How to hire a Veterinary Technician

How to hire a veterinary technician, step by step

Here's a step-by-step veterinary technician hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a veterinary technician job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new veterinary technician
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a Veterinary Technician do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the veterinary technician you need to hire. Certain veterinary technician roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine Employee vs Contractor Status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A veterinary technician's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, veterinary technicians from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of veterinary technician salaries for various roles:

   Type Of Veterinary Technician	Description	Hourly Rate
   Veterinary Technician	Veterinary technologists and technicians perform medical tests under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian to assist in diagnosing the injuries and illnesses of animals.	$14-23
   Laboratory Animal Technician	A laboratory animal technician is responsible for conducting animal research studies by observing and analyzing animal nature and conditions. Laboratory animal technicians maintain the safety and cleanliness of animal cages, supply them food and water, and administer medications as needed... Show More	$10-19
   Animal Health Technician	Animal health technicians work primarily in an animal diagnostics laboratory, where they test specimens according to a veterinarian's requests. The animal health technician must be capable of operating all of the necessary diagnostics equipment for animal care... Show More	$11-27

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common Skills:

   • PET
   • Patients
   • Anesthesia
   • Catheter
   • Exam Rooms
   • Patient Care
   • Venipuncture
   • Catheter Placement
   • Radiology
   • Customer Service
   • Compassion
   • Lab Tests
   • IV
   • Animal Handling

   Check All Skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage tech appointments, suture removal, bandage removal and placement, CPR and emergency care when need.
   • Manage operational and administrative functions such as training/supervising new employees, issuing prescriptions, and documenting pet insurance applications and transactions.
   • Advance medical procedures such as intravenous catheter placement, anesthetic monitoring, and nasal catheter placement.
   • Provide specialize nursing care, administer treatments to hospitalize patients, catheter placement and provide post operative care.
   • Assist in surgical preparation of patients and maintain status during surgical procedures including monitoring and adjusting anesthesia base on patient status.
   • Conduct routine health procedures on dogs and non-human primates, including dentistry and TB testing.

   More Veterinary Technician duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your veterinary technician job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A veterinary technician salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, veterinary technicians' average salary in arkansas is 42% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level veterinary technicians earn 38% less than senior-level veterinary technicians.
   • Certifications. A veterinary technician with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a veterinary technician's salary.

   Average veterinary technician salary

   $38,441yearly

   $18.48 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level veterinary technician salary

   $30,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 14, 2025

   Average veterinary technician salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
   1	California	$50,900	$24
   2	Massachusetts	$45,990	$22
   3	New York	$45,458	$22
   4	Oregon	$41,950	$20
   5	Maine	$41,654	$20
   6	Arizona	$40,259	$19
   7	Colorado	$39,643	$19
   8	Minnesota	$38,582	$19
   9	Wisconsin	$38,578	$19
   10	New Jersey	$37,564	$18
   11	Illinois	$37,240	$18
   12	Kansas	$37,121	$18
   13	Pennsylvania	$36,623	$18
   14	North Carolina	$35,815	$17
   15	Indiana	$35,784	$17
   16	Maryland	$35,608	$17
   17	Florida	$34,674	$17
   18	Utah	$34,348	$17
   19	South Carolina	$34,033	$16
   20	Texas	$33,494	$16

   Average veterinary technician salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
   1	Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute	$60,705	$29.19
   2	Catapult Systems	$57,126	$27.46
   3	Columbia University in the City of New York	$53,825	$25.88	27
   4	Brigham and Women's Hospital	$53,734	$25.83	20
   5	Massachusetts General Hospital	$52,967	$25.46	4
   6	Michigan State University	$52,326	$25.16	6
   7	AbbVie	$51,103	$24.57	11
   8	Leidos	$50,981	$24.51	8
   9	Genentech	$50,861	$24.45	4
   10	Culver Academies	$49,288	$23.70
   11	St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	$48,922	$23.52
   12	City of Los Angeles	$48,596	$23.36	1
   13	Ross Institute	$48,489	$23.31
   14	The Rockefeller University	$48,155	$23.15	2
   15	Hoffmann-LA Roche Inc	$48,112	$23.13	1
   16	University of Colorado Boulder	$47,785	$22.97
   17	City of Jacksonville	$47,723	$22.94	2
   18	Emory University	$47,496	$22.83	12
   19	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center	$47,233	$22.71	6
   20	Tampa Bay Water	$46,644	$22.43	2

4. Writing a Veterinary Technician Job Description

   A job description for a veterinary technician role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a veterinary technician job description:

   Veterinary Technician job description example

   Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University provides 24-hour care for pets 365 days of the year. Since 1985, we have offered high quality medical care, consultation, referral and emergency veterinary services for the care of dogs, cats and exotic pets. In addition, the hospital creates a positive learning experience for Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University students and student technicians with regard to small animal ECC medicine and supports the training of specialized ECC technicians.
   What You'll Do
   
   This position qualifies for a $2,000 sign on bonus following successful completion of 6 months of employment for newly hired employees.
   
   The Veterinary Technician works as part of an integrated clinical care team to provide high quality nursing care to inpatient, outpatient, critically ill and emergent patients. In addition, the Veterinary Technician supervises and instructs veterinary students on each rotation.
   
   What We're Looking For
   
   Basic Requirements: Associates Degree in Veterinary Technology or a high school diploma (or the equivalent) with at least one year of related experience. CVT or licensure eligible. Comprehensive understanding of medical terminology and familiarity with veterinary pharmacology. Ability to prioritize multiple responsibilities for several patients within a busy clinical setting. Technical abilities such as patient restraint, venipuncture, fluid administration, medication administration, monitoring and treating patients. Ability to effectively work as a member of a diverse team of clinical and administrative professionals. Basic computer skills including the ability to learn the electronic medical record system. Ability to lift up to 50 lbs. with or without accommodation. Preferred Qualifications: Bachelors Degree in Veterinary Technology preferred. Four or more years of ECC veterinary medicine experience preferred. Credentialed as a Certified Veterinary Technician Exotic animal handling skills desirable Special Work Schedule Requirements: The schedule for this position may include providing University and calendar holiday coverage on a rotating basis. The schedule for this position may include evening and weekend hours. The schedule for this position requires flexibility to insure that adequate patient care is provided without interruption or exception. This position is considered essential and is therefore required to report to work as scheduled during emergency closings An employee in this position must complete all appropriate background checks at the time of hire, promotion, or transfer.
   
   Equal Opportunity Employer - minority/females/veterans/disability/sexual orientation/gender identity
   
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5. Post your job

   To find the right veterinary technician for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with veterinary technicians they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit veterinary technicians who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your veterinary technician job on Zippia to find and recruit veterinary technician candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting veterinary technicians requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new veterinary technician

   Once you've found the veterinary technician candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new veterinary technician. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a veterinary technician?