How is everyone getting a vet to shadow?? I have called all my local vets and nobody allows undergrad students to come in and shadow. I have some hours from a previous internship but I really need to get more vet hours and a vet recommendation. I start applying in May and getting discouraged with all the local vets saying no! I would think they would want to help students out seeing as they were in our shoes once.
Getting Vet Hours
- Thread starter NC_Girl
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Keep trying; see if you can find out why you are getting declined.
Have you tried applying for paid positions? After I had a few hours of shadowing under my belt, I had no luck finding anymore volunteer work but managed to get hired. Paid positions such as assistant, receptionist, etc.
Have you tried applying for paid positions? After I had a few hours of shadowing under my belt, I had no luck finding anymore volunteer work but managed to get hired. Paid positions such as assistant, receptionist, etc.
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Just as an aside, you also have to think about this from their perspective. Taking on a shadow is yet another person to mind in the clinic, and in small places that have a ton of business, it can be very difficult for them to take on volunteers. It's nothing personal, it's simply a matter of workload.
Heck, this semester I myself had to turn down an undergrad who wanted to work in our lab with me, simply because I knew this semester would so busy that I just couldn't handle another person to "take care of", even if she *could* help me with some things - and I generally *love* teaching/mentoring.
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Try going into vet offices. A lot of the time, places don't really like cold-calling and will be more willing take you on if you actually show up to their office. Dress nicely and probably bring your resume and say that you were wondering if you could shadow the vet (if there are only a few vets or only 1, might want to look up their names? So it seems like you know a little bit about them other than they're a vet office that you happened to drive past)
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Is there a pre-vet club at your school? They typically have volunteer days/events/workshops to help students sort of get their foot in the door. I got a lot of animal experience as a bather where I learned basic skills like nail trims, ear cleaning, etc and the first veterinary clinic i worked at chose to hire me after my working interview because they said I was a go-getter (I volunteered to bathe the dogs there for baths that day, and expressed their anal glands and trimmed nails). I gained that confidence by simply handling several dogs day in and day out for many months.
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Yep. There are a lot of days that I'm too busy to walk down the hall to the bathroom to pee, much less explain things to a student. I second the idea of applying for kennel staff or vet assistant jobs, because that may be easier to find.
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Try to find people your age (in your class) that already have a job at a vet office and/or have volunteered or shadowed at a vet office. These people will most likely put in a good word for you and help you get a foot in the door. I know a ton of people who have shadowed and volunteered and now have jobs at a specific clinic near by, just because one girl started there a few years ago!
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Basically what everyone else here has already said. Most importantly -- don't give up! Having little to no experience makes it tough but once you get your foot in the door it helps tremendously. I was in my senior year of undergrad and still had no luck and was about to switch career paths for that sole reason. With persistence though, I found a place to volunteer and subsequently got a job at a clinic. I ended up applying a year later than I had previously hoped, but in two years I was able to go from 0 hours of experience to over 3000 hours of diverse experience. Call every clinic, ask all your friends, see if any local schools have any sort of program set up for volunteering with local clinics (which usually covers the insurance in case you get hurt, which is what most hospitals are wary of). It can be frustrating for it to take longer than you may have planned, but there certainly is a way of achieving your goals.
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Also, i forgot to mention, google nonprofits that deal with wildlife or even animal shelters! These places are usually willing to take in anyone who is willing to work for free, and if your consistent and there more than other volunteers, you will likely get really good experience. That's how I got my internship and a great relationship with the chief veterinarian!
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Yes, this. Whether you're volunteering at a non-profit or working as a kennel person at a vet clinic, the trick is that you need to show and consistently do the non-vet, grunt-work type stuff first and then you'll get to see bits and pieces of the vet side. Someone who wants to shadow is just another job for the veterinarian to do (having to teach/demonstrate instead of being able to focus on their job). Someone who actually shows up and contributes (likely in a non-veterinary manner, at least at first) will become introduced to the vet side of things just by being there.
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This! Also, it's realllllllly important to not only do a good job, but to be respectful and polite (which isn't easy at 7 in the morning).
I basically showed in a suit to a vet clinic and asked if there was anything I could do. Me and another pre-vet girl were kennel techs which, let's be honest, is a pretty boring job. Walking feeding and medicating boarders cleaning up everything, restocking. I was a essentially a glorified Walmart shelf stocker. But I decided to be the best dang kennel tech the clinic has ever seen, and eventually got to see and help in a lot of really cool things (I got to spend 3 1/2 hours straight cleaning and restraining a dog that was baaaadly mauled. On my birthday he let me scrub into his surgeries of the day and talked me through everything and I got to be super close and watch.)
The other girl wasn't respectful, was on her phone all the time, did terrible work, and she carried a "I'm better than this" attitude. When it came time to ask for a LOR, he only wrote mine, and told the other girl "I don't feel like I could write you a positive letter of recommendation, so I'm not going to write you one".
So yeah, be polite.
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Volunteer at an animal shelter, especially if they have a vet clinic or spay and neuter clinic! I started at a shelter SN clinic just doing miscellaneous things but I was consistent and eventually earned tech duties (as a volunteer) and eventually hired as a part time Vet Tech for the shelter! It will take some time and a lot of consistency and hard work but you can get those hours!
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Buuuuurn
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I know, right? But I'd much rather have someone say that instead of thinking I have a strong LOR but in fact, it's negative!
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I second this I worked my butt off as a surgery assistant at first just helping shave monitor and do all the grunt work. And the only thing I was allowed to do was observe, but when they had a staff shortage they had an intern that they couldn't trust to help with the surgeries so they called me in when I wasn't even supposed to be there because they felt they could trust me more than they could trust her. After that I got a great Lor from the surgeon.
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And I third this! The first place I volunteered at I basically cleaned and walked dogs for months. The hospital manager saw that I would come 3-4 days a week before/after a full shift at my regular job and work hard, be polite and courteous, and never complained about not being afforded the opportunity of doing anything clinical yet. Eventually she saw I was more dedicated than other volunteers who were just on their phones all day and who left after volunteering for 2 hours. She wrote me an amazing letter of rec and the manager at both jobs I've had since volunteering there have said she went out of her way to put in an exceptional word for me when reviewing applications. Be patient, it will pay dividends!
