Hiring & Career Guides
Practical advice on hiring, pay, and life in practice, written for the vets, techs, and support staff who keep clinics running and the operations that keep them on it.
You can become a veterinary assistant with a high school diploma and on-the-job training. Here is what the job requires, what training programs cost, what your state lets assistants do, and how to get hired with no experience.
To become a vet tech, you finish an AVMA-accredited program, pass the VTNE, and register with your state. Here is how long each step takes, what programs and the exam actually cost, and which states still allow on-the-job routes.
Most veterinarians commit to a job before they graduate or leave their current one. Here is how to build an offer that competes, handle sign-on bonuses and noncompetes, verify the license and DEA registration, and close the hire.
Copy-and-edit resume and cover letter templates for credentialed vet techs, new graduates, and veterinary assistants, with notes on listing your credential, building a skills section from the AVMA CVTEA skills list, and using honest numbers.
There are 16 NAVTA-recognized vet tech specialty academies. Here is what each one covers, the hours, case logs, and exams the main ones require, what they cost, and what the pay data does and does not show.
National Veterinary Technician Week 2026 runs October 18 to 24. Here is a day-by-day plan, ideas at every budget, and how to tie the week to the pay, CE, and utilization changes techs say they want.
A free associate veterinarian job description you can copy, with notes on pay ranges, production pay, the benefits DVMs compare, and versions for ER, mixed animal, relief, and medical director roles. Plus what vets do and the licenses they need.
A copy-and-edit vet assistant job description template, with duties sorted by what your state allows, job requirements, May 2025 BLS pay benchmarks, physical requirements, and title rules.
A copy-and-edit veterinary practice manager job description, plus how the role differs from office manager and hospital administrator, what the CVPM requires, what BLS data says about pay, and how to build a KPI bonus that does not backfire.
Veterinary receptionists run the phones, the schedule, check-in and checkout, estimates, and some of the hardest conversations in the building. Here is what the job involves, what BLS data shows about pay in veterinary practices, and how to get hired without clinic experience.
The VTNE is the national exam most states require before you can work as a credentialed vet tech. Here is how to apply, what the exam covers, how scoring works, and how to study for it.
Where to post vet job openings for DVMs, credentialed techs, assistants, CSRs, and practice managers, with posted prices for the AVMA Career Center, NAVTA, VHMA, iHireVeterinary, Indeed, LinkedIn, and more.
The questions veterinary technicians and assistants get asked in interviews, what a strong answer includes, a worked STAR example, questions you should ask the practice, and what interviewers are not allowed to ask.
How veterinary technicians and veterinary assistants differ in training, credentials, duties, and pay, what CVT, LVT, RVT, and veterinary nurse mean, and where newer roles like the AVA and Colorado VPA fit.
How production pay and ProSal work for associate veterinarians, typical percentages, what counts as production, how negative accrual changes your paycheck, and how to work out the production you need to beat your base.
A copy-and-edit vet tech job description template, with notes on credential requirements, pay ranges, physical requirements, and the wording mistakes that cost practices applicants.
A working interview is a short trial shift where a vet tech, assistant, receptionist, or veterinarian works alongside the team. Here is what happens, when it has to be paid, and how candidates and practices can get the most out of one.
Credentialed techs choose between several offers. Here is how to set a competitive pay range, write a listing techs answer, run a paid working interview, and make an offer they accept.
Relief vets cover shifts when a practice is short a doctor. Here is how relief work is structured, how contractor status and controlled substances work, and what both sides should agree on before the first shift.
What veterinarians, vet techs, and veterinary assistants earn, using May 2025 BLS wage data and the AVMA survey of the Class of 2025, with pay by state, setting, and practice type.
Veterinary technicians run anesthesia, take radiographs, place catheters, and handle most of the nursing care in a practice. Here is what the job involves, how credentialing works, and what the pay data shows.