The big and shiny work experience bible

Heys guys, after reading a lot of the posts on here, I have to admit I'm quite worried at the lack of work experience I have in comparison to some people....Can anyone give me any other suggestions?
So far I have:
- 2 weeks veterinary clinic
- 2 weeks farm
- another week at a vets*
- 2 days at a lab*
- 1 week at a stable*
- 6 months volunteering at a RDA stables.
- volunteering at local vets on saturdays

*I will do this in the next 6 months

How does that sound so far? More variety?

Not sure what farms you mean, lambing and dairy definitely. Large and small animal vets? And kennels/cattery. You need 10 weeks to apply to Liverpool, 6 husbandry and 4 veterinary, and to remain competitive you will realistically need more than just the 10 weeks. The others don't ask for so much, but in order to remain competitive you will probably need to meet Liverpool's minimum even for applying to the others

Not sure if gives you any advantage but that's what I'm planing to do too
I'm going to Poland in march and I've emailed some SA vet practices already

Hi i was wondering if anyone could help me... having a dilemma regarding work experience!

I'm doing AS - so will be applying for vet med in October this year, and so far have 3 weeks of w/e done: 1 week in a lab, 1 week at a farm doing milking, and 1 week at a mixed surgery - which i now have a part time job with twice a week.

However, as many of you may know, it's a competitive field of work, and i need lots more experience.

I contacted my local equine vet clinic - they're fully booked up this summer, and i've also tried every other surgery near where i live. There is a slim possibility that i could stay with a relative and try getting into some surgery where they live, but i've heard that practices ask which school you go to and like to offer them to students from local schools instead. So i need to try and find some surgery work for summer :/

Another problem i'm having, is that the farmer who i've done work with isn't lambing until late april this year - and i can't get the time off school, so probably won't be able to lamb with him, so would this mean that i'd have to probably search for a new farmer? If so, does anymore know where the best place is to do that?

I also used to work at riding school when i was younger for 3 year volunteering every Saturday, but didn't get any references then because i wasn't considering vet med - is there any way in which i can use this experience towards my application, even without a reference? :/

x

Excellent advice Silver
PRSOM

To end a quote, you need to put a / before the Q in

Thanks By the way what does PRSOM mean?

Fixed that issue - got a bit carried away with the C&P option and forgot to edit

Yes, you're absolutely right. I'd aim for 10+ weeks, and would suggest to follow Liverpool's minimum requirements (look on their webpage) even if you don't intend to apply there, because if you meet theirs you'll meet everyone else's. Aim for VARIETY as well as QUANTITY of placements.


When you say slim why is this? Is it because you're not in good contact with them? If you do have family who might take you, this would be a very good idea - I stayed with my mum's family friends to get equine vets as these are farm to come by. However, do you see some cases of equine with your mixed vets or not? If not, I would suggest looking for either a dedicated farm or equine practise if you can. I only managed to get 1 wk large animal vets and got interviews everywhere I applied so if you can only find a week that would be great. You could stay in a B&B for the sake of 1wk LA vets as that would definitely boost your application if you're not seeing many LA.



Before applying my local lambing did not coincide with holiday either so I did weekend work. If it's a big farm they will be lambing over several weeks - you could do a whole day sat & sun for 3 weeks and that would be a whole 6 days! Many farmers, even within regions can vary - ask this farmer is he knows of any other sheep farmers who lamb earlier than him



How many years ago with this? If this is more than 3 years from when you apply most unis will not think it is recent enough to count for very much at all, because, most simply it's hard to remember everything you saw years and years ago. I would turn up there for some more work experience. Then you can get a reference for the current work you did and what skills you demonstrated. Aaaand if s/he is nice, you can remind her of the fact you worked there when you were younger so s/he can write "xxx xxx also worked in the past every Saturday in the past from 20xx - 20xx. " at the bottom of your ref in addition to what she wrote before. (I've had to go back to vets for referenced when they didn't remember me, but they still gave me a ref)


QUote me if you have any more questions. hope this helps x

Thanks so much for a detailed answer! - this really helped! I've asked my relatives who work with various farmers if it's possible they could put me into contact with another farmer doing lambing this year - so hopefully i can get a placement of sorts, the only reason i can't do it at weekends is because i live in a city area and there's only agricultural farming around here, so i'd have to drive to Nottinghamshire area and therefore would probably have to stay over somewhere.

I've asked the equine practice if there's anything at all they could offer me in terms of work experience for the coming year, and i'm still waiting to hear from them.

the problems that i'm having regarding the stable work is that it was about 3 years ago since i worked there, and i then got my own horse and left - so effectively practice the ins and outs of what looking after the animal entails - even though i know that personal hobbies and pets can't count as w/e, but they're pretty local so i'll see if i can go back there and do a bit more.

Thanks SO much for your help! x

Does anyone know if dog walking (its a business not charity) counts as good work experience?
Should I do it long or short term?

Can an Equine Vet also be described as a LA vet placement?
Or do LA vets need to specialise in more than one species?