Exploring the Pros and Cons of Locum Vet Work in New Zealand: Insights and Connections with the Veterinary Community

Ever wondered if a career as a locum vet or vet nurse in New Zealand could be your next big move...?

This week VetStaff's Julie South explores the (sometimes) thrilling possibilities and (dreaded) daunting challenges of locuming in New Zealand's veterinary clinics.

From the (apparent) attractive perks of higher hourly rates and (perceived) flexible schedules to the potential pitfalls like financial instability and fleeting workplace relationships, she lays it all out. 

Discover how locuming can offer personal growth, the chance to test out different clinics, and the opportunity to work in varied settings. However, Julie also highlights the less glamorous side of the equation, such as unpredictability and the administrative burdens that come with the territory. 

Whether you're seeking adventure or need stability, Julie's analysis gives you the insights you need to make an informed decision.

Building meaningful connections within the veterinary community is essential, and in this episode, Julie invites you to connect with fellow veterinary professionals like your hosts, Julie South and her colleague, Tania Bruce. 

Share your location, leave reviews, and connect through VetStaff's website start building your supportive and connected workplace.  

Discover how to be the best version of yourself in your veterinary career while making impactful connections along the way. Your involvement not only helps us grow but also supports our mission of enhancing vet clinics' online presence. Tune in to discover how you can contribute to and benefit from this vibrant community.

Contemplating your next career move?
Tania Bruce - VetStaff's passionate kiwi recruiter - would welcome the opportunity to have a 100% confidential chat with you. Tania's a former Ortho Head Vet Nurse so speaks your language!

How to get more bang for your recruitment advertising buck
This is what VetStaff is really good at so if you'd like to stretch your recruitment dollar, please get in touch with Julie because this is something VetStaff can help you with.

Committed to DIY-ing your own recruitment?
If so, then shining online as a good employer is essential to attracting the types of veterinary professionals who're a perfect cultural fit for your clinic.

The VetClinicJobs job board is the place to post your next job vacancy - to find out more get in touch with Lizzie at VetClinicJobs

Revive Your Drive - daily 2-minute videos for veterinary employers and employees to help revive their drives at work and at home.

Chapters

• 0:04 Considering Locuming in New Zealand
• 13:07 Connecting With Vet Staff

Transcript

Julie South: 0:04

Are you cut out to be a locum in New Zealand? I can't speak about what it's like overseas, but if you're thinking of doing it in New Zealand, here are some pros and cons for you to think about before you pack up your suitcase and head down under, or before you pack in your regular guaranteed fortnightly paycheck and become a professional locum in a Kiwi vet clinic. Hi, this is Julie South and this is episode 197 of the VetStaff podcast. The VetStaff podcast is powered by VetStaff Limited, the New Zealand recruitment agency dedicated to helping veterinary professionals find jobs. They're excited about going to on Monday mornings in New Zealand vet clinics. You can find back copies of the VetStaff podcast at VetStaffPodcastcom.

Julie South: 0:52

Locuming. Maybe you've got a locum working at your clinic and they're urging you to give it a go. From the outside it looks Instagram glamorous. They tell you their hourly rate is more than when they were on the payroll. They don't have to put up with the internal clinic politics and the BS and they can pick and choose when they want to work. That all sounds pretty compelling and maybe some of it is a great lifestyle. For others, it's a highly stressful nightmare. Let's talk about that today. Yes, it's pretty compelling when you think that you might earn more for less and not have to worry about internal politics. So let's look at what's good and what's not so good about being a locum in a New Zealand vet clinic, whether you're a veterinarian or a veterinary nurse, because it all depends on your individual personality and your individual risk profile. Working as a locum can be great provided you can handle some of the unpredictability in your life around, for example, your finances and around the people that you work with. If you're the main income earner in your family and or you're a single parent with children who aren't old enough to be left alone, then locum ink might not be for you, especially if you live in the New Zealand regions, where after hours and on call are usually part and parcel of working in a preventional veterinary clinic in God's Own Ōtiroa, new Zealand.

Julie South: 2:41

Let's look at some of the pros of being a locum. Of course, you've got the flexibility and the variety, the opportunity to work in different settings and different locations. You can choose assignments, if you have the financial flexibility to do this, that fit in with your schedule and your preferences and if you want, you can use or, where it's available, you can use Locaming to test out a new job or a clinic before committing permanently, and that can lead to a great permanent job offer. If the fit is right, it has to be right for you. The fit is right, it has to be right for you. Of course, we also have personal growth, because it means with personal growth read the flip side of that means that there could be some challenges involved. It can involve you with, or give you exposure to, different team dynamics and different clinical environments. You can gain a whole range of experience and skills working in different practices. You can see how different clinics do what they do, which might be different to what you've been exposed to before.

Julie South: 3:57

There are financial benefits as well as financial drawbacks. There is the potential to earn higher pay rates compared to permanent positions on the surface. In actuality, the pay rates work out to be about the same because, as a locum, you are a self-employed, independent contractor and you have costs involved to doing this type of work that the clinics usually pick up when you are on the payroll, so you have to pay for them yourself. I will put a link to an older episode that I have done about what's involved and how pay rates are actually calculated. Then, of course with the high rate is the ability to earn more, provided you are prepared to compromise the time that you take off. Maybe you work when no one else wants to work over Christmas or Easter, for example, because many clinics are looking for locums in those periods and then you can take time off somewhere else. Then we have the advantage of perceived work-life balance. As I said, this all comes back to you having flexibility financial flexibility. You have greater control over your work-life balance by choosing when and where you want to work and you have the opportunity to take extended breaks between assignments.

Julie South: 5:37

Now let's look at some of the cons associated with being a locum, some of the not so good things that you do need to consider. It's unpredictable and it can be unstable. Assignments range from one day to to several months. Can you handle the unpredictability of not knowing, perhaps that you don't have a job, that you don't have income lined up yet for next week, and then there is the constant change of not knowing where that will be. If you need reassurance and you need certainty in your life, then locuming may not be for you in the long term, because you don't always know where your next gig will be and when it will be, and you need to be prepared. If you want to earn the big dollars, you need to be prepared to have a transient lifestyle with no permanent locker or workspace. You need to be prepared to move around the country or maybe even spend some time commuting, working in different clinics in the city you are at or where you are. And then, of course, with the unpredictability is that if you're the sort of person that needs to go to work and have your best friend to form meaningful relationships where you work, locuming is definitely not for you, because the relationships that you form while locuming are short term. They could just be one day, once only.

Julie South: 7:13

Then, of course, is the administrative burden that's involved in being a locum. As a self-employed, independent contractor, you have to manage your own gigs. You have to, preferably, know how to handle legal contracts. If you don't have contracts in place when you start an assignment, you are opening yourself up to all sorts of potential nightmare and headaches. You have to work out your schedules and you've got to look after the financial paperwork. Of course, there is Henry H-N-R-Y to help you with the financial side of admin as a locum here in New Zealand and Australia and some other parts of the world as well. And then you also need to be able to follow up and follow through with practice and HR managers, who are really busy, and confirm assignments with them.

Julie South: 8:08

Then we have the experience requirement. Here at VetStaff for vets, we require you to have three years minimum post-grad clinical experience as a nurse one year post-grad. And that's because you need to be able to hit the deck running when you go into an assignment, because clinics pay more per hour for a locum. They expect you to be able to perform. The only question they like to hear is something along the lines of where did you say I find whatever it is Again, because I can't remember rather than how do I do this? They don't want to hear how do I do this? So that's where you need to have experience.

Julie South: 8:56

Then we have the con of travel and accommodation. Maybe you don't like living out of a suitcase. That's what locuming can be. There are also the requirement to maybe provide your own accommodation. Some clinics will not provide accommodation for some locums or, if they do, they expect you to share a room or have a room in a shared living accommodation place. Maybe somebody at their clinic has a spare room. Well, they're they. They like to do it as cost effectively as they can at their place.

Julie South: 9:36

And if you don't like sharing house with some people, I know I personally would find that very challenging. I like my own space, especially out of hours, so that has to be something that you need to take into account. If you're the absolute extrovert and you love meeting all sorts of different people I do I just like to do it on my terms and I like to be out of control when I do that, which means giving space to turn off and switch off. How are you with living with other people? You don't know, maybe constantly sometimes. Then we have the financial preparedness that you need to do. I recommend that you have at least three months of living expenses up your sleeve as a rainy day fund, just in case you have an unexpected event, like we had four years ago with lockdowns If you have an accident and you are out of work, or you get sick and you're out of work for an extended period, you don't have sick leave to fall back on like you do as an employee, so you need to have money in the bank to tide you over.

Julie South: 10:51

And then, of course, there are the professional slash personal challenges involved in being a locum. You've got to put up with different, or know how to manage different team dynamics. Some of them are great. You'll click with every single person on the team and you wish you had a permanent job there. Others are, or can be, extremely challenging and every day will feel like a long day. Challenging and every day will feel like a long day it's part and parcel of being a locum. It's important that you stay out of internal politics and you focus on your job.

Julie South: 11:29

The other thing that can be hard for some locums is and I say this with love and respect you are just the locum. Clinics won't want to hear about the great ideas you have for changing things around at their place. You're not on their personal team. You're not on their full-time employee team. You are just the locum. So whatever ideas you have for change, they probably won't be interested. I hope you have found that helpful.

Julie South: 12:00

If you are considering locuming and you've listened to this and you're still unsure, please feel free to get in touch with either Tanya or myself. You can contact either one of us at team at vetstaffconz. You can visit the VetStaff's website, which is vetstaffconz, and you can get hold of us via the VetStaff's website, which is vetstaffconz, and you can get hold of us via the VetStaff podcast website, vetstaffpodcastcom. I hope you have found this helpful. Seriously, locum isn't for locuming, isn't for everyone. Tanya and I are only too happy to help. We're only too happy to answer questions. I will put links to other locum podcasts that I have done previously so that you can listen to those as well. It gives the legal implications involved to be a locum in New Zealand. It helps you work out your hourly rate in New Zealand.

Julie South: 13:07

Thank you for spending the last quarter of an hour or so of your life with me today. I really appreciate it. I would love, please, for you to connect with me or with Tanya. Just tell us where in the world you are when you listen to this podcast. You can contact either of us, like I just said, through the website. And also, please, if you found this helpful, can you give us a shout out Wherever you're listening to it? We'd love a five-star review. We'd love a comment. Thank you, and we'd also love for you to share it as well. This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be the most fantabulous version of you. You can be. The Vet Staff Podcast is proudly powered by VetClinicJobscom, the new and innovative global job board, reimagining veterinary recruitment, connecting veterinary professionals with clinics that shine online. Vetclinicjobscom is your go-to resource for finding the perfect career opportunities and helping vet clinics power up their employer branding game. Visit vetclinicjobscom today to find vet clinics that shine online, so veterinary professionals can find them.