Veterinarian Resume: Complete Writing Guide [w/ Examples]

vetenarian resume sample

Most pet owners can tell you that their pets are a part of their families and that they will want the best healthcare for their animal companions. For this very reason, no doubt veterinary clinics would want to hire the best veterinarians to treat their patients.

A veterinary’s duties and responsibilities include:

  • Examine animals to check their health condition
  • Diagnose animals illnesses and decide the best health treatment
  • Prescribe medications for animals
  • Perform surgeries or operations on animals

A professionally crafted veterinarian resume is the first step to instilling a good first impression and confidence in recruiters. Before you know it, you’ll be on your way to an interview for your new veterinary journey.

Step 1: Pick the best layout for your veterinarian resume

How long should a vet resume be?

In a competitive veterinary field, vets aspire to practice in reputable clinics that you would no doubt apply to as well. With the number of vet resumes they receive; recruiters can only spare a few seconds to glance through your resume before moving on to the rest. Thus, you would want to make sure that your veterinarian resume is 1-2 pages long unless you are applying for academic or research positions or have extensive experience.

What is the best font to use in a veterinarian resume?

You can easily help a recruiter to read through your veterinarian doctor resume by choosing a font that is easy to read. For fonts, you want to make sure that you stick to classic and not overused fonts, such as Calibri, Cambria, Helvetica, Garamond, and Palatino.

What is the standard margin for a veterinary CV?

Ensure that your vet CV contains an appropriate amount of white space; this helps with its readability. A one-inch margin on all sides is the ideal margin size, as it will balance out the resume’s contents and the leftover white space.

What spacing should a veterinarian resume be in?

Since your vet CV’s length and space are limited, you should ensure that you use an appropriate amount of spacing to avoid wasting and fully utilize the document’s space. A 1.15 spacing is the ideal number, it gives your vet CV extra room while remaining professional-looking.

What file format should a vet CV be in, Word or PDF?

In most circumstances, a veterinarian resume PDF is more preferable compared to a Word vet CV because of how volatile and messier the latter format can be (due to differences in application versions). Unless specifically asked, you should submit your veterinarian resume in PDF form.

Step 2: Choose the right format for your vet resume

Your resume format may seem insignificant, but the right one can ensure that your vet CV has a natural flow. There are 4 formats to choose from:

  • Chronological resume format
    List your work experiences in chronologically reverse order, starting with your current or latest work experience first and your earliest employment history last.
    This format is a safe choice to choose from if you can’t decide on a format to choose from. However, because of how widespread it is, it might not be able to fully highlight your abilities.
  • Functional resume format
    The skills in your veterinarian resume and achievements will be the highlight in a skill-based or a functional format.
    This format might be a gamble to adopt because of how skill-oriented it is but for a veterinary student resume, a vet school resume, or a vet CV with gaps in between one’s jobs, it can be beneficial as it can showcase your potential and current abilities to recruiters.
  • Combinational resume format
    A combinational resume merges the functional format with the chronological format. Here, you highlight your vet skills first and add your previous employment experience after in a reverse-chronological format. Doing so can allow you to show proof of your veterinary skills with your previous employment history to back it up.
  • Targeted resume format
    A targeted resume format is a time-consuming format to adopt, as it requires you to tailor your veterinary doctor resume for every job application. However, it may yield better results in your job search because of how tailored (and thus more relevant to what the clinic is looking for in a vet) your veterinarian resume is going to be.

Step 3: Start with contact information and basic personal details

A professional veterinary CV should cover the most basic information required by recruiters. In this section, you: 

    📍 Should include your most basic personal and contact details:
  • Full name.
  • Email address.
  • Phone number.
    ✅  May include details such as:
  • Address
  • LinkedIn URL
  • Personal website
    ❌  Should avoid including personal details (to avoid potential hiring bias) such as:
  • Date of birth
  • Sexual orientation
  • Religion or belief
  • Marital status and dependency
  • Expected/Current salary
    When you put out a number too early in the hiring process, it lessens your bargaining power during salary negotiation.

Step 4: Create an intriguing veterinarian resume title

A veterinarian resume title announces who you are to recruiters. It gives them a snapshot of yourself as a candidate, thus, it should be a summary of your veterinary doctor resume.

To attract recruiters’ attention, you would want to craft an intriguing and attention-catching resume title to coax them to continue going over your vet CV and what you have to offer.

To do this, make sure that your veterinarian resume title highlights your relevant achievements and your strengths. You want to use strong and catchy words to grab their attention and to insert keywords from the job descriptions to make the resume title (and by extension, your vet resume) relevant.

Veterinarian resume title examples:

  • Skilled and Passionate Veterinarian with 5+ Years in Animal Emergency Care
  • Highly Compassionate and Personable Veterinarian Specializing in Animal Dentistry for More Than 8 Years
  • Responsible and Educated Veterinarian Offering Deep Knowledge and Skills in Veterinary Neurosurgery

Step 5: Craft a professional veterinary doctor resume statement

Your veterinary doctor resume statement should be a continuation of your resume title. After your resume title has done its job of convincing recruiters to read through your vet CV, your resume statement should go more into detail about it. Here, you should be describing yourself, your previous experience, and your relevant skills.

Lengthwise, an excellent veterinarian resume statement should be within one to two sentences long, any longer and you’ll be taking up space and you might lose the recruiter’s attention. A resume summary differs from a career objective, with the latter being more focused on your career goals. 

Veterinary doctor resume statement examples:

  • Compassionate veterinary doctor with 8+ years practicing dentistry. Highly skilled in oral and maxillofacial radiology and surgery, and canine dental cleaning.
  • Responsible and personable exotic animal veterinarian with 9+ years of experience. Specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of zoonotic diseases. 
  • Meticulous and skilled emergency care veterinarian. Proven record of being able to work in a high-pressure and time-critical environment.

📝 Notes: Career objectives can be a useful tool for a fresh graduate vet student resume or when you are still inexperienced in the veterinary field.

Step 6: Include skills and abilities relevant to the job

A veterinarian is required to possess a wide array of skills to provide the best and most comprehensive care for animals. To do this, there are four ways you can list your skills in a veterinarian resume:


  1. bullet lists
  2. expanded bullet list (bullet list plus basic explanation of your listed skills)
  3. integrated with work experience (requires extensive work experience to fully elaborate the skills you possess, not suitable for a newly graduated vet student resume)
  4. categorized skills section (requires you to possess diversified skills, also not suitable for a newly graduated or inexperienced veterinary student resume).

Carefully elaborate on the job context and the skills you possess before committing to a format.

Skills for veterinarian resume examples:

  • Hard skills: 
    
    Veterinary dentistry, veterinary neurosurgery, veterinary acupuncture, anesthesia, veterinary orthopedic, spaying/neutering, veterinary dermatology, emergency and critical care, behavioral medicine, animal nutrition
  • Soft skills: 
    
    Communication, stress tolerance, decision-making, negotiation, critical thinking, empathy, leadership, time management, mediation, attention to detail
  • Other (technical) skills:
    
    Microsoft Office, research, presenting, writing, e-mail, customer service, social media, spreadsheets, project management, video creation

Step 7: Highlight your best experience and accomplishments

Your past medical practice history can tell recruiters a lot regarding your skill level and qualifications for the position.

 A professionally crafted experience section should contain:

  • (Previous) organizations or employers names
  • State of the organizations
  • Titles you’ve previously held
  • Employment period
  • Brief description of your responsibilities and achievements (the latter, if applicable)

As with most sections in a veterinary CV, remember to tailor your work experience section, as not all job experiences you have may be applicable or relevant to the one you’re applying for. You should also quantify your results when showcasing your achievements, as it makes your work look more convincing and apparent in contrast to qualitative descriptions. 

💡 Tip: Remember to use action verbs as they can give recruiters more information to paint a picture of you, which may increase your chances of moving on to the next step of the recruitment process.

Veterinarian work experience and accomplishments example:

Veterinary, XYZ Animal Hospital 

Mar. 2016 - Present

  • Conducted minor surgeries to major operations to house pets including dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, and snakes.
  • Responsible for animal medications and product trial documentation. Review and recommend changes to animal trial protocols
  • Key achievement:
    Helped organize the hospital teams to increase work efficiency, resulting in a 15% increase in staff productivity.

Veterinarian work experience and accomplishments example:

Veterinary, ABC Animal Hospital 

Jan. 2013 - Feb. 2016 

  • Assisted multiple ophthalmologist conduct cataract surgeries on dogs
  • Performed lab analysis and surgeries including spaying, neutering, dental cleaning, and extraction.
  • Key achievement:
    Treated an average of 60+ patients per day, with a medical diagnosis accuracy of 98%.

Step 8: List educational qualifications and background

Veterinary is a field that requires rigorous training and education for a vet to legally practice. Thus, your educational qualifications and background are one of the most crucial sections of your entire veterinary doctor resume.

 In this section, you should list your:

  • Educational institution
  • Degree(s)
  • Major(s)
  • Year of graduation
  • Honors, awards, and extracurricular activities (if applicable)

Your seniority in the veterinary field will affect the positioning of your education section. For a vet student resume, new graduate veterinarian resume, or an entry-level veterinary CV, your education section should be placed right after your veterinarian resume objective or resume summary, it should be one of the highlights of your CV. 

Veterinarian educational qualifications examples:

  • High school (can be omitted if you have a higher education degree; for vets, high school education is not enough)

Weston High School (SC, USA) | 2013-2017
GPA: 4.04/4.3
Extracurricular activities:President of the Animal Care Club
Class Vice President (2016-2017)

  • In progress

B.S. Biomedical Sciences (in progress) | Colorado State University

  • Incomplete

Colorado State University2016-2018: Completed 40 credits towards B.S. Biomedical Sciences

📝  For a senior-level vet resume, or an associate veterinarian CV, your skills and qualifications are usually highlighted in the experience section, thus, you can opt to put your educational history after your work experience.

Step 9: Add an extra section to highlight personal traits or achievements

Some of your personal interests, hobbies, activities, etc. can highlight your personal traits and achievements. That way, recruiters can have an even better picture of your passion and qualifications as a vet.

Some information that you can include in your veterinary doctor resume include:

  • Hobbies and interests
    If your hobbies and interests align with the job context and/or the clinic’s values or philosophy, you can include them to emphasize more on your fit with the clinic and job.
  • Volunteer work
    Including your volunteer work in animal shelters or sanctuaries can show recruiters of your passion and love for animals. Moreover, volunteering in these places can also teach you valuable skills that can benefit your veterinary jobs. 
  • Certifications and awards
    Veterinary-related certifications (usually practicing licenses specific to your country or state jurisdiction) can help boost your credibility as a vet.
  • Projects
    If you had been a part of a project or were in charge of a project relating to animal care (e.g., fundraising for an animal hospital, bake sale to raise funds for an animal shelter), including it in your vet CV can help you stand out from other candidates.
  • References
    If you have had any previous and relevant work experience before, you may want to find one of your previous higher-ups to write you a recommendation letter and/or be your reference if the recruiters would want to verify your qualifications in your veterinarian resume with your previous employers.

CakeResume helps veterinarian build professional resumes! Start from choosing a suitable resume template & layout, you can learn from our step-by-step guide to make a perfect veterinarian resume for free.

Step 10: Craft a convincing veterinarian cover letter

It may seem old-fashioned, but a veterinarian cover letter can immensely help your vet CV. A vet cover letter gives you space to elaborate more on your credibility as a veterinarian in a way that your resume could not. Because of its limited space and lack of elaboration, a veterinary resume may not be fully enough to convince recruiters of your abilities as a vet.

This is where a veterinarian cover letter comes in handy; it gives you one page (the ideal length) for you to introduce yourself, to explain your motivation for applying, and to showcase your relevant experiences and qualifications. Your vet cover letter should also contain your contact details and should be opened and closed politely.

The first step to every process is usually the most crucial one, more so in a job application process. An understanding of the physical aspect of a professional resume (i.e., template, format, layout) is as important as the contents. 

💡 Tips: Online resume builders such as CakeResume, can help you manage these aspects and can be especially beneficial for those who are building their veterinary student resumes and/or their entry-level vet CVs.

Veterinarian Resume Sample

Mallory O'Leary

Passionate Associate Veterinarian with 9+ Years of Experience Specializing in Care for Pet Animals

Phone: +1-202-555-0236
Email: [email protected]
Washington D.C., USA

Professional Summary

Passionate and experienced associate veterinarian offering 8+ years of experience, advanced skill, and knowledge in veterinary care. Specializes in pet animals critical care and emergency, seeking to leverage my skills to continue providing excellent healthcare service and medical care in Forever Home Veterinary Clinic.

Work Experience

Associate Veterinarian
Paw n' Care Vet Clinic
Jan. 2017 - Present

  • Frequently volunteers to work in the overnight emergency care unit, treated up to 20 patients per night.
  • Assisted multiple neurosurgeons conduct emergency operations and spinal surgeries.
  • Performed lab analysis and surgeries including spaying, neutering, dental cleaning, and extraction.

Veterinarian
Creature Comfort Vet Clinic
 Jan. 2012 - Dec.2017

  • Diagnosed and treated an average of 92 pet animals per day.
  • Conducted vaccinations and immunizations on cats, dogs, birds, snakes, and rodents.
  • Created recovery plans for patients and advised owners on proper care practices.

Education

B.S. in Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University 

2005 - 2008

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Colorado State University

2008 - 2012

Skills

Hard Skills

  • Anesthesia
  • Surgical Skills
  • Animal Dentistry
  • Emergency Care
  • Pet Animal Care

Soft Skills

  • Communication
  • Attention to Detail
  • Critical Thinking
  • Decision Making
  • Stress Tolerance

--- Originally written by Patricia Rosita---

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