Practice hired nurse without looking at resume, claims recruiter

Practice hired nurse without looking at resume, claims recruiter

A veterinary surgery was so desperate for staff that it booked a nurse without looking at the person’s resume, a recruiter has claimed.

Justin Powlesland, director of JHP recruitment, said: “I’ve been recruiting in the industry for 12 years now and it’s never been tougher.

“The minute we’ve got a vet with good experience, people are just saying, ‘yeah, get them in for an interview today if you can.'”

The veterinary sector has been struggling with recruitment and retention for many years due to long hours and the demanding nature of the work. Covid too has added to the strain and an increase in pet ownership and the loss of some European staff post Brexit has only exacerbated the crisis.

‘Can be book them’

Powlesland told Business Insider he’s never had so many vacancies on his website, with an average of 10 new positions a day in September.

He also explained how one surgery, desperate to fill a temporary nurse’s position, asked to take an applicant without seeing their resume or asking for a rundown of their experience.

“We had a client that we’d left a message for to say that we had a nurse available in their area. They phoned straight back and said yes please can we book them.”

The story emerged after a recent survey by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons  found only 48% of UK vets said they would enter the profession if they could choose their career again.

The RCVS council recently moved to address the UK-wide shortage of vets by introducing more flexibility into the requirements for English language testing of overseas-qualified surgeons wanting to join the Register.

Improving the pipeline of graduates is another solution and should be helped by the opening of a number of new veterinary colleges in the UK, said Anthony Chadwick, a former vet who is now CEO of The Webinar Vet.

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