I appreciate the warning, BlinkingDuck. At this point, I’m not quite sure what to do with myself.
Here’s more details:
So, as I’ve mentioned on this board somewhere before, I’m a veterinary student. My particular interest is in poultry. In talking with folks, it has become clear that I can’t get an actual job in poultry until I complete some additional training. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to be a full-time student any longer because of the considerable credit card debt I’ve racked up. Fortunately, a training program has recently started up that would allow me to get the education I need while still having the schedule to work full time. Awesome, except now I need a job.
Most of the jobs available to vets deal with cats and dogs. This is bad for me, because I haven’t spent a lot of time studying cats or dogs. If I’m going to be their vet, then I need a clinic that is structured such that I can be double checked and supervised by a more experienced vet so that I’m less likely to do something stupid. Most new grads need that structure to some degree, but I’m going to need it more. Additionally, I need a place that gives me fairly good pay to help me out of this money pit quickly, and that has reasonable hours. Smaller clinics are notorious for sticking the new doctor with all the crap hours and emergency shifts.
So, I start seriously considering working for Large Veterinary Chain, a company famous for their big new graduate salaries. Yeah, the salaries are big enough to raise suspicion, but I do my homework and talk to people on both sides of the issue and look around behind the scenes of one of the branches nearby. I think I can handle their flavor of Business and come out with my soul mostly intact. Plus, they have a built in mentoring system, no emergency hours, and a flexible schedule. Yes, I would have to sign a non-compete contract, but that would only apply to the practice of cat and dog medicine. They’ve even told me that if I want to work as a vet on some other species on my days off, while I’m still employed by them, they don’t care.
Large Veterinary Chain looks somewhat less evil. And, the prospect of digging myself out of debt inside of 2 years is damned appealing. Everywhere else I’ve looked, my starting pay would be $20k less than what Large Veterinary Chain is offering. Never mind the benefits.
About the only other non-poultry outfit that I would feel competent working for is the government, and I spent about 3 months this past summer chasing jobs and my tail down that road. Faxes sent with no follow up, notification months later that they haven’t received stuff.
I should have become an interior designer. :mad:
