The skills shortage is real. But it's not why your ad isn't working - the elephant in the room - ep. 278

Two clinics. Same town. Same skills shortage. One's been advertising since-forever. The other has been running a different kind of recruitment programme — and has had multiple suitable applicants within weeks.

Same shortage. Completely different outcomes. In the third episode of The Elephant In The Room, Julie South talks about the difference between a ceiling and a floor — and which one your clinic is likely dealing with.

If your ad has been running for a while with little to show for it, this one's for you.

Episode notes

The veterinary skills shortage is real — one hundred percent. But this episode argues it's not the whole explanation for why some clinics can't fill their roles.

The shortage sets the ceiling: fewer vets and nurses available, more vacancies, more competition for the same applicants. That's the same for every clinic in every region.

What the shortage doesn't explain is why one clinic's applicant pool is smaller than the clinic down the road's. Same ceiling. Different floor.

The episode looks at why clinic managers and practice owners reach for the shortage as the default explanation — not because they're wrong, but because nobody's ever taught them there might be something else to look for, or where to start looking.

The answer lies in culture storytelling: giving vets and nurses enough real, specific, current information about what it's like to work at your clinic that they can self-identify — see you as their kind of clinic, and themselves as your kind of people. A generic job ad that sounds like every other job ad can't do that. An ongoing culture story can.

This is the third 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.

Struggling to get results from your job advertisements?
If so, then shining online as a good employer is essential to attracting the types of veterinary professionals who're a perfect cultural fit for your clinic.

The VetClinicJobs job board is the place to post your next job vacancy - to find out more get in touch with Lizzie at VetClinicJobs