Practice Manager

Sydney Inner West | Full time, or part time (4 short days, or 3 days of a 4-day week minimum) | Weekdays only | Genuinely flexible hours

About us

There are about twenty of us — vets, nurses, animal attendants, vet students — and they are a great team and genuinely a great group of people. We love them. But what they need is direction, consistency, and somebody whose actual job is to think about them.

That’s the role. That’s the entire pitch.

You probably don’t need veterinary experience

Have a scroll through the other practice manager ads on this page. Almost all of them want veterinary industry experience, and several want a Certificate IV in veterinary nursing. For a management position.

Whilst those would be great attributes to bring – we are not actually going to ask for that.

The best practice manager we ever had came from a business HR background with a stint on a vet reception desk somewhere in her past. She was superb. Then she moved back to her home state, which really sucked. But she was following her dreams – which is what we want for all of our team.

So, if you’ve run a small team well and kept people happy while you did it — healthcare, hospitality, retail, an office, anywhere — you’re the person we’re talking to. We can teach you what a dental x-ray machine does, the ins and outs of the veterinary legislation, how to get a vaporizer to the service centre. We cannot teach you how to run a staff meeting that people don’t dread.

The boring half, stated plainly

We’re not going to dress this up. A solid chunk of the job is administration, and it’s the administration that keeps a hospital upright:

• Basic HR — contracts, leave, onboarding, and the occasional awkward conversation

• Rostering, for about twenty people, which is a puzzle with feelings attached. And a huge Excel spreadsheet for the old-timer bosses; we need a fresh approach!

• Uploading invoices

• The monthly sales report

• Daily cash-ups

• Policies and procedures — writing them, and then the considerably harder part, getting them followed

• Running staff meetings

• Equipment maintenance and keeping the servicing schedule honest

• Problem solving, which if we’re truthful is most of it

We’re in a converted 1930s Commonwealth Bank, so you’d be doing the monthly figures about three metres from an actual bank vault. We’ve never worked out whether that’s reassuring or not.

The other half

You’d be doing all of that inside a veterinary hospital. There are animals everywhere. This changes the texture of an admin job more than you’d think.

You’ll get hands-on if you want it. Every manager we’ve had has ended up holding a cat at some point, well at lots of points, and some got properly involved. There’s no obligation. But it’s there, and it’s the reason people in this industry put up with the not so fun parts.

We’re also the veterinarians for the Cat Protection Society of NSW, which means a steady stream of kittens through the building. This does more for morale than any team-building exercise ever invented.

The team, without the usual words

We work hard to put together the right team, it takes us time, but this is the main asset you’d be looking after.

We do work hard here, and we’re not solemn about it. The day goes better with some laughing in it. Your job would be keeping both of those true at the same time: people motivated, and people on task. Those pull against each other more often than anyone admits in a job ad.

One thing we do mean: we’ve turned clients away for abusing our staff, and we’d do it again tomorrow. You would often be the one holding that line*; but – you will be backed, every time, without question. Thankfully – knock on wood – that is very rare here. If it ever happened more than once a year, I’d be very surprised!

Hours — this is where we actually bend

• Full time (4 days per week), or more likely part time with a minimum of three days across a four-day week

• Weekdays only. The hospital is open Tuesday to Saturday; this role isn’t

• Our clinical staff work roughly 7:30am to 6pm on a four-day roster. You almost certainly don’t need to. Something like 8am to 4pm would suit us perfectly well

• School drop-off? Fine. Can you take ours while you’re at it?

• Let’s work the hours out between us. This is the part we’re happy to build around you

Money

$85,000 - $95,000 p.a. (pro-rated for part time) plus super, negotiable, with KPI-linked bonuses on top.

Every other ad on this page says “competitive salary, commensurate with experience,” which generally means “we’d rather not discuss it yet.” We’d rather just tell you, so you can decide whether to keep reading.

We pay above award across this building and can’t remember the last time anyone here was paid the award itself. And the bonuses aren’t decorative — hit the targets and there is real money in them. If you think you’re worth the top of that band, or above it, say so and show us why.

To apply

Send an introductory letter and your resume to [email protected], attention Rebecca and David.

Tell us about a team you’ve run, and one thing you changed there that was still in place a year later.

You’ll need Australian citizenship, permanent residency, or a visa with the right to work.

www.concordvets.com.au