Advice sought - Career change to Veterinary Nursing

RE: Advice sought - Career change to Veterinary Nursing

Kelly Stewart — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 12:14:48 GMT

I retrained as a vet nurse and am now the head nurse of a practice, it can be done!

You want to take the diploma route as you need to be paid whilst training so the degree route is no good for you.

To be in with a chance of getting a placement you will need to have work experience in practices. Keep writing letters/emails to practices to be a saturday girl or even just get a weeks work experience. Once you've got in somewhere, it will be easier to get work experience at others! I have people in my practice every month of the year and I'm sure there are other practices that are happy to help.

RE: Advice sought - Career change to Veterinary Nursing

Rebecca Gregory — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 17:22:10 GMT

Thank you for replying, that's all great advice and it's good to know I'm not alone on this path!

Since posting I have managed to snag a week's work experience at my local vet where grumpy underbed rabbit is registered, which is a good starting point to keep on doing that during my holiday time. Though I can't be a regular weekend volunteer as my rotas change every week with days off and hours all over the place, I will ask around and see if I can be useful when I do have those odd days off, even if they are unpredictable.

I've also considered an online course to do alongside my job on the Open Study website - not as a replacement for practical work, but as something I can do to get a grasp on the theory of animal care and husbandry. Hopefully that will help me out too.

Thank you all for your help and encouragement! It's a slow path I'm on to start with, but I feel that it will be a fulfilling one.

Beki x

RE: Advice sought - Career change to Veterinary Nursing

Lexi Fielding — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 12:19:36 GMT

Hi there,

I started the same as you, I have a degree so I didn't have any student loan left and I didn't have any qualifications specifically tailored to becoming a VN.

I was able to become a receptionist at a practice and have been here for nearly 2 years, and have just decided to become a RVN. Maybe look at local practices and see if you can get your food in the door by working on reception, you gain lots of experience on the front desk from seeing cases every day and then can discuss with your management about starting the course and seeing if they can help you with the costs in any way.

I'm really lucky that my management has decided to let me do the course and I'm paying for half of it through my wages, I'll still be earning a living wage and going to college one day a week alongside work.

Best of luck!!

RE: Advice sought - Career change to Veterinary Nursing

Faye Mc — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 08:59:09 GMT

Hi there,

Recommend initially volunteering at local animal shelters/rescue centres - not only a great way to help animals in need but practically too as helps get you used to being around animals that have very different backgrounds (from streetwise angry strays to neglected cases to confident kittens) and the level of hygiene required (lots of cleaning!).

I changed career - in fact a few times before returning to my childhood ambition of being an RVN. After being disillusioned as a lawyer and then initially changing to HR, I started volunteering in Jan 2015 at my weekends to get some cat time (lived in a flat with no prospect of having one and missed being around them!) and found I much preferred my weekend job to my full time job!

I too did a weeks veterinary placement in year 10 and remembered it fondly so after getting stuck into volunteering, I started an online animal care course (animaljobsdirect.com) to learn the basics of husbandry and anatomy and then started applying for work experience. I looked up training practices on the RCVS website and then dropped my CV off with them in person. Did 3 placements (a week each) and was offered part time veterinary receptionist role off the back of the placements which gave a great insight into the runnings of the practice. I then got a kennel assistant role which I did for a year and alongside it did an online animal nursing assistant course (sjstraining) before starting my student nurse training in March this year on the diploma route so work 4 days and college 1 day a week...

So to summarise, research, get experience from all areas be that Saturday girl, kennel assistant, reception and get stuck in! Good luck x

RE: Advice sought - Career change to Veterinary Nursing

Sal the 1st — Sat, 24 Jun 2017 22:49:37 GMT

one way in is to offer yourself as a Saturday girl if that is possible. It is a toe in the door and usually a pretty good taster - I know quite a few people who have got in this way, it gives you a chance to get used to handling animals and humans (both clients and staff)