The decision to train as a veterinary surgeon or nurse often starts in childhood. Cue years of working hard at school, unpaid work experience and tireless determination – and that’s just to get onto the course. It can therefore come as a surprise if, years later, we find ourselves considering an alternative career and possibly leaving clinical work entirely. This is not always an easy decision to make, with many conflicting emotions and pressures competing for our attention. How do we know when to make a change? Veterinary Woman spoke with a panel of five women in the veterinary industry who have left clinical work to hear about their experiences and how they feel on the other side.
Is practice life sustainable?
Sarah*, a veterinary surgeon from York, graduated in 2011 and has worked in science marketing for three years. “I actually loved clinical work, but I found some elements of it immensely stressful – I felt that my responsibilities exceeded my control,” explained Sarah. “We frequently had overbooked surgeries where I was trying to do two vets’ worth of work with just one pair of hands. However, if anything had been missed then it would have been my fault, and, if the RCVS were to get involved, they wouldn’t take into account that I had less than five minutes to deal with the case – they would just focus on the fact that I missed something. I found that the stress was dominating my home life as well as my work life.”
The pressure of practice is a feeling that Alexandra, a previous practice manager from Brighton, can relate to. “I had so much pressure from senior management to increase sales, even though our clinic was actually doing very well,” said Alexandra. “The issue that I struggled with is that we were also dealing with staff burnout, and I couldn’t have physically asked anything more from my team. There didn’t seem to be a lot of concern that I had exhausted vets coming to me in tears; the only conversations were around increasing our key performance indicators. I loved my role, but in the end, I couldn’t deal with this internal conflict anymore. The pressure of being asked to manage in a way that I wasn’t comfortable with became too much.”
I have a different sort of satisfaction now
A change of feeling
Whilst the stress of clinical work is certainly a factor in moving onto a different career, a change of feeling towards veterinary work itself is also relevant. Rachael, a veterinary surgeon from Cornwall, explained how her perception of the profession changed as she gained more experience. “There was a moment, about five years into my career, where I thought to myself, ‘Is this it?’ There wasn’t much opportunity for career progression. It was basically: stay the same or become a partner. I ended up feeling really quite frustrated and, having asked my friends, I realised I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.”
Was there a specific moment when Rachael felt it was time to make a change? “Not really,” said Rachael, “but after the birth of my second child, I was disappointed when my employer wasn’t open to any discussion of flexibility regarding my hours. It didn’t make me feel valued. It was just a flat ‘no’ when I asked about changing my rota.”
Alexandra agreed that the lack of flexibility for working parents can be a huge contributing factor to vets leaving the profession. “I don’t have children,” she explained, “but I was finding my working hours increasingly unreasonable and there wasn’t an option for going part-time. My employers were also unsympathetic when working parents had to leave their shift on time to take over childcare responsibilities. There was just no consideration for the personal lives of the team. We lost a lot of good vets – both men and women – once they had children.”
Katherine, a veterinary nurse from London, switched to a teaching and academic career after 15 years in practice and has mixed feelings about leaving clinical work. “I actually really miss practice, especially the satisfaction of working directly with patients, but the salary I receive now, well, you can’t even compare it to the average salary of a vet nurse. I have a different type of work satisfaction now – I love seeing my students blossom and do well. It’s a wonderful feeling to be helping the next generation of nurses. It’s not all about salary of course, but nurses really should be earning more, especially if we want them to remain in practice.”
Conflicting emotions
A veterinary career of any kind is, without doubt, a vocation, and the decision to leave can feel immensely difficult. Pressure from ourselves, our families, our employers – it all arguably leaves us with a sense of conflicting emotions. When we’ve worked so hard for something, do we owe it ourselves to see it though? Is there a fear that we may not even have the skills to take on a different career?
“I definitely felt like I had to be a vet, it was what I had wanted since I was five. It was part of my identity,” explains Rachael. “But I realised that my skills and experiences were transferable. I think there is a general lack of knowledge about other opportunities, but you don’t have to turn your back on your degree.”
Liz, a veterinary surgeon from Cambridge, agrees that it’s possible to shape a new career using her skillset. “I started freelance writing in the evenings and on the weekends, alongside my full-time clinical role. I was initially doing this because I’ve always enjoyed writing and I wanted to try something a little different to generate a bit of extra income.
“After a few months, I was offered a freelancing contract with an animal health copywriting company, and I was finding that I enjoyed the veterinary copywriting I was doing even more than my job as a vet in clinical practice.
“Of course, I had concerns that I was “wasting” all the hard work I had put into earning my degree. I use inverted commas here because I’m aware that the skills and knowledge I gained during my time studying at university, and when I was working as a vet, are transferable – and so it will never truly be wasted. I continue to utilise my veterinary knowledge on a daily basis.”
Did Sarah find a career change easy to make after finding practice so stressful? Did science marketing live up to her expectations? “I may sound like I’m just concentrating on the negatives of leaving practice, but there were also positives to moving on. I had loved the academic side of my veterinary education and I felt that the move into science marketing would really give me a chance to reconnect with my love of learning.”
Katherine agrees. “My role now as a lecturer is still evidence-based. Creating a teaching plan isn’t that different to when I was putting together a nursing care plan. I love seeing the end result and tweaking approaches along the way to best suit the individual.
“Of course, my knowledge as an RVN is integral to the content, but the additional skills I learnt in practice taught me how to work well under pressure and the importance of using my initiative. There are so many transferrable skills that we learn but don’t give ourselves credit for.”
“You can always go back”
What advice would our panel have for readers who are considering moving to non-clinical work?
“Don’t be afraid to move on, your degree sets you up with so many valuable skills that can be applied to many other jobs – communication, teamwork, prioritising, multitasking, time management,” said Sarah. “But, do also think about the really fulfilling elements of clinical work and ask yourself if your new path will give you those, too.
For some people, the right decision would be to find a practice with whatever you need to tip that balance in favour of staying.
“For me, I didn’t appreciate enough how much I got out of helping clients and patients – knowing each day that you had done something worthwhile, even if there were lots of stresses that clouded that. I still think it was probably the right decision for me to leave, but for some people, the right decision would be to find a practice with more support, better hours, more opportunity for progression, or whatever you need to tip that balance in favour of staying. But those jobs do not grow on trees, and it might feel overly optimistic to rely on finding one, particularly if you’re tied to a specific area.”
“Look for a role you think you will really enjoy and reach out to your non-clinical peers,” recommended Liz. “I initially reached out to several of my peers who had already made the transition to non-clinical veterinary work. This was invaluable, as it enabled me to ask them why and how they made the transition, and the vets I spoke to also gave me really useful tips, advice and contacts.
“It’s also a great idea to trial your new role in some capacity before giving up clinical work completely, as this will give you the opportunity to see if you like it. But, above all, don’t be afraid to try something new. As a vet, it’s easy to feel like you have to be stuck in one job role for the rest of your life as our training is so specific, but there really are different roles out there.
“Your training will have provided you with a huge number of transferable skills, which means we are often very desirable employees!”
Alexandra agreed. “I actually work in government now. But my experience with practice protocols, legislation and dealing with highly sensitive, often unforeseen situations was perfect training for my new role.
“When you’ve spent so many years either in training, or in the job itself, the world can actually start to feel quite small. It’s easy to get used to something and leaving can feel incredibly daunting. But, all I will say is that the switch has been very positive for me. I’m still in touch with all my old colleagues and I feel like I’ve added another string to my bow – not that I’ve taken any away.”
“The doors that are open to you are huge,” concluded Rachael. “You don’t need to stop being a vet. My advice is to go for it – if you really don’t like it, you can always go back.”
*All names and locations have been changed.
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