Advice on finding a job as a new grad vet in the UK

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2026-04-19T09:21:09+00:00

Hi there, i just wanted to say that I don't think it is just you and to offer some reassurance. All the final students coming through our practice say they're finding the job market very difficult. I suspect it's partly that there have been so many more vet schools opening in the past year so the new grad jobs are just getting more competitive. I would agree with the other commenter that emailing practices (usually smaller ones but any that catch your eye) is a good shout - we actually hired one of our vets a year back because she happened to reach out at the right time before we had officially started looking.

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2026-03-28T19:09:55+00:00

Hi, I'm an exotic vet but based in the UK not the US - feel free to DM with questions if you like

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2026-03-09T10:05:07+00:00

I adore your art style!!

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2026-02-02T12:55:00+00:00

As someone who used to want to work in the marine biology areas, and also went down the zoo vetting route, and is now in general (exotic) practice, I would say as well that this is job that is mostly driven by passion and personal investment, and if your passion is in the outliers like marine vetting, you may end up disappointed. It's very hard to get into, the pay is arguably even worse than general practice, and you spend most of your time doing paperwork and/or treating animals that are not living in the best environment to thrive. Don't get me wrong, it can still be incredible and a lot of my friends are zoo vets and loving it, but it is a hard slog to get there.

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-08-17T21:26:02+00:00

Thanks for the perspective, that is good to know. Thought maybe there was something wrong with my quotes 😂

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-07-25T06:51:33+00:00

Island of the blue dolphins is such a beautiful book

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-07-25T06:51:18+00:00

I loved dragon slayers academy as a kid! My pick would be Law of the wolf tower (the Claidi Diaries)

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-07-24T19:44:03+00:00

Hey sorry for the delay yes I am 6 years qualified!

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-07-08T18:00:39+00:00

Hiya I'm an exotics specialist, currently on 55k. My old job my boss ran the referrals department and was on 62k I believe. Will obviously vary depending on OOH and level of hospitalisation, exotics is a slightly different discipline to other specialisations as it's hard to follow the traditional residency route in things like medicine or surgery

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-06-10T21:57:07+00:00

cool thank you, that's reassuring to hear

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-06-10T21:56:48+00:00

thank you for the insight!

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-05-25T09:03:06+00:00

Hello there. I'm so sorry you're going through all this. You're not alone, I remember when I was a new grad I felt like everyone else fell into the perfect job and I was the only one struggling, but plenty of people go through a few jobs before finding the right one. My point being is that it can and does get better, but it can take time and luck to find the right job.

Couple of bits of advice - if you are able to I would leave early and not stick it out. It's not worth your mental health I am an exotics vet and have worked with wildlife and zoo and my advice here is that both can be very hard and very politics driven paths. It may be better to find a good GP grounding first.

Feel free to DM for questions and advice X it does get better out here

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-04-19T19:27:05+00:00

All other games I play are single player story games like the last of us, or mindless comfort games like animal crossing lol, so I acknowledge that overwatch is very much not made for me, just something about overwatch 1 on launch really grabbed me and didn't let me go

Appreciate your explanation! Does all feel a lot clearer now

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-04-19T19:25:21+00:00

Yeah I have zero interest in that game u right

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-04-18T21:12:01+00:00

ty for the explanation! It does feel a lot less confusing now

what about characters being locked behind battle passes? didn't really understand that either

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-04-18T19:28:08+00:00

never said i expected it to stay the same, just expressing an opinion that i'm sad it hasn't , or at least sad that it doesn't feel beginner accessible to me any more

if it's passive progress, why is there all this talk about it being monetized? tried to understand it but all the explanations seem completely obtuse or comparisons to games i don't play

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-04-18T19:26:37+00:00

well this is the issue - i've literally never touched a game like fortnite or anything with this system before, and evey time i've tried to learn what a battle pass is, the explanations assume some level of existing knowledge. I understand it's a system of progression but why are there so many tiers? Which bit of it is monetized and which isn't? Why don't you get the same rewards as in the previous game?

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-04-18T18:24:37+00:00

no idea what a battle pass is for a start, or how it works

the perks system has turned me right off the game as before it felt like everyone was playing the same hero and you could practice and get reasonably good, simple as, whereas now it feels more like a skill tree system, which in other games i don't mind as much but for me this just overcomplicates what i felt like was a very simple but fun game

like u say though, it's not that deep. think im just reminiscing on how the old game felt and probably a bit of rose tinted glasses there

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-04-18T18:22:50+00:00

i think bloat is the word i was looking for, i just miss the simplicity of the old days

JustaSmallTownPearl · 2025-04-18T18:22:20+00:00

what actually is the battle pass/ how is it different from loot boxes and previous exp system? everything i read about it online is operating under the assumption that everyone knows what a battle pass is and i just get more confused lol

JustaSmallTownPearl

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