Need Advice: Job Dilemma

[wolfspeaker]

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Long story short: I am finally getting somewhere with regards to going back to school! Yay! I'm going to try to pick up 1 or 2 online classes this winter.

Now, back to my dilemma. I just recently moved 3 hours to be closer to where I want to go to school to finish my prerequisites. I literally just started a job at a pig farm last week. I have worked at a couple before, it's my home turf and I am very comfortable with what I am doing. They like me, I like them. All is good. The pay is decent, living expenses are decent.

6 months earlier, back in March, I put an application in to an animal research position near the school. It's one of those companies that is a liaison for many research/scientific companies. I would basically be the animal caretaker on whatever site I got hired to, could be LA, SA or Lab. I did a preliminary interview, they liked me and put me in their files. I knew it could be months before I heard from them, when they had an open position. Today they called and would like to know if I am still interested because they have a position open and they would like me to come in and talk to the company. I have a good feeling about them. You know how sometimes you can just 'tell' by the tone of their voice that you have a good chance? I get that feeling.

This would definitely boost my animal and vet experience(you work with a staff veterinarian couple times a week). It's a new area that I would love to learn(research). The only experience I have so far is volunteering at a LA/SA vet clinic years ago, and then my LA experience working on farms.

Also, the Pig farm is about an hour from the school, and the research place would be somewhere within 30 minutes, depending on where I got sent(if I got the job of course).

Should I go ahead and schedule an interview? I feel like I'd be abandoning my current very new job, which I was excited to get. I feel awkward telling someone 'Yes I would love to work for you' and then 2 weeks later telling them I"m leaving.

Or should I stay where I'm at, save up some money(which I could do with the other job too), take some classes and then find something more Vet related for experience?

What to do. What to do. *Sigh* I wish life were much easier.

 

[that redhead]

Before I can give advice, I have a few questions.

What kind of animal experience do you already have? You say you've done a lot of swine work, as well as LA and SA stuff. What is the quantity and quality of these experiences?

For the research position, you mention working with LA, SA or lab. Does this mean you will be an animal care tech for either LA, SA or conventional "lab animals"? Is there any overlap? It seems if they place you with LA (or even SA), you're almost repeating the experiences you already have, although technically in a research setting. Also, to be clear, simply working with lab animals doesn't count as research experience necessarily! I work with lab animals myself and don't count it under research experience, just vet/animal care experiences.

I think overall it's sort of a ****ty thing to do to abandon a job you -just- got. I wouldn't expect a letter of rec. from them if you quit after just two weeks. However, I understand where you're coming from and my overall intuition is to go with the lab animal job, if indeed you will be doing things that you have not already done and working with species you haven't already worked with. Hope this is helpful!

 

[wolfspeaker]

I called her back and left a message and should be getting more information here hopefully soon.

My understanding is that it would be with 'lab' animals. Rats, mice, rabbits, etc. But they do have some sites that work with pigs, sheep, cattle, and horses. I do not believe there would be any overlap. It's one or the other. To start with, mostly feeding, cleaning, keeping records. Sometime down the line it may turn into other duties like administering drugs, breeding, drawing blood or actual research work. Kind of a foot in the door. Like being a Kennel Assistant at a Vet Clinic.

Most of my LA experience is with Swine. A few years working on confinement operations in Farrowing, Breeding, Nursery and Finisher. I have also worked on a small (400 cow) Dairy Farm as a Milker and General Help(any barn duties). Nothing intensive on the Dairy, was just a job really.

The Vet Clinic experience is minimal, and I would be looking for more down the road. I was in High School and volunteering 2 days a week during the summers. Cleaning, preparing surg. packs, observing surgeries & patient visits, barn duties, paperwork on farm runs. It was SA & LA. I wasn't doing a whole heck of a lot. Just to see if I really wanted to go down that road. I did and still do, just had a few bumps in the road along the way. Which is why I am now 27 and finally going back to school.

I agree it wouldn't be research experience, just vet/animal experience. But right now, most(90%) of what I have is LA, and I would like to get some SA/Lab in there somewhere, if not to just see if I like it.

I also agree it's not a very cool thing to leave a job you just started. It's very crappy timing as far as I'm concerned. That's why I'm not sure what I should do. I wouldn't get a LOR from them anyways? I don't work with a veterinarian. (or can you get LOR's from people that aren't Vets?, sorry new to this)

 

[thedogisgreen]

You can get LORs from non-vets, but schools usually want several vets and then sometimes a professor or advisor. Definitely wouldn't get a LOR from this job if you leave, and even though leaving a job so quickly obviously isn't the ideal situation - do what you'd get the most valuable experience from and would enjoy most. Seems like that might be the lab position? It'll be awkward quitting the current job, but would you regret it later if you kept this one and said no to the lab animals opportunity? It sounds like the lab animal job would start off being animal experience, as classified on VMCAS (though if it's under the supervision of a PhD, it counts as vet experience!)

 

[sunnyshine]

Assuming you get the research job and also assuming that the hours/pay/etc. for the research job are decent (and that's alot of assuming) I would go with the research job and leave the pig farm. It seems to me that you already have a decent bit of LA experience from working on a dairy farm, with swine, and in a SA/LA mixed clinic. I think most of the school would appreciate some additional small animal experience and most schools (like Missouri & WSU) really like to see that research experience on the apps. I do think it is kind of a "sour situation" to be leaving your current job, but you have to look out for you own best interests. Once you have all the info (i.e. - the research job offer) you should be able to make a more informed decision. Good luck!

 

[PearlDVM]

i would take the job at the research facility. To me, it's no contest - it would be best for your application, both by adding breadth and time to your experience.

 

[chris03333]

Just to clarify something...All animals in research facilities are "lab animals". In the lab animal world we call rodents, mice, hamsters and the like "small animals" and dogs, cats, pigs, horses, cows sheep (basically anything larger than the formentioned "small animals")"large animals".


Carry on.

 

[Lab Rat83]

The research job might smell better

 

[that redhead]

Just to clarify something...All animals in research facilities are "lab animals". In the lab animal world we call rodents, mice, hamsters and the like "small animals" and dogs, cats, pigs, horses, cows sheep (basically anything larger than the formentioned "small animals")"large animals".


Carry on.

Not sure if directed at me, but this is why I placed "lab animals" in quotes in my reply 🙂 By "lab animals" in quotations I was referring to those species most commonly associated with laboratory animal work (rodents, really). If not directed at me, carry on! 🙂

 

[chris03333]

Not sure if directed at me, but this is why I placed "lab animals" in quotes in my reply 🙂 By "lab animals" in quotations I was referring to those species most commonly associated with laboratory animal work (rodents, really). If not directed at me, carry on! 🙂

Nope not you at all. It was directed at the OP who said " I would basically be the animal caretaker on whatever site I got hired to, could be LA, SA or Lab"