Non-trads: Vet experience?

[cozycleo]

---

Members do not see this ad.

As a non-trad, I have a salaried job in a completely different field than what I'd like to do later on. I've got plenty of animal experience between various organizations, but no vet experience.

I can't just quit my 9-5 job right now to work in a clinic as a receptionist. Would the smart move to be send letters to local vets (including my vet) and request volunteer opportunities for nights and weekends? There are 24 hour emergency vets in my area. Otherwise the only thing I can do is work Saturdays since most of the other offices are closed on Sundays. I guess my question is if only working weekends is going to be enough experience in 2 years when I apply to vet school?

I'm pretty clear on everything else I need to do. The vet experience is the only thing that's really got me puzzled. How do other non-trads get their vet experience?

 

[RazorDoc2010]

hey cozy...the majority of the veterinary experience I had was working on weekends at an emergency clinic. They were great about letting me do tons of things to get a lot of experience really quick. And the great thing about emergency vet med is the variety of cases you see...everything from shot in the neck to heat strokes to itchy dogs. The variety you'd see in a short time would more than make up for the limited quantity of time!

Good luck to you!

 

[VetMed555]

That's the majority of my experience also: working Sat. and Sun at the Emergency clinic (mostly Sundays). The clinic I work at is open 6 p.m.-8 a.m., and they have a 6 p.m.-12 a.m. shift on weekdays, but will pretty much work with you on the hours you can work. The great thing about emergency is that they are very flexible, busy (great experience), and just different enough from day practices to make you stand out in your application. So, if you can, I'd pick up one weekend shift at an emergency clinic. Just make sure you don't sign up for too many shifts-it's easy to burn out before vet. school starts if you work all the time.

 

[pressmom]

I would also recommend making up a different resume highlighting your animal experience rather than your business experience, but leave your most recent business experience on there. Just put it below your animal experience. A resume isn't necessary for the job you're applying for, but it will set you apart from the crowd. Plus, by highlighting your animal experience will give them more faith in your ability to perform well on the job. Good luck!

Here's an example from mine:

XXX Animal Shelter, Somewhere—Spring 04-Winter 05
Dog Butler and Dog Matchmaker
Trained animals. Supervised play areas. Maintained cleanliness of dog environment. Helped match potential owners to animals. Directed public to proper areas.

 

[rustysmom]

I found a small clinic (3-4 vets) near my house that had Saturday hours. The vast majority of my experience was on Saturday mornings - I went in pretty much every Saturday morning for 3-4 hours. If I had a day off from my salaried job during the week, I went to the clinic. I also found a large animal vet who would work with my school and work hours. I observed with this vet a half day here and there when I could fit it in.

I had to call around a bit to find vets who were willing to work with my school/work schedule but it can be done. Good luck!

 

[TractorKid]

Hi Cozy! I'm a non-trad too! I worked 2 Saturdays a month at a small animal clinic and 2 saturdays a month at a TNR clinic for feral cats. The TNR clinic was great because i got a lot of hands on experience prep-ing cats for surgery, making sure they recover well and getting to observe a TON of the surgeries. I would definitely recommend looking for TNR clinics in your area; those good people are almost always looking for another helping hand.

Don't worry, it can be done! Good luck!

 

[cozycleo]

Thanks everyone! I will contact the emergency places when I am ready to do that. I'm committed for the summer, but that would be good for me starting in the fall or the winter. I didn't think of TNR either. Great suggestions!

 

[nyanko]

To be honest, I actually left my cushy 9-5 (well, more like 8-7) programming job to start working at a vet clinic full time when I made up my mind. Took a pretty huge pay cut and ditched all my benefits, but honestly I feel like it was the right decision for me. I guess I'm fairly impulsive though, so possibly my examples aren't the best to follow. 😛

 

[Truth74]

Hey cozy,

I did the temp assistant thing with a vet that was simpathetic, volunteered at a rescue one day a week, and went on 2 Rural Area Vet Service trips to get my vet experience.

It was very hard to find someone in my area that was willing to take a shot on a non-trad, because of the large number of undergrads with a lot more experience and free time. I was also working two minimum wage jobs, going to school full time, and I have 3 kids (4 if you count the dh😀).

Now, I have a full-time job working with vets, with benefits and holidays.😱

I'm still freaking out over the good money. I love the new job! 😍😍😍

 

[david594]

To be honest, I actually left my cushy 9-5 (well, more like 8-7) programming job to start working at a vet clinic full time when I made up my mind. Took a pretty huge pay cut and ditched all my benefits, but honestly I feel like it was the right decision for me. I guess I'm fairly impulsive though, so possibly my examples aren't the best to follow. 😛

Ditto. I just try not to think about the $24/hr pay cut. The 9-5 job really wasnt conducive to taking all the pre-reqs in a timely fashion either.

It seems a lot of the 24 hour hospitals have a higher turnover in their positions. Also people that only want weekends are more of a rarity and can be a selling point.

 

[LynnKat]

While I was working I volunteered at a rescue and worked at a wildlife rehab hospital on weekends. I did end up quitting my job and working at a large hospital while finishing my preqgs. I had enough classes to take, that it would have added years to my program if I had continued working at my job while trying to take classes and get experience. If you don't have many/ any classes to take you should be able to get in experience. You could try local vets and if you're near a large University Vet hospital or even some of the big refferral ceneters, check to see about their volunteer programs.

 

[ShelterGirl]

It also depends on where you want to go to school. I chose to ditch my corporate IT job and work in the vet field full-time. Why? I realized it would take YEARS to accumulate the thousands (yes, thousands) of hours of experience that my top school's successful applicants averaged if I tried to just squeeze it into spare time.

I like the emergency clinic idea, though - especially if you're willing to start out in kennels and/or work odd hours. Where I live it's very difficult to get an assistant or tech job at emergency without prior experience, but a lot of people have luck starting out in kennels and working their way up. Good luck!

 

[Sapphir3blu3]

I volunteered about one day a week at a wildlife rehab, for over a year. That particular rehab is open 364 days a year, 8 am to 8 pm: super-flexible. I also volunteered for a dog rescue group, fostering plus doing events and transporting etc. That latter stuff almost always happens on weekends.

None of this is really vet experience, but the resume I was able to put together showing this stuff got me in the door at a vet clinic as an entry-level, OTJ tech. Which I am doing now, part-time, while still doing part-time work in my first career (also programming). I had been freelancing from home full-time for about 5 years, and I just dropped a bunch of clients to make time for the clinic.

So everything's still exactly the same with what I'm doing with my first skill set---it's just I do less of it. Don't know what you do, but is there any chance of getting into doing it freelance/at home? It doesn't necessarily give you any more free time than what you had (when I went from 9-5 to freelance, in fact, I found the opposite), but it makes your schedule more flexible. No one cares if I write code at 3 a.m., as long as it gets done.

Not sure what the hell I'm going to do this fall, when I'll be switching to FT school instead of PT. Something will have to give. Originally I thought that when that time came, I'd give up vet work, because my programming work pays 5-6 times as much. Might as well make the most of very limited hours in which to earn money, right? Except at this point I know just enough about vet tech work to know how much I *don't* know, and it pains me to think of giving it up just as I'm beginning to obtain a clue. So maybe it'll go the other way---and if so at least I will have had a lengthy period in which to get used to the shock of the smallness of the numbers on my paychecks, prior to their becoming my *only* source of income.

In any event, the programming will have to end for good at some point, if not this fall, then once I finish my undergrad. At that point I plan to establish residency in the state where I want to go to vet school, which takes a year, which means I can rack up another 2000 hours if I work FT for a vet while waiting to fiiiinally apply to vet school!

 

[dpcdoc]

I had zero hours of clinical experience in a traditional veterinary setting. I shadowed an equine vet for a few days and I worked with a few vets in a research setting using a swine model, and that was all the interaction with a veterinarian I had. It did not seem to matter, as the rest of my application was sufficient to make up for the lack of clinical hours. I am definitely a non-traditional student, I am starting vet school at 40 after a career in the military. I know what the statistics list as the average # of hours working in a veterinary setting, but I would not get too hung up over it as long as the rest of your package is competitive. Best of luck to you.

 

[carrbear21]

I shadowed a vet when I was 18, worked at the clinic as a receptionist after my freshman year of college, then started working at a clinic 10 hours/week a year ago, along with volunteering one day a week at The Raptor Center (on the U of Mn campus) and a wildlife rehab center. Good call to be at a clinic- you need vet references!

 

[LovesAnimals]

I got let go from my school due to budget cuts (my previous career was as an elementary school teacher) and forced into finding a new job. Its either go and be a tech full time or do something in teaching (which is not included in my long term goals). I'm currently in the middle of that decision and am trying to find a job as a reception or in the kennel and then am trying to work my way up. I'll probably have to also get a second job to pay all the bills (the down side of being non-trads)

 

[JIKJen124]

Could you work as a tutor or something at nights and weekends?

 

[Badger Girl]

Hey Cozycleo- I am doing a lot of what was already mentioned in this thread and I have an additional thought for you. I happened to get connected with a local vet that works until 6:30pm one night per week, so I am planning to go shadow her that night each week when I'm done at my full-time job at 3:30pm. It isn't a crazy amount of hours that I will be accumulating, but maybe you could find someone in your area that works a little later that you could join after your job. Emergency clinics are also great. I usually schedule myself to go about 3-4 hours each time I go because otherwise, I get so pooped out from my full-time job, plus shadowing, school etc. You all know what I mean!

Good luck!! I'm in the same boat with you. 🙂