Availability With Experience Hours

[jtom]

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I am currently working at a restaurant but I need to start getting vet/animal hours in. At my restuarant, every week is different. Each week I have different days off, I will close some days and open other days. I cannot get a defined schedule from them especially in the summer time during our peak season, meaning I cant have it be that I always work every mon, wed, friday type deal. In addition, the schedule is put up anywhere from thursday to saturday for the following week starting on monday. So if the schedule goes out on saturday I would only have two days notice if I have to work on monday.

My question is whether vets who allow me to come into shadow will be ok with me having to call each week and tell them the days I can come in. I would prefer to get a paid assistant position at a clinic but until that happens I have to have an income and that means I have a schedule that changes each week. If anyone was in a similar situation I would appreciate your advice.

Thanks!

 

[BlacKAT33]

All clinics ive gotten experience at were unpaid, volunteer/intern/shadow.... allowed me to come whatever day i want and any time. That is one benefit of not getting paid lol. You may have a vet who doesn't like this...but ive never had a problem. I guess it can also depend on the size of the clinic, if it is small and there are many people working that day i could see that as a problem. But thats another reason why i would never choose to go to the smaller clinic (if i had a choice)

 

[168135]

I kind of have the same problem. The clinics I've been at expect me to come at the same time every week. When I know I'm not going to be working, I'll call them well in advance and ask them if I could come in then.

My boss is pretty good at giving me the time off for volunteering. I asked him if I could not work Friday mornings (because it's the best day for the clinic to let me come in and watch surgery) and it wasn't a problem.

 

[scb44f]

All of the shadowing at one of the clinics I go to is coordinated by whoever you talk to. They just tell the vet that someone will be in. I go in Monday and Friday mornings regularly, but I always ask on Fridays about the upcoming week to make sure he'll be in town.

At the other clinic, the shadowing is coordinated by the vet's right-hand-woman. I call her every Tuesday and ask about whatever days I'm interested in, and she checks the schedule. If there's enough stuff scheduled, I can come in. If not, I just ask for another time.

It's good to get to know who does the scheduling though, because at the second place, unless I talk to that specific person, no one knows I'm coming in and it's frustrating for all of the people who work there (there's another shadow who goes in unannounced and I hear some of the techs' complaints about it...).

 

[clairbear]

At the first clinic I shadowed at it was a set time every week. If I couldn't make it, I didn't go in that week. They had other people coming in different days and didn't want two people shadowing the vet at the same time (which was why they asked me to stop coming in). It was a smaller clinic with one full time vet, one part-time, and several techs working.

The other clinic is only one vet and three other people working at a time. Its not as busy as the other one and I think they only have 1 other shadow. That vet lets me come in whenever I want, and he told me that there was no need to call beforehand. I usually come in though at about the same time every week.

 

[168135]

If you haven't already, get in touch with the clinics in your area and ask them, first, if they'll let you shadow, explain your work situation, then ask them if you'll be able to shadow around that. It all depends on the clinic.

I'm not sure when you're applying to vet school. If you're unable to get experience this summer, when school starts, try to arrange your school/work schedule so that you have, for example, Friday mornings free for the entire semester. See if you can find a clinic that is willing to take you on at that time.

If you really want some experience this summer, in my experience, shelters tend to be more lenient. At the shelter that I'm currently at, if I want to come in on Saturday for example, I need to call them by Thursday the latest to let them know that I'm coming in.

 

[jtom]

I will be sure to say it up front when I ask about shadowing.

Thanks