You can find a vet
What’s it like to use our Gold Recruitment Service?
Kerry Rutherford is the Practice Manager at Morris and Plumley Vets in
Alnwick, Northumberland. She joined the team in Summer 2023, and used
the Gold Recruitment Service before Christmas, when the practice needed
a full team ready for the busy Spring farming season.
1
The problem
With the busy spring season approaching, this rural mixed practice in Northumberland was a vet down and keen to fill the gap with an experienced vet as quickly as possible.
However, time was ticking on, and even once they’d found a vet and offered the job, the vet would need to work their notice period. The practice management team knew that finding a vet might not be easy due to the lack of applicants previously and their rural location meaning applicants from further afield would have to relocate.
They also knew that their five-day working week made it harder to compare favourably with other practices, even though it was a great place to work.
“We are quite out in the sticks, so it’s always going to be harder to recruit from another area because you are asking for somebody to relocate”
— Morris and Plumley Vets
Alnwick, Northumberland
“They worked out how they could do more to support, rather than just offering to look at your ad and fine tune that, they’ve offered those other aspects as well.”
2
Our solution
Kerry used our Gold Service, which includes job advert
reworking, mail dropping, and other media distribution, alongside expert advice and regular communication to lighten the load of trying to find a vet.
Kerry noted that one of the most valuable aspects of the service was the team’s inside knowledge of the veterinary sector. She said, “Not coming from a vet background, I wouldn’t have the first clue how to implement a job advertisement in such a way as to make it look attractive and be honest about what we offer and the practice itself, but from the point of view of what the applicant would want to see.
” The responsiveness of the Gold team was also a real positive, and she was pleased to receive almost daily instant messages keeping her up to date on progress.
3
The result…
With the help of the team at Gold, Kerry hired not one but two vets! While using the service, Kerry reviewed the practice’s recruitment priorities. She realised that, while an experienced vet would be ideal, the long delay as they worked their notice period could be spent bringing a new graduate up to speed, ready to fill the gap during the busy lambing period.
The regular check-ins with the Gold Team allowed a quick change in approach. Kerry chose to be informed of every applicant regardless of whether they met the ideal criteria so the practice didn’t miss out on any vets with potential.
By allowing Gold to take over the reins, Kerry found she had extra time to spend on other tasks essential to running the practice.
“The time that I saved from not having to do that
recruitment initially, I could then spend doing the other things the right way, like onboarding.”
“The process was very fluid. It
was just – these people know
exactly what they’re doing. It
felt like the team worked
really well together and were
really clear on what they do.
”
Need a new vet or nurse?
Book a call with Sue, our Head of Recruitment, to find out how our clinician-led Gold recruitment service can help, leaving you time to focus on the jobs that you love!