Veterinary Voices

Vets and nurses scroll past job ads — not because they think vet clinics are lying, but because they’ve seen the same claims repeated over and over again.
“Great team. Supportive environment. Work-life balance.”

The words didn’t become untrue.  They lost meaning through overuse and under-delivery.

In this episode, Julie South unpacks why claiming culture through job ads keeps clinics invisible — and why vets and nurses now decide...

A vet in Melbourne is scrolling job ads, actively looking to relocate.

She sees a position in Hamilton, New Zealand. Good clinic. Competitive salary. Sounds fine.

She clicks through, reads the job description, then keeps scrolling.

Three weeks later, she accepts a position in Melbourne. Not better. Just known.

What happened?

The decision didn't happen at the job ad stage. It happened earlier — at a moment most clinics never see.

In ...

CareVets Gisborne's Clinic Coordinator Rhonda moved from London to Gisborne five years ago.

In London, her commute was 90 minutes. In Auckland, she never got out of second gear in traffic.

In Gisborne? Five minutes. Through "5 o'clock traffic" means waiting for half a dozen cars at a roundabout instead of going straight through.

"I go home for lunch," she says. Like it's nothing.

But here's what ...

You list protected meal breaks, no weekend work, and flexible hours in your job ad.

So does every other clinic in your city.

How do vets and nurses decide? They can't tell you apart. So they don't apply. Or they apply everywhere and mean nowhere.

Meanwhile, down the road, another clinic fills their position in three weeks. Same benefits. Same salary. Same city. But vets and nurses already knew their team actually gets lunch ...

What does a locum vet who's worked at five different clinics across New Zealand think when she walks into CareVets Gisborne? "I've actually loved it."

Dr Camille Bonini is an English vet on a working holiday visa with absolutely no reason to sugarcoat anything. She's seen what good looks like and what doesn't. So when she talks about a nursing team that's always two steps ahead, surgical schedules ...

The $5,000 professionally produced video gets 50 likes. The blurred photo of your team laughing at closing time gets 20 shares.

Why?

Most clinics think polish equals professionalism equals hires. They're wrong.

Shares trump likes because shares reach extended networks - the thousands of vets and nurses you'll never reach from your clinic account alone. But getting shares requires something most clinics aren't doing.

I&ap...

Dr Ross Milner has worked everywhere from Antarctica to Fiji — but chose Gisborne as the best place in New Zealand for a vet to settle.
In this episode, he explains why, and what day-to-day life as a vet there actually looks like.

Dr Ross talks about:

• what surprised him most about living on the East Coast
• the kind of caseload you can expect in a regional clinic
• how the nursing team works (and why he’d trust them with his own do...

When Sarah shares a Culture Story from her personal profile, her vet school friends believe her. When your clinic posts the same thing, it's marketing.

Sarah has 338 Facebook friends, 500 LinkedIn connections, 264 Instagram followers. Jake and Emma have similar. That's thousands of vets and nurses you'll never reach from your clinic account alone.

But most clinics haven't asked their team to share because you&apos...

Dr Loren Cribb has been calling Gisborne home since 2014. She started as a nervous new grad from the South Island and stayed for the trauma cases, the hunting dogs, and a nursing team that's always "one step ahead."

This is what it's actually like to work at CareVets Gisborne.

The variety: "If you're only wanting to do vaccinations and dentals, it's not the clinic for you. If you like a little bit o...

You're posting about your team. Nothing's happening.

That's because you're copying clinics who haven't figured it out either.

This episode shows you what you're actually looking at when you see those bland team posts - and why the water cooler conversation you keep having is the actual problem.

I'm Julie South. I run VetClinicJobs and help vet clinics across Australia, New Zealand and beyond build Cu...

Three-minute commute. One traffic light. Equipment that surprises people. And a team so competent that Emma doesn't get called when her team is on call at the weekends.  

Emma moved from Auckland four years ago and describes what it's like working somewhere that invests in building capability in-house - whether that's funding her Bachelor's degree or equipping the clinic to handle cases that would otherwise mean ...

Are you going dark between job ads—and is that silence costing you when the next resignation hits?

Most vet clinics think you stop posting when you're fully staffed. Then someone resigns and you're introducing yourself to complete strangers. Again. Just like last time.

This episode is about why the ordinary moments you're dismissing—the blurry photos, the mundane Mondays—are exactly what keeps you visible to future vet...

Sarah left CareVets Gisborne. Then she came back.

In this episode, you'll hear why the team she left was the team she missed most, what it's really like becoming part of a community where you chat about patients while doing your grocery shopping, and the clinical variety that comes with being the main option when referral hospitals are too far away.

If you're a small animal veterinarian looking to make your next career...

Most great vets and nurses already have a mental shortlist before they start job-hunting. Clinics they've noticed, names they recognise, places that seem good to work for.

If you're not on that list, you're starting cold when you post a job ad. And you'll stay cold for a very long time, no matter how much you spend on job boards.

Here's the problem most clinics don't realise: you think you're active...

Dr Anna knew nothing about New Zealand before leaving Dublin, Ireland. Just that the weather would be terrible - like at home.

A year later, she's thinking about residency.

This is the final episode in the VetsOne Employer of Choice series. You'll hear what the first year as a new graduate actually looks like—from someone who arrived knowing nobody and nothing about where she'd be living.

What you'll hear:

• Seven...

"You're not hiring staff. You're trying to bring back awareness from the dead", that's the point Julie South makes today.

Most vet clinics think they have two options: advertise when hiring, or do nothing when fully staffed. 

But that "doing nothing" phase is costing you more than you realise — and it's not just the job board fees you see on invoices.

When you go dark between hires, four things ...

What Support Actually Looks Like: Two Vet Nurses on Corporate vs Private Practice 

Brooke and Abi are both veterinary nurses at VetsOne. One's been there two years, the other nearly two. Both came from clinics where they felt unsupported. Both found something different.

In this episode:

• What "support" actually looks like when teammates pick up the slack on rough days
• How Brooke discovered a passion for palliative car...

Most responsible for recruitment in a vet clinic, think they're building their employer brand when they post a job ad.  They've written a detailed description, listed benefits, maybe mentioned their culture.  They hit publish and wait for applications.

Then nothing happens.

So they rewrite the ad, add more platforms, spend more money. Still nothing.

They're advertising without marketing. And advertising without marketin...

Dana relocated 1300 kilometres from Central Otago to Hawke's Bay specifically for this veterinary nursing position at VetsOne. 

In this episode:

• Why she moved 800+ miles for a nursing role—and what it took to build a new life knowing only 3-4 people
• Corporate vs. privately owned clinics: "You feel more like a family member rather than just a number"
• Weekly role rotations that pair nurses with different vets daily—cre...