Pawsitively Impressive: Leveraging Employee Testimonials and Case Studies  – Vet Clinic Employer Branding 101

Vet Clinic Employee Testimonials for Employer Branding 101

As a veterinary clinic owner, attracting more, and retaining the top performers you’ve already got, is critical to the success of your practice.

In today’s highly competitive veterinary industry, it’s essential to differentiate your clinic from others – especially that one down the road – by showcasing your unique culture, values, and work environment.

One effective way to do this is by leveraging employee testimonials and case studies.

And if you’re the veterinary professional looking to make your next move, you’ll want to know what it’s like to work at a clinic you’ve got your eye on.

This is for you – whether you’re the employer or the employee – because we’re looking at employee testimonials as a way to showcase the best clinics in town.

Why Vet Clinic Employer Branding Matters 

Before we dive into how to leverage employee testimonials and case studies, let’s first understand why employer branding matters.

According to a survey by Glassdoor, 69% of job seekers are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand.

Additionally, a strong employer brand can lead to a 50% reduction in cost per hire and a 28% reduction in turnover rates.

In other words, employer branding is essential for attracting and retaining top talent and reducing costs associated with recruitment and turnover.

Types of Employee Testimonials and Case Studies to Enhance Employer Branding

Now that we understand the importance of employer branding, let’s explore the different types of employee testimonials and case studies you can leverage.

Using Written Testimonials as Employer Branding

Written testimonials are a simple yet effective way to showcase employee experiences and perspectives.

You can ask employees to answer open-ended questions about

• their work experience,
• your clinic culture,
• their career growth opportunities,
• or any other relevant topics.

These testimonials can be featured on your clinic’s website, social media channels, and in your recruitment marketing materials.

Using Video Testimonials in Employer Branding

Video testimonials are a powerful way to bring employee stories to life.

You can record interviews with employees and edit them into short, engaging videos that highlight their experiences and perspectives.

If you’re stuck on what themes to use or what questions to ask, then follow the topic headings I just said:

• their work experience,
• your clinic culture,
• their career growth opportunities,

Again – you’d share these videos on your clinic’s website, social media channels, or used in your recruitment marketing campaigns.

Using Case Studies as part of your Employer Branding Strategy

Case studies are another effective way to showcase the impact of your clinic and its employees.

You can highlight specific patient cases, client interactions, or team projects to demonstrate the meaningful and rewarding nature of working in veterinary medicine.

For example, you could ask team members to share their most meaningful patient cases:

• why that specific patient?
• What was so meaningful about it?
• What did they learn? Experience? Discover?

Best Practices for Employee Testimonials and Case Studies

When creating employee testimonials and case studies, you’ll get a better and more engaging result if you follow some simple guidelines.

You want to make sure all the stories you’re sharing resonate with your potential dream team members and showcase your clinic’s unique employer value proposition.

If you’re not sure what an employer value proposition is, or how to determine your clinic’s, check out episode 99 – “5 steps to creating an Employer Value Proposition that attracts high performers” – I’ll put the link to it on the show notes page of this episode to make it easy for you to go back and listen to it.

So what best practices or guidelines am I talking about?

Here are a few best practices to consider:

Ask Open-Ended Questions

When asking employees to provide testimonials, make sure to ask open-ended questions that allow them to share their experiences and perspectives in their own words. This can help you capture authentic and compelling content.

Open ended questions are the Who? Where? Why? What? When? How? Which? questions.

Use Multimedia

To make your testimonials and case studies more engaging, use a mix of written content, photos, and videos. This can help create a visually appealing and engaging experience for viewers.

Highlight Diversity and Inclusion

Make sure to feature a diverse range of employees in your testimonials and case studies. This can help demonstrate your clinic’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Please remember that diversity doesn’t just encompass ethnicity.

It can include age, gender, interests, backgrounds, and neurodiversity to name just a few.

I know a few amazing veterinarians who’re neuro diverse and adding amazing value to their team because they work together as a team.  ADHD, Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Tourette’s syndrome are all examples of neurodiverse conditions. These are some of the diagnostic labels used to explain the diverse ways of thinking, learning, processing and behaving.

However, word of caution:  make sure you’re showcasing the diversity in your team because everyone respects everyone’s uniqueness – not as examples of how good the employer is because you have a diverse team.   It always has to be about celebrating the people, not the system they’re in.

Focus on Impact

Highlight the positive impact that employees have on patients, clients, and the clinic as a whole. This can help convey the meaningful and rewarding nature of working in veterinary medicine.

Engage Shy Employees

To engage shy or introverted employees, provide written questionnaires, offer one-on-one interviews, consider anonymity, and highlight the importance of their contribution.

Focusing on Clinic Strengths and Career Growth Opportunities

In addition to the best practices listed above, there are other ways to ensure your employee testimonials and case studies are effective and engaging.

One way is to focus on showcasing your clinic’s strengths.

You can create themes around, for example, your clinic’s commitment to continuing professional development and education, to your high-quality patient care, or the innovative and advanced technologies and equipment available at your clinic.

This’ll help potential future employees understand what sets your clinic apart from the one down the road and what they might expect from working with you.

Another approach is to highlight the career growth opportunities available at your clinic.

Think about all those fresh new grads at your clinic who’re now mentoring this year’s new grads.  Celebrate how far they’ve come personally and professionally.

You can also include examples of vets and nurses who’ve advanced their careers through promotions or training programmes.

For example, do you have a vet who’s hungry for ortho surgery training and development?

Or someone who’s into dentistry?   Or scanning?  Or ophthalmology?

When you can demonstrate the potential for career advancement and growth, you can attract potential dream team members who are looking for long-term career opportunities.

This can also help with employee retention by showing your current staff that there are opportunities for them to grow and develop within the clinic.

Gathering Employee Feedback and Testimonials

To get started with creating employee testimonials and case studies, you can begin by asking employees for their input and feedback.

This can help you understand what they value most about working at your clinic and what aspects of your culture and work environment they find most compelling and what lights them up the most.

Depending on the size of your team and your resources – both financial and people – you can conduct surveys, run focus groups or have one-on-one interviews to gather this info.

You need to make sure your employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions, especially if they’re shy.

If you prefer, you can give them reassurance by making sure all feedback will be kept anonymous.

Crafting Compelling Stories and Case Studies

Once you’ve collected employee feedback and testimonials, then you can start the process of crafting compelling stories and case studies that showcase your clinic’s unique value proposition.

When doing this, always keep in mind of who it is you want to attract onto your team in the future.

If you don’t create stories that hit the mark with them, and help them envision what it’d be like to work at your clinic, you’re wasting your time and money.

A good story should have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

The beginning is where you introduce the employee and their role at your clinic.

Highlight what it is they love about working at your clinic.   Hopefully they’ll say something positive about the clinic culture or team dynamics.   When they do, ask them to clarify what this means to them … them personally.

If you’re a best practice clinic, or you have another formal level of patient care, get them to talk about what that means to them.

Next, you want to provide an example of a challenge they faced and how they overcame it.

An example of an obstacle a team member might have overcome at your clinic could be a difficult project or task they were initially struggling with.

For instance, they might have been given a new project with a tight deadline, complex requirements, or limited resources. The employee may have faced obstacles such as conflicting priorities, technical difficulties, or team members who were unresponsive or uncooperative.

If you listened to the podcasts where I chatted with Dr Crystal Loh, you would have heard her talk about her experience when she was given her first dental case.   She said as a new grad she had no idea what to do with the dental cart that was given her.   Through mentorship though, she’s grown and progressed professionally and personally to be one of NZs three companion animal boarded dental surgeons.

You’ll have stories like that on your team as well.   Maybe they won’t be boarded specialists like Dr Crystal, but there’ll be stories of former new grads who’re now top guns at doing procedures that used to have them breaking out in a sweat.

Share those stories because they’re inspirational and high performers – whom I’m assuming you want to attract to work at your clinic – want to work with inspirational colleagues.

Share how the employee overcome the challenge.   For example, they might’ve taken initiative and sought help from colleagues, researched and experimented with different solutions, communicated effectively with their colleagues, head nurse or lead vet, and/or demonstrated persistence and grit.

And finally, you want to end with how the employee has grown and developed within the clinic, and what their future goals are.

Leveraging Testimonials and Case Studies

Once you’ve got your employee testimonials and case studies, it’s time to start leveraging them.

You can do this by loading them on your clinic’s website, social media channels, and in your recruitment marketing material.

By sharing these stories, you give potential job candidates an inside look at what it’s like to work at your clinic and what they can expect if / when they join your team.

Incidentally, this can also help with employee retention by reinforcing your clinic’s values and culture with your current staff.    It helps create a sense of team and clinic pride.

Importance of Employer Branding for Retention and Recruitment

Based on recent studies, employer branding continues to be a crucial factor in attracting and retaining high performing professionals and motivated employees.

Let’s face it – seriously – no employer would want to hire unmotivated, disengaged professionals because it’s bad for business.   Not only do they lower productivity, they’re also like a virus – infecting others – or causing them to go elsewhere – with their negativity and compromised standards.

LinkedIn Global Talent Trends 2022:

According to the Linkedin Global Talent Trends 2022 report – more than three quarters of “talent professionals” – those are the people like myself – recruiters – who’re “professional recruiters” – this is what we do for a living so I’d like to think we know a little of what we’re talking about.

Seventy seven per cent – 77% of talent professionals believe that employer brand is important to attract and retain high performing professionals – actually the term they use is “talent professionals” but I’m a bit averse about referring to people as “talent” – I know they are – but it’s a bit commoditised for my liking.

Back to the stats – almost three quarters of us professional recruiters – 72% of us – say a strong employer brand is crucial to attracting passive candidates.

Passive candidates are those who aren’t actively looking but could be tempted if they were given the opportunity.

The report also highlights the importance of company culture and values in building a strong employer brand.

Edelman Trust Barometer 2022 Report

Then there’s the Edelman Trust Barometer 2022 report: This report reveals that employer reputation is one of the most important factors for employees in deciding where to work.

The report also highlights the growing importance of purpose-driven work and employee activism.

Jobvite Job Seeker Nation Report 2021:

The Jobvite Job Seeker Nation Report 2021 found that 78% of job seekers consider employer reputation before applying for a job, and 76% of job seekers consider company culture when evaluating job opportunities.

The report also highlights the importance of social media and employee reviews in shaping employer brand perception.

As you can hopefully see by now, these stats demonstrate that how an employer is perceived in the marketplace – in other words what their “employer brand” is like – is critical in today’s ultra competitive veterinary job market.

Active and Proactive Employer Branding is critical

Your clinic’s employer brand is critical for both retention and recruitment in the veterinary industry.

When you get serious about protecting and enhancing your clinic’s employer brand in today’s marketplace – because you’ve got one whether you like it or not – then by leveraging employee testimonials and case studies, you’re able to showcase your clinic’s unique culture, values, and strengths, and differentiate yourself from the clinic down the road also looking for the same high performing veterinary professionals.

This can help you attract the top performers and retain your current staff by reinforcing your clinic’s values and culture.

Ultimately, investing in your clinic’s employer branding can lead to a stronger team, improved patient care, and a more successful veterinary practice.