Spring Recruitment Kick-off

How to attract top veterinary talent before the busy season

As the days grow longer and client footfall begins to rise, UK veterinary practices know all too well what spring brings: a surge in consultations, an uptick in emergency cases, and if you haven’t prepared, a staffing headache that can define the entire year.

At Menlo Park Recruitment, we work exclusively within the veterinary sector, partnering with independent practices, corporate groups, and specialist referral centres across the UK. Year on year, we see the same pattern: the practices that recruit proactively in late winter and early spring are the ones that thrive in the months that follow. Those that wait until they’re already under pressure find themselves competing for a much smaller pool of available candidates.

This article is your practical guide to getting ahead of the curve, understanding the current talent landscape, making your practice irresistible to candidates, and partnering with the right people to secure the vets, nurses, and support staff you need before the rush.

Understanding the Current Veterinary Talent Market

The UK veterinary workforce has been under sustained pressure for several years. Brexit reduced the flow of EEA-trained professionals who historically filled a significant proportion of roles, while demand for veterinary services has grown sharply – fuelled by the pandemic-era surge in pet ownership, which has not materially reversed.

Here is what the market looks like right now:

Candidate shortages are most acute for experienced small animal vets with two to five years post-qualification experience, the group most sought-after by first-opinion practices.
Registered Veterinary Nurses (RVNs) are increasingly difficult to recruit, particularly in rural and suburban areas.
New graduates are more plentiful, but competition among practices to attract and retain them is fierce.
Overseas recruitment remains an option, but lead times and visa processing mean it cannot solve an immediate gap.
Locum rates have risen considerably, making temporary cover a costly fallback for understaffed practices.

The conclusion is straightforward: if you need permanent team members in place before your summer peak, you need to be actively recruiting right now.

Why Spring Is the Critical Window

Many practice owners assume recruitment is a year-round constant – and while that is partly true, spring represents a particularly important window for several reasons:

Graduate availability

Final-year veterinary students at the UK’s seven veterinary schools are completing their degrees and beginning their job search in earnest between February and May. Practices that engage early (Ideally before April) are in a position to attract this cohort before they are snapped up by competitors.

The locum-to-permanent shift

Many experienced vets and nurses working in locum roles begin to consider permanent positions during the first quarter of the year. They are often reassessing their work-life balance after the demands of the Christmas and winter period. A well-timed, compelling offer from a quality practice can convert a locum candidate into a permanent team member.

Notice periods

A typical vet or RVN in a permanent role has a notice period of four to twelve weeks. If you identify your ideal candidate in March or April and begin the process promptly, you can realistically have someone in post by late spring or early summer – just when you need them most.

Avoiding the premium

Locum cover during peak season is expensive. Investing in permanent recruitment now almost always delivers better value than covering a gap with locums throughout the summer.

What Top Veterinary Candidates Look For

Attracting great candidates is not simply a matter of posting a job advert. The best veterinary professionals, those with options, are selective about where they work. Understanding their priorities allows you to position your practice compellingly.

Based on our conversations with hundreds of veterinary candidates each year, here are the factors that consistently matter most:

Salary and package

Competitive pay remains the primary driver. Practices that are transparent about salary from the first touchpoint – rather than using vague phrases such as ‘competitive’ or ‘dependent on experience’ attract significantly more applications. Be specific about the package, including CPD allowance, RCVS registration fees, indemnity insurance, pension, and any other benefits.

Work-life balance and clinical hours

The post-pandemic veterinary workforce places enormous weight on sustainable working patterns. Out-of-hours arrangements, rota structures, and the number of clinical hours expected per week are among the first questions candidates raise. Practices offering no out-of-hours, or a genuine rota-based on-call model, have a significant competitive advantage.

Clinical support and caseload quality

Experienced vets want to practise good medicine. They ask about the equipment available, the breadth of caseload, whether in-house diagnostics are available, and how the clinical team is supported. Newer graduates particularly value access to a clinical mentor and a genuinely supportive learning environment.

Culture and leadership

This is consistently underestimated by practice owners. Candidates frequently cite ‘a good team culture’ and ‘supportive management’ as decisive factors, and many cite poor culture as the primary reason they left their last role. Think carefully about how you articulate what makes working at your practice genuinely enjoyable.

Career development

Opportunities for further qualifications, certificate programmes, or clinical interests are highly valued, particularly by graduates and vets in the early years of their career. If your practice can support professional development, say so clearly and specifically.

Practical Steps to Strengthen Your Recruitment Position

Once you understand what candidates want, the next step is ensuring your practice is positioned to deliver it – and that your recruitment process communicates this effectively.

Review and update your job descriptions

Generic job descriptions perform poorly. A well-written role profile should:

Open with an authentic, specific description of your practice and what makes it distinctive
Clearly state the salary range rather than hiding behind vague language
Describe the clinical caseload and any specialist interests or equipment available
Be explicit about out-of-hours arrangements
Describe the culture of the team honestly
Detail the benefits package in full

Optimise your online presence

Most candidates will research your practice online before responding to an opportunity. Review your Google profile, your practice website, and any social media channels. Are they up to date? Do they convey a genuine sense of your team and culture? Practices with a strong, authentic online presence attract more and better candidates.

Move quickly

The single most common reason practices lose good candidates is a slow process. When a strong candidate is identified, the practice that responds promptly, arranges interviews efficiently, and makes a clear offer in a timely manner almost always wins. Build internal consensus on your requirements and your decision-making process before you start recruiting… not during it.

Consider what you can flex on

If you are struggling to fill a role, consider whether there is any flexibility in your requirements. Could the role be offered as four days rather than five? Could you consider a vet with a slightly different background than your original specification? Could a structured mentorship programme make a new graduate a viable option? Rigid specifications can unnecessarily narrow the candidate pool.

The Role of a Specialist Veterinary Recruiter

Many practice owners attempt to recruit directly, posting on job boards and waiting for applications to arrive. For certain roles in certain markets, this can be sufficient. But in the current environment, it frequently is not.

Here is where a specialist veterinary recruitment partner adds genuine value:

Access to passive candidates

The best candidates are often not actively looking. They are in roles, performing well, but open to the right conversation. A specialist recruiter maintains relationships with these individuals and can approach them on your behalf, something a job advert alone cannot do.

Market knowledge

We speak to candidates and practices across the UK every day. We know what salaries are competitive in your area, what candidates are asking for, and what your competitors are offering. That intelligence allows us to advise you on how to position your opportunity effectively.

Efficiency

Recruitment takes time – time spent writing adverts, reviewing CVs, screening candidates, and coordinating interviews. Delegating this to a specialist frees your clinical and management team to focus on delivering excellent patient care.

Quality assurance

At Menlo Park Recruitment, we do not simply forward CVs. We have a thorough process for understanding candidate motivations, verifying their qualifications and registration status, and ensuring that they are genuinely suited to the roles we put them forward for. We only present candidates we believe are a strong match, saving you time and protecting your practice.

Retained and contingency options

Depending on the seniority of the role and the urgency of your need, we can work on a contingency basis (no fee unless we place) or on a retained basis for senior or particularly challenging searches. We will always recommend the approach that best suits your situation.

A Note on Retention: Hiring Is Only Half the Battle

Spring recruitment is an opportunity not just to bring new people in, but to reflect on retention. Recruiting costs time and money, the most efficient practices are those that attract well and then keep their people.

As you prepare your recruitment strategy, consider the following:

When did you last benchmark your salaries against the current market?
Do your team members have a clear development pathway and access to CPD?
Are your clinical rotas genuinely sustainable, or are people quietly burning out?
Do you have regular one-to-one meetings where team members can raise concerns?
Is your practice culture one that people actively choose, or simply one they tolerate?

If any of these give you pause, they are worth addressing alongside your recruitment activity. A practice that is genuinely excellent to work in attracts better candidates, retains them for longer, and builds a reputation in the veterinary community that generates its own recruitment pipeline over time.

How Menlo Park Recruitment Can Help You Attract Top Veterinary Talent!

Menlo Park Recruitment is a specialist veterinary recruitment consultancy working with practices across the UK. We recruit at all levels, from new graduates and locum positions through to head nurses, practice managers, and clinical directors. Our team has deep sector knowledge, long-standing candidate relationships, and a genuine commitment to finding the right fit for both parties.

If you are planning to recruit this spring – or if you are already feeling the pressure of a vacant role, we would welcome the opportunity to speak with you. Whether you want a straightforward conversation about the market, or are ready to brief us on a specific role, we are here to help.

Get in touch with the Menlo Park team today: