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Young veterinary professionals today are often hired by practices right out of school, and unfortunately these practices often lack the skills and training to set them up for long term success. These professionals have been taught what and how to learn for the better part of 2 decades and are now expected to self-motivate, identify, and educate themselves in such a way that they can grow and develop while in practice. These expectations often come with little to no formal guidance from the practice’s management team. Yet, these associates represent the best chance for practices to overcome the existing biases within their system and find new avenues to grow and expand. By understanding and harnessing their underlying psychology, associates can create an environment in which they can practice, identify, and excel in their own niche with, or in the absence of, qualified guidance and oversight. This psychology can then be used to create an environment of growth through pursuit of their purpose while leveraging their unique talents and routines. By educating our budding peers on the discussed self-development system, we can help them achieve their own niche by whatever definition they choose to use., American Association of Bovine Practitioners Proceedings of the Annual Conference, 2021 Recent Graduate Proceedings

Mentorship is recognized as one of the most important features of a modern job. Applicants seek jobs that will allow them to grow and that provide a clearly identified/accomplished mentor to help facilitate this growth. This has become more critical in recent years with mentorship playing a key role in employee retention for millennials. In fact, providing a mentor for an employed millennial can double their five-year retention rate. Seventy-one percent of Fortune 500 companies have recognized the importance of mentorship and implemented formal mentorship programs but a much small percentage of small businesses recognize or utilize the importance of such a mentorship program. For this reason, a program for the basic education of mentors and the facilitation of the launch of a mentorship program is needed. The AAAs of mentorship focuses on instructing prospective or current mentoring techniques to improve their availability to mentees, improve affirmation techniques, anchor their mentee, and instruct them in post-doctoral school scholarship. While many ways exist to improve these four areas, this presentation will focus on techniques that can have the largest and most immediate impact. Growth in these areas will provide a solid foundation and measurable improvements for mentorship programs., American Association of Bovine Practitioners Proceedings of the Annual Conference, 2020

Our current job market identifies 3 distinct groups when studying an employee’s career development goals: the job, the career, or the calling. Every employee fits into one of these categories regardless of age, gender, tenure or skill. Experts have identified an equal 3-way split between said groups, with one-third of employees representing each group. As employers, it is our job to identify an employee’s position in these groupings and engage them accordingly. While some employees will be content to remain within their current grouping, others, if presented with appropriate guidance, can be motivated to progress upward through the groups. Our goal as employers is to help the employee succeed in this mission. To assist with this mission, a system known as “Job Crafting” can be utilized. Job crafting is the use of an autonomy technique which encourages self-management; this means the employee creates a job description that is personalized to their strengths and interests. This design yields a more engaged employee as well as improved job satisfaction, which in turn potentiates the progression from a job, to a career and finally to a calling., American Association of Bovine Practitioners Proceedings of the Annual Conference, 2020

According to the AVMA, 20% of veterinarians are expected to retire in the next decade. This means that nationwide there will be a need to replace this highly qualified workforce. However, 1 of the top complaints on list-serves for veterinary clinic owners is the inability to find and retain quality employees, specifically veterinary associates in rural America. For years, veterinary clinics have been able to rely on the tried and true “job listing ad” to garner replacement associates for their private practice. However, for a variety of reasons, today’s generation of veterinarians is more likely to choose an alternative path into corporate, urban, or relief-type work. To compete with these areas, we must rethink our recruitment process, beginning earlier, evaluating continuously, and offering aggressively. Fostering long-term relationships with job candidates that span years, not weeks, and wooing them with contract offers that extend beyond traditional salary and benefit packages. To compete in today’s aggressive hiring economy, we must adapt and pursue other avenues that make our practices more appealing to the next generation of veterinarians., American Association of Bovine Practitioners Proceedings of the Annual Conference, 2020

Grace Hopper said that the most dangerous phrase in our modern language is, “We’ve always done it this way.” Her statement is truer today than ever. In an age of rapidly evolving technology and innovation, we as veterinary medical professionals must strive to keep up and continue innovating if we wish to remain relevant in the highly competitive food animal consultant industry. This means that veterinarians need to provide clients with new cutting-edge services that will ultimately improve the quality of life for their operation’s animals and provide positive economic returns., American Association of Bovine Practitioners Proceedings of the Annual Conference, 2019