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Your job ad promises a supportive team. But what could a vet or nurse find online that gives them a reason to believe you? For a new grad comparing jobs, “experienced vets available for mentoring” leaves plenty unanswered. Who helps when the clinic gets busy? Can they ask a question without feeling silly? What happens when their mentor leaves? Episode 294 is the 11th episode in the 16-part REAL•CULTURE•STORY series. This week, Julie South explores E for EVIDENCE, completing the CULTURE—or understood—part of the framework: whether your team’s experiences give vets and nurses good reason to trust the picture they’re forming of your clinic. Stay to the end for this week’s practical takeaway: how to Spot it. Source it. Share it. using one claim from your own recruitment marketing. Previously in this series Two episodes referenced in this conversation: Episode 293: R for REALITY — helping vets and nurses picture their working day at your clinic.Episode 290: L for LIVED VALUES — what happens after a new grad’s request for help gets a sigh, an eye roll and a put-down.This episode covers What a new grad might need to know before believing your promise of support.How three different team perspectives could show what support looks like in practice.Why three positive stories don’t necessarily prove that support is consistent.How specific experiences give vets and nurses questions for a pre-application conversation.What a Culture Story Centre does, where it fits alongside your clinic website, and how it gives stories an enduring home.How those stories help answer Job Application Decision Gap questions and open conversations, including when the timing calls for keeping in touch.How to collect and share first-hand accounts, preserve each person’s voice, and check whether an experience reflects everyday culture.Next week, Julie moves into STORY—the felt part of the framework—with S for SPECIFICITY. If you’d like help turning your team’s experiences into meaningful Culture Stories—even when you’re not currently advertising a vacancy—email [email protected]. 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. Julie helps forward-thinking vet clinics build the kind of genuine, specific culture evidence that attracts Their Kind of People long before any job ad runs. She has spoken on culture storytelling and employer branding at VetEXPO in Melbourne and works with clinics across Australasia and the United States who want vets and nurses to be excited about going to work on Monday mornings—for all the right reasons. 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

“Great lifestyle location” might help a vet or nurse imagine their weekends. But what could they look forward to on the days they’re working at your clinic? Your team’s ordinary working day could contain something someone else would love to have in theirs. If that detail never makes it into your Culture Stories, someone considering your job ad may never discover it. In episode 293 of Veterinary Voices—the tenth in the 16-part REAL•CULTURE•STORY series—Julie South explores R for Reality, within the CULTURE lens: what’s understood.  This diagnostic helps a vet or nurse answer: “Can I imagine my working day looking like this?” Through a real story about some team members sometimes walking to the beach for lunch, Julie shows how a location feature can become a specific working experience someone can picture—and ask about before applying. Previously in this series Episode 292 — Uniqueness: What Your Team Takes for Granted Could Be Why Someone Applies This episode covers Why the ordinary good bits belong in your clinic’s culture stories alongside the pressures and interruptions.How a lunchtime visit to the beach gives “close to the beach” a practical meaning for someone considering relocation.Why details such as “some of the team” and “sometimes” matter when setting expectations.How commutes, working hours and going home for lunch can help someone picture the quality of life available in a role.How to Spot it. Source it. Share it.—find a detail, source a particular occasion and make the story accessible from your job ad.Next week, in episode 294, Julie explores E for Evidence: once someone can picture working at your clinic, what helps them trust that picture? If you’d like help turning your team’s everyday experiences into meaningful culture stories—even when you’re not advertising a vacancy—email [email protected]. 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. Julie helps forward-thinking vet clinics build the kind of genuine, specific culture evidence that attracts Their Kind of People long before any job ad runs. She 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. 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 your team takes for granted could be why someone applies. Something that feels completely routine inside your clinic may be exactly what a vet or nurse wants to know about before deciding whether to apply. “Opportunities to develop your interests” leaves a lot to the reader’s imagination. A Culture Story showing how one nurse’s interest became a regular part of her working week gives them something meaningful to compare—and something specific to ask you about. In episode 292 of Veterinary Voices, Julie South explores Uniqueness, the ninth diagnostic in the REAL•CULTURE•STORY series. We’re still in CULTURE: helping vets and nurses understand how your clinic works, from their perspective, so they can decide, “Is this My Kind of Clinic?” Uniqueness doesn’t require something no other clinic offers. It requires something specific, meaningful and useful to vets and nurses considering their next career move. Previously in this series Episode 291 — Team Voice: how your team’s own words, tone and humour help an outside vet or nurse get a sense of the people they’d be working with. This episode covers Why familiar job-ad promises give vets and nurses so little to compare between clinics.An illustrative senior wellness nurse consult story: how a special interest can become an established part of someone’s role.How nursing skills, diary time and an available consult room make the opportunity concrete.How a specific Culture Story helps someone ask whether that work would be part of the advertised role.Why the same story can interest one nurse and help another recognise that they’d prefer more theatre work.Spot it. Source it. Share it. How to find an overlooked story, capture the person’s own words and make it accessible from your job ad.Next week, episode 293 explores Reality: can someone outside your clinic picture the pace, interruptions, pressures and support on a regular shift? If you’d like help turning your clinic’s vanilla statements into Culture Stories that give vets and nurses something meaningful to base their application decisions on, contact [email protected]. You can start sharing those stories well before you have a vacancy. 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. Julie helps forward-thinking vet clinics build the kind of genuine, specific culture evidence that attracts Their Kind of People long before any job ad runs. She 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. 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

If you removed your clinic’s name and logo from your job ad, would your own team recognise themselves—or could the same words belong to almost any vet clinic? Vets and nurses want to understand what it would feel like to spend their working week with your people. Phrases such as “close-knit team” and “supportive and collaborative environment” don’t give them that answer. Your team’s real words, humour, warmth, directness and energy can. Episode 291 is the eighth episode in the 16-part REAL•CULTURE•STORY series.  This week, Julie South explores T for TEAM VOICE: how the genuine language used inside your clinic helps vets and nurses recognise whether these could be Their Kind of People—and why polishing that language out of a job ad can cost you applications. Previously in this series: Episode 284: R for REAL STORIESEpisode 285: E for EVERYDAY EVIDENCEEpisode 286: A for ACTUAL PEOPLEEpisode 287: L for LIVED VALUESEpisode 288: C for CLARITYEpisode 289: U for UNDERSTANDINGEpisode 290: L for LIVED VALUESThis episode covers: Why so many veterinary job ads sound like every other clinic’s adWhat Team Voice tells vets and nurses about the people behind a clinic nameHow real phrases such as “Who’s got five minutes and two free hands?” show what support means inside a teamHow job-ad templates and professional-sounding language polish away a clinic’s personalityThe difference between Team Voice and Brand Voice—and how they work togetherWhy hearing the real team can help turn interest in a job ad into an applicationThe Spot it. Source it. Share it. process for capturing Team Voice without translating it into vanilla recruitment languageNext week, Julie moves to U for UNIQUENESS: what makes your clinic different in a way that the vets and nurses you’d love to hire genuinely care about. If you’d like help telling your clinic’s Culture Stories—even when you’re not currently advertising a vacancy—email [email protected]. 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. Julie helps forward-thinking vet clinics build the kind of genuine, specific culture evidence that attracts Their Kind of People long before any job ad runs. She has spoken on culture storytelling and employer branding at VetEXPO in Melbourne and works with clinics across Australasia and the United States who want vets and nurses to be excited about going to work on Monday mornings—for all the right reasons. 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 clinic says it values learning. Then a new grad asks a senior vet for help and gets a sigh, an eye roll and: “Didn’t they teach you that at vet school?” What management does next shows that new grad—and everyone watching—which standards your clinic genuinely protects and which behaviours it’s prepared to let slide. Episode 290 is the seventh episode in the 16-part REAL•CULTURE•STORY series. This week, Julie South returns to L for LIVED VALUES, this time within the CULTURE—or understood—part of the framework: what your clinic’s behaviours help vets and nurses understand about the standards they’d be expected to work by. Previously in this series: Episode 284: R for REAL STORIESEpisode 285: E for EVERYDAY EVIDENCEEpisode 286: A for ACTUAL PEOPLEEpisode 287: L for LIVED VALUESEpisode 288: C for CLARITYEpisode 289: U for UNDERSTANDINGThis episode covers: How ignored or tolerated behaviour becomes part of your clinic’s cultureWhat “That’s just how they are” teaches the rest of the teamHow experience, seniority, clinical skill or financial value can earn someone a separate set of behavioural rulesWhy your clinic’s response shows people which standards are realWhat a new grad understands when someone steps in—or stays silentHow an imperfect moment can become a credible Culture StoryThe Spot it. Source it. Share it. process for showing how your clinic’s values work when they’re testedNext week, Julie explores T for TEAM VOICE: whether your Culture Stories genuinely sound like your people—or could belong to almost any clinic. If you’d like help telling your clinic’s Culture Stories—even when you’re not currently advertising a vacancy—email [email protected]. 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. Julie helps forward-thinking vet clinics build the kind of genuine, specific culture evidence that attracts Their Kind of People long before any job ad runs. She has spoken on culture storytelling and employer branding at VetEXPO in Melbourne and works with clinics across Australasia and the United States who want vets and nurses to be excited about going to work on Monday mornings—for all the right reasons. 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

Almost every veterinary clinic says, “We work as a team.” But that tells vets and nurses almost diddly squat about how the team actually works. What they need to understand is what happens when someone asks for help, disagrees, challenges a decision or finds themselves left holding the fort. Episode 289 is the sixth episode in the 16-part REAL•CULTURE•STORY series. This week, Julie South explores U for UNDERSTANDING: how culture stories help vets and nurses outside your clinic understand the people, behaviours and unwritten rules inside it. Previously in this series: Episode 284: R for REAL STORIESEpisode 285: E for EVERYDAY EVIDENCEEpisode 286: A for ACTUAL PEOPLEEpisode 287: L for LIVED VALUESEpisode 288: C for CLARITYThis episode covers: Why “collaborative” can truthfully describe two clinics that work in completely different waysThe practical questions vets and nurses need answered before they can understand how your team operatesHow unwritten rules shape someone’s experience after they joinWhat turns an unresolved cultural problem into a credible culture storyWhy an outdated reputation can keep travelling after a clinic has changedHow to test whether your clinic’s culture claims have a shared meaningThe Spot it. Source it. Share it. process for turning broad claims into understandable culture storiesNext week, Julie returns to L for LIVED VALUES, this time within the CULTURE section of the framework: what your clinic’s behaviours help an outsider understand about who gets encouraged, protected and challenged—and what gets tolerated. If you’d like help telling your clinic’s culture stories—even when you’re not currently advertising a vacancy—email [email protected]. 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. Julie helps forward-thinking vet clinics build the kind of genuine, specific culture evidence that attracts Their Kind of People long before any job ad runs. She has spoken on culture storytelling and employer branding at VetEXPO in Melbourne and works with clinics across Australasia and the United States who want vets and nurses to be excited about going to work on Monday mornings—for all the right reasons. 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

A vet or nurse may begin researching your clinic months before you advertise a vacancy. They’re not necessarily ready to apply—but they may already be deciding whether yours is a clinic worth remembering. If the answers they need are scattered across job ads, client-facing webpages and old social posts, they may simply move on before finding a reason to keep your clinic on their watchlist. In episode five of the REAL•CULTURE•STORY series, Julie South unpacks the first letter in CULTURE: C — Clarity. Previously in this series: Real Stories → veterinaryvoices.com/284Everyday Evidence → veterinaryvoices.com/285Actual People → veterinaryvoices.com/286Lived Values → veterinaryvoices.com/287This episode covers: Why vets’ and nurses’ due diligence may begin long before a clinic starts recruitingHow AI tools are changing what prospective jobseekers can discover about working at a clinicWhy an AI-generated answer does not necessarily give someone clarityThe two jobs of clarity: making answers easy to find and making them unmistakably yoursWhy familiar claims such as “supportive”, “close-knit” and “collaborative” need real culture evidence behind themHow scattered information makes prospective jobseekers work too hard to understand your clinicThe one-question Clarity Test you can run on your own clinicThree steps for making an important answer clearer: Spot it, Source it, Share itThe episode closes by setting up next week’s letter—U, for Understanding. Finding an answer is one thing; understanding what it could mean for someone’s working life is something else. If you’d like Your Kind of vets and nurses to understand and remember your clinic—even before you’re advertising a vacancy—email [email protected]. 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. Julie helps forward-thinking vet clinics build the kind of genuine, specific culture evidence that attracts Their Kind of People long before any job ad runs. She 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. 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

A client begins shouting at someone on reception. A colleague steps between them, and the clinic leader backs the team by respectfully ending the client–clinic relationship.  The value on the wall may say “respect”—but what happens in that moment reveals whether the clinic truly lives it.  In episode four of the REAL•CULTURE•STORY series, Julie South unpacks the L — Lived Values. Previously in this series: Real Stories → veterinaryvoices.com/284Everyday Evidence → veterinaryvoices.com/285Actual People → veterinaryvoices.com/286This episode covers: Why values displayed on a wall are promises—not proof of what working at a clinic is really likeHow values become believable through the decisions people make when those values are testedWhat a clinic’s response to an abusive client tells vets and nurses about whether their wellbeing will genuinely be protectedWhy living a value is most revealing when doing so costs the clinic somethingThe difference between describing a value and telling a real story that allows jobseekers to see it in actionThree steps any clinic can run this week: Spot it, Source it, Share itThe episode closes by setting up next week’s letter—C, for Clarity, the first diagnostic in CULTURE. If you’d like to give Your Kind of vets and nurses credible evidence of what your clinic stands for when it matters, email [email protected]. 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. Julie helps forward-thinking vet clinics build the kind of genuine, specific culture evidence that attracts Their Kind of People long before any job ad runs. She 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. 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 Says "Supportive Team." But Who Are They? A new grad dreading her first large bitch spay asks a senior vet to be on hand. The senior vet watches quietly, steps in only when it gets tricky, then trusts her to finish the surgery herself. Nobody wrote that moment into a job ad. But it's exactly the kind of proof that turns "supportive team" from a claim into something a vet or nurse can believe. In episode three of the REAL+CULTURE+STORY series, Julie South unpacks the A — Actual People. Previously in this series: Real Stories → veterinaryvoices.com/284Everyday Evidence → veterinaryvoices.com/285This episode covers: Why putting a name beside a generic claim — "everyone's so supportive," said Jane — doesn't make it evidenceThe difference between content written for clients and content written for prospective colleagues, and why clinics so often mix the two upThe "actual people" test: how to tell whether a story is real proof, or just decorationWhy vets and nurses don't apply to work for a clinic name or a logo — they apply to work with the people they believe are waiting on the other sideThree steps any clinic can run this week: Spot it, Source it, Share itThe episode closes by setting up next week's letter — L, for Lived Values. If you'd like to start using peer-to-peer culture stories to give your recruiting an edge, email [email protected]. 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. Julie helps forward-thinking vet clinics build the kind of genuine, specific culture evidence that attracts Their Kind of People long before any job ad runs. She 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. 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

"The Cake Problem": Why Your Best Recruitment Evidence Is the Stuff You Never Think to Mention Every Thursday, one vet bakes a cake for the Large Animal team meeting. Nobody asked her to. It's not in her job description. And it's exactly the kind of thing that never makes it into a job ad — even though it's the realest proof of "great team culture" a clinic will ever have. In episode two of the REAL+CULTURE+STORY series, Julie South unpacks the E — Everyday Evidence. Episode notes This episode covers: What REAL+CULTURE+STORY actually stands for: REAL is the evidence, CULTURE is where it lives, STORY is how it gets toldWhy job-seeking vets and nurses are now asking AI tools directly what it's really like to work somewhere — and what happens to a clinic's chances when there's no real evidence for the AI to findThe Decision Gap: the space between reading a job ad and hitting apply, and the questions vets and nurses want answered before they willWhy a repeated habit is stronger proof of culture than a single great day — one good day can be staged, a pattern can'tThree steps any clinic can run this week: Spot it, Source it, Share itThe episode closes by setting up next week's letter — A, for Actual People. If you'd like to start using peer-to-peer culture stories to give your recruiting an edge, email [email protected]. Episode 284 - the first in this REAL CULTURE STORY series:  https://veterinaryvoices.com/284 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. 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

The R in REAL+CULTURE+STORY: Why "Great Team" Job Ads Don't Work One letter. One question every vet clinic job ad needs to answer: is what you're claiming real, or is it just window dressing? In episode one of a new series, Julie South starts unpacking the REAL+CULTURE+STORY Framework — the 16-letter framework behind every Culture Story Centre her team builds — one letter at a time. Episode notes This episode covers: Why vague job ad claims — "collaborative and values-led," "small, hardworking, friendly team," "no one gets left behind" — are interchangeable between clinics and give vets and nurses no reason to stop scrollingThe Decision Gap in action: if a clinic doesn't answer the questions vets and nurses ask before applying, AI will make something up, pull information from an unrelated clinic, or send them down a rabbit holeR is for Real — the difference between the message (what a clinic says about itself) and the moment (something that actually happened and proves it's true)A worked example turning "small, hardworking, friendly team" into a specific, peer-to-peer momentThree homework steps for any clinic's job ad this week: Spot it, Source it, Share itThe episode closes by setting up next week's letter — E, for Everyday Evidence — the second letter in REAL. If you want a second pair of eyes on how long your last job ad took to fill, or where your Decision Gap sits right now, email [email protected]. 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. 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 Every "Vet Clinic Job Ad" Elephant Has In Common Eight weeks. Seven elephants. One pattern. In the series finale of The Elephant In The Room, Julie South brings it all together — and names the single thing every elephant in this series had in common. Plus something you absolutely need to know before the next series begins. Episode notes This episode recaps all seven elephants from the series: The clinic with a reputation it hasn't found a way to publicly undo — and prove it's come a long way sinceThe Decision Gap — the gap between the views a job ad gets and the suitable applications it receives; not an exposure problem but a trust problem, where vets and nurses read vanilla, blah, identical-to-everyone-else wording and decide it's not enough to make the leap of changing jobsThe skills shortage — real, but it's the ceiling not the floor; two clinics in the same town, same shortage, wildly different outcomesAfter-hours — two words in many job ads that almost never say what a vet or nurse needs to knowCompetitive remuneration — the two words that signal a salary exists and nothing else; research from VetStaff and Unitec Te Pukenga (2023) shows salary is the number one thing vets and nurses want to knowThe new graduate experience — mentoring programmes that drift from weekly to monthly to nothing, and the smaller group who leave the profession entirely because the job failed themCorporate or independent — half the profession says it matters, almost no job ad says which one it isThe episode argues that every elephant is the same thing wearing different clothes: information that vets and nurses need before they apply that isn't in the job ad. And that in most cases, it doesn't need to be in the ad — the ad's job is to signal the vacancy. But clinics need somewhere vets and nurses can go to verify the claims. Because they're hiring critical thinkers. And critical thinkers check. The episode closes by opening the door to the next series — the REAL+CULTURE+STORY framework — which is how that peer-to-peer culture evidence gets built. If you'd like a copy of the VetStaff/Unitec Te Pukenga research, email [email protected]. 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. 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

Everyone in veterinary has an opinion about corporate versus independent ownership. Strong ones, in both directions. But almost nobody says which one they are in the job ad. In the seventh episode of The Elephant In The Room, Julie South looks at the question that sits in the back of every vet and nurse's mind when they're reading a job ad — and gives you one practical check that takes about thirty seconds. Episode notes Research VetStaff undertook with Unitec Te Pukenga in 2023 found that ownership type is roughly a fifty-fifty issue in the veterinary profession. Slightly more respondents said it mattered to them — but plenty had positive and negative experiences in both corporate and independent environments. This episode is not about which is better. The elephant is about disclosure. Some corporate groups advertise with their brand loud and clear — transparent, straightforward, and attracting the vets and nurses who want exactly what a larger group offers. Others make a deliberate business decision to preserve the local identity of their acquired clinics, for good reasons that serve both clients and teams. The result is that vets and nurses who care about ownership type may not know what they're looking at from the ad alone. They find out through their own due diligence — checking whether the contact email matches the clinic's URL, Googling the group name, asking at interview. When it matters to them and they didn't know earlier, it can feel like something was left unsaid. The episode argues that clinics — corporate or independent — have something to gain by being upfront. The vets and nurses who want what you offer can find you faster. The ones who don't can rule themselves out before anyone wastes time finding out three interviews in. This is the seventh 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. 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

Some vets and nurses leave the profession far too soon. You probably know of at least one yourself. In this sixth episode of The Elephant In The Room series, Julie South looks at what happens when a new grad arrives at a clinic and the support that was promised turns out to look very different in practice — and asks one question that every new grad and every clinic owner should be able to answer. Episode notes Many vet clinics advertise a mentoring programme for new graduates — and mean it. But meaning it and having something formal behind it are two different things. This episode looks at what happens when a mentoring programme exists in name but not in structure: the weekly catchups that become fortnightly, then monthly, then disappear entirely because there was nothing documented to hold them in place. And the harder version — where the new grad didn't clarify at interview what support would look like, the clinic didn't know what expectation had been set, and the new grad arrives to find they're largely on their own. The episode covers three outcomes for new grads who don't get the support they need: those who find their footing anyway, those who leave for a clinic that will support them, and a smaller group — real, if not large — who leave the profession entirely. They didn't fail at the job. The job failed them. The episode also looks at what the clinics that do it well have in common — week-by-week milestones, documented, a mentor who shows up and follows through — and why those clinics get talked about through new grad cohorts in a very different way. The closing question is for both audiences: new grads are encouraged to ask to see the mentoring programme on paper at their next interview. Clinic owners are asked what they would point a new grad to if that question came up tomorrow. This is the sixth 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. 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 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. 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