What Can We Learn from The Hiring Speed and Sourcing Survey?

This past winter, I sent out the Hiring Speed and Sourcing Survey. The results were distributed throughout the spring, leading with the facts found in the research. Today, I’d like to take a moment to answer the question: “So what does it all mean?”

Let’s start by stating the obvious: the veterinary hiring market is inefficient. That certainly is not due to lack of effort. It is due, however, to a system-wide shortage and intensified by competitive dynamics. For clinics to succeed, they must shift from broad, volume-based recruiting strategies to focused, relationship-driven approaches. While doing so, private practice needs to improve speed, clarity and differentiation in their hiring process.

To take these ideas further, five strategic conclusions have been identified as key takeaways.

• Talent Supply is the Core Constraint – The veterinary hiring market is, at its core, supply-limited. Without increasing the number of available candidates, hiring challenges will persist regardless of sourcing strategy.
• Hiring Processes are Stalling Out Early - Many employers aren’t even making it to the offer stage. This usually means they’re not getting enough strong candidates in the first place or losing them too early along the way.
• Precision Beats Volume in Sourcing – Direct Outreach and Referrals consistently outperform all other channels. Expanding channel count does not improve outcomes.
• Competition is Won on Speed and Positioning – Employers are losing candidates to faster and more compelling offers. Differentiation and responsiveness is critical.
• Geography Remains a Structural Barrier – Location continues to significantly impact both candidate interest and hiring success, particularly outside of highly desirable markets.

I hope the results of this survey did more than confirm any thoughts you had regarding the veterinary hiring process. I hope that you can glean from the findings new hiring avenues to pursue as well as investment methods for your time and money.

Our next survey will be released shortly, titled the “Workplace Culture Survey”. Our findings are valuable and the more respondents we have, the stronger our results are. If there is an area you would like to see talked about more in-depth, perhaps via survey, please let me know. We welcome your ideas.