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Top Issues for New Veterinarians Looking for a Job

By Marie Rosenthal, MS, December 8, 2025

It might surprise practice owners to know that informal surveys conducted by practice owner Christine Staten, DVM, indicate that salary is not necessarily the most important factor for new veterinary school graduates seeking a position.

Of course, that doesn’t mean salary isn’t substantial—it is—but today’s graduates are also looking for fulfillment in their career choices. In fact, she said, the #1 thing is mentorship.

“Mentorship was mentioned [in the surveys] more than every other thing combined,” Dr. Staten said at the 71st AAEP Annual Convention in Denver. “This is the most important thing to them. So, what does that mean? For the hundreds and hundreds that I’ve had conversations with, they don’t know…but they do know that they need it.”

Dr. Staten, the co-owner of Adobe Veterinary Center in Tucson, Ariz., has been told that new graduates want mentors to be available when they call for advice. They don’t want someone who will make them feel stupid if they ask a dumb question. And if they are doing something wrong, they want someone to let them know sooner rather than later, so they can fix it before they keep doing it.

They are looking for psychological safety and training. “That’s their view of mentorship,” Dr. Staten said.

At her practice, Dr. Staten and her colleagues look for opportunities to train and involve the new graduates. If a surgeon is performing a procedure the new veterinarian has never done before, he or she will tell them to block time on their own schedule and join the surgeon to see how its done.

It’s also practice policy to meet with new associates once a week for 8 weeks. “We allow them to block off their time, and then we meet monthly after that. We have responsibilities for the mentor, the mentee, and the entire team,” she said

The goal is to provide opportunities for learning. “We let them block off their schedule any time they want to go do anything else during those first 6 months so that they can learn,” she explained.

The new associates get paid a straight salary for the first 6 months, so they don’t lose money while learning.

“There are lots of things we can do for this,” Dr. Staten said.

She suggested developing a written mentorship plan for the practice and incorporating it into discussions during the hiring process. It’s listed on Abode’s Careers page to entice applicants.

“I’m investing in that [learning and mentorship],” Dr. Staten said. “I want them to move forward in our practice in a substantial way.”