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Recruiting as income for people who have worked in practice

Associate vacancies average over fifteen months and 58% of practices report difficulty hiring. The scarce thing is not recruiters — it is people who can tell a DACVIM candidate from a general practitioner with an interest. If you have worked in practice, you already can.

Veterinary · August 26, 2026

Why the shortage is a credibility problem

The figures on veterinary hiring are unambiguous. 58% of practices report difficulty finding full-time veterinarians.[2] Average time to fill an associate role is over fifteen months, and a credentialed technician role almost thirteen.[1]

What is interesting is what the shortage is not. It is not a shortage of job advertisements — there are more openings advertised than ever. It is not a shortage of recruiters.

It is a shortage of people the candidates will talk to.

A veterinarian three years into a role they are quietly unhappy in receives generic outreach constantly. Most of it demonstrates within a sentence that the sender does not know what a DACVIM is, or thinks emergency and general practice are interchangeable, or is offering a role fifty miles away as though geography were incidental. So the good candidates stop replying — and the vacancy that has been open fourteen months stays open.

Outreach from someone who has worked in practice reads completely differently. Not because it is better written, but because it is credible. Someone who has run a practice knows what "twenty-two appointments a day with one credentialed tech" means, and can say so.

That is the scarce asset. If you have worked in veterinary practice, you already hold it.

What funds the fee

Worth understanding the economics, because they explain why this work is paid at all.

Industry estimates put the cost of replacing an associate veterinarian at around 200% of annual salary — roughly $100,000 counting only direct replacement, and $400,000 or more once lost production, premium relief cover and the onboarding ramp are included.[3] Against a BLS median of $125,510, that is a six-figure cost attached to every associate who walks.[4]

Against that, a placement fee is a discount. And against a fifteen-month vacancy, a placement made in three months is not a cost to the practice at all — it is twelve months of appointments that happen instead of not happening.

This is also why success-fee models work in this market and retainers largely do not. Practices have been burned by paying for activity. Paying for outcomes is an easier conversation, and it aligns everyone: nobody gets paid unless someone is actually hired and stays.

Who this suits

Four groups, and the common feature is that clinicians take your call.

Former practice managers. Arguably the strongest fit. You know what a role involves operationally, you have hired before, and you know why people leave.

Experienced credentialed technicians. You know the technician market from inside, which matters because technician vacancies run almost thirteen months and over half of credentialed technicians report being underutilized.[5] You can tell whether a role will actually use someone's scope — and that is the question technician candidates most want answered.

Veterinarians reducing clinical hours. Particularly people cutting back for the reasons the wellbeing research describes: 30.5% of veterinarians report high burnout, and the named driver is staffing rather than pay.[6] Recruiting uses the clinical knowledge without the caseload.

People who left practice but kept the network. The network is the asset and it does not expire quickly.

Who it does not suit: people who want a predictable monthly figure from month one, and people who liked clinical work specifically for the medicine. This work is conversations and follow-through. If diagnosis was the part you valued, this will not replace it.

What the work actually is

Being concrete, because "recruiting" covers a lot of very different jobs.

What you do:

• Talk to clinicians in your own field about whether a role fits them
• Assess honestly — including telling a candidate a role is wrong for them
• Confirm credentials and employment history
• Get explicit written consent before submitting anyone
• Judge whether someone is genuinely ready to move, not just qualified on paper
• Keep records straight enough that attribution is never in question

What you do not do:

• Carry a caseload, an on-call rota or clinical liability
• Cold-call practices for business, on a marketplace model where verified roles come to you
• Charge candidates anything, ever
• Work outside the vertical you came from

The genuinely difficult part is not sourcing. It is the honest fit assessment. Telling a practice that their role will not attract anyone at that caseload, or telling a candidate the job they are excited about is the one three people have left — that is where clinical credibility earns its money, and it is uncomfortable. It is also the reason this work cannot be done by someone who has not been in the room.

The bench is clinical insiders only — PayRecruiter's Talent Partners are all clinical insiders, and roles route only to people who have worked that vertical — veterinary roles to veterinary veterans, never to generalists. Access is by invitation and every application is reviewed by a person.

The honest constraints

Four, stated plainly.

1. Income is uneven at first. Outcome-based pay means nothing arrives until a placement completes, and completion usually follows milestones after the candidate's start date. Budget for a slow first few months.

2. Placements take longer than they feel like they should. Against fifteen-month average vacancies, two to four months from first conversation to start date is normal, and a proportion fall through at offer stage for reasons nobody controls.

3. Documentation matters more than it seems like it should. Consent before submission, records that establish who introduced whom. It is not the interesting part and it is the part that determines whether you get paid.

4. It is not clinical work. Some people find that a relief after years of caseload. Others find it thin. Worth testing alongside something stable rather than instead of it.

A sensible way to start

1. Pick the vertical you actually worked in. Not adjacent to it. Credibility does not transfer as far as people hope.
2. Start alongside reduced clinical hours rather than instead of them. Removes the pressure to force a placement that should not happen.
3. Work one or two roles properly rather than six badly. Depth is the whole advantage.
4. Say no to roles you would not recommend. Your credibility with candidates is the asset, and one bad placement spends more of it than three good ones build.
5. Keep records from day one. Consent, dates, who you spoke to.
6. Expect the first placement to take a while. It is not a signal about whether you are suited to it.

The one-line version

The shortage is not a lack of adverts, it is a lack of people candidates will talk to. If you have worked in veterinary practice you already hold the scarce thing — and the fee is funded by a replacement cost that runs to twice an associate's salary.