Veterinary Voices

What does it look like when a veterinarian who knew at age five what she wanted to be deliberately steps back from clinical work to build something bigger?

Dr Sharon Marshall, one of VetsOne's three directors, has spent 25 years in Hawke's Bay building not just a veterinary practice, but a culture designed to outlast her. 

In this first of two conversations, she reveals how she reconciles the tension between being a vet and being a business owner (spoiler: they're the same goal approached differently).

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why animal advocacy doesn't stop when you move into management—it scales
• What work-life balance actually looks like beyond the buzzwords (including AI consult scribing, no on-call, and weekend hours that finish at 1pm)
• How VetsOne's longevity programme rewards team members from year one through to 20+ years (including paid overseas holidays)
• Why succession planning starts now, not when directors are ready to leave
• What it means to build a team that can carry the work forward long after you're gone

If you're a small animal vet with 8-10 years experience ready to step into a leadership role (even if you've never had "team leader" in your job description), this conversation is for you.

VetsOne is recruiting for their next small animal veterinarian and team leader. Details at vetclinicjobs.com/vetsone

Part 2 continues next week with the practical details of the role, team structure, clinical capabilities, and how VetsOne's values were developed.

Links:

• Position details: https://vetclinicjobs.com/vetsone
• VetClinicJobs: https://vetclinicjobs.com
• Veterinary Voices: https://veterinaryvoices.com
• Contact Julie: [email protected]

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

What's the difference between clinics that fill positions in weeks and those that post the same job ad month after month with zero applications? 

After 16 episodes of job ad strategies, you might discover the answer isn't about what you know - it's about what you've actually implemented.

In Episode 241, Julie South delivers a reality check for the final episode of the comprehensive job advertisement series. 

If you've been following along since episode 225, you should be seeing results by now - better quality applications, shorter time-to-hire, maybe even team members proud to share your job ads. 

If you're not, Julie explains why the first question isn't about your market, it's about your implementation.

Julie covers three critical implementation checkpoints: 

• whether you've moved from bullet points to genuine storytelling (not just thinking "that makes sense" without changing anything), 
• whether you're targeting the right people the right way instead of trying to appeal to everyone, and 
• whether you've built internal culture support before recruiting externally. 

She demonstrates why knowing and doing are completely different things, and why clinics getting zero applications need to honestly assess whether they've tried any of the strategies covered rather than just hoping this time will be automagically different.

You'll learn why trying to implement storytelling strategies on traditional or outdated job boards might mean you have the right message but the wrong platform, and discover how successful clinics aren't those with the biggest budgets or best locations - they're the ones who've committed to authentic employer branding. 

This episode provides an honest audit framework if you're still posting, praying and hoping rather than seeing real results.

For insights into veterinary job advertisement trends across Australia and New Zealand, contact [email protected] for the monthly veterinary employment job advertisement market intelligence report.

If you're interested in exploring authentic employer brand recruitment marketing, resources are available at VetClinicJobs.com/resources.

Julie South is a Vet Clinic Employer Brand Marketing specialist.

Links mentioned in episode:

• [email protected]
• VetClinicJobs.com/resources

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

Meet Dr Mike Newell, one of VetsOne's three working director-owners and a large animal veterinarian who's spent over 25 years building relationships with Hawke's Bay farming clients.

In this conversation, you'll hear: 

• What it's like being both a practice owner and a working veterinarian
• Why the three directors can make decisions without corporate clunkiness
• How attitude matters far more than skills when building the right team
• Why Dr Mike describes himself as "the one that breaks himself the most" through his mountain biking adventures
• What separates a workplace from a home - and how VetsOne has become the latter

Key Quote: "Skills you can certainly teach people - it's more around that attitude. Hiring and knowing what traits we're looking for in respect of their attitude is the most important thing."

Episode Highlights

On Being an Owner-Operator: Dr Mike explains the unique challenge of wearing two hats - making strategic decisions as a director while still getting out into the field doing the veterinary work he loves.

On Team Culture: "The biggest thing is actually getting along with other people, being able to talk to your peers about certain cases and challenges. We all help each other out and that team culture is really, really important."

On What Makes VetsOne Different: Three directors who came from - and still work within - the practice on a daily basis. Decisions come from them entirely, without corporate layers or clunky processes.

On Hiring Philosophy: VetsOne learned through experience that getting the right people means prioritizing attitude over technical skills. Some team members who weren't aligned with the culture have moved on, and the practice is stronger for it.

On Supporting Team Ideas: The directors listen to staff ideas, give them scope to develop plans, and support initiatives like weight loss clinics and palliative care programs that originated from the team.

Why This Matters for Your Clinic

If you're building or rebuilding your clinic culture, Dr Mike's insights about:

• Hiring for attitude over skills alone
• Creating genuine team accountability without hierarchy
• Supporting diverse clinical interests
• Making decisions quickly without corporate bureaucracy

...offer a masterclass in how owner-operators can build something genuinely special.

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

Dr Jason Clark is one of VetsOne's three directors and a working farm vet who came to veterinary medicine as a mature student. In this episode, he walks through what collaborative protocol development actually looks like when a clinic genuinely involves staff in decision-making.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• How VetsOne's team developed their euthanasia protocols—including why they light a candle by the front door—and what changed from previous practices
• What happened during the 2023 Cyclone Gabrielle when directors couldn't reach the clinic but staff ran the business independently, even sleeping overnight to handle emergencies
• How VetsOne supports staff developing special interests, including one veterinarian running a herbal medicine practice under her own banner alongside her clinical work

Dr Jason also describes VetsOne's four-word mission statement (professionalism, advocacy, communication, teamwork) and how they actively review whether daily operations align with those values. He explains what "advocacy" means in practice—always starting with gold standard recommendations, then working with clients to find the next best solution if needed.

About VetsOne: VetsOne is a privately owned veterinary clinic in Hastings, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. They're currently seeking a small animal veterinarian with leadership potential or experience to help guide their companion animal team.

Links:

Small Animal Veterinarian Position at VetsOne

Julie South

Tania Bruce

Lizzie Swanson

About Veterinary Voices: Veterinary Voices: Employer brand conversations that help veterinary clinics hire great people.

About VetClinicJobs: VetClinicJobs is the employer brand job board for veterinary clinics. Build your employer brand. Do your own recruitment. Better.

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

What if the problem with filling after hours emergency shifts isn't that people don't want to do them, but that you haven't made them worth doing? You might discover that if your current team can't honestly endorse what you're offering, your job ads will struggle regardless of how well they're written.

In Episode 240, Julie South reveals why many vet clinics approach emergency rosters with a "be on the roster or find another job" attitude, then wonder why they only attract desperate applicants - or no one at all.  

She exposes how treating after hours work like a necessary evil creates unsafe situations and guilt around recovery time, making the whole system unattractive.

Julie covers three strategies that could transform your approach: 

1. making after hours work genuinely worthwhile through proper remuneration that recognises disruption to sleep and family time (not just clinical work), 
2. supporting recovery without guilt by building sustainable systems, and 
3. reframing emergency work as exciting skill development where vets stretch their abilities while ensuring both physical and psychological safety. 

She demonstrates why some veterinary professionals actually thrive in after hours situations when conditions are right.

You'll learn why expecting someone who dealt with a 3am emergency to be fresh for a full day of consults is unrealistic and potentially dangerous, and discover how successful clinics build recovery time into their systems. 

This episode provides immediate strategies if you're struggling to fill weekend and emergency shifts.

For help creating sustainable after hours systems that make challenging shifts genuinely attractive, Julie recommends Dr. Jocelyn Birch Baker at SmoothOperatingVets.com, who specialises in helping veterinary clinics create smooth operating systems. 

For insights into veterinary job advertisement trends across Australia and New Zealand, contact [email protected] for the monthly veterinary employment job advertisement market intelligence report.

If you're interested in exploring authentic employer brand recruitment marketing, resources are available at VetClinicJobs.com/resources.

Julie South is a Vet Clinic Employer Brand Marketing specialist.

Links mentioned in episode:

• SmoothOperatingVets.com
• [email protected]
• VetClinicJobs.com/resources

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

What if your part-time job ads aren't failing because of the words you're writing, but because of something happening inside your clinic before you even post the job? 

You might discover that the real challenge isn't your recruitment strategy - it could be internal attitudes about part-time work that jobseekers sense.

Julie South shares why some clinics nearly lose talented staff they desperately want to keep, simply because they struggle to think outside existing roster systems. 

She shares the story of a clinic that almost lost a perfect locum because they tried squeezing her into rigid full-time shaped boxes, despite her part-time preferences solving coverage problems perfectly.

Julie covers three strategies that could transform your approach: 

• getting honest about internal attitudes before writing job ads, 
• using a simple whiteboard exercise to discover what your team actually wants (which often surprises you), and 
• reframing fairness from "everyone gets identical treatment" to "everyone's needs are considered." 

She demonstrates why even supportive clinics might benefit from examining internal culture.

You'll learn the specific whiteboard exercise that helped one clinic completely rejig roster arrangements with everyone happier in the new system. 

This episode provides immediate action steps if you're experiencing any level of team resistance when part-time work gets discussed.

For clinic owners feeling stuck with creating thriving operations that run smoothly with part-time staff, Julie recommends chatting with Dr Jocelyn Birch Baker at SmoothOperatingVets.com, who specialises in helping veterinary clinics create profitable smooth operating systems. 

For insights into veterinary job advertisement trends across Australia and New Zealand, contact [email protected] for the latest Veterinary Job Advertisement Market Intelligence Report.

If you're interested in exploring authentic employer brand recruitment marketing, resources are available at VetClinicJobs.com/resources.

Julie South is a Vet Clinic Employer Brand Recruitment Marketing specialist.

Links mentioned in episode:

• SmoothOperatingVets.com
• [email protected]
• VetClinicJobs.com

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

Have you ever wondered why some clinics never seem to lose good staff to headhunting competitors or recruiters, while other clinics are constantly battling to keep their best people from being poached? These immune clinics have built something so compelling that external job offers feel like a step backwards, not forwards.

Here's what's really happening out there: recruitment agencies are double dipping. They headhunt someone from your clinic, then turn around and present another headhunted person as a solution to fill the gap they've just created. When challenged, they'll suggest that if you were paying your staff enough, no one would leave. But here's what they're missing—people don't just leave for money. They leave for better culture, growth opportunities, work-life balance, recognition, and feeling genuinely valued.

Most clinics try to solve the poaching problem after it's already happened—someone hands in their notice and suddenly there's panic about counter offers and retention bonuses. But by then, it's often too late because the person had already mentally checked out.

You'll discover:

• The three-strategy framework for building immunity against headhunters and poachers
• Why building a culture worth staying for protects your team better than restrictive contracts
• How to create employee advocates who respond to headhunters with "thanks, but I love where I am"
• The transparent trust approach that makes your door always open for career conversations
• The fatal mistake of trying to control your team instead of inspiring loyalty

This week's actionable takeaway: Look at your current job ad and ask yourself—would reading this make your existing team feel proud to work at your clinic, or does it just describe a generic veterinary role? Transform your job ads to remind your current team why they love working there.

Essential listening for veterinary practice owners who want to build something so good that their team becomes their biggest advocates against poaching.

Brought to you by VetClinicJobs—direct hiring, reimagined. No recruitment agency.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
[email protected]

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

What if the perfect veterinary professional for your clinic is happily working somewhere else right now? They're not desperately job hunting or scrolling through job boards every night—they're genuinely content where they are. Yet even these happily employed veterinary professionals can sit up and take notice of your vacancy.

Here's the harsh reality most clinics face: if you're only attracting jobseekers who are desperately looking to leave their current role, you're missing out on some of the best potential team members. Those veterinary professionals who aren't stressed, burned out, or fleeing toxic workplaces often make exceptional long-term hires because they're choosing their next role for positive reasons, not running from negative ones.

Most clinics make the fatal mistake of writing job ads like they're talking to someone desperate for change. The language focuses on requirements and duties—what the clinic needs from them. But passive jobseekers aren't thinking "what can I do for this clinic?" They're thinking "what could this clinic do for my career, work-life balance, and professional growth?"

You'll discover:

• The three-strategy framework for attracting veterinary professionals who aren't actively job hunting
• Why leading with opportunity instead of requirements makes passive jobseekers think "that sounds better than what I have right now"
• How to tell your clinic's real story to help them see themselves as part of your team and culture
• The fatal recruitment mistake that only attracts desperate jobseekers instead of exceptional team members

This week's actionable takeaway: Review your current job ad and ask yourself—would this appeal to someone who's reasonably content where they are, or does it only speak to people desperate to leave? 

Transform your messaging to plant the seed of possibility rather than demand immediate action.

Essential listening for veterinary practice owners who want to attract the best veterinary professionals—even the ones who aren't actively looking for a new role.

Brought to you by VetClinicJobs—direct hiring, reimagined. No recruitment agency.

Links mentioned in this episode:

[email protected]

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

Your job ad has been up for months and you still see zero suitable applications.

Here's the harsh reality: we're in a global veterinary professional shortage with more jobs than jobseekers. 

Some clinics are getting great applications while others get crickets. 

Most clinics are still advertising like it's 2010—writing job ads that focus entirely on what they need from employees, not what employees want from them. 

They list requirements like shopping lists: "Must have 3 years experience, must work weekends, must be comfortable with surgery"—but nothing about why their clinic is special or what makes working there genuinely rewarding.

In this Episode Julie Covers :

• The three-strategy framework that actually works in shortage markets to get veterinary professionals to notice, read and apply to your ads
• Why leading with "we need a veterinarian who can..." kills applications and the flip technique that transforms employer-focused ads into jobseeker magnets
• Why clinical competence is now assumed and what veterinary professionals are actually choosing based on instead
• How traditional job boards force you into templates that strip away your clinic's personality (and why clinic showcasing is just as important as job posting)
• The fatal mistake of treating job ads like shopping lists when you should be competing on the whole employment experience

This week's actionable takeaway: Count how many sentences in your current job ad focus on what you need versus what the jobseeker gets—if it's weighted towards your needs, flip it.

Essential listening for veterinary practice owners who want to attract applications instead of hoping for them.

Brought to you by VetClinicJobs—direct hiring, reimagined. No agency.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Email Lizzie

Email Tania

Job Advertisement Market Intelligence Report - Australia New Zealand

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

Ever caught yourself about to hire someone who won't do weekend rosters, even though everyone else on your team has to? You're not alone - and you're about to create serious team resentment.

When veterinary practices get desperate to fill positions, they start compromising on core requirements that affect the whole team. Suddenly you're willing to hire someone who skips after-hours responsibilities, or you're rushing background checks just to get bodies through the door. The result? The wrong person creates more problems than having no one at all.

You'll discover:

• Why phrases like "immediate start required" make quality veterinary professionals wonder what's wrong with your clinic
• The three-strategy framework that attracts the right people fast without lowering your standards
• How VetClinicJobs' REAL+STORY approach gets suitable veterinary professionals applying within weeks (averaging 7 weeks from start to hire)
• The fatal mistake that turns urgent hiring into a team morale disaster

This week's actionable takeaway: Transform your urgent job ads from desperate to strategic by removing panic language and replacing it with professional urgency that attracts quality veterinary professionals.

Essential listening for veterinary practice owners who've been struggling to fill positions and are running out of runway.

Contact Information:

• Tania: [email protected]
• Lizzie: [email protected]
• Website: https://vetclinicjobs.com

Brought to you by VetClinicJobs—direct hiring, reimagined. No agency.

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