Nomadic Veterinarian: Work while travelling! | Oxilia

12 November 2020

Work while travelling using Oxilia

You’ve definitely heard a colleague, friend or family member say that they wish they could forget about everything and just travel. For many, a dream career or an ideal life necessarily includes the possibility of travelling to new places.

However, finding the time and money to travel can be challenging. Can you really put your career and life on hold for weeks or months?

Animal healthcare is not a field where you can imagine having a career while travelling or finding jobs on the road. At least not outside of conferences, events, projects or humanitarian engagements. If you have a taste for adventure and a less sedentary lifestyle, Oxilia wants to help you transform your career!

Combine your financial security with adventure on the road

Oxilia’s platform has been designed to offer new opportunities for veterinarians, including those to enter the modern world and to balance the demands of a successful career and personal fulfilment. For us, it is important to provide animal healthcare professionals with opportunities to choose their work locations, schedules and employment conditions, in line with their lifestyles. This freedom of choice is essential to reduce job-related stress and compassion fatigue, which can have serious repercussions on your mental and physical health.

Whether you are looking to travel or discover a wide variety of clinics, you will finally have the opportunity to explore these options. Oxilia gives you a tool to find employers who need exactly what you have to offer. Thanks to the platform, you will have access to the profiles of a slew of veterinary clinics and a database of available jobs in the animal healthcare industry across the country.

You may choose to join a clinic on the other side of the country for a few days or weeks, before flying to another clinic where temporary positions need to be filled urgently, or you may move to a city for a while and then move out before the routine settles in. All this while ensuring that you receive your salary, without having to deal with the billing of fees or the receipt of payments.

Earning while travelling is not just a dream. It’s the lifestyle chosen by a host of professionals from all walks of life. Besides, life on the road can turn out to be a golden opportunity to save money and earn very well, while choosing exactly the kind of work you want to do and the clinic where you want to work.

You don’t have to choose between your financial well-being and your mental or physical health. If you’re driven by adventure on the road and a lifestyle that allows you to travel, our platform and our team will help you find jobs that allow you to travel for work for as long as you want.

Advance your career on your terms

Travelling is much more than just a way of exploring the country. It can also be a great opportunity to learn new methods from veterinarians and veterinary specialists. By travelling to different clinics, you will have the opportunity to meet many doctors of veterinary medicine, discover clinics and gain experience without having to go through a grueling routine. It’s the perfect opportunity to visit specific clinics, to try out the state-of-the-art equipment or to work with a particular clientele.

If you’re still looking for ways to take control of your career, Oxilia can help you. You can choose your engagements, which will help you specialise with a specific clientele or perform specific tasks. With Oxilia, you will find the clinics that need you.

Explore a less sedentary lifestyle

What if you can make a living in another way? By giving up the routine? By not choosing a workplace that will define the next 5, 10, 15 years of your life?

Travelling is a fulfilling lifestyle. Oxilia gives you the opportunity to choose the rhythm of your daily life, without having to fit into the mould of a routine job. With access to a database that features profiles of clinics across Canada and America, you can choose to work in places based on your travel itinerary. And if you don’t have an itinerary in mind and want to go on an adventure, you can even let the market inspire you.

On the contrary, travelling doesn’t have to take you away from your loved ones! A career as a travelling veterinarian can be the perfect opportunity to get closer to your family and live unforgettable moments, without having to worry about having enough money to support your lifestyle.

Work with the employers of your choice

The assignments available on the road are many and varied. Each clinic has unanticipated requirements, such as temporarily filling a position while waiting for a new employee to be hired, to replace an employee during vacations or to meet the demands of the market. Sometimes veterinary hospitals, clinics, organizations and laboratories may also be looking for temporary collaboration to carry out assignments or projects without having to hire an employee.

Our platform allows you to consult the profiles of various workplaces and discuss with employers before being hired. You can, therefore, explore new workplaces, without having to make a conclusive choice. You can choose your position based on the type of job, duration, working conditions and the values and personality of the people you will be working with. That’s a good way to ensure that your trip will be enjoyable and without any unpleasant surprises!

Nothing will prevent you from extending the contract with an employer or renewing it for another period. If you enjoyed your experience and the clinic where you worked needs you for the next year during the same period, you will be free to plan another trip there.

Travel freely, without worrying about specifics

One of our goals in creating the platform has been to simplify the lives of animal health professionals. In fact, we wanted to free them from the burden of having to deal with the details that make the job more daunting on a daily basis.

With Oxilia, veterinarians who wish to travel can concentrate on their work and their adventure. You will never have to worry about receiving your fees or enforcing signed contracts; our team will take care of it for you. Once the responsibilities, the hourly rate and the schedule have been negotiated with the clinic that employs you, you will be free to focus on your career and your dream life.

Discover career opportunities with Oxilia

Travelling can be more than a hobby. It can be a lifestyle that balances your personal life and your career. Regardless of your career goals and family situation, we want to help make it easier for you to travel to clinics across the country. With the right tools, you can discover different regions, meet professionals with diverse profiles and thrive in work environments that reflect your personality while receiving a decent salary.

To learn more about the possibilities offered by the Oxilia platform, contact our team! We will gladly discuss with you about your travel plans and career goals.

How to find the ideal employee with Oxilia?

11 November 2020

Can you hire the ideal employee online using Oxilia?

Majority of the veterinary clinics encounter difficulties when hiring or looking for temporary staff. Finding the right person for the right job is not always easy, especially when veterinarians and animal health technicians are rightfully looking for a better balance between their careers and their personal lives. Many even choose to include travel as part of their lifestyle and earn a living at the same time.

So, how do you find the perfect replacement or the temporary worker to complete your team? You can of course use classifieds, traditional networks and post an offer in your social media accounts. You will then receive applications that you will have to filter by analyzing the CVs and conducting numerous interviews. The time and money spent on hiring a new candidate, even for a temporary position, can be enormous for a veterinary clinic, even without taking into account the fact that classifieds and employment sites can cost a fortune, without yielding any successful results.

Oxilia offers you a more creative, humane and optimal approach to find veterinarians, animal health technicians and support staff that will meet all of your requirements.

5 steps to find the ideal candidate for your veterinary clinic

1 : Before anything else, clearly establish your profile on Oxilia

To find the right person, they must be first able to get acquainted with you. Once you create the profile of your veterinary clinic on Oxilia, it becomes accessible to the job seekers using the platform. By carefully specifying the nature of the services that you offer, the values that motivate you and the issues that your veterinary clinic confronts, you allow the candidates to quickly understand who they’re dealing with. It’s the same principle as in marketing – it’s not about reaching everyone but the right one!

If a candidate identifies with your clinic’s profile, they will be more motivated to send you an application. The chances that they will quickly and positively integrate into your team are also much greater, even if it’s for a temporary position.

You can create your profile in minutes. It saves you a lot of time by allowing candidates to see if they’ll be perfect for your team. You also eliminate the risk of receiving proposals from those that do not meet your clinic’s values and requirements.

2 : Display precisely what you are looking for

Once you’ve created your profile, Oxilia offers you the tool to post job offers. Whether it’s a full-time position, a temporary replacement or a vacancy to be filled, you can specify what you’re looking for accurately.

You will have the opportunity to post dates, shifts, salaries, work location, as well as the type of job offered and the responsibilities you wish to assign to the candidates. The more accurate and complete your offer is, the easier it will be for ideal candidates to find your offer. Candidates have access to a search tool similar to the one used by clinics, which helps in identifying “perfect matches” between clinics and workers.

Once your offer is posted on the platform, you will be able to start receiving applications from veterinarians, support staff or technicians depending on what you are looking for.

3 : Seek – and find – the rare gem

Would you like to be more proactive in your search for the perfect candidate? Oxilia’s search engine gives you the freedom to do just that.

This is not just a traditional employment listing where workers go to look at available jobs. You can also consult the profiles of veterinarians, technicians and animal health workers registered on the platform.

The tool allows you to look for available candidates when you need them and for the positions you are looking to fill. To ensure that you contact the right people, it allows you to easily sort and filter the numerous candidates available on the platform; this way, you can target specific profiles that meet your clinic’s requirements.

It’s a more efficient and proactive way to find candidates looking for clinics like yours by optimizing the time you spend searching and interviewing them.

4 : Meet the shortlisted candidates

Finding the right person for the right job is obviously not achieved using only an algorithm and a search tool. Human relationships are essential, even when using a virtual recruitment platform.

Oxilia offers instant messaging tools, which are as easy to use as Messenger, Zoom or Skype. On the platform, you can discuss with the animal health professionals that you’re interested in and conduct interviews without any additional tool. Scheduling an appointment is very simple and your time will be spent on meeting your candidates, instead of learning to use new tools.

5 : Send an offer, without having to manage the details

Once you’ve found your candidate, we want it to be easy for you to keep them. That’s why Oxilia takes care of employment contracts and payment of fees. Our goal is to make you quickly get into action by reducing the administrative delays that can slow down your clinic’s operations.

To learn more about the support offered by Oxilia for the management of employment contracts and the payment of fees, visit the page on services offered to veterinary clinics and establishments!

Create a perfect match between your team and your clinic

Whether it is the recruitment of a new employee or a temporary replacement, at Oxilia, we want to make your human resources management efficient and simple. Thanks to our algorithm and the search options of the veterinary recruitment platform we have designed, you will have everything you need to find and recruit the ideal person to join your team. Finding a specialist, a veterinary surgeon, a veterinary assistant or an animal health technician takes only a few moments after you register on the platform. What’s more, our processing fees are one of the lowest in the industry.

Finding a candidate that perfectly fits in with your clinic’s values and practices is not easy. Resumes, classified ads and even traditional interviews don’t always lead to an employee who will check all the boxes. With Oxilia, you will have access to additional information to increase your chances of finding the perfect match.

Stop wasting valuable time and money posting offers on general platforms. Switch to our customized solution for veterinary professionals and clinics! Contact our team to learn more about what our virtual recruitment platform has to offer your veterinary clinic.

Optimize the management of your clinic’s schedules | Oxilia

10 November 2020

Get rid of the frustrations that come with managing a veterinary clinic’s schedule

Managing the schedule of a veterinary clinic while trying to satisfy everyone can be a real headache. All the managers aspire to achieve a perfect balance between the needs of the clinic, budget and expectations of the staff.

However, this balance is not always easy to achieve. There is always an unforeseen event, an accident or a conflict that disrupts even the best plans.

This is where Oxilia can come in handy. More than a recruitment platform for animal health professionals, it’s a time-management tool that gives managers greater flexibility. We create “perfect matches” between clinics and animal health professionals, reducing the time spent on traditional methods of recruitment and human resource management.

A time-management tool that meets the demands of modern life

In the veterinary world, just like anywhere else, the professionals wish for more and more flexibility in their schedules and more control over their work. Four-day work weeks, part-time opportunity, mobility and many other relatively recent trends in the job market have forced managers to deal with the different expectations of different professionals.

It’s difficult today to create a concrete schedule that doesn’t change from one day to the next. Managing schedules can cause conflict between employees because of generational differences (“We didn’t accept that before.”) or even because of a sense of injustice (“He took one more day off!”).

Are you  able to satisfy a new generation of veterinarians?

Modern life forces us to rethink the traditional work model: working from Monday to Friday, negotiating with others to find a suitable time to take a vacation, working only one job, being loyal to only one employer…

Even if this model is still appreciated in the market, it’s undergoing transformation. The new generation of animal health professionals is no stranger to this. From “mere employees” , veterinarians are increasingly becoming entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs, who are looking to broaden the horizons of their daily routine by travelling, contributing to projects that are close to their hearts and growing in line with their affinities and preferences. They are looking for the ideal employer, just like managers are looking for the perfect candidate that meets their requirements.

It’s also a generation that wishes to spend more quality time with their families, doing activities that they enjoy. A balance between time spent at work and time devoted to their personal life is often an unavoidable priority now.

To meet the expectations of the new generation of veterinarians, the clinics must adapt. Oxilia offers the dream opportunity to managers to reduce any frustrations by giving more freedom to professionals and greater flexibility to clinics.

What if you had more freedom to manage holidays and replacements?

Finding a job that allows time for oneself is an important concern for employees. For managers, it can turn into a big headache. How do you satisfy the needs of the employees without sacrificing customer service? How do you find a replacement quickly to meet the requirements while respecting the clinic’s budget? Has one of your veterinarians taken a day off? One of your technicians wishes to take a holiday? Animals that come in to be treated won’t wait for their return and their owners will become impatient if their four-legged companion does not get treatment immediately!

Finding the right candidate from the directories will definitely take a lot of time. Time that you may not have, especially for uncertain results. Also, people don’t often register in these directories to find temporary jobs or to fill in vacancies.

The right person at the right time

Fortunately, Oxilia can help you find the right candidate within a very short span of time.  Veterinarians can create their profile on the platform (free of charge) and post their availability, requirements, salary expectations and the type of job they’re looking for.  Thanks to the platform’s algorithm, clinics can find a host of qualified and interested candidates to fill in for a veterinarian or a technician as long as necessary.

For managers, finding a competent replacement who is fully committed to the success of the clinic can be achieved in a matter of hours, rather than days or even weeks. The platform offers immediate access to a multitude of candidates’ profiles who are highly likely to meet the requirements of the clinic, irrespective of whether it’s for a position that needs to be quickly filled in or for a short duration.

By having the resources to replace them quickly, your employees will have the freedom to plan their vacation and also avoid any potential conflict within the clinic. In case of sick leave, your employees can take the necessary and well-deserved leave without feeling that they’re imposing their workload on their colleagues.

Manage schedules more efficiently

Have you ever had to turn away your patients because your team was already swamped? Overburdening veterinarians during times of high demand can lead to other problems such as prolonged vacations or exhaustion that cannot really be foreseen.

Hiring a full-time employee to avoid this kind of unfortunate situation can also engender other problems for the clinic. What will happen when the demand returns to normal? Can you guarantee stability to your new employee?

The community of veterinarians and animal health professionals registered on Oxilia is not always looking for a full-time position. In fact, many of them are looking for temporary opportunities, to respond to ad hoc requirements and to participate in projects or fixed-term contracts.

The clinic managers thus have access to professionals that are looking for exactly this type of work to fill in their schedules. You no longer need to overburden the veterinarians or anxiously anticipate the hectic period. You have a host of candidates at your disposal ready to temporarily join your team. By having access to the salary expectations of the veterinarians and technicians, you will be able to meet the needs of your clinic while also respecting the budgetary constraints.

Further, if the candidate fits in perfectly with your team and meets all your expectations, you can offer him or her a permanent job!

Reduce your staffing expense

The process of finding professionals and veterinarians, conducting interviews and onboarding them involves investing a significant amount of time, money and energy, especially if you’re looking through the usual networks – waiting for CVs or creating an ad; it’s also likely that they don’t meet your clinic’s needs and expectations. The process can be protracted and if you’re disappointed, you’ll have to start your search from scratch.

Since the profiles of candidates available on our platform are sorted and filtered based on certain criteria, managers can use it to find the perfect candidates for their requirements. Obviously, you need to be able to communicate with the candidate before offering them work, but this too is facilitated through the platform. Oxilia’s tool allows you to directly discuss with the candidates that fit your requirements, thanks to the real-time discussion module.

What’s more, Oxilia takes care of managing the fee and contract. You can concentrate on interviewing the candidates that you’re interested in, without worrying about the formalities that come with hiring a new employee. If the chemistry between the clinic and the candidate is good, it will prove to be an inexpensive way to recruit a veterinarian or technician in the long run.

Choose to have more flexibility with Oxilia

It takes a lot of time to manage work schedules. Oxilia helps you reduce the enormity of this task by creating opportunities for clinics and animal health professionals. It doesn’t matter if it’s about filling a part-time position, recruiting new veterinarians or finding a replacement for a veterinarian during their vacation, Oxilia acts as a connector and facilitator. You will be able to find the right person to join your team quickly and in the opportune moment, without having to scour through numerous listings. You will quickly be put in touch with the right person to meet your clinic’s exact requirements on time.

By adopting this more flexible way of managing schedules, you will be able to satisfy both staffing requirements and the expectations of the new generation of animal health professionals. This will give you more leeway to meet the needs of your clients and that of your four-legged patients.

To know more about how Oxilia works and the user fees, contact our team and discover all the privileges that we offer to clinics!

Find your dream job in the ideal veterinary clinic| Oxilia

9 November 2020

Is it possible to find the ideal job in the veterinary clinic of your dreams?

Finding the ideal job is often a quest that may seem impossible. Even an exciting career can have its disadvantages: lack of motivation, working hours that are incompatible with your lifestyle, work environment that does not reflect your values, difficult colleagues, etc.

How do you find the workplace that really clicks with your personality?

And what exactly is your dream job?

Why is it so important to be passionate about your work?

Not everyone has the same ambitions or the same dream job. For some, a routine job in a veterinary clinic in a village is the ideal job. For others, it is travelling from one clinic to another on temporary assignments and meeting lots of people in the process. The important thing is to find what interests you the most. The more motivated you are by your job, the more your career will help you realize your full potential. Being happy at work is not a luxury; we spend a third of our lives working, so it’s better if we enjoy what we do!

What if we tell you that with Oxilia, you can choose your job, your salary, your workplace and your employer? Even better, what if you can do all this without having to sacrifice your happiness? Through our platform, we want to give you control over your career and the choices you need to make to find your dream job. To achieve this, our recruitment platform offers you the opportunity to discover a number of clinics, view their profiles and meet your future employers. You can manage your career on your own terms.

Travel? Settle comfortably in a city where you can start your family? Join diverse teams temporarily to learn more about your job and discover new practices? No matter what your dream job entails, the important thing is you can choose what makes you happy at work while making a good living.

It’s true that this freedom to choose your career and to have full control over it is not necessarily the conventional vision for a career. However, it is the choice that many freelancers, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs make every day, in almost every profession. They’re in control of their careers; they choose their clients and their work conditions.

Where to start?

The first step is simple. Tell yourself that you can do it. Don’t be afraid to say “no” to an offer that does not meet your expectations, that won’t help you reach your financial goals or is in a city that you don’t wish to live in. By giving yourself the freedom to say no, you will be in the necessary mental space to make a well-reasoned decision that reflects your values and expectations.

Everyone requires money to live. However, don’t accept a job that is bound to make you unhappy without giving yourself the opportunity to look for one that will fulfill your expectations.

What are you passionate about?

Passion is simply a combination of what motivates you and what interests you; it is what drove you to want to take care of animals, the animals that you dreamed of working with when you were younger, the place where you imagined yourself when you were studying.

Do you want a full-time employment at a specific clinic? Would you rather travel to work in different clinics in different places from time to time? Are you looking to make a career in a local clinic or do you wish to become a specialist who works in different clinics?

Think about all of these before you start looking. If necessary, don’t hesitate to take psychometric tests such as “16 personalities” to rediscover who you are!

Why don’t you rewind a bit?

Your passion for animals is probably not from yesterday. When you were younger, you perhaps dreamed of taking care of Fido or helping a kitty with its hairballs. Diving back into your childhood dreams can help you find what you’re really passionate about.

Another good way to become aware of your interests is to explore your browsing history. What kind of articles have you been reading recently? What are the most common topics in your history? What kind of clinics have you been looking at lately?

Rediscover the topics that excite you, the news in your profession that has impressed you. Has a clinic announced a project that you find exhilarating? Has a story about a veterinarian shared on social media piqued your interest? Why?

By identifying the topics, stories and anecdotes that have caught your interest recently, you will be inspired to find profiles of clinics that represent your interests. If a clinic that you follow has shared a project, a success story or a story that inspires you, our search tool will help you find clinics with similar profiles across Canada.

The aim, above all, is to make you realise what gets you excited about work. Salary and logistics should not influence you at this stage.

Where has your journey taken you so far?

What made you become part of the animal health community? Why did you choose the jobs that brought you into this field? What was the nature of the roles that you were assigned?

Don’t consider the paid jobs alone. Voluntary work at animal shelters, your involvement in school and your participation in the animal support groups can guide you down the path to your dream job.

It’s a good idea to create a table with all your work experiences, volunteer work and involvement as a student. For each experience, write down the tasks that encouraged you the most, the relationship between you and your colleagues, the prevailing work atmosphere and the accomplishments that made you very proud. Then write down what you disliked or frustrated you. Be as specific as possible.

Now, take a step back and look objectively at the table to find the recurring themes and clues that will help you identify the work environment and responsibilities that excite you the most.

Find the clinics that meet your expectations

Finding the perfect job also entails figuring out several things that have nothing to do with your passion:

• Are you ready to move?
• What are you willing to sacrifice? Money, locality, clients, types of animals you care for?
• What kind of clients do you want to work with?
• What kind of responsibilities/duties are you looking for?
• Which animals do you want to care for?
• Do you plan to specialize?
• Do you wish to work with pets, livestock, organic farms or producers?
• What are the values you are looking for in your employer? (Excellence, collaboration, community involvement)

At Oxilia, we want to help you find the perfect match between your interests, motivation and the real offers available on the market. We connect you with clinics with diverse profiles, situated across North America. You will have the opportunity to see what each clinic has to offer before accepting such an offer or accepting a proposal.

Remember that no matter what your dream job is, there is a clinic, hospital or laboratory that is looking for someone with exactly your profile.

Is it normal to have more than one dream career?

In the modern job market, you’re no longer confined to pursue a single career. Veterinarians today travel and discover many opportunities that the profession simply did not offer in the past. Gone are the days when you had to work 20 years in the same clinic out of loyalty towards your employer! You can approach your career in multiple ways and change your priorities along the way.

Oxilia wants to help you discover your path, achieve your ambitions and choose the career that will allow you to fully realize your potential. Once you have identified your dream job, our job is to help you find it!

Quit perceiving your career in traditional ways and explore the job offers that are waiting for you on our platform.

When a candidate finally materializes, don’t lose them!

14 August 2020

The veterinary medicine job market has never been more tipped in favour of the workers. Offers line the bulletin boards, the employees have a choice and must be “seduced”. Under these circumstances, many owner-veterinarians are stressed that they cannot be found quickly and efficiently. How can you maximize your recruitment and what do you do when a candidate shows up to become a member of your team?

 

Reduce administrative procedures.

Do you really need a CV and a letter of intent? Are you sure you want to take a personality test before the interview? Be aware that any request from you that slows the process opens the door for another employer to make an offer faster.

 

Act quickly.

A candidate can receive several offers at the same time and be contacted during the selection process. The watchword: proactivity. If they cannot appear for a face-to-face interview or if they are travelling, offer to interview them by FaceTime or Zoom. Be available and use easily accessible means of communication such as texting or Messenger rather than email.

 

Ask the candidate what interests them.

Previously, a manager interviewed a candidate. Now, the table has turned: the candidate is interviewing you. Encourage them to tell you about their needs for a successful integration, how they see their development, etc.

 

Make your best offer from the start.

As you know, our profession consists mainly of women. Many have admitted that they dislike negotiating over salary. If you don’t offer your best rate early on, the candidate may choose another, more generous employer.

 

With all this advice in hand, you greatly increase your chances of finding and attracting the desired candidates. Oxilia allows you to fulfill your short- and long-term staffing needs, and even convert a replacement into an employee, if both parties wish.

 

Dr. Caroline Brookfield shares her tips as a relief veterinarian : How much to charge and how to manage her self-employed paperwork.

10 March 2020

It feels like asking for a first date.  Feeling awkward, fearful of rejection, I tentatively sidle up to my target.  “Hey, can I ask you something? What do you charge these days?”

In my experience, most locum veterinarians and technologists (RVT) set their rate this way.  Or a wild guess.

Some locums just pick a random amount and change it depending on the reactions from clinics.  “Oh wow, we could never pay you that” results in a lower rate. Or, “Really? That’s great, can we book you until kingdom come?” results in a higher rate.

When I first started offering locum tenens services in Calgary, I sat down with a calculator and a glass of wine.  I compared a salaried, full time position to locum tenens fees, using a similar number of working days, factoring in all the known costs and liabilities.  At the time, it worked out pretty evenly. Practice owners who hire locums might shake their fist at the screen in disagreement. What a locum tenens gets paid in one single shift cannot be compared to the take-home pay of a salaried employee for the same length of time.  Vacation time, insurance – liability, health and disability, EI payments, CE cost and time off, the list goes on of what is invisibly rolled into an employee’s salary. Additionally, the emotional and cognitive cost of jumping into a new practice and always being “new” takes significantly more energy, for me, anyway.  It’s a unique skill to be a locum, and deserves fair compensation.

HOURLY OR DAILY? OVERTIME, ON –CALL AND MILEAGE FEES?

Some veterinarians choose to set a daily rate instead of an hourly rate.  When I started, I charged a full day rate (8 hours) and a half day rate (4 hours) with an overtime fee per hour.  Now, I have tweaked the language so that I charge a regular hourly rate with a 6 hour minimum. My overtime fees (if I miss a lunch, or stay late) are 1.5 times higher than my regular rate.  I hate missing lunch. If a clinic only needs me for a few hours in the afternoon, I still have to turn away a full day elsewhere. And I have to get out of my pajamas. Some locums are fine with charging an hourly rate for a few hours, so do what works for you.

Other common conundrums include; travel time, accommodation, mileage fees, on-call fees, and overtime.  I can tell you that from my 20 years as a locum, and coaching other locums, I have seen no consistency. The reason locums choose their lifestyle often has to do with the control they want over their schedule and bills, so there is no cookie cutter approach.

I determine a kilometer radius I’m willing to drive for “free”, and outside of that I charge mileage on additional kilometers.  In the past, I’ve been paid a few ways for on-call work such as a base for overnight availability, plus either hourly rate or percentage of billing for any emergencies I had to attend.  I require a hotel for an overnight stay, or a private Air BNB style. Avoid staying in the practice owner’s house while they are away, unless you are very confident that it will be comfortable for you.  I often hear horror stories of unsanitary living conditions, teenagers having parties, and weird rules.

At the end of the day, setting your rate is just like any product or service.  Determine what you think is fair market value, then see what the market can bear.  Factor in your vacation and CE time, and time for managing your actual business. You are running a business, treat it that way.

That might seem easier said than done.  How do you start? Oxilia provides a very helpful tool that gives an average of the hourly rate for each area in the country.  Locum rates in Moncton are much different than those in Vancouver, so this tool is a great way to make sure you are not completely out of line with industry averages.

Using these suggestions and tools, you will find the right price for a win-win solution.  One final caveat: If you have special skills, or you are confident that you provide high value services, or you are living in an expensive area and travelling, charge what you think is fair and reasonable.  Even if it is higher than the average local rate. Your calendar will tell you the truth about what you are worth.

WHAT CAN I EAT INSTEAD OF AN APPLE A DAY TO KEEP THE TAX MAN AWAY?

For goodness’ sake, whatever you do, keep good records.  If you have ADHD (like me), or hate paperwork (like everyone on the planet), this can be a struggle.  My philosophy for paperwork is the same as my general life philosophy; get help from an expert, use tools, be willing to pay them, and focus on what you do best.  Isn’t that what you want your clients to do?

–  Free Apps to manage expenses are helpful.  I use WAVE Accounting because it’s free. I can take photos of a bunch of receipts at a time, it reads what it can, and I edit the rest.  Boom! Expense sheet for the year. You can also use a Cloud Folder like Google Drive or Evernote to take photos of receipts with a smartphone directly into relevant folders.

–  Hire an accountant and/or bookkeeper.  Don’t do this on April 1. Do it now. Get their advice on how to maximize deductions.

–  Spend one day a month, or an hour a week, or whatever, on paperwork (factor this time in when setting hourly/daily rate).

– Make sure you meet criteria for self-employment.  Check out the  CRA website or ask your accountant or lawyer for more details.

– Remit your GST and tax payments on time or face stiff penalties. Even better, just get your accountant to do it!

– Deduct a portion of every cheque to put into a tax-free spending account or designated savings account for income tax time, and one for a vacation fund.

–  Use Oxilia’s accounting feature to create reports.  Review these every few months.

– Oxilia manages your invoicing, so that’s one annoying job you don’t have to do! 

–  Mileage tracker – I use Mile IQ, which automatically starts when you start driving.  Don’t let the drives pile up. Reviewing 4 months of drives is not a great Saturday night date night, according to my husband.

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to structure your fees and paperwork for success.  Sure, there are some new skills you need, and new business expenses to pay. The paperwork can be frustrating – but don’t forget the reason you became a locum in the first place.  It’s a small price to pay for freedom, right?

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Does being a locum reduce compassion fatigue in veterinary medicine?

24 February 2020

Oxilia has hypothesized that self-employed status does not cause more emotional fatigue than those with employee status in the veterinary profession. We even suspect the opposite effect. We have conducted a survey in December 2019 amongst members of our community. 32 responded. Among them, 81% consider that when they practice as a replacement, their level of compassion fatigue seems to be equal to or less than they would experience as an employee.

REDUCED EMOTIONAL FATIGUE FOR EMOTIONAL DETACHMENT?

When we listen to the experts on the subject of compassion fatigue, we learn that one of the first strategies to put in place in order to protect ourselves is to establish limits to the sympathy we feel when we are facing pain in our clients and patients. The key is to be able to help as health professionals while keeping in mind that we are separate humans with our own emotional needs.

This observation made us think about the type of relationship that the animal health professional establishes with their employer; the status could have an impact on compassion fatigue. When the working relationship is not “employer-employee”, but rather temporary like that of a self-employed worker, we were anecdotally told that the emotional involvement was less. The self-employed being the CEO of his own micro-enterprise must preserve themselves against this exhaustion. Consequently, the individual creates this limit intuitively in order to ensure that they meet the requirements in the execution of their mandate above all.

In December 2019, a survey was sent to all members of our community of veterinary and registered veterinary technicians (RVTs). We had 32 respondents. To the question “do you feel that as a LOCUM, you feel more, less or as much compassionate fatigue compared to EMPLOYEE status?” 53% of animal health professionals who have performed replacement contracts responded “experiencing less compassionate fatigue” compared to their employee experiences, while only 9% considered the opposite.

Statically, the results of this survey are sufficient to justify a broader and more extensive scientific study. Considering the importance on veterinary well-being, this style of practice should be explored for individuals who have difficulty creating this limit with their clientele. Working in the same team for years means that we get attached to certain patients who visit us regularly. Their pain and ultimately their euthanasia become a source of suffering for the team who have become attached.

THE BIGGEST STRESSORS: UNDERSTAFFING, CLIENTS AND TEAM

In addition to compassion fatigue, stress negatively affects animal health professionals. We wanted to determine which were the greatest sources of stress. Each respondent had to choose their 2 major sources from the following 5 response options:

• Lack of qualified personnel;
• Filling out files;
• Client requirements;
• Tensions within the team;
• Performed euthanasia.

 

Among our 32 respondents, the sources were cited in decreasing order: the lack of qualified personnel (37%), customer requirements (29%) and tensions within the team (24%). Euthanasia and filling in the files get 5% for each. The shortage of animal health professionals puts stress not only on managers and owners of vet practices but also on the rest of the team. Access to health care is also at risk, knowing that some establishments will have to reduce their hours or patient-load. One might think that the lack of personnel indirectly induces tensions within the team, its members being exhausted.

INCOME VERSUS COMPASSION FATIGUE

Another facet that we wanted to understand is whether members of the Oxilia community had provided a financial cushion in the event of medical leave.  The question asked was “If you feel compassionate fatigue, could you financially afford to reduce your hours of work?” 56% of respondents say they cannot afford to reduce their hours worked if they experience compassion fatigue.

It is likely that more and more animal health professionals will want to find a solution to this challenge by becoming self-employed, which allows them to increase their hourly rates faster and allow themselves more rest when they feel it. The need to take short term leave without feeling guilty is ultimately better for the team and community as a whole.

This survey, although informal and scientifically invalid, is the first in our community. We are satisfied that our impressions are good; Oxilia represents a healthy and financially positive alternative both for managers of veterinary establishments and for animal health professionals. Oxilia offers the freedom to determine its schedule and revenues while allowing clinics to meet urgent staff needs, both short and long term.

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RVT’s, don’t leave Vet Med! There are well paid opportunities!

10 February 2020

I love animals and work in a veterinary clinic, but I just cannot afford it. To give so much to receive so little? Canadian Tire or Canada Post offers better terms and pay!”

It breaks the hearts of all these great animal health technicians and registered veterinary technicians (RVT’s) to leave us – and with reason – because they found better elsewhere. According to a Desjardins Group study, 60% of jobs posted in Quebec and Ontario, in all industries, require little or no training or experience, while offering an average salary of $16.65 per hour. We quickly understand how other industries manage to recruit the RVT’s.

You are an RVT and you consider leaving the profession for another job? Hold on! Read this before making your decision. 

RVT’s are highly trained while being versatile and focused on customer service, not to mention their passion for animals. They are prized not only by veterinary practices, but also by the industry-companies that provide services to them. For the past decade, more and more companies have wanted to sell their services in our fast-growing field. Positions for RVT’s who then become representatives, responsible for training or management are better paid and allow a better work-family balance. Here are some posts :

Pharmaceutical, food, service or veterinary software companies

At the last VMX Veterinary Congress in Florida, which brought together more than 18,000 animal health professionals, it was a shock to see the number of new players in our profession: software, applications, diagnostic tests, alternative treatments, and so on. Many are now recruiting for RVT’s as sales representatives. How to find them? Talk to your favorite representatives, they are often aware. Also put alerts on job aggregator sites like Indeed.com for the word “RVT, AHT and Vet tech”. You can also go there with specific words like Zoetis, Royal Canin, Idexx, Vetoquinol, Merck, etc.

Veterinary groups

There are more and more of them in Quebec: VetStrategy, VCA, Passionimo, Uni-Vet, Essor-Vet, etc. and have more sophisticated structures to create human resources management & recruitment positions, operations, customer services, social media, inventory management and purchasing. You will have the chance to climb the ladder and develop your skills while increasing your salary.

Mobile or home service

More and more veterinarians or veterinary specialists offer their services at home or in general practice respectively. They need RVT’s to be productive and to provide patient restraint. Follow them on Facebook, they will probably have positions to fill or an expansion of their services.

Be your own boss by determining your schedule and your hourly rate!

The simplest and most popular solution: to make technical replacement in a veterinary clinic. It’s not just for veterinarians! The OXILIA platform allows you to determine your hourly rate and offer your availabilities. The platform is intuitive and our support team is there to guide you. Contracts and payments are managed by us, so you have the best of both worlds. Afraid not to find something? The shortage of RVT’s is such that practices are snapping up the RVT’s who opt for status. Hourly rates are higher and you choose to work weekends or not.

Average hourly rate in Quebec : $ 22.40

Alberta : $ 27.60

Ontario : $ 23.50

RVT’s are the pillars of veterinary clinics.

Every time we lose one, the whole structure is affected. You are talented and capable of miracles in the veterinary team! Stay in the profession that has long been hard on you, but things are changing for the better! Both animals and veterinarians are happiest by your side!

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Oxilia : The indispensable tool for informed professional locums?

23 December 2019

THE SO-CALLED “PROFESSIONAL LOCUMS” ARE THOSE VETERINARIANS AND RVT’S WHO WORK MAINLY AS SELF-EMPLOYED WORKERS IN DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS.

Their lifestyle allows them freedom and they profit, both financially and in terms of the full management of their schedule. They represent the individuals who said “Bye Bye Boss”. They are very petitioned, alternating their vacation period and work. They share common characteristics :

-They know the market well and know their value ;

-They know how to adapt to changing working conditions ;

-They demonstrate organization, so as not to forget anything ; their address book, their future clinic shifts, hourly rates requested and especially, if they have indeed been paid.

A SELF-EMPLOYED PERSON HAS A VERY DIFFERENT REALITY THAN AN EMPLOYEE. WE OFTEN WANT THEIR HIGHER HOURLY RATE, BUT WE MUST NOT FORGET THAT THEY HAVE A MANAGEMENT OF THEIR OWN MICRO-BUSINESS TO DO!

That’s when Oxilia enters the scene to become the best dance partner, regardless of the region of Canada! The platform has become the reference for this ultra-high performance group because it allows you to :

-Centralize all the information in your profile

-Manage supply and demand

-Access your upcoming mandates

-Find new and more interesting mandates / new clinics to try Automate work contracts and the payment of fees directly into your account

OXILIA BECOMES AN IDEAL PARTNER, WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO KNOW IF YOUR HOURLY RATE IS ALWAYS COMPETITIVE! THE MARKET IS CHANGING FAST, STAY INFORMED IN A FEW CLICKS! WE HAVE ALL YOUR NEEDED RESOURCES FOR THE MARKET!

 

DO NOT FORGET:

YOU DETERMINE YOUR HOURLY RATE!

YOU CHOOSE THE OFFERS THAT INTEREST YOU!

YOU HAVE NO NON-COMPETE CLAUSE!

Protect yourself from salary flames!

9 December 2019

Unless you live in an area without internet, you have surely heard of the shortage of qualified staff. Our profession is certainly going through a crisis. It is practically full of employment opportunities and as we are experiencing economic growth, people are more inclined to invest in medical expenses for their animals. That’s the good news! The lesser news is that the law of supply and demand applies to employees-employers; we find that the limiting factor is no longer finding clients, but rather employees to provide the services.

Nice problem, some will say. If you are a veterinary facility owner who is exhausted and desperately trying to recruit an AHT and a veterinarian, the reality is a little less rosy. The process of recruiting now seems reversed; some managers feel they are “passing” an interview rather than the other way around. Some AHT graduates reported 2-3 job offers without having even done research. What happens to wages? They are growing faster than inflation. So you find yourself in front of a candidate who asks you for substantially more than the hourly rate of your most senior AHT. What do you do?

TOTAL COMPENSATION: WINNING THE NUMBERS WARS

Do you feel that if you let this AHT or veterinarian go, your team will collapse under the tasks? The pearl you hoped for presents itself but demands a disproportionate salary? Do not embark on hourly rates in the war, because comparing them between employers without spending the right time looking at all the social benefits can amount to comparing apples to oranges.

An employee’s total compensation is an exercise in which the employer estimates the value of all the benefits enjoyed by his or her employees and adds these benefits to the salary to arrive at a total amount. Each employee then appreciates the benefits they would otherwise take for granted. Considering that this practice is not widespread in veterinary medicine, a candidate will see in your overall remuneration a more attractive amount. At the same time, this exercise allows you to explain the values ​​and mission of the company. We’ve heard it for over a decade; Millennials need to feel that they contribute to a meaningful project. So if your institution offers a continuing education budget and offers certification to its employees or a subsidized hourly rate to the certified holder, the candidate can deduce that you are an employer who relies on the skills of your employees.

If your institution contributes to employees’ VRSPs and offers bonuses to performance, you can explain that your vision of success lies in recognizing employee participation in economic strength. If your institution pays its employees who participate in pro bono activities (not all practices pay their employees for the pro bono activities), your vision doubly supports the causes that matter to you by encouraging your employees to participate. If your institution offers paid sick days or more weeks of vacation, the message is that you value work-life balance. It must also be quantified.

Each benefit should be husked and added to the list; purchase of uniforms, employer’s contribution to group insurance, social activities, etc. Your employees and candidates will be surprised to see the total amount you invest in them. They will also have a much harder time comparing offers. And you will have had the opportunity to clearly expose your business vision.

S.O.S- WHAT TO DO IF THE NEGOTIATION IS ALREADY STARTED?

You do not have the time to count the total compensation, now the candidate makes a counter-offer. Resist the temptation of giving them a salary similar to your senior AHT hoping that everything stays secret. You may lose more than an employee when the team finds out. The feeling of injustice can leave a bad taste in one’s mouth. Try another tactic that leaves no financial consequences: a signing bonus.

The term “bonus” is in itself a little risky, because it is perceived as an indicator of excellence. Instead, a more general term can be used as an inducement or integration measure. Cases of employers who offered to pay a washer-dryer set to a new employee are rather ingenious. The advantage is that the proposed salary remains in the salary range of the company, but the new employee feels that he is making a substantial immediate gain (this is a concept that Loto-Québec is working very well with the “winners”). for life “: a lump sum moment immediately or a higher moment that requires a wait). In subsequent years, this gain will not be repeated. The team should also be told that this was necessary to encourage the AHT or veterinarian to join the ranks otherwise the entire team would have suffered. In all transparency, the team will be more understanding.

The key to success during times of scarcity: be prepared and be creative!

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