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Unique Educational Methods to Improve the Veterinary Employment Selection Process for Rural Mixed-Animal Practices

	ABSTRACT

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The rural mixed-animal veterinarian is a critical control point for safe, wholesome, affordable food production and security. The population of students entering food-animal practice is decreasing, and future shortages are likely. Veterinary practice owners will continue to struggle to find associates to fill open positions. Identifying and hiring the correct veterinarian for an open position is a challenging proposition for the rural practitioner. Kansas State University hosted a forum to facilitate the hiring process and provide education regarding the mechanism of an effective selection interview. A unique experiential technique known as "speed interviews" was used to facilitate communication between conference participants and to practice newly acquired skills. A survey of participants revealed similar viewpoints toward most job attributes. Veterinary students and prospective employers expressed realistic expectations of job requirements, salaries, and debt load. Students expressed willingness to work and desire to practice in the types of practices defined by the veterinarians. The symposium provided valuable insight for practitioners and students regarding the recruitment process. Appropriate and accurate representation at the time of job/associate selection is critical for long-term success and employee retention. The goal of the event was to provide a service to both prospective employers and students by offering education regarding the employment selection interview process and placing attendees in an environment rich with people who have complimentary goals.

Key Words: job selection • interviews • employer/employee expectations

	INTRODUCTION

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Rural mixed-animal veterinary practitioners are a unique national resource. Recent research on food-supply veterinary careers projects continuing labor shortages in several areas.^{1, 2} The expected supply–demand dynamic enhances the importance of selecting the appropriate person for a given position. The number of veterinary graduates entering food-animal practice is undergoing a steady decline. In 1991, 50% of graduating veterinary students entered large-animal (23.7%) or mixed-animal (26.3%) practice.³ By 2005, however, only 15.1% (206 graduates) entered large-animal exclusive (2.7%), large-animal predominant (2.4%), or mixed-animal practice (10.0%).⁴ The number of graduates entering the field is far less than the estimated need, resulting in a projected critical shortage of food-supply veterinarians. In 2003, Hoblet et al. determined that 500 new entries into the field would be necessary to satisfy projected needs in traditional population-health areas of public and private practice with a food-animal component.⁵

The selection interview is a critical contact point between students and potential employers in the hiring process. Appropriate skills are necessary to attract and retain veterinarians. Both the KPMG⁶ and Brakke⁷ research projects document that some of the greatest needs in veterinary education are related to business-management rather than clinical skills and aptitudes. The authors of the Brakke study concluded that increased business acumen on the part of practitioners could be used to increase practice income.⁷ One of the critical skills needed is in the area of human-resource management. Practitioners rarely have training in the area of employee recruitment and selection, in general, or in selection interviewing techniques; yet this is often a rate-limiting step for the future financial growth and success of a practice. Specifically, what techniques can be employed to increase the effectiveness of the employment selection interview? The shortage of potential employees to fill open positions enhances the value of education about the employment interview process.

The AVMA–Pfizer Business Management Practices study confirms the relevance of business orientation, financial review, negotiating skills, and leadership to the food-animal practitioner.⁸ Lloyd and King advocate a curricular emphasis in areas including business management, marketing, personal finance, communication, entrepreneurship, and life skills.⁹ Lloyd and Covert looked at current educational practices in Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) member colleges and found that although many students were exposed to business courses, the content varied greatly among institutions.¹⁰ Assistance to veterinary students in the area of career selection is critical, as success and job satisfaction are related to the choice of an appropriate position after graduation.

Gwinner et al. performed a series of surveys and focus-group analyses regarding the attraction of veterinary students to careers in food-supply veterinary medicine (FSVM).¹ The authors describe several action steps to increase the supply of veterinary students pursuing careers in FSVM, including assistance in career selection through enthusiastic role models, dedicated job-placement services, and active communication regarding available job opportunities.

These factors led to the collaboration between the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Business Administration at Kansas State University (KSU) to organize a continuing-education meeting with support from Pfizer Animal Health. The Opportunities in Mixed Animal Practice Symposium was established to assist both practitioners and students in finding the best fit for future employment. The symposium targeted employers looking to hire a new associate and veterinary students in their third or forth year at the KSU College of Veterinary Medicine. The educational effort focused on the decision point surrounding the selection interview. The goal was to provide an effective mechanism for finding a job that allows both practitioners and students to satisfy their personal and professional needs. Three techniques were used to achieve this overall goal: (1) providing education regarding proper employment selection interview methods, (2) using a survey to determine specific expectations of each participant group, and (3) facilitating effective communication between prospective employees and employers.

	METHODS

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Educational Methodology
The first technique is to provide education regarding appropriate and effective techniques for identifying ideal employers or employees. The selection process should focus on identifying effective person–job and person–organization fit.¹¹ Appropriate and accurate representation of each party is critical for long-term, sustainable, and gainful employment.

Only minimal training is traditionally offered to either students or practitioners to make the most of the job/applicant selection process, yet interview education is necessary and relevant to both groups. An effective and reasonable interview is critical for long-term satisfaction of both employer and employee. Research has shown that selection interviews are often ineffective in identifying good job candidates.¹² In fact, the unstructured employment interview, which is not closely tied to the skills required to perform requisite job duties, is one of the least valid selection techniques.^{13, 14}

Selection of the correct employer or employee is most appropriately based on the results of multiple measures, including work samples (externships), review of references, evaluation of relevant work experience, and well-structured interviews with carefully designed questions.¹³ Potential employers must accurately represent work demands, including the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes required to complete required tasks. Conversely, potential associates must accurately convey their career goals and current levels of technical skills and medical knowledge that are relevant to specific job demands.

The selection interview is the most common tool used to determine the fit of a candidate with a new position. The KSU symposium focused on educating participants in how to interview more effectively, but it is very important to realize that multiple flaws are inherent in the interview process. The interview is only one of several components required for effective matching of a candidate with a position and should be one of several ingredients rather than the sole selection technique.

In addition to selection processes, effective recruitment is needed to attract potential applicants to the employer. A clear understanding of job demands and requisite skills is needed to inform decisions about both recruitment and selection-process design. Selection normally starts with a review of background information, academic achievements, and reference recommendations for those in the applicant pool. This helps guide the first approximation of person–job fit and identification of those meriting a closer evaluation. In later steps, performance in a hands-on work-sample simulation, possibly aptitude tests, interviews, and even a medical exam are frequently used to find the best candidate for the job.¹⁵

Interview techniques were taught through a variety of methods, including illustration, didactic format, and practice of the newly acquired skills.¹⁶ The process began with a role-playing exercise illustrating common mistakes in the interview process: not having the job requirements guide formation of questions, asking questions that violated employment laws, poor listening, domination of the conversation by the interviewer, and so on. The demonstration focused attention on the interview process and served as a transition to a discussion of correct interview procedures. Attendees watched a mock interview between a fictitious practitioner and student, including comments from a human-resources specialist from the business school. A presentation followed, outlining appropriate management of structured, standardized interviews. Attendees were cautioned that they must clearly understand the work demands that a new associate will face and the knowledge and skills required for completion of that work. They were also presented with key guidelines for creating questions closely linked to the requisite skills and the other characteristics of effective interviews. The students were instructed on ways to link their answers more closely to job and skill requirements, even when faced with vague interview questions.^{11, 13, 14} Instructions included asking questions about job demand and making sure that replies demonstrate how one's skills and background experiences illustrate mastery of job requirements. Finally, conference attendees honed their newly acquired skills by participating in a series of speed interviews, as described below.

Employer/Employee Expectations Survey Methods
The authors created a survey instrument to assess conference attendees’ expectations regarding job requirements and specifications. The survey was reviewed for use with human subjects by the KSU Institutional Review Board (IRB) and deemed exempt from the approval process. The purpose of the conference was to facilitate the correct match between prospective employers and employees. To achieve this goal, both groups must understand the "voice of the customer"; or, rather, each population must understand the wants and needs of the other party at the negotiating table. Anecdotal evidence abounds regarding stereotypical behavior and skill sets of both new graduates and rural practitioners. Our survey was designed to elicit responses and quantify actual expectations of conference participants.

The survey had three basic parts: demographic information, attitudes regarding relative importance of specific job characteristics, and estimates of several relevant employment statistics. Attitudes toward specific job traits were gauged by asking respondents to assign a numerical level of concern or importance to each attribute on a five-point scale (1 = not important/not concerned, 5 = very important/very concerned).

Data were analyzed to compare mean responses of practitioners (N = 10) and students (N = 22). Comparisons used Student t-tests, assuming unequal variances and two-tailed distributions. Analyses were performed using a statistical software program.

Facilitated Interviews
The final component of the symposium was a facilitated experiential learning workshop to practice the interviewing skills presented earlier. Newly acquired skills included developing questions based on job requirements and using effective listening techniques. Speed interviews were incorporated into the symposium for two major reasons. First, application of recently discussed techniques increases participants’ retention of and proficiency with the novel skill set.¹⁶ Second, geography and time constraints limit the number of potential employees rural practitioners can meet in traditional face-to-face interviews. Practitioners who can meet a large number of potential applicants can apply greater selection pressure, increasing the chances of finding the right match for the available position.

The speed-interview technique allows all participants contact with a relatively large number of interested individuals in a time-efficient fashion. Each practitioner was seated at a separate table, with tables spread throughout a large room. Each student seated him- or herself at a table for one-on-one interaction. Speed interviews lasted five minutes, and at the conclusion of each session students rotated to a new practitioner table. The exercise continued until all students had interacted with all practitioners. This format allowed both students and practitioners to hone their self-description to the most important, applicable points. Participants also had meaningful discussions with a relatively large number of people within a short time. No research on the speed-interview technique exists as yet, and future research will need to identify the specific benefits and limitations of speed interviews. In this setting, they did provide an opportunity to practice new skills and get acquainted with several potential employers (for students) or employees (for practitioners).

After the speed interviews were completed, practitioners and students continued discussions with people they met during the speed-interview process. The five-minute interview is not meant to be a decision point for hiring or a replacement for formal selection interviews; rather, it is used as a quick screening test to find obvious areas of incompatibility and foster the beginning of fruitful relationships.

	RESULTS

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Survey results describe the demographics of meeting attendees. There was a potential generational difference between attendees, as most of the practitioners (8/10) graduated from veterinary school more than 10 years ago and only third- and fourth-year veterinary students were invited to the symposium. Participants held similar career interests, as most of the students (17/22) and practitioners (8/10) listed their primary focus as food- or mixed-animal practice.

The survey also addressed differences in attitudes and specific estimations between the two groups; the results are listed in Table 1. The difference in the length of time each group had been looking for a job/employee differed numerically and approached statistical significance at p < 0.05. The veterinarians had been searching for an average of 12.7 months, while the average student search time was 2.1 months (p = 0.07). This likely affected their attitudes toward finding the right fit for future employment: students were more optimistic than practitioners about finding a job/new associate that satisfies their goals in a timely fashion (p = 0.01).

View larger version (16K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1: Differences in student and practitioner expectations: Salary and debt.

The survey asked 18 questions related to attitudes toward potential employment. Respondents ranked traits by relative importance or concern. The top five traits as ranked by students and practitioners are listed in Table 2. Students showed much higher concern bout health care benefits than practitioners did (4.6/5 vs. 4.0/5, p < 0.03).

	DISCUSSION

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Finding the correct match is critical for success and satisfaction in the new relationship. Each veterinary practice is unique, and practices differ in job expectations. Associates’ job satisfaction is related to how well their skill set and interests match job expectations. Veterinary-school debt is increasing, and new graduates can ill afford to find themselves in situations that are not financially or professionally rewarding.

The KSU survey provided insight into specific attitudes of job seekers and potential employers. One caveat to the survey results is the small sample size, but respondents’ answers are particularly valuable because they are currently actively looking for employment/associates. The use of this specific target audience ensures that each party has dedicated some thought to the actual process and has a realistic feel for the nature of the current job market. Attendee estimates of financial figures confirmed their connection to contemporary market conditions. In 2005, Shepherd reported a national average starting salary of $49,321 and an average student debt load of $88,077 for mixed-animal practitioners.¹⁷ The KSU students we surveyed estimated an average starting salary of $53,111 and an average student debt load of $98,500. Practitioners had similar expectations for starting salary ($51,333) and predicted a slightly lower student debt load of $88,333.

The results of this event imply that mixed-animal practitioners and prospective associates have similar expectations regarding starting salary, potential for financial advancement after graduation, and student debt load. Two expectations prior to the meeting were that students might have an idealistic (unrealistically high) expectation of starting salary and that practitioners might not realize the extent of students’ debt load at graduation. The values analyzed from this target audience supported neither hypothesis.

The two groups also shared similar attitudes about the importance of most job-related attributes. Communication skills and the ability to relate to clients were in the top five most important attributes for both students and practitioners. This is consistently reported as one of the most important skill areas of future veterinarians.^{6, 18} The techniques taught in the KSU symposium emphasized the need for accurate self-description and professional interactions. These two skill sets are important for potential job interviews, but they also transcend the interview process and are vital to managing veterinarian–client relationships.

Anecdotal discussion of the food-animal veterinarian shortage has led to speculation on the reasons for lack of student interest in this area of the profession.⁶ Prince et al. report that the supply of food-supply veterinarians is influenced by actionable factors including a lack of emphasis on food-animal careers and minimal exposure to careers in this field.² One frequent subject of debate is the potential for a generational difference in work ethic. The targeted survey described here provided insight into this area. Students expressed a willingness to work at least the required number of hours, nights, and weekends with similar attitudes toward the amount of vacation time they expected to have. Similar results are reported from a larger survey by Andrus et al.¹⁹ Practitioners were pleasantly surprised by these findings.

Freeman has suggested that the keys to recruitment and retention of veterinarians into research and food production roles are money, marketing, and mentoring.²⁰ Again, this places the challenge directly at the feet of the practitioner seeking to find a new associate. Financial resources are limited in hiring new employees, but practitioners can seek to improve the marketing of the job opportunity and offer mentorship as an employment benefit. Improved mentoring has been noted as an effective strategy for attracting students and resolving future shortages of food-supply veterinarians.^{1, 2} The career benefits of mentoring are widely recognized in the general career-development literature and include better psychological adjustment to work demands, task performance, and promotional progress.²¹ Marketing an associate position should be seen as an opportunity to showcase the benefits of practice in the community. Realistic expectations should be set and carefully explained to attract the employee who values intangible benefits associated with specific mixed-animal practices.

The speed interviews were a significant component of the symposium. Experiential learning is a powerful tool to reinforce didactic teaching. The speed interviews also provided multiple contacts for all attendees in a time-efficient manner. Future research should also explore the possible disadvantages of this technique. For example, while it is intended to expand the pool of candidates (and employer prospects), there is a possibility that one or both will prematurely eliminate good candidates (or job prospects) based on inaccurate first impressions.²²

Large corporations maintain people specifically trained in human-resource management. Most veterinary practices do not have access to these resources, and the selection of new associates proves to be a challenging and time-consuming process. Attending the KSU symposium allowed practitioners to interact with a large number of enthusiastic students over the course of the meeting in a time-efficient manner. Expanding the job applicant pool enables greater selection pressure, increasing the probability of achieving the correct match between employee aptitudes and job requirements.

	IMPLICATIONS

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Individual job expectations and applicant skill sets vary dramatically. Achieving a successful outcome of the job selection process (for both parties) depends on matching skill sets, preferences, and goals. The selection interview between potential employer and prospective employee has a significant impact on the final results. Veterinary students and practitioners receive little training related to effective self-marketing and evaluation of opportunities. Education relating to tools and techniques in this area improves the selection process, so that both employers and employees can find the correct fit for long-term career satisfaction.

	ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

 
We thank Pfizer Animal Health for their financial and technical support in completing this symposium.

	Footnotes

 
AUTHOR INFORMATION

Brad J. White, DVM, MS, is an assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, 103J Mosier Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506 USA. E-mail: bwhite{at}vet.ksu.edu. Dr. White's research interests include business aspects of food-animal practice and beef-cattle health management.

Kevin P. Gwinner, MBA, PhD, is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Marketing in the College of Business at Kansas State University, 201 Calvin Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506 USA. His research areas include improving and managing the performance of employees and consumer relationship benefits.

David M. Andrus, MA, PhD, is a professor in the College of Business at Kansas State University, 201 Calvin Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506 USA. His areas or research include services marketing and customer satisfaction research.

J. Bruce Prince, MA, PhD, is a professor in the College of Business at Kansas State University, 201 Calvin Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506 USA. His areas of research include human-resource management and career development.

NOTES

^a JMP IN, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC 27513-2414 USA <http://www.sas.com/>.

^b Both starting salary and salary 10 years after graduation were divided into three practice types: Mostly Large Animal, Mixed, and Mostly Small Animal. Few practitioners or students completed all blanks on the survey, but most completed the Mixed Animal practice type. The results analyzed and discussed in this paper are for the Mixed Animal answers only.

	REFERENCES

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