In this REAL+STORY episode, Julie South speaks with Dr Sieara Claytor, a 2025 graduate working in her very first full-time veterinary role at Energy Vets in Taranaki.

Sieara moved from the United States to study in Australia and has now started her career in rural New Zealand. Six months in, she’s already managing emergencies, assisting in surgeries beyond routine desexings, handling after-hours responsibilities, and working across two clinic branches.

Rather than focusing on “graduate programs” or formal structures, this conversation looks at what support actually feels like day to day — senior vets scrubbing in alongside her, nurses staying late when needed, multiple vets available when things get busy, and space to ask questions without hesitation.

Sieara also talks about adjusting to rural life, commuting without traffic lights, wildlife cases, pig-hunting injuries, and the reality of after-hours in a regional clinic.

If you’re a new graduate — or someone mentoring one — this episode gives a clear sense of what challenge-with-backup looks like in practice.

In This Episode

00:00 – Introduction to the REAL+STORY series with Energy Vets
01:05 – Sieara’s background and first impressions as a new grad
03:30 – Rural caseload: emergencies, variety, and learning fast
04:52 – What support in surgery actually looks like
06:43 – Realising you’re more capable than you thought
07:56 – Moving countries and adjusting to rural life
09:16 – How after-hours really works
11:32 – Differences between the two clinic branches
12:50 – The early-career lens on Energy Vets

Hiring Link

If you’re an experienced small animal vet exploring your next step, you can find out more about current opportunities at Energy Vets Taranaki 

About Julie South

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.

She works with veterinary clinics that want to show what working there is really like — not just list job requirements. Through VetClinicJobs, she helps clinics make their culture clear and recognisable, so vets and nurses can tell whether a clinic is Their Kind of Clinic long before a vacancy appears.

Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?

A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.

Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.

Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics

By month four of advertising, most vet clinics and their teams are exhausted.

Posting everywhere didn’t work.   Rewriting didn’t work.   Spending more didn’t work.

So you start trying random things.

A Facebook post.  Asking your team to share.  Updating your careers page.  Boosting something for $50… maybe $100.

Because something has to (read: needs to!) stick.

In this episode of Veterinary Voices, Julie South unpacks what really happens around week fourteen of the recruitment cycle—when clinics move into DIY mode and start layering scattered tactics on top of a system that’s already failing.

The problem isn’t effort.   It’s infrastructure.

Social posts disappear.  Website updates sit buried.  Shared job ads still look like unknown clinics making familiar claims.

These tactics create bursts of visibility—but they don’t build recognition.

This episode contrasts the clinic pushing water uphill with random activity… and the clinic that built permanent culture story centre infrastructure months earlier—so when they advertise, they’re not starting from scratch.

Stay to the end for one direct question about how many tactics you’ve tried that went nowhere.

In This Episode

00:00 – Introduction: Month four and the shift to random tactics
01:12 – Social posts, staff shares, website updates
02:19 – The “maybe something will stick” phase
03:58 – Why your website isn’t designed for recruitment recognition
04:44 – Why staff sharing helps—but can’t replace recognition
05:29 – Buried posts and disappearing visibility
06:20 – Using the wrong tools for the job
07:15 – The clinic with permanent culture story centre infrastructure
08:15 – Why month four doesn’t have to become month five
09:28 – The question about pushing water uphill

About Julie South

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.

She works with forward-thinking veterinary clinics that want to move beyond reactive job advertising and random tactics by building permanent recruitment infrastructure—so when they need to hire, they’re not starting from cold.

Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?

A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.

Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.

Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics

In this REAL+STORY episode, Julie South speaks with vet nurse Alana Howard about why she returned to Energy Vets after starting her nursing career there 20 years ago and then spending years working in Australia.

Alana talks about what made coming back feel like the right decision — not just professionally, but personally. She compares different clinic environments and explains what stands out at Energy Vets: how nurses are trusted to use their skills, how new graduates are supported in surgery, and how the team steps in when things get busy.

This isn’t about job titles or polished culture statements. It’s about what day-to-day teamwork actually feels like — no behind-the-scenes friction, people sharing knowledge freely, and a team that works across two rural clinics without things falling apart.

Alana also reflects on raising a family in Taranaki, commuting without traffic lights, and why rural schooling and coastal living have been part of the decision to stay.

Across this conversation, you hear what steady support sounds like from a nurse’s perspective — not from leadership, but from someone working on the floor every day.

In This Episode

00:00 – Introduction to the REAL+STORY series with Energy Vets
02:20 – Why Alana chose to return
03:04 – What feels different about this clinic
07:31 – Nurses using their full clinical skillset
09:52 – Supporting a new graduate in surgery
11:27 – How the clinic has grown over time
12:36 – Living and raising a family in Taranaki

Hiring Link

If you’re an experienced small animal vet exploring your next step, you can find out more about current opportunities at Energy Vets Taranaki  

About Julie South

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.

She works with veterinary clinics that want to show what working there is really like — not just list job requirements. Through VetClinicJobs, she helps clinics make their culture clear and recognisable, so vets and nurses can tell whether a clinic is Their Kind of Clinic long before a vacancy appears.

Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?

A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.

Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.

Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics

Why Spending More on Job Ads Doesn’t Work

By month three of advertising, most vet clinics assume the problem is reach.

Not enough applications?   Then not enough visibility.
Not enough visibility?  Spend more.

Premium placement.
Featured listings.
Boosted posts.
Maybe even a recruitment agency.

But the real problem isn’t reach.
It’s recognition.

In this episode of Veterinary Voices, Julie South unpacks what actually happens around week ten of the recruitment cycle—when rewriting hasn’t worked, posting everywhere hasn’t worked, and the numbers start looking impressive while the applications still don’t.

Because exposure isn’t the same as recognition. And paying to be seen doesn’t fix being unknown.

Julie explains why month three is when budgets escalate, agencies start circling, and something more dangerous begins to build: the wrong kind of recognition. The clinic that’s been advertising for 10 weeks. The clinic people start questioning.

This episode contrasts two very different outcomes: 

The clinic that keeps upgrading listings and reinforcing concern… And the clinic that fills a role within days—not because their ad was premium, but because they weren’t unknown.

Stay to the end for two questions about what your recruitment budget is actually building.

In This Episode

00:00 – Introduction: Month three and the instinct to spend more
 01:44 – Premium placement and the visibility trap
 02:30 – Exposure vs recognition: why big numbers don’t mean results
 03:33 – The uncomfortable money conversation
 05:07 – The recognition you’re building (and why it’s not good)
 06:12 – What actually creates the right kind of recognition
 07:26 – Why premium placement amplifies but doesn’t create trust
 08:13 – The exhausted clinic at the $2,000 mark
 09:01 – The clinic that fills the role in three days
 09:53 – Two questions about what you’re really paying for

About Julie South

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.

She works with forward-thinking veterinary clinics that want to stop escalating job ad spend and instead build recognition before they need to hire—so when they do advertise, they’re not paying to be unknown.

Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?

A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.

Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.

Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics

Energy Vets, Taranaki | Growing a Career That Grows With You 

In this REAL+STORY episode, Julie South speaks with Dr Michelle Gosling about what it looks like to build a long-term veterinary career in one place — and why she never felt the need to leave Energy Vets after joining as a new graduate in 2013.

Michelle reflects on her journey from new grad to senior large animal vet, working parent, farm services manager and, most recently, shareholder in the business. Rather than focusing on titles, this conversation traces how responsibility, trust and flexibility have expanded alongside different stages of her life.

What emerges quietly throughout is a picture of a clinic that adapts as people change — supporting maternity leave, part-time work, leadership development and ownership without forcing people into a single version of “progression”.

This episode will resonate with vets who are thinking beyond their next job and trying to picture whether a clinic can still fit years down the track — as careers deepen, families grow and priorities shift.

In This Episode

00:00 – Introduction to the Real Story series with Energy Vets
01:05 – Michelle’s journey from new graduate to shareholder
02:27 – Moving to Taranaki and settling into the region
03:56 – Family life, schooling and working four days a week
05:12 – Support, flexibility and parenting at Energy Vets
06:38 – The role of farm services manager and developing people
08:14 – Being invited into ownership
09:24 – Who fits best at Energy Vets
14:12 – What long-term progression really looks like in practice

Hiring link

If you’re an experienced small animal vet exploring your next step, you can find out more about current opportunities at Energy Vets Taranaki at: vetclinicjobs.com/energyvets

About Julie South

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.

She works with forward-thinking veterinary clinics that want to show what working there is really like — not just list job requirements. Through VetClinicJobs, Julie helps clinics make their culture recognisable and familiar, so vets and nurses can tell whether a clinic is Their Kind of Clinic long before a vacancy appears.

Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?

A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.

Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.

Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics

When a job ad doesn’t deliver suitable applicants, most clinics assume the problem is the wording.

So they rewrite it.
Add more detail.
Highlight mentoring.
Emphasise work-life balance.
Polish the benefits.

And wait.

In this episode of Veterinary Voices, Julie South explores what’s really happening in month two of the recruitment cycle—when “posting everywhere” hasn’t worked, and rewriting feels like the logical next step.

But vets and nurses aren’t analysing your headline. They’re pattern-matching. And when your clinic is unfamiliar, even the best-written ad becomes just another unknown name making familiar claims.

This episode unpacks why better copy doesn’t fix a recognition problem—and why some clinics fill roles without obsessing over wording at all.

Stay to the end for a question that may change how you think about every job ad you’ve rewritten.

In This Episode

00:00 – Introduction: Month two of the recruitment cycle
01:14 – The rewrite instinct and why it feels productive
03:03 – Pattern matching: how vets and nurses actually scroll
04:41 – Why even professional copywriters can’t solve this
07:45 – What job ads are really designed to do
08:52 – Two clinics, two very different outcomes
09:44 – The question about how many times you’ve rewritten the same ad
10:55 – What happens in month three

About Julie South

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.

She works with forward-thinking veterinary clinics that want to stop relying on reactive job advertising and instead build recognition over time—so when they do need to hire, they’re not starting from cold.

Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?

A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.

Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.

Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics

Energy Vets | What Makes the Job Work Long-Term (Part 2)

Settling into a role is one thing.
Staying in it — sustainably — is another.

In this episode, Julie South continues her conversation with Dr Sam Armstrong, a mixed animal vet at Energy Vets in Taranaki, looking at what work feels like once the initial settling-in period has passed.

Sam talks candidly about after-hours, workload, seasonal pressure points, and how the structure around him makes the job feel manageable over time. He also reflects on commuting, working across clinics, and what overseas vets benefit from knowing before making the move to New Zealand.

This is Part Two of a two-part conversation with Energy Vets, offering a grounded look at how support, systems, and everyday decisions shape whether people stay — not just how they start.

In This Episode

00:00 – Introduction and context for Part Two
01:01 – Life after the settling-in period
02:04 – After-hours work and how it’s managed
03:59 – Recovery time, sleep, and safety
04:51 – Using a regional after-hours clinic
05:43 – Commuting, call-outs, and New Zealand roads
07:49 – What overseas vets benefit from knowing
09:22 – Visas, residency, and practical logistics
11:27 – Team culture and why people stay
12:08 – Closing reflections on sustainability and support
14:04 – Final sign-off

If you’re an experienced small animal vet exploring your next step, you can find out more about current opportunities at Energy Vets at:
vetclinicjobs.com/energyvets

About Julie South

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.

She works with forward-thinking veterinary clinics that want to show what working there is really like — not just list job requirements. Through VetClinicJobs, Julie helps clinics make their culture recognisable and familiar, so vets and nurses can tell whether a clinic is Their Kind of Clinic long before a vacancy appears.

Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?

A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.

Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.

Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics

This episode begins a new series looking at why the familiar recruitment playbook keeps failing veterinary clinics. Julie South starts with the first and most common response to a vacancy: posting job ads everywhere and hoping one platform will finally deliver a different outcome.

Using current data from across Australia and New Zealand, Julie explains how rotating job boards and increasing spend doesn’t change what vets and nurses experience when they scroll. The problem isn’t effort or intent — it’s that clinics are trying to solve a recognition problem with reach.

This episode addresses a moment many clinic owners and managers recognise: doing what’s expected, paying for multiple platforms, and still waiting. Julie unpacks how pattern-matching and familiarity shape attention, and why exposure without recognition simply adds to the noise.

In This Episode

00:00 – Framing the series and why “posting everywhere” is the first strategy clinics try
01:02 – The scale of job advertising across Australia and New Zealand
02:40 – Why rotating platforms isn’t trying something new — it just creates noise
05:22 – How vets and nurses pattern-match job ads and filter out unknown clinics
07:56 – The wrong question clinics ask — and the reframing that actually matters
09:32 – The closing question about job boards, cost, and results

About Julie South

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.

She works with forward-thinking veterinary clinics that want to show what working there is really like — not just list job requirements. Through VetClinicJobs, Julie helps clinics make their culture recognisable and familiar, so vets and nurses can tell whether a clinic is Their Kind of Clinic long before a vacancy appears.

Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?

A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.

Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.

Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics

Energy Vets | Finding Your Feet as a New Grad (Part 1)

Starting your veterinary career isn’t just about clinical skills.

It’s about how support shows up when you’re new, how questions are handled, and how safe it feels to keep learning — especially when you’re doing it in a new country.

In this episode, Julie South speaks with Dr Sam Armstrong, a mixed animal vet at Energy Vets in Taranaki, about arriving in New Zealand straight out of university and starting his first job without knowing anyone locally.

Sam reflects on settling into a new farming system, learning how the team works day to day, and the small, ordinary moments that helped him build confidence. Together, they offer a grounded look at what vets quietly pay attention to when deciding whether a clinic feels like their kind of clinic.

This is Part One of a two-part conversation with Energy Vets, focused on early career experiences, everyday support, and what makes learning sustainable over time.

In This Episode

00:00 – Introduction and episode context
01:48 – Sam’s background and arriving in New Zealand
06:07 – Starting work as a new graduate and learning in practice
07:57 – A significant farm case and building confidence over time
10:33 – Team support, meetings, and shared decision-making
11:38 – Integrating into Taranaki and working in New Zealand
12:30 – How New Zealand farming systems differ from the UK and Ireland
16:06 – Favourite piece of kit and day-to-day realities
17:24 – Describing Energy Vets in three words
19:47 – Closing reflections on learning, support, and culture

If you’re an experienced small animal vet exploring your next step, you can find out more about current opportunities at Energy Vets at:
vetclinicjobs.com/energyvets

About Julie South

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.

She works with forward-thinking veterinary clinics that want to show what working there is really like — not just list job requirements. Through VetClinicJobs, Julie helps clinics make their culture visible and recognisable, so vets and nurses can tell whether a clinic is Their Kind of Clinic long before a vacancy appears.

Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?

A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.

Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.

Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics

Closing the Attraction Gap: Why Knowing Isn't the Same as Doing

Most veterinary clinic managers know they should attract people before they need them—but knowing doesn't close the gap between understanding what needs to happen and actually making it happen.

In this episode of Veterinary Voices, Julie South explores the attraction gap: the space between knowing you should build recognition and actually being able to do it while running a busy clinic.

Through the predictable five-month recruitment cycle most clinics experience, Julie shows why the gap never closes when you're trying to solve recruitment during a crisis—and why it only closes between crises, when you actually have time to build.

This episode bridges the recent conversations on network expansion and recruitment momentum, and sets up next week's new series examining each month of the trapped recruitment cycle in detail.

Stay to the end for a question about timing that reframes when clinics should actually be solving their recruitment problem.

In This Episode

00:00 – Introduction: The attraction gap and why knowing isn't doing
01:10 – The impossible timing trap: never thinking about recruitment when staffed, desperate when understaffed
04:03 – The predictable five-month cycle from job ads to expensive surrender
07:31 – Two clinics, two different approaches to closing the gap
10:17 – The timing question that explains why the gap never closes 

About Julie South

Julie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.

She works with veterinary clinics that want to move beyond reactive job advertising by building recruitment momentum through continuous culture storytelling—so when they do need to hire, they're never starting from cold again.

Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?

A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.

Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.

Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics