Beyond the Textbook: Jules’ Veterinary Journey to Graduate Mentor

Starting out in South Africa and moving to England

The first few years in practice are where you really embed your style and clinical foundations. 

In those days, you had to learn almost entirely on your own until you got to a point of feeling confident to tackle the majority of cases. 

While working, I also returned to university to study a 2-year Honours degree in Veterinary Science, which was small animal medicine-based (and could be seen as equivalent to a certificate in the UK). 

My first day was fully booked for consults. There was no induction period, almost no one to ask for advice, and generally no nurses to support. 

I started working for Medivet as a locum in 1997, 4 years after qualifying, for 6 months. It was my first real exposure to the different culture of pet care in England compared to South Africa, and the difference was quite astonishing in most cases. After travelling for several months, I returned permanently to Medivet in 1998 as a full-time vet. 

Jules’ top tip

If I were giving myself one key piece of advice as a new graduate, it would be the reassurance that it was ok to make a mistake, as long as you did not make that mistake again. 

A new chapter with Medivet

Locuming at Medivet in 1997 was my first real exposure to the different culture of pet care in England compared to South Africa, and the difference was quite astonishing in most cases. 

I worked in the Finchley branch clinic in North London. It was the type of clinic where, over the years, you got to really know your clients, their pets, their children, and become a part of their lives as their vet.

Fun fact: The Finchley branch was the seventh clinic of Medivet at the time!

The Medivet evolution 

At that stage, Medivet was not the huge organisation it is today. The close working relationship between the vets was really where I learned so much. 

Vets in the region used to go during the day to the main Hendon hospital. The Medivet Hendon 24 Hour hospital was the first non-university 24 Hour veterinary hospital in the UK to be established. We would either bring our case to a more experienced colleague or just help the hospital. That was how we managed to learn from each other and support each other’s case load.

Over the 20 years working at the Finchley branch, I had worked with many new graduates and had always felt that the 2-week “shadowing induction” period was too inadequate to allow for a proper integration of new vets into the business. 

I left the Finchley clinic and moved to the Watford Support Centre, where I was tasked with setting up a new programme for graduate vet integration into Medivet. 

The programme I created then has gone through several iterations and is now the Medivet Graduate Vet Programme. The goal of the Graduate Vet Programme is really to support new veterinary professionals when they’re starting out.

The Medivet Graduate Vet Programme

The Graduate Vet Programme is really an excellent start to a veterinary career. 

The step up from being a student to being a responsible professional is more than just a status change – it requires a change in clinical thinking and also an acceptance of responsibility. 

The one-year programme is the ideal length of time and is filled with additional training days and CPD sessions, and benefits from having personal one-to-one support from a Medivet Support Mentor for medical, surgical, VetGDP, and people-skills development. 

Our Graduate Veterinary Programme really fills that gap and delivers a much more confident and skilled 2nd-year vet to the business. The fact that many current Branch partners in Medivet started out on the Graduate Vet Programme is a good testament to the programme having helped to build strong key foundations as a graduate vet.

If a graduate vet is team-orientated, gets that personal ”kick” from a case well done, keeps looking to learn another skill, strives to build that personal relationship with each client, and gets to understand the way a veterinary business works, then they will create their own opportunity of having a long and successful career as an animal care provider, or perhaps the next Branch Partner.

Join the Medivet team

As you can see from Jules’ inspiring journey, Medivet offers a supportive and structured path for veterinary professionals to build a successful career. Joining us gives you the opportunity to work with those in their early careers, too, transforming them from new graduates into confident and skilled professionals. 

There’s never been a better time to join us at Medivet. Browse our open positions today.