow I obtained a teaching qualification and was encouraged to follow my interests, contributing to developing teaching material as well as facilitating delivery.

The curriculum at Harper Keele embraces and champions the importance of professional skills which hugely aligned with my personal values and interests… so when the role of lecturer in veterinary professional development was posted I was bursting with excitement.

Except… I had just gone on maternity leave to have my little boy. After giving myself a talking-to and putting my big girl pants on (quite literally) I applied anyway. The opportunity was too perfect for me to take myself out the race.

• Veterinary degree

• Teaching experience

• Teaching qualification (can be done on the job)

The best bit is being part of a great team with a shared vision and common goal.
It is hard work and very busy especially being a new course with a constantly growing and evolving team. I’d say you need to be flexible, adaptable and accepting of change.

• Planning and developing teaching material
• Design and development of the curriculum
• Responding to student queries
• Liaising with colleagues to ensure smooth delivery of course components
• Grading/ providing feedback to students.

Someone who is organised, thorough and enjoys teaching or supporting others.

You have so many transferable skills as a vet and can often undersell your skills and experience. Most of the barriers are in your own head. I interviewed for this post at a few weeks post-partum. I found caffeine, extremely big nickers and a very willing nanny helped me overcome that one.

• Get involved in mentoring and supporting junior members of the clinical team, look for opportunities to develop teaching material (owner talks, in house training etc)
• Consider further relevant qualifications
• If you aren’t already then start looking at entry level positions in academia

Go for it!
Stop getting in your own way.

Initially worked in small animal clinical veterinary practice 2011-2019 including locum work more latterly. Enjoyed more autonomy associated with locum placements, alongside visiting different practices and seeing different team dynamics, approaches.
2019 move into post as lecturer and course manager in Higher Education – including on BSc(Hons) veterinary nursing BSc equine science & BSc animal science programmes. Enjoyed transition, new challenges and exploring educational sector. Rewarding seeing, and helping students to learn, develop, achieve. Enjoyed input to creation and development of new BSc(Hons) Veterinary nursing programme and being able to get involved in development of new content, module creation, assessment design. Also allowed achievement of PGCert(LTHE) and Fellowship of the Higher Education Authority, alongside qualifications in workplace assessment.

Step to progress into an exciting and evolving role focusing on education specifically of veterinary students. Initially clinical teaching fellow position at HKVS with progression into position as Lecturer in Veterinary Professional studies. Also recently taken on role of ‘Clinical Teaching Fellow Team Lead’ for the Keele campus

BVSc MRCVS
PGCert(LTHE) FHEA
Experience as previous Lecturer and Course Manager in Higher Education

• Love the opportunity to be involved in curriculum planning and design
• Making a difference, collaborating on (sometimes big) ideas and seeing them come to fruition
• Love working as part of a forward thinking, supportive and collaborative team
• Love the opportunity to make a real difference to the education of future veterinary professionals
• Downsides – high marking workload, sometimes pinch points with multiple demands on time – often nature of Higher Education work and academic year design

Collaborative meetings relating to curriculum development, refinement and planning. Creating module content including lecture material, tutorial sessions and guided online learning sessions. Liaising with guest speakers and external organisations and stakeholders to arrange learning activities and engagement opportunities. Academic mentor meetings with students to check progress, respond to queries and/or signpost support.

Someone who loves to be involved in change, especially around the Veterinary curriculum, and likes being organised. Someone who enjoys both autonomy and working as part of a team.

Initially when transitioning into a lecturing role the fear of lecturing to large cohorts and ‘not knowing all the answers’. Overcame this by trying it, then becoming more familiar – did feel unnatural at first! Also by realising that its okay (and actually human) sometimes not to know, and a good opportunity to delegate research tasks and/or admit you are human.
Some previous teaching experience – already achieved
Valuable to have PGCert(LTHE) FHEA although support to work towards if needed

Explore the field – try it out and have a go.
Guest lecturing is often a really great way to ‘dip your toe’ into the water and see if you enjoy it – Reach out!