Veterinary Clinics Are Eating Healthcare's Lunch in Talent Acquisition

While most healthcare organizations struggle with talent shortages, veterinary clinics are quietly solving the same staffing challenges with a completely different playbook.

Healthcare organizations typically respond to talent shortages by increasing job board spending, raising compensation packages, or expanding geographic search areas. Despite these investments, application rates remain low, and qualified candidates often abandon the hiring process midway through.

Veterinary practices identified a fundamental flaw in this approach. Healthcare organizations had built hiring processes that worked against them, creating unnecessary barriers for the exact candidates they needed most.

Some veterinary organizations like VEG started with a different question entirely: instead of asking "how do we find more candidates," they asked "why are qualified candidates abandoning our application process?" This shift in perspective led to a complete reimagining of how clinical hiring should work.

The Application Burden That's Driving Away Your Best Candidates

Healthcare organizations have built application processes that work against them. The standard approach requires candidates to complete extensive forms—often 20+ questions—before anyone at the organization has expressed mutual interest.

This front-loaded friction creates a selection problem, but not the kind most HR teams expect. According to research, 60% of job seekers abandon online job applications because of length or complexity. The most in-demand professionals who have other options are often the first to drop out when applications become cumbersome.

Consider the typical hospital application: employment history back five years, three professional references, license verification, detailed scheduling availability, salary expectations, and essay questions about career goals. All before a single conversation has occurred.

This creates an inverted relationship between application effort and candidate quality. The most qualified candidates—those currently employed and in demand—are least likely to invest significant time in speculative applications. Meanwhile, desperate job seekers will complete any form, regardless of their actual qualifications.

How VEG and Other Veterinary Practices Transformed Their Hiring Approach

Veterinary practices rebuilt their processes around a different principle: earn the right to ask detailed questions.

VEG implemented "progressive disclosure"—showing only essential information initially, then revealing detailed requirements as candidates advance through the process. Initial applications capture only essential screening information: license status, availability, location preferences, and basic experience level. Detailed employment history, references, and specialized certifications come later, after both parties have decided to move forward.

One of the largest veterinary employers in the U.S. took this approach further by redesigning their entire candidate experience around mobile accessibility. Most organizations built forms optimized for desktop completion despite the reality that many candidates apply during breaks using their phones. By prioritizing mobile-first design, they saw marked improvements in application completion rates.

Another major group focused specifically on the referral experience. They embedded referral functionality directly into existing staff workflows rather than requiring separate logins or systems. Staff members can refer colleagues through the same platforms they use for scheduling and patient management. This approach resulted in a significant increase in employee referrals within just six months.

The Seven-Question Rule: Why Limiting Initial Questions Improves Results

The veterinary clinic approach centers on a crucial insight: initial applications should answer one question. Is this worth a conversation? Everything else can wait.

The seven essential questions that these practices identified work because they map directly to screening decisions. Does the candidate have the required licensing? Can they work the necessary schedule? Do they have relevant experience? Are they available when needed? Can they work at the required location?

These applications typically exclude a complete employment timeline, detailed job descriptions from previous roles, personal references, career goal essays, and background check authorizations. This information becomes relevant only after initial screening conversations confirm mutual interest.

Healthcare organizations often argue they need comprehensive information upfront for efficiency. However, collecting unused information creates waste rather than efficiency. Most application data sits unreviewed until after initial interviews anyway. The seven-question rule compels organizations to differentiate between information they require for screening and information they seek for completeness.

Career Site Design: The Stark Contrast Between Consumer-Grade and Recruitment Experiences

Every healthcare organization invests heavily in the design of patient-facing websites. Professional layouts, intuitive navigation, clear calls to action, and mobile optimization are standard. Then, candidates click "Careers" and encounter a completely different experience.

The disconnect proves jarring for candidates. Polished consumer sites lead to basic career pages with broken links, confusing job categories, and forms that barely function on mobile devices. This inconsistency suggests that the organization prioritizes customers over candidates.

Veterinary practices recognized this gap and decided to treat career sites as brand extensions. They understand that prospective employees are also community members, potential customers, and referral sources. Poor candidate experience affects organizational reputation beyond just hiring outcomes.

VCA redesigned its career site to match its consumer brand standards. The new interface prioritized intuitive navigation with clear job categories and location-based filtering. They also built in transparency features, such as salary ranges for posted positions and clear timeline expectations throughout their hiring process.

This investment delivers returns in unexpected ways. Improved career sites reduce the support burden on HR teams because candidates can find the information they need independently. They also improve employer brand perception among current employees, who feel more confident referring colleagues to a professional-looking process.

How to Audit and Improve Your Own Application Process

Most healthcare organizations inherited their application processes from previous systems or vendors without considering candidate experience. They've optimized for internal convenience rather than external usability.

The audit process involves four key areas:

1. Application timing: Time your current application process from job search to submission, including every required field and document upload. Most healthcare leaders discover their "quick" application takes 15-25 minutes to complete properly.
2. Mobile experience: Evaluate your process from a candidate perspective. Can someone apply successfully on their phone during a break? Are job descriptions clear enough to determine fit before applying? Does your career site load quickly and display properly across devices?
3. Referral friction: Test your referral process as an employee. How many clicks does it take to refer a colleague? Do you need separate login credentials? Can you complete the process without IT support? If referring someone requires significant effort, most employees simply won't do it.
4. Question relevance: Review your questions to ensure they are relevant for screening. For each required field, ask yourself whether you would use this information to decide whether to schedule a phone screen. If the answer is no, move it to later stages or eliminate it entirely.

Technology Considerations: Tools to Create a Seamless Candidate Experience

Modern candidates expect online experiences that are comparable to those of other professional websites. Healthcare organizations often underestimate the impact of a poor user experience on their ability to attract top talent.

Mobile optimization isn't optional anymore. Candidates fill out applications during breaks, commutes, and whenever they have available time. If your application doesn't work perfectly on phones, you're eliminating a significant portion of potential applicants before they even have a chance to try.

Progressive application systems allow organizations to capture interest first and detailed information later, following the same approach that made VEG successful. Initial submissions should take under two minutes to complete. Comprehensive data collection happens after mutual interest is established.

Referral tracking technology, such as Boon, provides transparency that keeps both employees and candidates engaged. When someone refers a colleague, they can see application status, interview progress, and final outcomes. This visibility encourages continued participation and builds trust in the process.

The best hiring technology integrates seamlessly with existing workflows rather than requiring separate processes, much like VCA's successful approach. When referring colleagues requires logging into yet another system, adoption rates drop considerably.

Real-time communication keeps candidates informed throughout the process. Automated status updates reduce candidate anxiety while clear next-step communication improves completion rates. Interview scheduling links eliminate back-and-forth coordination that often frustrates busy healthcare professionals.

Immediate Changes Any Healthcare Organization Can Make

The veterinary clinic approach proves that candidate experience improvements deliver competitive advantages in tight talent markets. Organizations have increased referral hires by 45% just by addressing application friction and referral accessibility.

You can implement the same strategies, but you need to prioritize candidate experience over internal convenience. Most changes require process adjustment rather than technology investment, with measurable improvements typically visible within 30-60 days.

Understanding where your current process stands compared to these best practices provides the foundation for meaningful improvement.

Take the Referral Program Report Card assessment to benchmark your candidate experience and identify specific areas for improvement.

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