Launchpad: How to Know When It’s Time for a Change

My first job out of school was at a two-doctor mixed animal practice, just me and my boss. While she wasn't a textbook mentor, we genuinely got along well, and she was always willing to offer advice or scrub into surgery with me if I asked for help. For a first job, that foundation matters more than you might think.

But after about a year, I started to notice things that weren't working. The two-person on-call schedule was relentless in a way that wasn't sustainable. And as I grew more confident clinically, I found myself wanting access to things that simply weren't available in a small practice: advanced imaging, a broader surgical caseload, the kind of equipment that opens a different tier of medicine. I wasn't unhappy, exactly. I just knew I wanted more than what that practice could offer me.

So I made a move. Not dramatically, not with hard feelings, but deliberately, toward something specific.

The truth is, most veterinarians don't land in their perfect practice right away. Surveys consistently show that job-hopping in the first few years is common, and there's no shame in that. But there's an important distinction: are you moving toward something, or are you running away from something?

Running away feels urgent and justified in the moment. A difficult colleague, a communication style that grates on you, a workflow that feels inefficient; these are concrete frustrations, and sometimes they are genuine dealbreakers. But sometimes they're also just the reality of working with other people, and the next practice will have its own version of the same friction. If you leave without understanding what actually wasn't working, you take that unresolved thing with you.

What I've come to believe is that the hard stuff—the colleague who communicates differently than you do, the practice culture that challenges your instincts, even the constraints of limited equipment—teaches you things about yourself that a perfect job never could. You find out how you handle conflict. You discover which clinical limitations truly hinder your growth, and which ones push you to be more creative. You learn what you actually value, versus what you just thought you valued.

My first practice wasn't my forever practice. But it was exactly the right place to start. And I never would have known what I needed to look for next if I hadn't spent time in a place that helped me figure it out. So if and when the moment comes for you to make a change, ask yourself honestly: What am I moving toward? If you can answer that clearly, then you're probably ready.