Many vets reach a point in their career when they really begin to consider what's important and how they'd like to continue to grow. This can be prompted by a number of factors and not always because you are unhappy in your job.
Let's explore this further:
1) You're 2-3 years into your career, you have laid out a pretty good foundation on which to build, and you begin to think about your clinical interests and how you'd like to continue growing as a vet. You reflect on your clinical opportunities in the practice, the caseload, the exposure to the more interesting cases, the level of support you receive, and may realise whilst your practice was a superb first choice as a new grad, that now you've simply outgrown it.
2) You're 4-5 years into your career, you feel pretty confident as a vet and start to crave having more of a voice within a practice, the ability to suggest areas of improvement and implement change to improve the lives of your colleagues, your clients and their pets. You have an itch that can't be scratched by clinical work alone, and you begin to think about a different type of challenge - perhaps stepping into a senior role.
3) You're 10+ years into your career, you feel you've peaked already and you begin to feel like you're bumbling along and fear "this is it" for the rest of your career. You need a new challenge to reignite the passion for your work.
If you recognise yourself in any of the above examples, the question on your mind might be, "Oh 'eck, what do I do now?"
Whatever point you have reached in your career, it pays to pause, reflect, reset and renew.
My top tip is to regularly ask yourself this key question, "What is most important to me about my career?" Make a list of as many things as possible that are important to you, pushing yourself to continue looking for more, going beyond the obvious and digging beneath the surface of your conscious mind for the gold.
Here are some examples of what might come up:
Progression
Work life balance
Job satisfaction
Financial security
Success
Animal welfare
Being a great vet
What comes up is different for everyone, so make sure you honour what is true for you, not what you think you "should" write down.
Once you have established what is most important to you, ask yourself, "On a scale of 1-5, how closely does my current job align with this?"
If you score anything on your list lower than a 5, ask yourself, "What has to happen to make this a 5?"
Once you have explored what that is, you can have a sensible conversation with your employer about the possibility of making it happen.
If it's not possible, it doesn't mean you have to jump ship, it means you can begin to get curious about what else might be out there and explore opportunities with what's important to you in the forefront of your mind.
