If you are looking to pursue a career in the veterinary world, you may have already noticed the importance of gaining some work experience to get your foot in the door. To get started in any job, previous work experience is really useful. This is particularly true with veterinary careers, as work experience can often be a key requirement for university admissions to study veterinary science.
Here, we take you through our 10 best vet work experience tips for finding a work placement and making the most of it!
Finding work experience
The task of actually finding a place to take you on for work experience is a large part of the battle with gaining strong veterinary work experience, but there are plenty of strategies that can help:
1. Search online for opportunities
Google is your best friend when it comes to job hunting! Have a look online for opportunities in your local area and to find out more about your different options. Whilst plenty of work placements tend to be clinic-based, have you looked into options for outdoor work too?
Your ultimate aim is to gain a variety of different experiences so think about looking into stables, rescue centres or zoos as well as veterinary practices. It is also useful to follow businesses you are interested in on social media so you are notified straight away if they offer formal placements.
2. Ask friends and family
The phrase ‘it’s not what you know but who you know’ certainly rings true when you are trying to get onto the first rung of the career ladder. Ask around as much as you can for people who might have connections in the vet world, even if you don’t personally know a senior vet surgeon. This way, you will likely gain lots of useful advice that will point you in the right direction.
Attending industry events can also be a good option for networking opportunities and will show your enthusiasm for the sector.
3. Speak to a careers advisor
Particularly if you are looking into gaining experience for a university application, asking your careers advisor is an essential step in the process of finding veterinary work experience. As well as suggesting places that may take on students, they can help with your CV and general professional skills which will make you stand out from other candidates if there is strong competition for places.
4. Contact practices
Go direct to the practices and make speculative applications. It is always worth emailing or, even better, phoning a business to enquire about whether they offer work experience. Equally, if you are local then go in and speak to the staff so they get an idea of who you are and your enthusiasm for working with them.
Making the most of your placement
Once you have found a placement, it is of paramount importance that you make the most of it! Here are a few more vet work experience tips to ensure your placement is a success:
5. Be on time and enthusiastic
Hopefully this goes without saying, but it is so important to turn up on time each day and don’t slack off early! First impressions count and there is nothing worse than having a work experience student who doesn’t want to be there. So, make your genuine enthusiasm in the veterinary world clear.
6. Stick to the dress code
Find out before your placement starts what the dress code is. You want to make sure you are wearing something practical and comfortable and that you look like you are meant to be there – this is another important way to make a good first impression.
7. Remain proactive
You’ve worked hard enough to gain work experience opportunities so don’t let your proactiveness slide now. Make sure you get stuck in with whatever tasks you are asked to complete, ask plenty of questions and be ready to constantly learn.
If you run out of things to do, ask for more tasks and offer help where you think it will be useful. Try your best even with the mundane tasks and the staff around you are much more likely to be impressed and help you to further your experiences.
8. Get to know your colleagues
A work experience placement is the perfect opportunity to find out more about if this is the career for you and how you can progress. Make the most of your colleagues by asking questions about their day-to-day role, their favourite (and least favourite) things about their jobs and their career journey in general. They all started out like you at one point!
9. Keep a record of your experiences
Aim to keep a diary of the tasks you complete and the things you learn each day. This is particularly useful for writing future applications and is a great way to reflect on your placement.
10. Ask for feedback
At the end of your work placement, make sure you follow up with the business and thank them for the experience. Ask for feedback on your performance and a reference to take to future employers and higher education.
Whilst it might be initially a challenge to find work experience, hopefully our vet work experience tips have given you a few ideas and some motivation to keep pursuing your goals. The benefits of veterinary work experience at an early stage cannot be understated. Good luck!