If you struggle to recruit the best veterinary nurses for your veterinary practice, then you’re not alone.

There just aren’t enough qualified staff to go around – for the 6,174* practices that exist across the UK, there are just 19,335* Registered Veterinary Nurses (RVNs). Bearing in mind a significant proportion of RVNs will no longer be in practice, and large veterinary hospitals and practices can employ over 20 nursing staff on their own, the numbers just don’t add up!

Perhaps you find yourself spending a small fortune on recruitment advertising? Maybe you’re spending months finding the perfect veterinary nurse, only to see them wave goodbye within the first few months, leaving you to return to the drawing board?

A shortage of available staff means it’s crucial that you hire the right candidate who matches the practice perfectly, to avoid staff turnover. Whatever the problem may be, never fear!

*Figures provided by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons 2021

This is a guide to veterinary nurse recruitment for veterinary practices, including 20+ actionable recruitment tips to help you hire the right veterinary nurse for your practice – and keep them!

Writing a veterinary nurse job description

Writing a job description is one of the most critical phases of the hiring process. It’s the first opportunity to think carefully about what you and the veterinary practice really need before putting pen to paper.  

Many businesses fail at the first hurdle by putting forward an unclear message about who they’re looking for. To avoid this, spend some time examining your own strengths and weaknesses, and figuring out where and how someone else will be able to fill in the gaps. Imagine what the person’s day would look like, and how their position will change your workload.

Once you’re clear on what role you’re looking for, make sure to take these recruitment tips on board when writing your veterinary nurse job profile:

Job Title

• Use short, targeted job titles that accurately describe the role
• Avoid using technical or internal terms that people are less likely to look for and may confuse the job seeker

Job Summary

• Open with an attention grabbing overview of your practice and the role, including whether it is full/part time
• Tell your job seeker why they should apply for a job at your practice (For example, it could be one or more of the following: Impressive employee benefits, competitive salary, exciting development opportunities, flexible working, friendly team members – or something else!)
• If you’re a smaller veterinary organisation or practice, don’t make the mistake of thinking that attracting the top talent is beyond your reach if you cannot compete with the salaries offered by bigger industry players. Often working for a smaller organisation can offer other benefits that candidates may value more than money – for example more opportunities for growth, flexible working hours, or working in a smaller, more tight-knit team.
• Include an exact job location and be clear if the role involves travel

Veterinary Nurse responsibilities and duties

• Outline the core responsibilities of the position, making sure to emphasise any duties that may be unique to your organisation
• List examples of day-to-day activities of the position, so the candidate can determine whether they have relevant experience
• Explain how the position fits into the organisation so candidates can see the bigger picture and how their role contributes to the wider business

Qualifications and Skills

• Include a short list of hard/soft skill requirements you’re looking for, for example…
  • Hard skills: Education level, previous job experience, certifications and other technical skills
  • Soft skills: Good communication skills, ability to problem solve etc

Top tip: If your business has someone who is responsible for marketing, why not let them take a look at your advert before publishing? They may have some ideas about how to make your copy more exciting and appealing!

Advertising a veterinary nurse job vacancy

Now you’ve put together a great job description for your veterinary nurse position, it’s time to find your candidates!

To reach the right people, you’ve got to find out where they are – the places they go, the websites they’re on, which media they ‘inhabit’, and so on. Remember, a good ad in the wrong place is going to be ineffective, and you could find yourself spending lots of time and money on advertising, all to no avail!

Depending on how specialist your veterinary nursing role is, you could look to advertise your job vacancy by:

• Posting your vacancy to industry forums, websites, blogs and social media groups
• Asking your LinkedIn connections to share your advertisements
• Making use of social media paid advertising options to push your job to specific audiences
• Asking your industry connections and current team members for referrals, even offering a bonus to encourage recommendations
• Purchasing space in your local newspapers (general roles) or industry publications (specialist roles)
• Posting your vacancy to industry job boards such as the CAW Jobs Board, Vet Times Jobs, Vetnurse.co.uk, Vet Record Careers, VetClick Jobs; as well as national job sites such as Reed, Monster, and Indeed
• Investing in a print advertisement in an industry publication such as VN Times
• Investing in a recruitment service, which often has its own pool of potential candidates for different industries and may be able to source suitable candidates faster. Find a recruitment agency near you

Remember to be open to new recruitment tips and strategies where they arise – traditional methods such as newspaper advertising can still be effective for some roles, but they won’t work all the time! What’s more…

Have an engaging website and make it easy to apply!

Provided you place your adverts in front of the right audiences, before you know it you should have plenty of keen candidates looking to apply.

Before applying for your role, they’re likely to look to your website to read more about who you are and consider whether you’re the right practice for them.

Think about how you can brighten up your corner of the internet and the best way to present your practice, for example you could create a careers page or a “meet the team” area.  

Also – make your application process as simple as possible!  

Don’t fall at the final hurdle by making it impossible for people to enquire and apply for the role.

Shortlisting and interviewing job applicants

Holding an interview is a crucial stage of the hiring process, where preparation and structure are essential.

By having a plan in place that allows an objective standard on which to base your decisions, you’ll overcome interviewing pitfalls and identify the best person for the job.

Take a look at our recruitment tips for the interview process:

Refine the veterinary nurse interview process

An interview is just as much about showing the candidate why your practice is great, than it is about you getting to know your applicants. If you fail to prepare a productive interview structure, this will reflect poorly on your practice. Make sure you plan ahead, know what questions you would like to ask your candidates and what information you would like to gain from the interview.

Choose the right interviewers

Every word spoken by your interviewers is a reflection on your practice– so make sure you have the best and most relevant people in your company leading the process.

Review the candidate’s application

Every application is different, so by taking the time to review them again before the interview, you will show you have taken the time to really engage with your candidate by asking questions that are more specific to their application.

Ask specific, open ended questions

Whilst questions such as “tell me about yourself” are good icebreakers; ask more specific, open ended questions to get a better idea of a person’s strengths and the work environment they thrive in – you could ask about projects they’ve worked on, previous work environments, and what they liked/disliked about each.

Set the right expectations

It’s easy to paint a rose tinted picture of the job by focussing on the best parts during the recruitment process and overlooking the reality and challenges of a role. Any candidate needs to have a clear understanding of what a role entails and the expectations that will be placed on them before they make a decision. There is nothing more disappointing than walking in on your first day to find a job that is completely different to the role you expected. It can see highly skilled talent disappear, fast, and waste time on both ends.

What to ask veterinary nurses at interview

Hiring new staff at your veterinary practice can be challenging. Whilst most veterinary nurses will hold the technical skills and knowledge needed to perform their role, narrowing down your applicants to the candidate who is most suited to your team can be difficult.

To help you find the best veterinary nurse for the job, we’ve put together some advice about what kind of character you might be looking for, and what kind of questions you could ask at interview to help you gage skill and teamwork traits.

Veterinary nurses should have realistic expectations about the role

Veterinary nursing is varied profession, but it’s not always sunshine and rainbows! It isn’t just sitting around cuddling puppies and kittens all day. It’s also restraining animals for shots, supporting pet owners through euthanasia and lots of dirty, physically demanding tasks like cleaning. You need to make sure your candidate has a realistic expectation of what the job will be like. You could ask them:

• Why did you decide to become a veterinary nurse
• What do you think a typical day on the job would be like
• Tell me about the worst mess you’ve ever clean up

Veterinary nurses should be passionate about the role

You want to recruit team members who are passionate about their jobs and eager to learn new skills. You could ask about past patients to get a better understanding of the skill level it required to treat those animals. You could ask:

• What do you most enjoy about veterinary nursing
• Tell me about one of your favourite cases or procedure that you assisted with

Veterinary nurses should be a team player

Teamwork is essential to a successful veterinary practice, especially among veterinary nurses, as often they will be required to work together to complete certain tasks, for example animal restraint, whilst others perform the treatment. It’s critical to your practice’s success that everyone gets along and are willing to help each other. You should ask questions to find out who the team players are:

• Tell me about a time where you helped a co-worker gain a skill or perform a procedure?

Veterinary nurses should be committed to professional development

As a veterinary nurse it is really important to undertake regular continuing professional development (CPD). Not only is it a professional requirement, but hiring staff who are committed to lifelong learning and bettering themselves professionally will ensure your practice continues to provide the best possible care for your patients. What’s more – you can begin to pinpoint where they want their career to go in the future and whether your practice can accommodate this, for example they may wish to take on a clinical coaching role, or work towards becoming a head nurse.

• What resources and tools do you use to improve your skills and learn about changes in the industry?
• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
• What are your career goals?
• Tell me about a particular professional interest you have. i.e surgical nursing, exotic nursing

Veterinary nurses should be willing to work flexibly

Not all veterinary practices offer emergency or out-of-hour services, and whilst your role may not be advertised as one that requires unsociable working hours, it is still reassuring to find someone who you know you can count on to be there in an emergency.

• Are you available for night and weekend work?
• Are you able to drive / do you have easy access to the practice?
• Would you be willing to work an out-of-hours shift?

Veterinary nurses should have good technical knowledge and communication skills

Technical questions can help you get sense of your applicant’s knowledge base and how they would deal with client questions that go beyond simply “yes” or “no”, as well as how they might respond under pressure. You could put together scenarios about any form of nursing, or ask about any procedure that requires multiple steps such as an exam, blood work, IV catheter placement, or recovery from anaesthesia.

• Pretend I’m a client. How would you explain a dental procedure and why anaesthesia is necessary?
• What would you do if an owner rushed in with a dog that was obviously seriously injured?

Veterinary nurses should approach the end of life process with care and empathy

Veterinary nurses will very likely encounter a situation in which a pet cannot be saved, or euthanasia is the most humane option. In this scenario it is important that they’re able to deliver news in a way that’s empathetic whilst not sugar-coating the facts. They also need to understand that the loss isn’t theirs, and whilst they may be upset, they cannot compare their feelings to those of the family, so they need to be compassionate without breaking down. To gain an understanding of how they might approach the end of life process, you could ask them:

• How would you work with a family bringing a pet in for euthanasia?
• How would you support a client struggling with pet bereavement in practice?

Choosing the right veterinary nurse to hire

Now you’ve interviewed your veterinary nurses, it’s time for the tough (or not so tough) decision – who gets the job?!  More recruitment tips coming up…

Keep an open mind and look beyond the CV

Choosing the right veterinary nurse is more than a simple tick boxing exercise. It’s about taking a closer look at who your candidates are, what they value and how they approach work. This doesn’t mean lower your standards, but it does mean looking for potential and thinking outside the box. Ultimately – there are pros and cons to all new hires so you need to know what is most important to you. For example…

• A person who fits in well with your organisation’s values and goals is probably much more likely to successfully embed into the team, than someone with all the right skills but little understanding of who you are as a practice.
• Sometimes a candidate with less experience but who is enthusiastic and willing to learn on-the-job might be a better choice than the expert who you can’t rely on.
• Maybe you’re sitting in front of the perfect veterinary nurse for your full time position, but they’re only looking for part time work. Are you willing to be flexible for the right person? 

Reject wisely

News travels fast. It’s perfectly fine to reject candidates, but be courteous and appreciate the time they’ve invested by politely letting them know the position has been filled.

And remember… don’t rush!

Many industries are suffering from skills shortages. It can be a challenge to attract the talent you need. But that should never mean you choose the best out of a bad bunch. It will only cause a bigger headache down the line. Don’t be afraid to start over if you haven’t found the right person.

Welcoming and retaining a new veterinary nurse

So you’ve found an amazing veterinary nurse. Someone who is set to be a great asset to your practice, with valuable skills and experience. And they have accepted your offer! Give yourself a pat on the back, but don’t turn your back and walk away now you’ve come this far. You need to take steps to ensure you retain your veterinary nurse in the long term.

Have a good onboarding process for veterinary nurses

To retain veterinary nurses in the long term you need to develop a clear welcome plan to help new starters feel like part of the team.  You shouldn’t expect a new hire to jump right in with no support or guidance, as it may leave them feeling isolated and prone to looking elsewhere.

Ask for feedback

Sometimes losing good talent is inevitable. We are all human and life takes unexpected turns which take us away from our jobs, but if you begin to see a pattern of new hires leaving soon after joining your organisation, you need to be able to have honest and open exit interviews. This way, you can establish whether other factors are at play and what you can do better in the future.  

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Still can’t find the perfect employee? Grow your own!

If you’re looking to expand your veterinary nursing team in an affordable way, have you considered taking on a student veterinary nurse?

There are student veterinary nurses looking for apprenticeship vacancies and unpaid work placements in practices across the UK. By supporting an SVN, you can gain an extra pair of hands at your practice whilst saving money on recruitment fees! Explore the recruitment options you could consider…

Recruit an apprentice with our Veterinary Nursing Apprenticeship Standard

Veterinary nursing apprenticeships have been around for some time and can help veterinary employers to expand and grow their team in a cost effective and practical way.

Delivered in the right way, they can create skilled, committed, and loyal veterinary nurses, who want to progress within your veterinary practice. What’s more – 95% of the training fees are covered by the government for small employers with digital accounts. If you choose CAW as your training provider, we can also help you recruit free of charge.

Download our Employer Guide to Veterinary Nursing Apprenticeships to learn more

Offer an unpaid placement to a student with our Practice Placement Scheme

We currently have diploma and degree level student veterinary nurses looking for unpaid work placements in veterinary practices across the UK.

There are no wages to pay, no course fees to pay and everything to gain; including the possibility of a fully qualified member of staff at the end of it all! And what’s more…

• All work placements are unpaid!
• You interview the student beforehand!
• There’s no need for extra insurance!
• Gain a keen and motivated student who can free up other staff members for more complex activities
• Upon qualification you could even find that your student becomes your next loyal qualified RVN!

We offer practices who work with us free clinical supervisor training, an allocated IQA to support your practice and we can guide you through the TP approval process if applicable.

Explore our Practice Placement Scheme in more detail