Recruiting talent to your veterinary practice sometimes feels akin to throwing darts at a dartboard, and sometimes it can feel like throwing darts while wearing a blindfold. Finding the right new team member is a delicate process of matching the right opportunity with an individual possessing the right work ethic. Even more difficult is finding someone with the right chemistry — those intangible qualities that make a person fit naturally with the existing staff.
The Old Way Is Out
A common method for practices looking to hire a veterinarian or veterinary nurse involves placing a paper advertisement on a crowded bulletin board at an industry event or conference. However, this approach is quickly becoming outdated for more reasons than one. The same goes for creating an online advertisement that blends in with hundreds of other digital ads that say the same thing.
First, today’s job seekers (and most of us) are likely to hunt for a new opportunity on their smartphones than on a bulletin board. Second, no matter how attractive the opening, pinning it up with a thumbtack won’t turn the heads of the best and brightest job seekers, who more than ever before are looking for positions tailored to their needs.
Instead, using a mobile app to post a job gets more eyeballs on the opening and faster. Jobs posted digitally receive more clicks and will attract millennial candidates and younger demographics who statistically are much more likely to apply online than take the time to submit a printed resume.
Apps Get the Job Done
Take Retriever, for example, a mobile app that allows veterinary professionals to find job openings and simultaneously permits veterinary practices to discover, hire and develop new talent. One-third of Retriever’s users are veterinarians, half are veterinary nurses and the rest are students looking for opportunities after graduation.
With U.S. employment at an all-time high, the process of matching people and jobs is competitive on both sides of the playing field. According to Retriever, job seekers spend only three minutes viewing opportunities matched to their selected criteria, one of the most important being a veterinarian’s desire to stay within 45 miles of home.
The data also reveal important factors influencing job seekers. These are worth paying attention to before your practice posts its next opening. For instance, when a practice clearly displays the salary of an open position, the posting gets more views than when the figure is buried or omitted. After all, job seekers want to be compensated fairly and might be positioning themselves for multiple offers.
Other points that job seekers look for are more subtle than you might think. Adding your practice’s logo and a captivating photo that focuses on the human element of your clinic will likely get more views. Also, jobs that simply list responsibility bullet points and leave out heartfelt descriptions get less.
Money Talks
More times than not, the salaries being offered in today’s market match the relative figures that job seekers look for. This is a refreshing note for veterinary practices because while the most effective methods of recruitment have changed, desired salaries aren’t eclipsing what the marketplace will bear.
Finally, Retriever data show that privacy and confidentiality remain absolutely vital to job seekers. Many veterinarians and veterinary nurses who are employed want to peruse job listings safely and securely. Those gainfully employed will likely change teams only for something better.
Given that approximately four out of five U.S. adults own a smartphone, it only makes sense that recruiting is happening online and via mobile apps. Retriever is one way to get more eyeballs, clicks and, yes, applicants to jobs your practice is looking to fill.
If you want to stick to the bulletin boards, that’s OK. But don’t be surprised if veterinarians, veterinary nurses and students walk right on by with their head down as they check out what’s happening on their mobile phone.