CVs Part 2: Writing Tips For a Great Vet or Vet Nurse CV

In part one of our series we focused on some tips for vet managers/employers to spot dodgy CVs. In part two we turn the spotlight onto the person writing the CV – the job seeker.

I can’t write your CV for you, but if you (or someone you know) is about to apply for a new job in vet medicine then please do everyone a favour and follow some of these tips.

CV Writing Tips

Tip 1 - Stand out by matching your experience to what an employer is looking for. Read the job ad carefully and do a little research by checking out the practice website before sending your application.  The write word or phrase can make a huge impact. If you send the same CV to everyone then chances are you won’t come across as perfect for any.

Tip 2 - Say what you need in as few words as possible. If I’ve got 40 CVs to review, I’ll appreciate the information up front.



Tip 3 - Don’t use your “hilariously funny” private email address. It isn’t cool. You will look like an idiot. My favorite so far is stupid_k***y@hotmail.com (name is a little hidden to protect the guilty)- I almost deposited this otherwise well written CV in the bin which would have been a tragedy as the person involved was one of the best young vets I ever hired. Things like fluffy_bunny@iamawetblanket.com are very, very bad PR. Stop it immediately.


Tip 4 - Spelling and grammar – rin yoor spell checkar u idoits & don’t type like it’s a txt.  


Tip 5 - Photos seem to be common CV addition in certain European countries – I really, really wouldn’t recommend it.


Tip 6 - Make sure your employment dates are listed with most recent first and there are no gaps. If there are then prepare to explain them.


Tip 7 - If you say something like “I pride myself on my attention to detail”, then for god sake don’t leave the name of the other practice manager you sent your CV to at the top of one you were supposed to address to me! 


Tip 8 - Get someone from outside of the profession (not your mum – unless she’s in HR) to read your resume and take the feedback points constructively.

Dave’s Tuppence-Worth

Your CV has one purpose – to get you an interview. Make sure it doesn’t lose you the job…

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Hats Off for the Hospice Storms Social Media

So, who doesn’t believe in the power of social media beyond lunchtime chatter between the nurses? If you don’t then ask yourself this; why did I just give a person living on the other side of the planet, who I am aware of with but don’t know well enough to call a friend, a sizeable donation for a cause that doesn’t affect me directly?

George Cooper has a tragic story to tell. Recently losing his wife to cancer, George wanted to repay a debt of gratitude to the hospice that cared for his wife during their final weeks together.  Before the advent of social media it is unlikely that support would have been raised from far outside the hospice locality or close group of friends and colleagues.  Today though we are all connected so much closer and in the past few days George’s campaign has smashed through an impressive fundraising target of almost £14,000 and, unbelievably, will soon reach £20,000. By any standards this is a really impressive feat. But how is it that it has been achieved?

The answer is that George and his group, The Hat Band, have got all the elements you need for viral marketing campaign to spread. And spread most wonderfully it has.

How The Hat Band Hit the Spot

1. They have a very compelling message – you can’t fail to be moved by his story.
2. The use of two online social media sites to reach people they would not otherwise have had a chance to promote the message to – Facebook (or facepuke as George himself calls it!)  and YouTube.
3. Remarkable content – the free video clips of old shows are great and George is regularly interacting with his fan base keeping the momentum moving forward. Plus there’s pictures from the recent gigs plus a very sweet and hooky little logo to change your profile picture to.
4. A call to action – the thing that converts clicks into cash – buy a ticket, click the video link, donate to the fund…it’s all there.

Put together it isn’t hard to see why The Hat Band’s campaign is a runaway success. 

I don’t know George especially well. I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting his wife Sally. I don’t live near, nor am I ever likely to, Herefordshire, the focus of the campaign. So why did I donate? 

Well firstly because George reached out across the social media-sphere and found me (and hundreds of others in a remarkably short space of time). Second, his story is a heartbreaker and my heart goes out to both band members who have had such painful experiences. Thirdly, his band is actually very funny (or at least I think so). But I’ve never seen them, I watched the clips of old performances posted on YouTube. 
Finally, having been through some experiences that can only be described as shit house, one of the things that gets you through is the knowledge that you are absolutely not alone. It matters to look after each other.

So George, I’ve changed my Facebook photo, joined the Facebook fan club and made my donation.  I tip my big red digital hat in the direction of you and your band. Congratulations on smashing your goals and good luck with your new quest to promote the work of all the hospices across the land.

And for everyone else, if you were in any doubt about just how useful social media can be just ask The Hat Band. Or better still buy a ticket for their gigs.

CVs Part 1: Reading CVs - Dodging Butterflies and Frogs

For the next couple of blogs we’ll take a little light-hearted look at CVs. The first post is for those vet practice managers reading CVs.  The second (published next week) is for the vets and nurses writing them.

I’ve reviewed hundreds of CVs since working as a manager – probably thousands. The latest campaign I was involved in attracted more than 50 resumes. In reality to scrutinize each one takes time, a lot of time. It also takes skill and (you guessed it) that’s another skill we’re not taught at college.

For the next few paragraphs I’m going to pass on a few tips that can save you time in whittling down the numbers.

Be Patient

My first tip is to be patient. Remember your job in recruitment is to find the best person for the job - frequently in spite of his or herself. Vets weren’t taught to write a good CV (or good interview technique for that matter).

If you simply throw out a CV because it is too long, or has been printed in a font you hate, then you might just be throwing the best vet you never had into the bin. So forget the big business rules here. Good vets often write awful CVs.  It is a drudge to trawl through a large stack of CVs and at times it can seem hard to stay focused.

That said, there are a few telltale signs I look for that you can use to spot any potential banana skins. (Please do feel free to add your own tips to this article or tweet me at @dave_nicol)

Bounce Practice Butterflies

This is the CV that has about 12 practices on it but they’ve only been out of college for a year. They might be a locum, but then again….

Flick Away Career Frogs

You know the ones. They’ve hopped not just from one job to the next, but from one career to the next. My favourite is when someone leaves the profession to do something radically different, then arrives back in practice a year later. I’m thinking commitment issues and my business isn’t a lily pad, so hop on by, Kermit.

Beware Gaps in the Timeline

If I see a CV I like (I don’t do this for all as it takes a little time) then I sketch a quick timeline of their career, especially if they’ve moved about a bit or been in the job for a while. Then I drop in the CPD training. If there are gaps in the career or the CPD stopped five years ago, for me that’s a red flag and needs explaining.

Use of the Word ‘Horse’ More Than Once

OK, a little bit tongue in cheek, but my point is that sometimes you’ll be faced with a very good CV from someone who seems to be very competent but their resume just has a telltale slant to their real career ambitions. Equine background, likes to go eventing and has a horse back home in the dales… If you’re a small animal practice in London this probably isn’t the right person for you. Why is this person looking for work with you? I’d want to know. Look out for patterns that give you clues as to underlying motivations and desires.

Is your CV a Newspaper Front Page?

No, I’m not joking. Really, I’m not. I actually got a CV that displayed all of a candidate’s career achievements, work history and development courses under headlines and covered in flashy pictures and words, all meticulously crafted to look like a newspaper front page. One word, Disaster! This was CV hara-kiri performed by a poor soul who let their enthusiasm get the better of their judgement. I like enthusiasm but looking at this CV just made me think I might be hiring Bonnie Langford. Shudder. Next.

Dave’s Tuppence-worth

It’s a tricky balancing act between choosing wisely and wasting time when reviewing CVs in veterinary practice. I hope some of these tips can help you. But I’m sue there will be several more people with really good tips of their own. Please do pipe up with your comments.

Next Week

CV writing tips – why your contact email shouldn’t be snugglepooch@muppet.com!

When Recruiting Gets Easier, Selection Gets Tougher

With the economy on the skids and unemployment figures on the rise it’s clear that a lot of companies are shedding staff to protect their businesses. But if you are hiring then right now is one of the best times in recent years to do it.

A report by HR technology and research company Kaonix, reveals that the number of applicants per job across all sectors has nearly doubled. Which is great news as a recruiter because it potentially gives you more choice and hence chance of landing a superstar for your practice.

However there is a downside, because as the number of applicants rise, so too does the difficulty in choosing the right person. For example, if you are the manager of a small practice, the admin (phone calls, replies, letters and feedback) alone might well swamp you and lead you to make a poor decision.

So it’s important to take a logical approach to the problem (And it doesn’t hurt to let technology do as much of the work as possible. Here’s a little checklist that might make your life easier:

1. Ensure that you have a prewritten and saved standard acknowledgment that you can copy and paste into an email.  I recommend always include a thank you (as courtesy), a note of the job they applied for, a date when they can expect to hear back from you if they have been successfully shortlisted. And I’d always make sure to say that if they have not heard back from you by this date then their application has not been successful.  This saves time going back and writing a second email to someone who is not going to add any value to your business in the near future.

2. Rather than send out a letter, or have to tell all the candidates where the practice is for interview, why not get a page up on your website that has interview day instructions including location (it’s so easy to embed a Google map) and giving them an idea of what’s in store for the day.  You can then send a link to the page in an email when you give them the good news that they’ve made the short list - quick and easy.

2. Take time to read the CVs. Personally I don’t bin CVs for layout reasons (I’ve met too many excellent vets who can’t write a CV to save their life to fall into that trap). But the devil is in the detail, so as tiring as it can seem, make sure you scrutinise the CVs properly. Giving a poor candidate an interview because you got sloppy/tired when reading the CVs is a huge waste of time. A recent example is a nurse who applied for a small animal position, her CV was very well presented, but if we hadn’t read to the end, we wouldn’t have seen that her real desire in life was to be in the fashion industry.  Conversely, if you find a ‘show stopper’ early on in a CV then why waste time reading more?

3. If in doubt, call the applicant for a brief chat to clarify any doubts you have. Are they warm, enthusiastic, polite when you call? Did they answer your question satisfactorily? If not then for me it’s decision made. Move on.

4. Aim for a shortlist of three or four solid candidates. Anymore and you’ll be wasting a lot of time on interviews. If you have a shortlist of ten then you either haven’t defined the role well enough or you’re being soft! Remember you only have room for one and you don’t have all year to work it out.

5. Prepare, prepare, prepare. You don’t want to have to go back to the drawing board on this one and waste even more time. Make sure you do the following:
•    Call to confirm the day before the interview to avoid frustrating no shows
•    Make sure your reception team know that the interviews are happening; nothing makes you look less organised than no one knowing a candidate is arriving.
•    Ensure you have a quiet, neat workspace set aside for the interview and CVs printed out before hand.
•    If you are going to be doing competency testing (we’ll cover this another day) then make sure you have all your materials ready (including a vet to ask clinical questions if this is part of your process).
•    If you are nervous then type out your questions before hand and have a running order written down so you don’t forget to ask important questions.
•    Anticipate the questions they might ask, like salary, hours and holidays. This saves you having to chase around for the information later.

6. Take notes and debrief – crucial that this is done on the same day as the interview itself. If you are interviewing with one or more colleagues then compare your notes while it is still fresh in your mind.

7. Ready to make an offer? If you are then go for it. If not and you need more information then remember the shoe is on your foot for now. Don’t be afraid to ask someone to come in for a trial day.

Dave’s Tuppence-worth

Getting the right bums on the right seats in your vet practice is one of the most important tasks of a manger. Current market conditions mean that things are very much in the favour of the practice, but be careful not to be rushed into a bad decision because you were swamped with job applicants. If you need help, then ask for help, it should be just as important to the business owner that you succeed. 

If it isn’t, I’m happy to tell them about the 40k per year difference in turnover it can make if you hire the right person. Or the destructive effects of the wrong person entering the practice.

Till next time, happy managing.

New Year Party Pooper – Are We Heading for A Painful Comedown in 2010?

In any business plan there should be discussion of the wider environmental changes that could affect your business. Today we discuss the Global Financial Crisis, how it might affect you in 2010 and why you should be wary of anyone who says it’s over.

The crisis if you believe some commentators, has passed it’s worst. The UK is officially out of recession, so we hear. House prices are on the increase and there’s some good news from the mortgage market.

So was that it? Have we escaped the after effects of apparently the greatest piece of financial mismanagement the world has ever seen relatively unscathed? If you believe that dear reader then you’re probably still waiting for Santa Claus to squeeze down your chimney! Or you’ve got your head in a bucket of sand.

The Story in 2009

At the 2009 VPMA congress last year Dennis Turner, chief economist from HSBC bank delivered an uplifting and statistically pleasing overview of the economic situation. His prediction was that by the end of 2009 or start of 2010 things would start to improve. We all felt relieved.

So Far So Good?

Great, well here we are, officially the green shoots of recovery have punched through and all is looking rosy. Time to sit back safely knowing we rode out the worst of the crisis. But hold on, wasn’t it all just a bit easy?

Sure, some folks lost their jobs and repos on mortgages are up, but compared to what we were expecting from the “worst financial crisis in modern times”, (given what history tells us about the great depression) it wasn’t all that bad.

I mean no vets that I am aware of went bust (but then I don’t know what financial shape the recent acquisitions of CVS UK Ltd were in either). And I doubt if many of us have seen a significant decline in our standard of living?

What’s bothering me is that something just isn’t right with this picture. The facts before us don’t add up with what the economists predicted. Doesn’t it all just seem a little too easy? (I’m not being flippant here. I’m sure many practices have had a tough year).

Perhaps I’m just being pessimistic and am now guilty of doing what I was blasting others for 12 months ago – talking down the economy. The thing that has changed is that we are now in the midst of a full recession. It’s real and as far as I can see, nobody has done anything that would fundamentally improve things. In fact it might be the case that Messers Brown and Darling have done just the opposite.

A Layman’s View

I like things simple, so this is my possibly over simplified view issue.

Imagine you are mired in personal debt. The type of debt you just can’t ever hope to pay your way out of. You have an interest only mortgage worth five times the multiple of your earnings. Your house has lost value and you now owe more than your property is worth. Your credit cards are max-ed out and you’re running an overdraft. Things look pretty bad. Your outgoings outweigh your income by so much that you are unable to even service the interest payments on your debt.

There are few ways out of this situation:

1. You somehow fluke a miraculous increase in your earnings to be able to service your debt again. (Win lottery or become a drug dealer – both extremely unlikely).

2. You take your medicine for some bad decisions and declare yourself bankrupt. You lose everything and start the painful process of rebuilding from the ground up. But with a defunct credit rating you’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way. Pay for goods and services with money you’ve actually earned and saved for over the hard years that followed your glut of debt driven excess. (This option doesn’t win you votes or friends)

3. You borrow more in the vain attempt to service your existing debt, with even more debt – on ever worsening terms. In effect putting the pain off for another day, but allowing the size of the problem to get even bigger in the meantime. The higher you fly, the harder you’re ultimately going to fall.

In the global economy right now guess which is happening? Bingo, Number 3.
Central banks/governments around the planet have lowered interest rates to rock bottom so they can service national debts without putting up taxes and completely kill off their economies (and chances of gaining or retaining power).

In the UK things are even worse because our public debt has expanded from 49% of GDP to 60.2% of GDP* in the past 12 months!

The low interest rates also mean that people (that’s you and me) can service their own debts and keep spending money we don’t really have (hence propping up the frail old economy with yet more fake spending).

In Australia, where officially we didn’t even have a recession, the government even gave everyone AUS$900 to spend. That was nice of them. Lots of easy liquidity, sloshing around making everyone feel great. It’s as if we’re all addicted to the drug called credit and can’t stop spending what we don’t actually have.

And for the past year (in accordance with what Mr Turner rather chillingly called the “nuclear option”), since dropping interest rates and bailing out the banks didn’t work, the government has pulled it’s one and only remaining lever to try and get us all through this before the elections – they are printing money like there is no tomorrow. Flooding money markets with phoney money to keep the whole house of cards propped up.

It just doesn’t add up. The credit bubble we’re trapped in is huge, almost too huge to believe and sooner or later is got to pop. The party has to end, and the mother of all hangovers will be hot on its heels.

The economic hangover we have suffered thus far really doesn’t match the size of party we’ve all had for the ten years prior.

Three Party Poopers for 2010 


In spite of these unresolved ‘issues’, commentators are beginning to talk up the economy. The stock market has rebounded strongly, sterling’s slip seems to have stabilised and house prices have even risen in the last couple of months.

For this lay observer things aren’t over yet though. And these are three of the things that I’m concerned about.

1. People who have jobs are going to see a reduction in the value of their money.

One result of all this “new” money being printed is that the value of our currency is being eroded. That is, each pound is worth a little less than it was before.
Our earnings have shrunk as a nation (recession), but there’s more actual money swilling about in the system.

And when inflation gets going (oil prices, food prices, etc) we’ll see these effects exacerbated in higher prices for everyday things. Without the attendant wage increases to compensate (who’s giving out pay rises right now?), confidence will take a hit. People will have less money and spending on luxury items - including pets – will be at risk.

2. Lots of people are hanging on to their homes by their fingertips. Low UK interest rates are keeping debt payment artificially low. This is allowing millions of UK borrowers the opportunity to stay afloat. It won’t last forever. When the government removes it’s support for banks later this year and/or inflation begins to creep into the system interest rates will climb. Defaults on mortgages will rise and things could get messy. Again less money for spending.

3. Unemployment is still rising. We’re almost up to 2.5 million or 7.9% of the workforce and although for now that figure is seemingly slowing down, it won’t take much for it to start climbing faster again.

Am I wrong? I’d love to be. Things are very, very finely balanced. Anecdotally, for now at least, people seem happier to give up a holiday abroad or a nice meal out, rather than not have their pet treated. But if things get really nasty can we rely upon that forever? I doubt it. Look for rising numbers of pets in shelters.

The next 12 months will be amongst the most interesting and potentially exciting in recent history. How our profession fares will come down a lot to how we manage our businesses. We cannot control the wider environment but we can position our businesses to weather the storm.

Dave’s Resolutions for the New Year

• Run a tight ship - control your costs and capture your missing charges
• Be the best at something – what makes you different?
• Communicate why you’re the best – make the money you spend on marketing really count.
• Look for opportunities - as always there will be winners and losers. If you’re looking to get bigger then my guess is that there will be bargains to be had in the next 12 months.
• Don’t believe the hype – use your head! This is election year, politicians on all sides will tell us anything.

At the risk of sounding like Ricky Fulton’s glum character The Rev. I.M. Jolly, Happy New Year and good luck in 2010.