Top Career Paths for Former Veterinarians in 2026
Being a veterinarian in today’s world can be challenging, leading many professionals to reconsider their career trajectories.
Although the number of students pursuing veterinary sciences remains steady, there has been a notable decline in applicants for veterinary positions and a shift in workforce dynamics.
With a growing number of veterinarians transitioning to other fields, it raises an important question:
What career paths are they exploring now?
To find out, we analyzed the resumes of former veterinarians to identify the most common jobs they have moved into after leaving the field. We reviewed thousands of resumes and focused on the top 100 career transitions.
Below is a snapshot of the ten most common jobs for former veterinarians:
These roles are valuable, with many utilizing transferrable skills that veterinarians possess or serving as stepping stones to new careers.
However, while these positions are expected, there are also unexpected and intriguing job transitions worth highlighting. Here are some of the more distinctive career paths taken by former veterinarians:
While attractiveness varies among these roles, they certainly stand out as noteworthy transitions.
Methodology for Identifying Common Jobs for Former Veterinarians
We utilized data from our extensive database of over 7 million resumes, specifically examining those that listed “veterinarian” in their work history. By analyzing subsequent job titles in their resumes, we ranked the jobs based on their frequency of occurrence.
To identify the most interesting roles, we filtered the ranked list to highlight positions that:
- Appeared in less than 1% of all new job listings
- Were not included in the top 100 most common jobs in our database
This methodology allowed us to compile a comprehensive list of the most common career transitions for former veterinarians.
Detailed Ranking of the Most Common Jobs of Former Veterinarians
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
