THE new vet schools and increase
in student numbers in each year has
led to many concerns about over-
saturation of the jobs market.
Stories abound of the many
hundreds of new graduates struggling
to find that first job when they all
graduate at the same time. It must be a
stressful time for them, but still
unemployment is, in the end, almost
unheard of
long-term for
M’sRCVS (1%
of all vets in
2010, from
the survey
below, of
which 38%
are new
graduates yet to find work).
A much rarer beast to find, I am
discovering, is the “recent” graduate or
“experienced vet”, especially one
prepared to do out-of-hours work.
A brief survey of colleagues around
the country (personal contacts, vet
forums and CPD events) has confirmed
that this is indeed a common finding
when recruiting for a vet. We are currently looking for such a person and
the applications so far have been
intriguing in their make-up.
The most recent RCVS “Survey of
the Profession” (done in 2010 and
available as a pdf on its website)
provides us with some useful context
here.
For veterinary surgeons working in
clinical practice, 60% say that their practice still does its own out-of-hours
work. Two-thirds personally undertake
out-of-hours work. An average on call
hours per week was 20 mixed, 18 SA, 25
equine and 12 FA. So the “no on-call”
job is still, just about, the minority
situation.
Averages
An average working week is 45 hours; average age 45; 79% of vets working in
the UK qualified in the UK and only
2% are from ethnic minority groups. In
2010, 7.6% of vets working in the UK
qualified in “other EU” countries, i.e.
not UK or Ireland.
As an aside, the profession at that point
in time returned a 50% male to female
ratio; it was 34% in 2000 and 45% in
2006.
Practice ownership is another
interesting factor: in 2006 corporates
owned 2% of practices, in 2010, 4.7%.
Anecdotal figures put corporate
ownership now at 20% out of the
approximately 3,700 practices in the
UK. The average vet practice size is
four vets.
So, based on the above, I am a
completely average vet and co-own a
pretty average practice. There is a feeling
in the profession that there are too
many vets graduating for the job
market.
Why then am I, and many others in
a similar position, finding a dearth of
UK recent graduates and experienced
vets applying for work?
One factor will be that the natural churn in the job market is
highest with new graduates
and the first year or two of
qualification. A major
change many of us are
experiencing is the large
number of European vets
with good clinical
experience applying for
UK jobs. They also do not
seem put off by working
on-call.
It reminds me of a
Marcus Brigstocke sketch
about Eastern European
builders, one of whom asked Marcus if
he minded him coming back on a bank
holiday to finish a job before he started
the next one. They weren’t stealing UK
builders’ jobs, he said, they were doing
the jobs that the UK workforce didn’t
want to.
Very employable
I think that the figure of 7.6% of EU
graduates will be a lot higher in the next
survey. Once they have a year or two
experience in the UK they will be very
employable in the UK for the long
term.
This will add in future years to the
competition our new graduates already
face. If other industry sector trends
apply to the veterinary world, then it
may also have a downward pressure on
salaries.
The future of the veterinary
profession is much debated with concerns voiced by many about the
increasing corporatisation of the
profession. As an owner of a small
independent practice I would not want a
corporate opening up down the road,
but overall for the pet-owning public
they are not necessarily a bad thing
(how’s that for faint praise!).
Some models seem more attractive
than others to become involved in –
from a full sell-out of an existing
practice, to young vets buying into a
joint venture, to the “hub and spoke”
model of central practices and branch
partners.
Compare with opticians
Current predictions put corporates
owning 50% of all practices by 2020.
For a possible glimpse of the future try
looking for an independent optician,
then try looking for a Specsavers or
Vision Express. Deregulation of
optician ownership happened about 15
years before it happened to us.
On-call will always be a defining
feature of our profession and how this
pans out over the next decade will have
further implications for the make-up of our profession. Many
countries just leave it
up to the market to
provide and it can do
a good job of doing
so where the
population density is
there to support a
genuine market.
Being on-call is
currently controlled
centrally and has
maintained the
viability of high-
investment practices by stopping very basic one-vet practices
springing up. This is especially
important in rural areas and has
definitely driven up standards of care.
With OOH providers in the cities it is
open season for competition, but not
necessarily standards.
The future will definitely see more
corporates, and that’s a one-way street
too, no one ever buys a practice back
off one.
There will be more and more EU
vets coming in as well: it’s already
happening. The jobs market will get
close to saturation, but you never know,
that might mean a few more people are
prepared to do on-call and buy into or
set up independent practices.
n If you are an EU graduate who
works in the UK I would be interested
to hear your stories, or for any other
comments please contact me on
garethcross@hotmail.com.
