📱 How to Recruit on Social Media – Your Step by Step Guide

When it comes to veterinary hiring, the numbers speak clearly: 86% of jobseekers use social media in their search. And 93% of candidates rank social media as the top way they evaluate a clinic’s culture and values. For innovative practices, this is the way forward. It is where today’s professionals are looking, and it is where your clinic can stand out as an employer of choice.

But like most good things, it is not easy. Social recruiting has to be executed with care and finesse. The clinics that see results are not just posting a vacancy and hoping for the best. They are approaching social with the same commitment they apply to patient outcomes: quality, consistency, and attention to detail.

The magic happens when you bring all the elements together in a consistent way. Each step interlocks with the others like a jigsaw, and when applied as a whole they create a presence that makes your clinic visible, attractive, and top of mind for veterinary professional jobseekers…

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🎭 Professional, Personal, and Career – Striking the Right Mix

Veterinary professionals want to see all sides of your practice. They want to know you run a competent, reliable clinic where medicine comes first. They want to sense that your team is supportive, approachable, and enjoyable to work with. And, when they are weighing up their next move, they want to understand the kind of career opportunities you offer.

That is why a strong social recruiting presence blends three kinds of content: professional, personal, and career-oriented. Professional posts might highlight new equipment, specialist services, or case outcomes that reflect the quality of your medicine. Personal posts capture the human moments that make your clinic a good place to work, such as birthdays, community events, or a candid photo of the team at the end of a busy day. Career posts spotlight job openings, celebrate staff achievements, or explain how you support continuing education and growth.

Getting that mix right is only half the challenge. The other half is frequency. Posting a job ad once and leaving it at that does not work. Social recruitment is about telling a story of who you are, what you value, and why someone should join you, and telling it regularly. The clinics that succeed are the ones that keep showing up in feeds with a steady rhythm of professional, personal, and career-focused updates.

You could manage that mix and cadence yourself, but it takes careful planning, persistence, and expertise. Many practices start with enthusiasm but quickly find that the effort tails off when the clinic gets busy. The ones that stick with it build visibility and trust long before they need to hire, which makes filling roles easier when the time comes. Every Veterinary Jobs Marketplace campaign is built around this rhythm, so your mix of professional, personal, and career posts never misses a beat.

Start here: look at your last ten posts. Do they include all three types: professional, personal, and career-oriented? If one is missing, plan the next week’s content to fill that gap.

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📱 Choose Your Platforms Wisely

Not all social media platforms work the same way, and in veterinary recruitment, some are far more effective than others. The key is to focus your energy where it will actually pay off.

• Facebook: For most clinics, Facebook remains the strongest channel. It is where many veterinary professionals already spend time, and where industry-specific groups and pages give your job posts and culture updates instant visibility. A well-crafted post can spread quickly through professional networks, especially when your team shares it too.

• Instagram: The natural next step. Its visual nature makes it perfect for showing the personal side of your clinic, the team moments, the pets, and the energy of your workplace. Younger vets, nurses, and techs often use Instagram as their window into a clinic’s personality, so it is a place to show off the culture you have worked hard to build.

• LinkedIn: Newer territory for many in the veterinary world, but growing fast. While once seen as a corporate platform, more veterinary professionals are now using LinkedIn to follow employers, connect with colleagues, and explore opportunities. It is especially useful for senior roles and for practices that want to show thought leadership.

And then there is TikTok. While it is a fun platform with strong growth, it is not where most veterinary professionals look for jobs or evaluate employers. If your clinic enjoys creating lighthearted content, it can be a nice extra, but it should never be the main focus of your recruitment effort.

For most clinics, managing even one platform well is often the limit of what can be achieved consistently. With Veterinary Jobs Marketplace, your campaigns are already running across them all, ensuring your clinic is seen wherever jobseekers spend their time.

Start here: review which platform your last three hires used most often. That gives you a strong clue about where to put your energy first.

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🎥 Show It, Don’t Just Tell It

Words alone rarely capture what it feels like to work in your clinic. Visual content such as photos, short videos, reels, and stories brings your practice to life in a way no text job ad ever could. Veterinary jobseekers are drawn to real glimpses of daily life: the teamwork in surgery prep, the quiet concentration of a nurse placing a catheter, or the light-hearted moment when a Labrador bounds into reception.

The clinics that succeed in social media recruitment are the ones that use visuals to make their opportunities tangible. A 20 second Instagram reel can show more about your workplace than a page of bullet points. A simple story filmed on a phone, capturing your team laughing over a birthday cake, tells potential jobseekers this is a place where colleagues look out for one another.

Career content belongs in the mix as well. Every time you have a role to fill, create one post with a short video that speaks directly to it. A quick clip of the practice manager explaining the role, or a team member sharing what they enjoy about their work, is far more compelling than a static ad. Clinics that weave these videos into their regular content keep their recruitment message consistent without it feeling repetitive. And every Veterinary Jobs Marketplace campaign already includes this approach, ensuring that job ads are seen in context, supported by culture and team stories.

Start here: aim to capture one photo or short video every other day. At the end of the week, choose the strongest one to post. If you have a vacancy, make that post a short video about the role, told in your own words.

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🤝 One-to-One Connections That Really Count

Many of the best veterinary professionals are not actively applying for roles, but they are often open to the right opportunity if it comes their way. Social media gives you the chance to reach them directly.

That means identifying the people whose skills and background fit what you need, and sending them a personal message. A thoughtful note that recognises their experience and invites a conversation is far more effective than waiting for applicants to come to you. Even a short message such as, “We admire your work in emergency medicine and would love to connect if you are open to hearing about future opportunities,” can open a door.

This kind of outreach takes time, effort, and persistence. You need to search profiles, draft messages, and follow up consistently. Done well, it can be the difference between finding the right person and settling for whoever happens to apply. It is also the principle behind the One-to-One Outreach built into every Veterinary Jobs Marketplace campaign, where personal contact is a core part of how roles are filled.

Start here: set aside 20 minutes this week to search LinkedIn or Facebook groups for veterinary professionals in your area. Identify one or two people whose background fits your clinic and send them a short, friendly message.

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👩‍⚕️ Your Team = Your Best Advocates

When it comes to recruiting through social media, nothing carries more weight than the voices of the people already on your team. Veterinary jobseekers want to hear what it is really like to work in your clinic, and they trust authentic voices far more than polished statements.

Encouraging your staff to share posts about their work, their growth, and their day-to-day experiences expands your reach and adds credibility. A simple repost of a clinic update with a personal comment such as, “I love being part of this team,” can catch the eye of someone in their network who may be open to a move. These kinds of staff-driven shares often outperform official clinic accounts because they feel personal and genuine.

The challenge is consistency. Asking employees to share is easy, but making it happen regularly is not. Without clear direction and fresh content to share, the momentum fades. Clinics that succeed are the ones that provide ready-to-use material and encourage staff participation in a structured way. Every Veterinary Jobs Marketplace campaign is designed with this in mind, supplying posts that your team can confidently share to extend the reach of your recruitment message.

Start here: next time you post a job opening or a team highlight, ask two staff members to share it with their own short comment. Notice the difference in engagement compared to the same post on your clinic’s page alone.

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🌐 Join the Conversation in Vet Groups

Some of the most effective recruiting happens in the places where veterinary professionals are already talking to each other. Facebook and LinkedIn host countless groups where vets, nurses, and technicians share advice, swap stories, and discuss career opportunities. These groups are where jobseekers often look first, and where passive candidates see roles they might not have searched for directly.

Posting a vacancy into the right group instantly places it in front of a highly relevant audience. Better still, joining the conversation with helpful advice or sharing culture-focused updates means that when you do post a job, it is noticed and trusted. Candidates are far more likely to engage with employers they have already seen contributing positively to their professional community.

The difficulty, of course, is the time it takes. Monitoring multiple groups, understanding posting rules, and staying active week after week can be more work than most clinics can sustain. That is why group engagement is built into every Veterinary Jobs Marketplace campaign. Your roles are shared across our established communities of more than 50,000 veterinary professionals, ensuring visibility without the burden of constant group management.

Start here: identify one active veterinary career group in your region. Spend a few minutes a day for a week contributing to discussions, and only then share your next vacancy.

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🐾 Stay Visible Year-Round

The best time to start recruiting is long before you have a vacancy. Veterinary jobseekers are constantly forming impressions of potential employers, and those impressions are built from the content they see every week. If your clinic only appears when you post a job ad, you will not get the traction or momentum you need.

Maintaining a steady flow of posts about your team, your culture, and your values keeps your clinic top of mind. Even when you are fully staffed, sharing updates about continuing education, staff milestones, or community involvement tells potential candidates that this is a clinic that invests in its people. When a vacancy does arise, you are not introducing yourself for the first time. Candidates already know who you are, and many will already want to work with you.

This is the essence of becoming an employer of choice. Clinics that are visible year-round attract stronger applicants and fill roles faster because they have been quietly building trust and interest long before they need to hire. Every Veterinary Jobs Marketplace Employer of Choice Campaign is designed to deliver that consistency, keeping your clinic in front of jobseekers even when you are not actively advertising a role.

Start here: plan two posts for the coming month that showcase your team without mentioning vacancies. A short update about professional development or a behind-the-scenes moment both help position your clinic as a workplace worth watching.

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Closing Thoughts

Social media has become one of the most powerful forces in veterinary recruitment. Done well, it shows potential candidates the three things they care about most: that your clinic delivers high standards of care, that your team enjoys working together, and that you provide meaningful career opportunities. The practices that commit to this approach find themselves with stronger applicants and a warmer pipeline long before they post their next vacancy.

The challenge is that doing it well is not easy. It takes planning, creativity, and persistence, and most clinics simply do not have the time to sustain it on their own. Social media recruitment is a discipline in its own right, and just as you call on clinical specialists for complex cases, it makes sense to bring in recruitment marketing experts when the goal is to consistently attract the right people. Partner with Veterinary Jobs Marketplace to achieve a presence that works continuously, keeping your clinic visible, attractive, and top of mind for veterinary jobseekers.

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