Work

How to Apply At Johnson Vet Services

An insider’s bit of advice on getting hired onto the best vet tech team in Marietta.

We need to hire someone good. My office manager has high expectations. But, if you read this article, you’ll know how to be a good candidate. (Or, you’ll figure out whether you even want a job here or not.) Read on:

This is an involved job listing! It’s for applicants who want to work at a busy Marietta vet clinic. This particular document is not a “job offer” with the hours, specific job description and pay specified. That’s between you and our office manager.

This, is just a primer on how to successfully apply at Johnson Veterinary Services. What to say, how to act, how NOT to act….The standards are high, but we also don’t keep minimum-wage employees, either. The last person that departed was making almost $15/hr.

(No one starts at that rate of pay, though)

I have to guess that working here is worth it. Most of my employees average 7 years in my employ, with a couple of gals that have worked here for 20 and 23 years respectively.

What does this job look like?

A day-in-the-life: Arrive at 8 am and check messages. Prepare ‘sign-in’ sheets. Greet customers and their pets for surgery or appointments. Set up the exam rooms, weigh dogs or cats. Run a heartworm test. Answer the phone and schedule appointments between all of that! See patients with the doctor who is super, super nice, supernaturally handsome and inspiring to be around. (You can tell who wrote this ad. ha ha ha ha ha!!) Prep patients for surgery. Assist in minor surgeries. Clean up and load packs after surgeries. Tend patients post operatively. Call owners and update them. Continue to see patients with the doctor. Clean up and sterilize everything before leaving. Leave and enjoy your afternoon or evening. You get Wednesdays and Sundays off.

This is you:

1. You enjoy people (for the most part), but you like dogs and cats even more.
2. You don’t ‘pop your gum’ while you talk, and you aren’t just marking-time waiting for your next smoke break.
3. You would like to go home and leave the job behind you.
4. You already know how mind-numbing ‘retail’ and ‘food service’ are, and you want to work in a stable job.
5. You’d like to be respected by the customers.
6. Being called “nurse” or Vet Tech is cool.
7. You are poised and polite on the phone. (Winner! ding ding ding ding!)
8. You realize that your job is technically-demanding and time-critical and you can take direction from an experienced lead.

What do I *really* want applicants to know, and WHY?

Super-candidly? I want applicants to know what impresses my wonderful office manager “Heather” of 23 years.

I need suitable applicants to successfully navigate the interview process. Young people these days seem to say the most disastrous things to blow an interview. The stack of applications is thick, but the number of people who navigate employ-ably to the end of the interview isn’t. And really, if you keep two things in mind, it’s easy peasy to land this job. I don’t think you should walk in with this article in your hand. You should come in and just come off as amazing because you read it. Don’t refer to it. That would be ‘insider-trading’ and you’d reveal this unfair advantage that you’re reading right now.

So here’s some pointers that will help you get through the interview:

First, this isn’t “just a job” so when an applicant comes in and the first thing out of their mouth is “What’s in it for me” – they’re scratching their name off the list. All of that’s critically important, of course, but shouldn’t you assess the actual job you’re going to do, before going through a list of demands? You should just reverse the order of that conversation; and learn about the job and *then* ask what you receive as compensation.

Acknowledge that you can function in a busy environment with polite but consistent direction, fairly early in the interview. People come in all the time and proudly say “I work well independently” or “I’ve been in charge of lots of big things!” or “I’m a natural manager!” which is GREAT, and a real positive. But then, those are often the people who fail in a medical triage environment where there’s a workflow coordinator keeping the ship sailing smoothly. It’s a unique workplace. Ego doesn’t work. So, if you work well in a structured environment and you’re mature enough to handle direction on the daily, you will be a slam dunk applicant. A medical environment has a coordinated, triaged workflow. The logistics and technology of the job is crucial. Word-to-the-wise.

FYI: After the interview if you’re invited to a “working interview” don’t sit down until others are, and don’t pick up your cell phone. Stay ‘busy’ and see if there’s anything you can fold, put away, file, clean, check on. I think it’s a Millennial’s thing.

Who’s (Probably) Not Going to Get The Job:

(Partial answers to the question: “Should I Even Apply?”)

• If you’re going off to college or moving away in a year, skip it. Training on the job is a value-added proposition and respectfully; we’re not investing in short-timers.
• If you’re needing Saturdays off all the time, skip it.
• If you’re the “calling-out-of-work-type”, skip it. That’s tolerated in corporate retail and food service. It can’t be accepted, in a medical office.
• If you are prone to be late, definitely, DEFINITELY skip it.
• If you get bent when someone says: “Wait a sec, please book Mrs Smith FIRST and THEN go check out that client.” You might be wrong for the job.
• If you look at yourself in the mirror and KNOW that your “image” would be off-putting for people-babysitting*, save yourself the trouble. You’re taking care of people’s fur-babies! And yeah, humans judge a book by its cover. “Thug, THOT, Emo – all negatively impact the safety people perceive in handing over their puppies to you. I have a lot to say about individuality and I have my eccentricities and you can, too. But ‘freakish’ crosses a line. We can talk.
• If you reek of cigarettes when you come by, that’s not likely to work out. It happens a LOT. By the same token, I had a smoker working for me for several years before I even knew. That was so elegant on their part!
• It’s a medical environment: Deep down, if you don’t think you can come off ‘professional*’ you should (and I say politely) stay home.

Remember that politeness, punctuality and your evident (even stated) absorbency to learn and take direction will land you a comfortable, decent-paying job in a clean, fun environment.

Lastly. We don’t have a kennel because we don’t board. So don’t worry about being tossed into the Kennel. Boarding at a Vet’s office is like staying at Grady Memorial Hospital when you’re visiting Atlanta. You don’t put your dog at a place that also houses sick dogs..no matter how much one thinks of their cross-contamination efforts – it’s still a plausible threat with no necessary reason to take that risk…but there are still surgery-patient cages to clean. Everyone cleans cages. No one gets to say “That’s not my job” about anything because we cross-train on everything we do.

Ok, so there. I hope I get some folks reaching out to see about employment.

More about ‘individuality’…

*A tattoo, or diamond stud in the nose is okay, even some pink hair, but there’s an upper limit. Individualism is encouraged, but garishness or flat-out-spectacular: not-so-much.

I’m open minded and have hired before: Hippies, gamers, campers, hikers, nature-lovers, equestrians, moms, ex-vet-techs, disgruntled or underpaid vet techs, anyone sane and polite with a love of animals. Ya’ll are invited to apply.

The fine print: (“I still have questions!”)

Please call 770 977 5377 or drop by at 3100 Roswell Rd Suite #113 Marietta GA 30062 and fill out, or drop off an application. If you have a minute, and if SHE has a minute, you can ask for “Heather” and shake hands. Remember that politeness, punctuality and your evident (even stated) absorbency to learn and take direction will land you a comfortable, decent-paying job in a clean, fun environment working with animals.