What's the single most important thing vets and nurses need to see in a job ad?

Research says it's pay. By a country mile.

And yet most vet clinic job ads say the same two words: competitive remuneration. In the fifth episode of The Elephant In The Room series, Julie South looks at why clinics won't put salary ranges in their ads — and why that decision is costing them more applications than they realise.

Episode notes

In 2023, VetStaff — New Zealand's only specialist veterinary recruitment agency and a sister company to VetClinicJobs — undertook research with Unitec Te Pukenga asking vets and nurses across New Zealand and beyond what it took to click on a job ad.

The results were unambiguous. Almost 97% of respondents rated salary as important or most important when considering a new role. Salary band information was the second most compelling element of a job ad — at 41%, just behind the headline at 43%.

Yet most vet clinic job ads say "competitive remuneration" and nothing more.

This episode explores two reasons clinics won't name a figure — they don't want to lock themselves in, and they're worried about being undercut by the clinic down the road — and why both fears are leading to the same outcome: a completely flat field where every ad looks identical and vets and nurses have nothing to go on for the most important piece of information they're searching for.

The episode also argues there's a way through that doesn't require locking anyone in — and that the clinic which names a range, even a broad one, immediately stands out from every other ad in the market.

This is the fifth episode in The Elephant In The Room — a series examining the things everyone in veterinary knows and almost no one says out loud.

About your host

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and the host of Veterinary Voices. She has been in veterinary recruitment since 2019 and is known for her work in culture storytelling — helping forward-thinking vet clinics build the kind of genuine, specific culture evidence that attracts Their Kind of People long before any job ad runs.

Julie has spoken on culture storytelling and employer branding at VetEXPO in Melbourne and works with clinics across Australasia and beyond who want vets and nurses to be excited about going to work on Monday mornings — for all the right reasons.

Struggling to get results from your job advertisements? 
If so, then shining online as a good employer is essential to attracting the types of veterinary professionals who're a perfect cultural fit for your clinic.   

The VetClinicJobs job board is the place to post your next job vacancy - to find out more get in touch with Lizzie at VetClinicJobs