No Experience Required? My First Job in Veterinary Medicine

As my college graduation was nearing, I knew I needed to look for a job. At the time, I was considering graduate school to pursue a career in human medicine, but I didn’t feel ready to go to more school. I decided to take a year to figure out what I wanted to do. Most of my family works in the medical field, so I always assumed I would end up working in healthcare too. While I was searching for jobs during my last few months of classes, I found out that DoveLewis was hiring Client Service Representatives. I did my research and decided that my prior job experience in customer service and human medicine would apply well in the veterinary field. I previously worked as a Resident Assistant, then at a medical office, and became a registered Emergency Medical Technician in college. My work experience - working with people + reception + emergency medicine combined - would lend well to the CSR role.

I had a great experience interviewing; I was so impressed with my tour of DoveLewis and quickly decided that I really wanted the job. As I progressed through the interview process, I had my fingers crossed waiting to hear about a job offer but I was worried that my lack of veterinary experience would lessen my chances. The job description asked for one year of experience working in the veterinary field, so I was very cautious with my expectations. In the end, I was offered the CSR position and immediately accepted the job. Now that I had the job I spent so much time working to attain, I knew that the next order of business would be to learn as much as I could about working in the veterinary field.

Personally, I think that starting without any prior veterinary experience was an advantage for me. Entering a brand new field with an eagerness to learn is what really helped me strive to do my best at all times. Since I knew I had so much to learn, I had a lot of motivation to catch up on everything that I needed to know so that I could be a successful CSR. Having this attitude during my training is what helped me to learn quickly.

After being hired as a Client Service Representative without prior veterinary experience, I don’t think it’s necessary to have a veterinary background to be a successful CSR. Having applicable experience to the job you’re applying for is important, but that experience can come from a lot of different places. While there are some skills that come naturally and others learned, I think a lot of what we do as CSRs revolves around understanding client care and having a love of animals.