We have been incredibly successful as people love the care we provide! Our services include wellness and sick patient care, acupuncture, behavioral consults, hospice care, and euthanasia. In the past 18 months, we have had to stop taking new clients so that we can take proper care of those we have already committed to. We’re turning away five to ten clients a week and we hate that!

This is where you come in!
We need a person who considers themselves, or aspires to be, an amazing veterinarian:

• Know and offer the gold standard of care, but be ready to offer options, judgement-free, if that is what the situation requires. 
• Understands that veterinary care is one part animal and one part human and is happy with that split. In other words, you love people AND animals- most of the time. 
• Recognizes that great communication is imperative for veterinary care to be rewarding and successful

Why this Job is Awesome

It’s better for the vet: 

• The people who choose house calls for their pets are the best clients you can ask for. It doesn’t have to do with money, it has to do with how they prioritize their animals.  Working with these people is a pleasure.  
• Your diagnostic abilities improve when you see patients in the home.  Animals don’t mask their symptoms because they aren’t stressed.  You are seeing them in their natural environment - how they behave is actually how they feel. 
• A flexible schedule. THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE THING.  You choose when you will work and how much. This gives you space to give to your other responsibilities and passions. A balanced vet is a happy vet! 
• Most of us entered this field because we love animals, turns out when you’re in their homes most of the pets love you back! A quick snuggle on the couch, a chin scratch, or a squirt of peanut butter, and most of them forgive any transgressions. 
• The most important: when it’s time for euthanasia you’ll be giving a great gift by being in a pet’s home. We are lucky to be able to do this work and the families are incredibly appreciative of our guidance and presence. 

It’s better for the pet: 

• They can stay on their bed, their couch, or be in their yard to show you their frisbee skills.  
• They can be themselves without getting scared, worried, or having to recover from car sickness.
• No waiting rooms, slippery tables, or being “brought in the back” away from their family. 

It’s better for the family:

• They get time. Time to build an actual relationship with someone they’re putting a great deal of faith and trust into. None of us like feeling rushed, especially when important matters are at hand and anxieties are already high. In-home care affords families the space to relax and ask questions and get answers from a trusted professional. 
• Flexibility. We’re all busy. Having your vet come to you alleviates one more trip and allows caregivers to continue moving daily life forward. 

Your Role and Who You’ll Work With

You would be working in tandem with our Founder, Dr. Anja Wurm, seeing appointments separately but supporting each other as needed. You would also have the support of our two veterinary nurses:  One who is available to travel with you on the road as needed, as well as one working behind the scenes, from home, on scheduling and answering emails that don’t require DVM input. 

Your Responsibilities

• Veterinary: 
• Traveling to homes within Addison County, Vermont, providing veterinary care for dogs, cats, small mammals, and occasionally chickens. And their humans. 
• You’ll be doing a mixture of preventative care, sick patient evaluation and treatment, behavioral consults, hospice care, and euthanasia. 

• • If you have any special training or interests, we welcome them and will be thrilled to add them to our offerings.  

• You’ll recognize when a pet’s needs exceed what we can handle at home and will refer to a local stationary animal hospital or emergency clinic.
• Communication: We really shine here and our clients love our openness.
• You will be emailing, texting, and phoning your clients as needed during the workday.  We use cloud-based software that makes this possible while you are on the road.  You will have the support of a veterinary nurse to handle any communications that do not require DVM input. 
• You will also communicate with the team when you need support with a difficult case,  have inventory needs, or want to celebrate a win. 

Your Schedule  

You will be in charge of your schedule. You would let us know your availability the month before and then we will fill your schedule.  You could work 8-20 hours the first 6 months, working up to 30 hours within the first year.  It’s really up to you where you want to take this! 

A Day in the Life 

• An hour before your appointments start you arrive at the home office in Vergennes to stock up your car with supplies and round with Dr. Wurm and a veterinary nurse to make a plan for the day.
• You head out with a nurse, or on your own, depending on the duties of the day. We would never send you to an unknown client without support, or to an animal that cannot safely be handled by its parent.  
• You will get to see a variety of sick and wellness visits. You will be able to care confidently for your comfortable patients right in their home, with time to form connections with clients over the kitchen table. 
• If you have a nurse with you, the nurse drives as you follow up with clients through email and text messages, update medical records, and let clients know when you’re running ahead of schedule. The clients have already been confirmed and you can follow your route that has been optimized and mapped out for you.
• Occasionally an urgent call comes in and the day needs to get restructured.  With clear communication, our clients respect this.  It is important that you understand the value of a well-placed boundary and understand your time is valuable, but that you also know when some flexibility is needed and are comfortable adapting in such times
• After your last home visit of the day, it’s time to head back to the home office, follow up from visits, prepare lab submissions for next day results, and make a plan for the following day. You’ll also communicate with the team about any inventory or client follow-up needs.

Our Goals: 

Based on the scope of work and the awesome strengths you’re bringing to the table, here’s what we’re looking to see happen:

• You will love coming to work each day and feel part of an amazing team providing the best veterinary care possible.
• We will be able to accept new clients again, seeing them as quickly as they need to be seen. 
• Our families will feel cared for, seen, and respected. 
• We will have high retention and high client success, with positive reviews from client interactions.

Requirements 

Our new veterinarian will likely possess many of the qualifiers that are listed below. That being said, we’re really looking for someone who can deliver the results described above so if you think those results are in your wheelhouse, but you don’t have some of the “requirements” below, we strongly encourage you to still apply! 

• Enough hands-on veterinary experience to be comfortable working on your own, in the field, away from your books and VIN, and without the immediate availability of another veterinarian. 
• A Vermont Veterinary License and valid driver’s license.
• A reliable, well maintained vehicle, ideally with AWD, but definitely with snow tires. We frequently assist families with safe transportation and aftercare arrangements for their loved ones.
• Be comfortable working on the floor with patients and be able to lift 40 pounds unassisted. 
• Exemplify a growth mindset, and be open to feedback and suggestions for improvement.
• Establish and nurture collaborative working relationships with fellow team members at all levels of our organization. Notice when fellow team members need assistance and pitch in enthusiastically. 
• Display your commitment and ability to advance diversity and inclusion.
• Have excellent interpersonal and customer service skills. Communicate clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing. Be a good, active listener.
• Be tech savvy and willing to learn new technological tools.
• Work your strengths, and contribute your unique genius to our team

We Offer a Competitive Compensation Package

• Flexible work schedule: 8-20 hours a week initially, with the potential to increase up to 30 hours a week.  You would let us know the days and times that you are available to work and we will fill them with hour-long appointments.
• $85-90 starting hourly rate, based on experience
• Mileage reimbursement
• Support from a well-trained veterinary nurse whenever you need it
• Membership to VIN
• A Continuing Education allowance
• Discounted Veterinary Care for your animals (at-cost)
• Minimum 10 days paid vacation after 90 days, with potential for additional paid time off depending on hours worked

Application Instructions

If you’d like to be considered for this role, please visit the Full Circle Home Veterinary Care: Associate Vet Application to apply.

We take responsibility for the community we are creating within Full Circle Home Veterinary Care, and we’re here to contribute to the progression of our society becoming a more inclusive and equitable one. Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, as well as members of the LGBTQ+ community are strongly encouraged to apply. 

About Full Circle Home Vet Care

Full Circle Home Veterinary Care opened in 2014. Our goal: to offer the people and animals of Addison County, Vermont a higher quality and more intimate form of veterinary medicine than what was being offered in clinics: James Herriot-esque, but with more diagnostic tools, no on-call, and warm houses instead of cold barns. We are led by Dr. Anja Wurm who graduated from Tufts in 1998. She is supported by two awesome veterinary nurses, one who drives and assists during appointments and another who is behind the scenes scheduling, answering emails and being our cheer leader.

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