How do I get my foot in the door?

[wereweasel]

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I apologize if this is a frequently posted topic. I skimmed through really quick and didn't find my question.

So far I have volunteered for 40 hours at a vet clinic, and right now I am volunteering once a week at a small animal shelter. On my last visit to my vet there was a fourth year vet college student shadowing my vet so I asked her some questions on how she started out. She said she sat down and called all the clinics in her area until she got a few that had open positions that she sent her resume to which resulted in landing her a job as a kennel assistant. I had been physically traveling to clinics and handing out my resume, but her way makes more sense. Has anyone else done this? What should I say when I call?

 

[HopefulAg]

That's essentially what I did but I sent them all a cover page explaining what I wanted to do and included my resume in it. Out of 28 letters sent, I got 4 interviews, and a job.

 

[wereweasel]

I was still going off of what I was told by a Technician at my local Community College back when I thought I wanted to be a vet tech. I realized that it's too time/energy consuming to actually drive to all the clinics. I think I like your suggestion though, I'll just write out a cover letter and send about a million and a half and avoid sounding like a ***** over the phone as I am prone to doing. Thank you very much for your response!


**Another question, did you send your resume via mail, fax, or email?

 

[HopefulAg]

Mail.

Fax/e-mail always reminds me of spam when it's something they didn't necessarily request, so I went with snail mail.

 

[ckgilabert]

does your school have a pre-vet or vet tech program? mine had a vet tech program that allowed the pre-vet students to do internships. thats what i did. after volunteering for a few weeks they offerred me a job.

good luck!

 

[StealYourWords]

When I was first looking for a job, I looked up all the clinics within reasonable distance and called them. I often ramble on the phone too, so I actually wrote myself up a little script introducing myself that I could just read off in case I got nervous- I just introduced myself as a pre-veterinary student from X University looking to gain experience in the veterinary field. Several places said they absolutely were not hiring, so I crossed those off my list. I printed out a resume and a brief cover letter and hand delivered them to all the places that were hiring (or even just unsure at the moment). Note: make sure to give the correctly addressed letter! I almost learned that the hard way! A few clinics had me fill out seperate applications while I was there, and while I was mostly just talking to the receptionist/front desk staff, I liked being able to see each clinic /meet some of the staff. This was time consuming, but I got 3 interviews and 2 job offers out of the 15 or so resumes I submitted. Whatever way you choose, I think a nicely written cover letter goes a long way, especially if you're lacking in the experience field like I was.

Good luck!

 

[VeganSoprano]

Keep an eye on the help wanted ads in the newspaper, on Craigslist, and on hospital websites. This way you can keep tabs on who is hiring and for what positions.

The economy has made jobs much harder to come by, at least where I am, so it pays to keep up on the available positions. They are out there, just not as many as there used to be.

 

[nyanko]

I dunno, I'm still an advocate of actually going into the clinics and handing things in personally. It's a whole lot easier to make a good impression that way rather than just being a random email or phone call, imo.

Then again, I've never gotten anything from just emailing or calling a person, unless it was to definitively set up a face to face meeting. So that's my experience talking, I guess?

 

[wereweasel]

Thank you all so much for your responses. I am going out of town this weekend and once I'm back I will begin my quest for a job in a vet clinic. I will be ecstatic when I can finally quit my job at Burgerville! But more so to finally take some steps down my chosen career path!

 

[flyhi]

thank you all so much for your responses. I am going out of town this weekend and once i'm back i will begin my quest for a job in a vet clinic. I will be ecstatic when i can finally quit my job at burgerville! But more so to finally take some steps down my chosen career path!

good luck!

 

[david594]

Thank you all so much for your responses. I am going out of town this weekend and once I'm back I will begin my quest for a job in a vet clinic. I will be ecstatic when I can finally quit my job at Burgerville! But more so to finally take some steps down my chosen career path!

Burgerville!

But what about the walla walla sweet onion rings? 😱