Your First Year in Practice

Success from the start.

You're done with school and ready to enter practice! We know it's an exciting time – but with the anticipation comes a lot of questions. Here are some things to think about as you transition during your first year of practice:

• Launching Your Career

• Choosing A Mentor

• Communicating Effectively With Clients And Your Team

• Leading A Hospital Team

Launching Your Career

There is no magic bullet. But with the right steps, you can find the perfect fit.

Know Yourself

• What kind of position are you looking for?
• What skills do you have?
• What do you need to work on?
• What do you bring to a potential employer?
• Set Priorities
• What are my priorities? (i.e. mentorship, compensation, benefits?)
• What is important, negotiable, nice but not needed?
• Know the Profession
• Where are we headed? Opportunities in Clinical Practice, Public Health, and Specialization
• Start networking now with Summer Jobs, Externships, State and local associations, Professors, Conferences etc.
• Mentorship is important for professional growth, building skills, knowledge, and confidence
• Don't burn bridges! This is a small profession. You never know what the future holds — as life changes so
• might your career path.

Resume

• No more than 1‐2 pages
• Highlight special interests and experiences
• Emphasize the positives
• Proof read carefully
• Up to date contact information

Interview Practices

• First impression starts before the interview
• Screen practices by your priorities
• Smile when on the phone
• Set up observation time
• Be professional (dress for success and be on time)
• Be prepared (know about the business, know your priorities, prepare for questions)
• Ask questions (explore your priorities, the job description, salary and benefits, hours, when to expect an offer, etc)
• Follow up after the interview (return calls promptly, communicate your decision, don't burn bridges)
  Fielding Offers
• Compare apples to apples
• Take everything into consideration: salary and benefits, support staff, paid time off, schedule, location,
  opportunities for advancement, etc.)
• Will you have a mentor?
• Who matches your priorities the best?

Choosing A Mentor

• Get input from professors, clinicians, classmates and former employers
• Source mentors from externships, Summer Jobs, Internships or the AVMA
• Make a list of "must haves" and "nice to haves." Don't compromise your "must haves"!

10 Traits to Look for in a Good Mentor

1. Respected by peers
2. Supportive
3. Patient
4. Similar work ethic and style
5. Honest
6. Practices Evidence Based Medicine
7. Organized
8. A well‐trained team
9. Listens
10. Available

Communicating Effectively With Clients & Your Team

Better communication translates into healthier patients, happier clients, and a more satisfied veterinarian. Please see below for tips on communicating more effectively.

• Communication is a core clinical skill
• Communication is related to significant outcomes of care
• Communication can be taught and is a series of learned skills

Relationship‐Centered Care is:

• Characterized as a partnership
• A negotiation and shared decision‐making are used to take the client's perspective into consideration
• A joint venture between the veterinarian and client to provide optimal care for the pet

Four Core Communication Skills

•  Nonverbal Communication — all behavioral signals between interacting individuals
  • Pay more attention to the nonverbal cues of the client
  • Increase awareness of your own nonverbal cues
• Open‐Ended Questions — statements that encourage the person to elaborate or to tell a story without
  shaping or focusing content
  • "Tell me" or "describe for me"
  • "How" or "what"
  • Use a funneling technique (start with open‐ended questions and follow up with focused closeended b questions)
• Reflective Listening — reflecting back the content or feelings behinds the person's message in your own
  words
  • Echoing — "So, Fluffy threw up twice last night."
  • Paraphrasing — "It sounds like you think the vomiting might be due to changing his food."
  • Summarizing — "Can I see if I have got this right? The vomiting started on Wednesday, he
    started feeling lethargic last night, this morning he refused to eat and his stools have been
    normal all along."
• Empathy Statements — statements that show you are considering a problem from the client's
  perspective
  • Appreciate another's predicament or feelings
  • Communicate that understanding
  • Use statements like the following to express empathy:
    • "I can see how hard it is to make this decision."
    • "It must have been difficult for you to raise this concern with me."
    • "It sounds like you did all that you could for Fluffy."

Leading A Hospital Team

Tip #1: Whether you like it or not, when you became a veterinarian, you became a leader.

When you put that white coat on, people will listen to you. You have the responsibility to be intentional about how you use this power. It is important for you to see yourself as a leader and think about the kind of leader you would want to be. Your best boss understood something that your worst boss did not. Examine their differences and identify skills you want to work on to be more like your best boss.

Characteristics of your Best Boss: What was your best boss like? How did that make you feel?
     Examples: visionary, ethical, dedicated, humble, open, innovative, fair, assertive, funny, etc.

Characteristics of your Worst Boss: What was your worst boss like? How did that make you feel?
     Examples: condescending, inconsistent, mean, arrogant, aggressive, close-minded, etc.

Tip #2: You cannot do it alone... and probably wouldn't want to.

You cannot be a successful veterinarian without the help of a team. It would be difficult and lonely to be a successful veterinarian without a skilled team to help you. Learning to lead and effectively develop this team will help you in taking the best care of all the Pets you see and reaching your goals.

Tip #3: There is no best leadership style. It depends on the situation.

Although you might each have a preference for one style, different styles will be appropriate based on the situation and the individual you are working with. Think about situations where different styles are most appropriate. Should you boss your team around when they are experienced and doing routine tasks? Probably not. But, maybe you should be direct and tell them what to do during an emergency. Consider which styles are effective for you in different situations and start being intentional about what type of leadership you use for various hospital situations.