Veterinary Pathologist

☛ What makes you a good veterinarian?

☛ What do you think a veterinarian’s role is in the community?

☛ What made you decide to be a veterinarian?

☛ How do you feel about euthanasia? Why?

☛ What would you do if there are obvious signs that an animal you are treating has been abused?

☛ What would you do if a client comes in with an injured animal that will surely die without medical attention, but they only have a few dollars and the cost for animal care, and extended care, will be much higher than what they are able to pay?

☛ If a client brings in a perfectly healthy animal and wants to euthanize it because they no longer want the dog, what do you do?

☛ If you make a mistake and cause the death of an animal, what would you do?

☛ What is the most difficult situation you’ve been faced with since you got in veterinary medicine? How did you handle it?

☛ Describe any previous experience. What did you like and dislike about it?

☛ How do you do stay up to date in the field of veterinary medicine?

☛ What do you do in your free time? Any hobbies?

☛ What was the last book you read?

☛ Do you have any volunteer experience?

☛ Do you have any questions for us?

☛ How do you feel about being asked to perform duties that aren’t listed in your job description during hectic times?

☛ Are you okay with cleaning up after animals?

☛ What was the most helpful performance feedback you received during your training?

☛ What kinds of animals are you experienced handling/caring for?

☛ What is your opinion about mandatory spay/neuter laws?

☛ What would you say to a client who came in to request her healthy pet be euthanized because she was unable to afford to take care of it?

☛ If the office was understaffed and we asked you to come in on your day off, would you come in?

☛ How do you relieve stress?

☛ What is the biggest mistake you have made? What did you learn from it?

☛ What kind of pets do you own/have you owned?

☛ Are you interested in a particular specialty?

☛ What do you imagine will be the most difficult part of this job if we hire you?

☛ How did you become interested in veterinary medicine?

☛ Tell us about a time you had to help an unhappy customer.

☛ What would you do if a client was unable to afford to pay for services?

☛ What would you do if you saw a fellow technologist make a mistake?

☛ What appeals to you most about being a vet tech?

☛ What would you do if you felt an animal you were treating had been abused?

☛ What is the difference between animal rights and animal welfare?

☛ Patient care requires a strong amount of compassion. Do you consider yourself a compassionate person?

☛ At Gribbles Veterinary Pathology we seek to hire individuals who display a keen interest in the healthcare arena. Would you consider yourself dedicated to a career in healthcare services?

☛ In the healthcare services industry there are many emotions in a day. Have your emotions ever been in the way of your productivity?

☛ Tell me about your healthcare related education and training.

☛ At Gribbles Veterinary Pathology we take pride in our great relationships with clients, vendors, coworkers, and patients. Do you consider yourself to be a strong relationship builder?

☛ What is your patient care philosophy?

☛ In order to work for Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, you must be able to pass a full criminal background check. Do you consent to a full background check?

☛ Healthcare service companies require strong organizational skills and attention to detail. How do you ensure that your work is properly organized, and highly accurate?

☛ If you could expand your knowledge and expertise in any area of healthcare services, which would you choose?

☛ It is often said that a career in healthcare is a 'thankless job'. How can we keep you motivated and engaged, even on the days when you feel your work goes unnoticed?

☛ Have you ever been involved in ordering medical supplies, maintaining inventory, or other types of health care related administrative duties?

☛ At Gribbles Veterinary Pathology we seek to hire individuals who have ambitions of growing their career. Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years?

☛ Gribbles Veterinary Pathology seeks to hire those with strong problem solving skills. When were you able to successfully resolve a problem in the workplace?

☛ When have you shown a willingness to learn a new method or new approach to solving a problem?

☛ How would you describe your personality?

☛ Gribbles Veterinary Pathology has a diverse workforce. When have you worked amongst a diverse group of people?

☛ Do you prefer to work in a team based position or individually?

☛ Gribbles Veterinary Pathology supports a healthy work/life balance for all employees. How do you balance life and work?

☛ Tell me about yourself.

☛ What part of your healthcare career brings you the most stress?

☛ If you could expand your knowledge and expertise in any healthcare service area, which would you choose?

☛ If Gribbles Veterinary Pathology hired you today, what would you accomplish first?

☛ Think about a difficult boss, professor or coworker. What made him or her difficult? How did you successfully interact with this person?

☛ With the ongoing changes in the healthcare services industry, how do you keep your knowledge current?

☛ What type of work environment do you dislike working in?

☛ In your opinion, what makes you a great problem solver?

☛ Rate your problem solving skills from 1-10. How do you justify your rating?

☛ What is your greatest weakness?

☛ Why do you think you will be successful in this role with Gribbles Veterinary Pathology?

☛ Do you think it is possible to be a good team member, yet disagree with the leader?

☛ Gribbles Veterinary Pathology was initially looking for someone with 5 years' experience in a similar role. Considering you have just 2 years' experience, would you be willing to accept this position at a lower salary?

I enjoy most of the animals and I enjoy a certain part of my clientele. It’s something to come in here and be able to know that you’ve got a group of people that think a lot of you and you think a lot of them, and the friendships that you make over the years. A lot of my large animals clients, I still have a great friendship with.

But I think probably the biggest perk is the true friendships that you develop with the people because what you’ve done for their animals or have done for them¦That is probably the biggest thing that I think I can, right off the top of my head. You know, compared with all this other stuff the money is nothing. Hopefully, a few of them will show up at my funeral. That’s the goal. And also the respect. Most of the time, people respect you.

Many organizations use the same equipment and technology used in the veterinary practice. What type of office machines have they used, such as fax/copier, multi-line phone or computer? Who serviced these machines? For example, did they learn how to clear jams on the copier? This is usually done by the receptionist in the heat of the moment, and it always happens when it’s busy up front!

How well do they type? Are they familiar with using email, texting, and other forms of communication you use with your teammates and your clients? Chances are, even if they have previous experience in veterinary medicine, they may not know your basic software, so ask them when is the last time they had to LEARN a new software program. Ask them how that went, if it was it easy for them or if they struggled quite a bit?

Be damn sure this is what you want to do. It’s a long ways through veterinary school. The first year is probably the most grueling part of the whole thing. The gross anatomy where you’ve got all these species of animals to learn about. You have to have dedication, and have patience, and you need to have a work ethic.

It ain’t an 8-5 job, there are many times you have to put in longer hours. I’d say that most veterinary students come away from school with about $150,000 in debt, and that takes a lot out of your income to start with. It’s a difficult road the first five years out of school. You just don’t come out of veterinary school and say, Here I am. I’m a veterinarian, you know, ¦and you’re going to get this big salary, and life is going to be great. It’s not. The person needs to have patience, and want, and have a desire. There has to be that desire to be a veterinarian. Just because it looks like it might be monetarily rewarding, it won’t be for a while.

This is a question we often fail to ask, or even consider. Yet our receptionists will absolutely be involved with clients who suffer the loss of their beloved pet. Will they understand the grief associated with this loss, and how the particular circumstances — such as a tragic accident, an attended euthanasia, a death while in the hospital — might affect the client’s grief? There are many different colors of grief, and the candidate you pick should understand that and be able to empathize while still doing their tasks. Remember that many situations are similar among different types of businesses, with the exception of the addition of death and euthanasia in the veterinary practice. Spend time on that topic in particular.

Diagnostics. The animal has very little ability to tell you where it hurts; whether they’re feeling better or whether you’re doing the right thing. You have to rely on the owner, you have to rely on the sixth sense. Diagnosing sick animals is the most challenging part of it all¦Diagnosing and being able to have a working relationship with that animal to know whether it is doing better, and taking history from the fifteen to twenty minutes you spend with a person in there¦I can’t have somebody come in with a sick dog, and drop it off and say, Here, fix it. Because I’ve got to have a whole lot more information than that. Diagnosing sick animals is probably the most difficult and challenging of all the things that we do.

I grew up on a farm and I enjoyed working with the animals there. And we had an old time veterinarian there that was pretty rough around the edges. I worked farm animals, I worked for people, I did routine healthcare for sheep and cattle and things, and I just kind of migrated that way.

At some point I finally decided that was what I wanted to do for my life’s work. I knew it when I was fourteen or fifteen years old, but it’s something that takes many people a while to figure out. There’s some place along the way that the light finally comes on and says, This is what I want to do. It doesn’t always work out that way, but that’s what most people in veterinary medicine do.

I like the challenge of diagnostics. I like the satisfaction of saving an animal’s life. I like the things that we do to make animals live longer, live more productive lives, spaying and neutering, and all healthcare. Now our cats are living to seventeen or eighteen years of age, and our dogs are fifteen and sixteen, and when I started practice, if you had a fourteen-year old cat, it was old. And then once in a while, it’s rewarding when somebody comes up and thanks you for what you’ve done for (Fifi) or (Foofoo). If money was in it, I wouldn’t have done large animal. Because large animal[care] was rewarding; delivering calves and treating sick animals, and the fire engine calls were lots of fun, but there was no money in it. There never is any money.