Job Interviews for Vets & Vet Nurses

Veterinary vacancy interviews can be gruelling processes. To meet a stranger who decides your immediate future, surrounded by other candidates competing for the same job, is daunting. You can have the best laid plan ready to go, with a flawless CV to match. If you enter the room and let your nerves get the best of you, then you may easily blow your own chances out of the water. Here at Carlton Professional, we find vet nurse and veterinary jobs on a daily basis. We also handle hundreds of employers all seeking their next employee, so we have seen both sides of this tale. We’ve constructed a helpful list, to stop those interview butterflies from getting the better of you on the day.

Prepare for the worst

Some anxiety surrounding the job interview process, is the inevitability of being asked a question that you’d rather not answer. It can be so bad as to stop you from sleeping, but this can be turned to your advantage. What are the questions you’d really hate to answer?  Is it your first time seeking veterinary vacancy after a period of absence, and you know it’s not an ideal thing for employers to hear? Write and prepare the answer in advance. Be ready for it. If nothing else, it will provide you confidence in knowing your shortcomings and how to work with or around them.

Hope for the best

Many athletes visualise their success before achieving it, so why shouldn’t you? Imagine everything that can go right, not go wrong. Picture yourself shaking their hands rather than wringing your own. Confidence, tempered before becoming arrogance, is something every employer wants to see. If you project an image of confidence to your employer, you show traits of knowing more than just yourself. You will appear more in control, engaged and enthusiastic for the position, all things that employers love to see!

Don’t be afraid to be proud

A great way to build confidence, executive coaches have found, is to write down your biggest accomplishments. Then, write which skills of yours were directly responsible for them. It never hurts to remind yourself of why you deserve the job and why you could the perfect candidate. Has your work in veterinary jobs previously produced impressive or interesting case studies, for example? A common interview question is to list your strengths, and having evidence of them is always a plus.

How long does veterinary vacancy interviews take? Add an hour

When preparing for the day of the interview, consider everything you need to do like a timetable. How long will it take you to get dressed? How far away is the interview? What if your alarm doesn’t go off, or the traffic is a nightmare? This is why you should always add an hour to your time. An extra hour may be less sleep to some, but to others it’s a safety net. It allows you to go about the interview day, and not be rushing around trying to remember everything. When you aren’t rushing, you are thinking. It allows you time to think “Have I got everything?” before you head out to commute. It allows for things to go wrong, and for you to have and execute a plan to handle it. Less stress on the day leads to a clearer head in the interview room.