Veterinary Voices
Veterinary Voices celebrates all that's great about working in the veterinary industry via clinics that put their people first.
Julie South (Veterinary Recruitment Marketing Strategist) catches up with industry professionals who join her in celebrating life as a veterinary professional because they work in great clinics that put their people first.
Together with her guests, Julie South is on a mission to celebrate positive, dynamic and healthy workplaces where everyone loves going to work on Monday mornings.
Veterinary Voices
Employer of Choice Spotlight: A Chat with Dianna of Wanganui Vet Services & Vets on Carlton - ep 221
What does it take to be a Veterinary Clinic "Employer of Choice" - Julie South catches up with Dianna - Head of Reception at Wanganui Vet Services (sister clinic of Vets on Carlton).
If you're a veterinary professional looking to make your next move and Companion Animals is your thing, you owe it to yourself to check out Vets on Carlton in Whanganui.
Dianna shares her 16-year journey at Wanganui Vet Services and Vets on Carlton, revealing what makes this veterinary practice a VetClinicJobs Employer of Choice with a stellar 4.8-star employee rating.
Julie and Dianna explore the clinic culture where "everybody is valued the same" regardless of their role, and discover why veterinary professionals choose to build long-term careers in this supportive environment.
Reception Manager Diana has worked at Wanganui Vet Services for nearly 16 years:
- Originally joined as a qualified vet nurse doing her training at the practice
- Enjoys building relationships with clients and helping solve their problems
- Team described as "fabulous, dedicated, and professional" with complementary strengths
- Whanganui offers excellent quality of life with festivals, outdoor activities, and strong community
- Clinic serves diverse clientele from urban pet owners to generations of farming families
- Work environment where "everybody is on the same level" regardless of role
- Team provides support when "things go wrong in people's lives"
What does it take for VetClinicJobs to identify a clinic as an Employer of Choice Veterinary Clinic?
Employer of Choice status requires
- >2 4-star employee reviews,
- clinic commitment to CPD
- community involvement
Check out vetclinicjobs.com/vets-on-carlton for more information, and tune in next week when Julie South catches up with head veterinarian and Massey grad, Dr Dave Rankin.
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
This is Veterinary Voices and I'm Julie South. Veterinary Voices is all about showcasing veterinary clinic employers of choice, those clinics that are great to work at. Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetClinicJobscom. The job board, direct hiring reimagined no agency. To find out more about the clinics we profile, visit vetclinicjobscom.
Speaker 1:If you're a veterinary professional who's qualified to work in New Zealand and you're looking to make your next career move, then stay tuned, because Vets on Carlton in Whanganui could be just the job you've been waiting for. But don't just take my word for this and don't just take Tom Dinwiddie's word either. He's the Vets on Carlton's managing director that we chatted with last week. After all, mds have to say that their place is a great place to work at right. It's a bit like the old Toyota ad from years ago. Of course he has to say that Whanganui Vet Services and Vets on Carlton has been identified by Vet Clinic Jobs job board as being an employer of choice, not because we say so, not because Tom says so, but because his team also say so as well.
Speaker 1:I talk about what an employer of choice is later, but this week we're catching up with the head of the reception team, diana. If you haven't listened to the chat I had with Tom the MD yet last week. Then go back and listen to episode 220. The links are in the show notes for you. Now let's catch up and join the chat that I had with Diana.
Speaker 2:Let's catch up and join the chat that I had with Diana. My name is Diana Coffey and I have worked at Whanganui Vet Services for nearly 16 years and I am the reception manager. I am also a qualified vet nurse, which is how I initially got my job after doing my training here with Whanganui Vets when they ran the vet nursing qualification upstairs 16 years Kind of tells me that you like your job.
Speaker 2:I love my job. Why I love my job? Why I love the people. I really enjoy helping people and helping our customers. I really enjoy helping people and helping our customers and I've got, or I've developed, you know, rapport with them to where I, when they walk in the door, I call them by their first name and we're friends. We don't, you know, we're not friends outside of work, but we have regular chats about all sorts of things Life in general as well as whatever it is that they need help with, whether it be a product or a service or a vet to come out and, you know, pregnancy test or whatever, whatever it is that they need and I enjoy that part of being able to help people or being able to help solve people's issues. And then there's the whole other side of potentially educating people just over the counter. They're not too sure how often to deworm the puppy, for example, things like that.
Speaker 1:How would you describe your clients? What's your client base look like?
Speaker 2:Varied. We have a very wide range of clients, from very young to clients that have been with the business as long as the business has been around, and from all walks of life. We've got people that live in town and probably have never been on a farm in their life, right through to generations of farming families.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure whether you can answer this, but as a vet nurse, are you still practicing as a vet?
Speaker 2:nurse. No, I don't really have the time to be honest because, as reception manager, which I've been in that role for eight, nearly nine, years now. That's enough of a job to be honest.
Speaker 1:I can imagine. Okay, I don't know whether you'd be able to answer this question, but, looking back and this will be a hard one could you tell me about the most satisfying case you've worked on personally, or perhaps your team has worked on recently?
Speaker 2:Gosh, it's a hard one because there's so many satisfying cases and they can be just the C-section on a dog that goes particularly well, even though the dog presented, you know, and she had a, she'd almost been, she'd almost gone septic because it had been left too long in between the first puppy being born or not born at all. And then you've seen those puppies and that mum go home after a C-section. That's really, that's really rewarding. And also, I guess I think probably the most rewarding case I've seen would be the case where we had a cat brought in with like third degree burns and our vet did multiple, multiple skin grafts and that cat ended up going on to have a wonderful full life but basically had most of its of the skin burned off its leg completely. And it was months and months and months of multiple visits but in the end that animal went on to have a really decent, good life.
Speaker 1:If you had to describe your team in just three words, what three words would you choose?
Speaker 2:The first one would be fabulous because they are. They are fabulous people, every single one of them. They all bring their own different strengths and skills, which makes it very varied, and exactly what a big busy practice like this needs, because everybody, if somebody hasn't quite got the answer, the next person will have an idea of where to find it, or actually have the answer of their experience or whatever. So that's dedicated, dedicated, so dedicated. They go above and beyond often just because that's what the job requires. Sometimes, I think, professional. They absolutely all involve themselves in being up to date with the latest procedures and regulations and things like that, and so, yeah, I think they will be my words.
Speaker 1:Fabulous, professional and dedicated. You are not Whanganui born and bred, are you? No, you're an import, and I use that in air quotes. Yes, I'm an import.
Speaker 2:Yes, I am Okay.
Speaker 1:Talk to me about Whanganui as a place to live, when you have chosen to live there.
Speaker 2:Well, I will say I only moved to Whanganui because while I'd been living overseas, in Japan with my family for 10 years, my mother had moved here, and so when myself and my daughters moved back from Japan, that's how we landed in Whanganui so for family. But we got here and we settled, and my children were still at school age then. So we got them settled into really good schools, one of which is a smaller country school out in Westmere, and the values that a small country school had. I really liked those and so then we stayed because Whanganui has a lot of great things to do. It's always very busy Whanganui.
Speaker 2:There's always loads of festivals and particularly through the Christmas, new Year's period they have loads and loads of exciting different things for people to do. There's also great places for people to visit when you've got a family. We've got Virginia Lake and the Avery, which is still running at this point in time. You're not far from the beaches. There's good fishing down here if you're into fishing.
Speaker 2:There's also a really a really big community of horse people, so there's often horse shows, like not trekking but distance riding. So if you're horsey, that's really good, which I am. There's also lots of opportunity for fitness, because we've got a lot of really decent boardwalks and that around the place and everybody, or lots of people, do walking or running around the bridges and they actually hold like a it's like a mini marathon, they call it round the bridges each year. It's, you know, quite highly competitive and you have lots of people turn out and they'll different groups, they'll dress up as funny characters and do the walk the bridges. I think there's a really strong sense of community within Whanganui, I don't think. I think, no matter what you were interested in, you could find pretty much find it in Whanganui, and if not here then not too far away.
Speaker 1:I have on Boxing Day a number of times now, and every time we do it it's like oh, we forgot, trying to get through Wanganui on the the boxing day races, the cemetery motorcycle, yeah, it's like just crawling.
Speaker 2:Unless you're a spectator, then it's wonderful. I've been a couple of times.
Speaker 1:It's a very good day out and we leave early and we still catch it in. What do you do when you're not at work? You've talked about all these things that Whanganui has to offer. How about you?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't actually live in Whanganui as such now. I live 30 minutes away in a wonderful little rural town called Waverley. I'm currently in between. Most weekends are spent renovating, to be honest. So that's, yeah, more a personal thing and spending time with my children, who are both growing up and they live in Whanganui.
Speaker 1:Waverley is. There came a hot Friday, Is that Waverley?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yep, they shot that at the local race course. Yes, you're quite right. And the home of Kiwi, who who won the Melbourne Cup, and they've recently just actually put a statue. It was probably about 12 months ago now, but there's actually a statue of Kiwi in Waverley now.
Speaker 1:You said you've got to commute for 30 minutes. That's a long way in Whanganui, correct?
Speaker 2:No, not really actually, because the drive is a really good drive. Minus, I will say we've got roadworks through there at the moment that they've taken four months to complete and they haven't quite got there yet. So fingers crossed for that. But when they're not there, it's actually a really pleasant drive and the 30 minutes goes really quickly. It's actually a nice way of starting your day and ending it, just kind of debrief, or.
Speaker 1:I absolutely agree with that. Yeah, yeah, what I meant by that is that I imagine there would be very few people that would actually commute 30 minutes to go to work in a small city Like 30 minutes in Auckland, for example. A small city Like 30 minutes in Auckland for example, will get you five minutes down the road, 30 minutes in Hamilton at peak time, which is where I am right now that's you know you might not move anywhere, but I would imagine that you don't have traffic jams in.
Speaker 2:Whanganui. No. So Waverley's 44 kilometres from Whanganui and I can do that in 30-35 minutes.
Speaker 1:What sort of person do you think would fit best into the team?
Speaker 2:Well, there's quite a few of us here and we've all got our own different personalities. So I think somebody that has same values ie you know, just normal core values there is a respectful, dedicated to the profession type of person you know, somebody with a sense of humor is always nice and I, yeah, I'd say just you know somebody with the same sort of core values, that, yeah, the respect, normal, normal sort of family values Is there anything that you would especially like a potential employee?
Speaker 1:I mean, right now you're looking for a companion animal veterinarian for vets on Carlton, but this, what we're chatting about here, can equally apply to somebody who might be considering support or a vet nurse. Is there anything you would especially like a potential employee to know that I haven't asked you?
Speaker 2:Just that you know we've got a wonderful team here, very supportive, and everybody is on the same level here. So it doesn't matter whether you're a vet or a support team member or a vet nurse Everybody is valued the same and I feel that I certainly know myself and others have when you've needed to feel supported because things go wrong in people's lives. That WVS is very supportive and very we're just regular people. We're just regular people trying to do the best job that we can for our clients and their animals, and so if you're passionate and dedicated and you'd like to be part of a really fun team, then yeah, please come along and apply.
Speaker 1:So what does it take to be an employer of choice? According to the Job Board, vet Clinic Jobs, one criteria is that a clinic has to have employee reviews, depending on the size of the clinic. Smaller clinics need to have at least two four-star employee reviews. Larger clinics at least five four-star reviews. Vets on Carlton and its sister clinic, whanganui Vet Services, currently has six reviews with an average of 4.8 stars out of five. In anyone's books that's pretty impressive. There's other criteria that an employer of choice clinic needs to have, for example, like taking continued professional development seriously Coming up in future episodes.
Speaker 1:I catch up with a few more of the team who share how they've grown and developed with Wanganui Vet Services' commitment to helping them become the best veterinary professional they can be through CPD. To be a vet clinic jobs employer of choice clinics also need to have a commitment to being part of their local communities. Why, great question, why? Because the type of humans who dedicate their lives to caring for animals usually have an innate need to work for a higher purpose. Yes, they go to work for the money, but for veterinary professionals, it's also more than just the dollars.
Speaker 1:Community involvement and giving back is one way employees' altruistic needs are met by their employers and again, as you'll hear in upcoming episodes, with other team members from the Vets on Carlton Clinic and its sister clinic, whanganui Vet Services. Community involvement is a real thing. So if you're a veterinary professional and you are seriously thinking about making a next move, you owe it to yourself to check out Vets on Carlton Links in the show notes. If you're listening to this episode and you've been advertising for ages to find staff and you are still looking, then let's chat, because advertising on vetclinicjobscom will get you the results that you are looking for. We have clinics that keep relisting their new vacancies with us because their job adverts result in job offers, which is the object of the job advertising game right, having great people apply who are the right fit at your clinic.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening. Remember to check out vetclinicjobscom slash vets on Carlton vets hyphen on hyphen, carlton For more info, and tune back in again next week when I catch up with the head veterinarian and Massey grad, dr Dave Rankin. Until then, this is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be the most fantabulous version of you you can be, because you work with a team of great people who lift you up and want to see you shine bright. Ka kite anō, thank you.
