People First Practice in NW London Seeks Vet to Join Expanding Team

 

 

 

Sadly one of our team is off to Australia, so we feel it only right to start our advert off with a statement from Dr Eliza about working at Roundwood Vets.

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"I can’t express enough how much I have loved my two and a half years at Roundwood. The nurturing guidance from Jo, Nikki and Dave has been unwavering.

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They allow you to work with clinical freedom but are there at the drop of a hat should you need them at any time. The team overall are just fab! I could not have asked for a more: fun, kind and hardworking group of people to work day to day with. We also have a great rota which allows excellent work life balance. All of this enables Roundwood to provide excellent care to our wonderful patients and clients.

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I am off on an adventure down under to live in Australia for (probably just) a few years and so I will be leaving Roundwood in mid October. There’s no way I would be leaving otherwise!"

Dr Eliza

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So?

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Are you looking for a role in a practice where people come first?

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Would you like to work with 30-minute appointments, breaks and a supportive culture?

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Is having a career plan and supportive mentors to help you achieve your goals important?

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Do you enjoy working with humans as well as pets?

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Yes? Read on, we may have the role for you!

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About Roundwood Vets

Roundwood Vets is a place where pets live well and people thrive. We’re on a mission to become a cooperatively owned (and managed) practice, delivering sustainable, modern care that extends and improves the lives of pets and their people. (Including their veterinary team!)

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We’ve been on quite a journey since taking over the practice seven years ago when there was just one vet and nurse! There are now more than 15 of us and growing. Our objective is to serve our local community in our patch of London using a mixture of old and new methods of delivering healthcare - all blended together.

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At the core of our work are our values. These are: honesty, kindness, conscientiousness, fun, teamwork and growth. These are also the basis of our culture (not just a passing thought), so if they matter to you and you are willing to live up to these things then there’s a great chance you’ll be an excellent fit. It can’t be stressed enough how much a healthy culture matters to us.

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We operate a co-operative ownership model so the people who work in the practice and contribute so much of their lives to making it a success, can also benefit from a share of profits generated. That seems only fair as, let’s face it, we all put so much on the line to do this job, there really should be better rewards. When so many others are selling out to corporations, we think a co-operative model is the way forward in helping to preserve our culture and make sure everyone benefits in the long run. We’re one of the few indy practices left in London.

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Alongside the investment we’ve made in the team, we also invested heavily during COVID in systems and equipment to further enhance our standards of care. We’ll show you these at an interview of course.

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In terms of what we are like as a clinical practice, we think of ourselves as being a bit like a family doctor. We are definitely here to help the local community and their pets. We believe in giving clients the time and attention they need to make good decisions for their pets and in building strong relationships with clients and each other. So, for example, most of our appointments are 30 minutes long. We also believe in a spectrum of care, rather than just a dogmatic gold standard of care. We aim for the best, but we can just as easily go with a plan B or C when plan A isn't possible. We’re not judgmental about this.

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Hopefully, the message we’re getting across is that alongside good medicine, we have a clear vision, and strong culture and believe in growth opportunities for all of our team. We only succeed as a practice, when our teammates succeed first.

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About You

We’re looking for a vet with at least one year of experience. You’ll not only love solving pet problems but you play well with people too! We are busy (in a controlled way) so this won’t be ideal for a brand new graduate, but if you have moved past the stage of everything being scary and are ready for some (supported) independence, then this role is a great option.

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You’ll be the sort of person who is biassed to take action and get things done rather than sit back and wait to be told what’s next.

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We need someone with charisma, who can build trusting relationships. Someone who can help clients understand what the right thing to do is by translating vet speak into client speak and also by telling great stories. You might be the sort of person who says hello and strikes up a conversation with a stranger in a lift!

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You’ll definitely be someone who likes to learn new things and also teach those things to other people. You love to share knowledge. And though failure can be tough, you are the person who can see the lesson in the failure and recognise it as a valuable stumble, not a catastrophic fall.

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You might have flirted with burnout in the last two years and recognised how to set some healthy boundaries so you can stay healthy. We think we’ve got a rota that will help you to have a life around work, so let’s talk about that more when you apply.

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We’ve changed the mould for veterinary medicine by creating a great working environment where we care about each other as much as we care about pets and clients. Profit matters of course, we need it to pay fair wages and buy nice things. But it’s not the most important thing to us. Our people come first, then pets, then clients - if we get this stuff right, then we know that the financial side of life will look after itself.

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So What Can You Expect From Us?

Well firstly, you can expect to work with professional and friendly colleagues who want to help you grow. Growth and development is at the core of what we are doing - because we know getting good at what we do is a huge part of feeling good about ourselves and our work.

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We work to a high standard with good equipment in a clean environment, so you can expect the chance to do quality work. As an example, to perform our anaesthetics, we use the best practice meds and everything receives fluids. We use anaesthetic monitors, safe heating blankets, we train, we record incidents so we can review our practice and processes in a no-blame way. We do all this so anaesthesia can be the safest it can be for our patients.

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Another example is in our approach to dentistry; we take radiographs and photos of everything. We use the best, well-maintained equipment. We have access to brilliant online training materials. And we practise our skills on cadavers. (We do a lot of dentals - so if you are not a fan or not keen to learn to be a good dentist then we might not be the practice for you.)

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You can also expect a friendly, welcoming and open culture from top to bottom. Ego isn’t a welcome guest here. We want humble teammates. But that doesn’t mean meek, our team is fun and enjoy having fun together. You’ll find friends in this team for sure. But none of us is the finished article, we’re all learning, growing and moving forward. And we want to work with people who push us to get better, who call us out with compassion and kind intent when we might be wrong, and gently steer us back in the right direction.

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Here’s what one of our vets Emma says about working with us -

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“I moved to Roundwood to be part of a small independent practice, everyone working together for a common goal to ensure we deliver a gold standard of care for our patients. We expect the same from our clients which means we are selective about who uses our service. We have enough space and time in the work day to ensure a top quality service is delivered. Communication is a key part of this. Jo [medical director] and Nikki’s [practice manager] leadership style makes them approachable and open to suggestions and with access to mentoring support there is room for both professional and personal growth.”

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You can also expect support and learning opportunities so you build your skills. This comes in many forms from one-to-one coaching, on the job mentoring, and access to a wide array of CPD opportunities both online and at events. We have memberships of Webinar Vet, Brett Beckman’s dental training course and So You're A Vet... Now What - a professional skills training course by Dr. Dave Nicol. You’ll have a great CPD budget too.

 

You can also expect a fair wage. We’re a small practice, but we want to pay our people fairly. So we have a package that includes a fair base salary with a generous benefits package on top which includes performance bonus, medical health, perk box, share options, and CPD funding.

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And What We Need From You

We are looking first and foremost for someone who “gets” what we are trying to achieve and can fit out team culture and values. On application, we’ll send you our values and behaviours statements so you have clarity on what you are getting into!

 

You’ll have a great way of making clients feel confident in your abilities. You’ll also have confidence in your own abilities and this translates into actually getting the clients to take the action their pet needs more often than not.

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You’ll be able to perform dentals, routine soft tissue surgeries and medical workups. You’ll be able to use imaging like X-rays and be keen to learn more about ultrasound to help you make good clinical decisions.

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We’re especially interested to hear from you if you are a keen sonographer and/or enjoy and are good at medical cases. But mostly we want you if you are a good all-round GP.

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You’ll be the type of vet who is OK with working with and helping to advance our standards of care. (Not all vets like this, which is fine, but we like to have some basic guidelines to work with to improve patient outcomes and client consistency.)

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The Role

OK, so thanks for reading all the way down. We'd better talk about this role then.

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We are looking for a full-time vet (ideally for five 8-hour shifts each week, but we can work with four longer shifts if this suits). You’ll also work a Saturday morning (8:30am-12:30pm) every third weekend.

There is no on call and only the very occasional need for anyone to care for an inpatient overnight. Generally our nurses do this.

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During your work days you’ll be consulting, performing dentals, work-ups and medical/surgical treatments - all the things you’d expect to do in a modern practice. We don’t refer a lot and when we do we like to think the specialists have to scratch their heads a little.

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We are situated a short walk from the Jubilee line so access to and from all parts of London is relatively easy.

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Salary & Benefits

In return for being a great part of this team for 40 hour each week, we offer a great package including:

• Salary package of £35,000-58,000 depending on experience.

• Production bonus which allows you to earn up to 25% of your net production.

• 25 days + 8 Bank Holidays, Birthday off.

• Profit share bonus.

• Share options performance bonus.

• Medical health insurance.

• CPD budget (unlimited by agreement and alignment with practice objectives)

• Perkbox membership.

• Discounted pet care package.

 

We are looking for a full time team member but part time applications will be considered.

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Next steps

If this role sounds exciting and our culture sounds like a place you’d like to work then we’d love to hear from you. To apply, please click on the apply now button below to send in your CV and be sure to tell us a bit more about you and why you'd be a great fit for the team in a cover letter too. (We really like to read these!)

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If you would like a pre-application chat or have a question, however small, about this position please do not hesitate to drop us a message. Dr Eliza is also available to discuss what it is like working with us!

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Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Salary Package: £35,000.00-£58,000.00 per year

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Benefits:

• Company events

• Company pension

• Cycle to work scheme

• Employee discount

• Private medical insurance

• Profit sharing

• Referral programme

• Relocation assistance

• Store discounts

• Wellness programmes

• EMI Share Scheme

 

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift

 

Supplemental Pay Types:

• Bonus scheme

• Commission pay

• Yearly bonus

 

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift

• Monday to Friday

• Weekend availability

 

Supplemental Pay Types:

• Bonus scheme

• Performance bonus

 

Education:

• Bachelor's (preferred)

 

Experience:

• in practice: 1 year (preferred)

 

Licence/Certification:

• RCVS registration? (required)

 

Work Location: In person

Expected start date: 01/11/2023

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