WWEEKENDEEKEND PPROFESSIONALROFESSIONAL · women are dominating the pro-fession, she says,...
Transcript of WWEEKENDEEKEND PPROFESSIONALROFESSIONAL · women are dominating the pro-fession, she says,...
Womenfit thevets billMen are rapidly being muscled out andit’s all because of pay, pets and empathy
VERITY EDWARDS
AARON FRANCIS
Vet Sue Ramoo and Lort Smith Animal Hospital chief executive Liz Walker with Gus and Arthur
THE image of the veterinaryindustry, as portrayed in TV showssuch as All Creatures Great andSmall where older men are theonlyonesgetting theirhandsdirty,is changing thanks to an influx ofwomen.
Latest industry data showsfemale students now make up aclear majority undertaking uni-versity degrees in the profession.
Lort Smith Animal Hospitalchief executive Liz Walker, whograduated as a vet in 1989, saysthere were similar numbers offemale and male students whenshe was at university. But womenstudents now outnumber men80 per cent to 20 per cent.
That figure is being replicatedin other developed countries, withsimilar statistics emerging in theUS, Britain, South Africa and NewZealand.
Walker, who heads the nation’slargest public animal hospital andshelter, says the rise of women isone of the three most significantindustry trends, along with anexcess of graduates and anincrease in specialisations.
There are various reasons whywomen are dominating the pro-fession, she says, including wagelevels, moves away from largeanimal and farm-based treat-ments to a focus on domestic pets,and that it attracts more empathe-tic people.
‘‘I think it is a very compassion-ate profession and the love ofanimals and empathy and com-passion lends itself to the femalebias,’’ Walker says.
‘‘The other emphasis is money.In terms of the investment you
make for the study, the returns canbe not as much.’’
Walker says practitionersalaries hover between $70,000and $90,000, with those earningmore than $100,000 less commonunless they own their own practiceor specialise.
With lower salaries thancareers in engineering, business,medicine and law, Walker saysstudies have shown some men findthe returns less than adequate.‘‘Some of the reasons men quote(in studies) is they see themselvesmoving forward as the main pro-vider in their family and it wouldbe insufficient,’’ she says. ‘‘Womendon’t seem to mind, they don’t seethemselves as the main provideror they can live with less.’’
University entrance cut-offsare also increasing, and Walkersays high school girls are morelikely to graduate with highermarks and go directly into veteri-nary studies, rather than under-take general science degrees.
She says there has also been anincrease in companion animals,reflecting the need for more city-based practices.
At Walker’s hospital, there aremore than 40 vets. Female vetsoutnumber male vets aged under30 by 10 to one, and aged from 31 to36, 11 to two. The ratio improvesfor males as they age, with 13women aged 37 to 47, compared toeight men.
Murdoch University’s Veteri-nary Hospital director MarkLawrie, a past president of theAustralian Veterinary Associ-ation, concurs that there are sev-eral reasons why more women are
taking up the profession. Thosereasons include the decreasing in-cidence and abolition of genderdiscrimination, vets now spendingless time with heavier farm ani-
mals, improved medical equip-ment, women scoring higher ter-tiary entrance rankings, and menbeing attracted to higher payingprofessions.
With stronger male vets morelikely to work with farmed herdanimals in the past, demand isdecreasing for their services asstock health improves.
‘‘Herd sizes are similar to whatthey were in the past but there’sless disease, we’ve eradicated a lotof diseases and other healthissues,’’ Lawrie says. ‘‘Animalsarealot healthier, so the vet professionis becoming its own worst enemy.’’
There is a also a greater consoli-dation of country practices, withfewer town vets and more branchstaff being deployed. Walker sayscountry vets are becoming morespecialised, recognising the needto improve animal husbandry andconsult on best practice and ani-mal management.
She says while more women arestudying, more places are alsobeing offered at the nation’s sevenuniversity vet schools.
When she graduated, therewere about 250 new vets enteringthe industry every year, now thereare about 600.
Walker says it is harder forgraduates to find jobs, but thereare now more opportunities toundertake further study in aspecialist area.
WEEKENDWEEKENDPROFESSIONALPROFESSIONAL SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2013 P44MORE THAN
22,358 JOBS ACROSS AUSTRALIA
WORKOUT
Nick Plummer
Festival to givestart-ups a leg upA FESTIVAL celebrating theenergy and creativity of start-upcompanies is running nationallyuntil October 9.
The three-week StartupSpring is being organised byStartupAUS and aims to inspirethe next generation to becomeentrepreneurs and innovatorsrather follow traditional pathssuch as medicine, banking andlaw. ‘‘Australia has film festivals,music festivals and winefestivals, which are atremendous celebration of ourculture. Now it’s time for thecountry’s first start-up festival,’’ aStartupAUS spokesman said.‘‘With today’s focus on howAustralia can maintain itswealth beyond the resourcesector, there’s never been abetter time for Australia tobecome the creators, rather thanjust the consumers, oftechnology.’’
StartupAUS board memberStephen Baxter said the sectorhad the potential to contribute$109 billion and 500,000 jobs tothe Australian economy by2033.
Sydney events include theStartUp Weekend in Sydney,which aims to teachentrepreneurs the basics tolaunch successful ventures, aGoogle women’s event onTuesday and a crowdfundingmasterclass on Wednesday.
Brisbane will host a gamedevelopers forum on Mondayand in Melbourne on Tuesdaythere will be a Nightowlsmeeting for people who work atnight.
For events nationally, refer towww.startupspring2013.org.
Gen Xers on topA STUDY of human resourcesprofessionals undertaken byconsultancy firmDirectioneering has identifiedGeneration X as the hardestworking cohort of workers,outpolling baby boomers andGeneration Y.
Directioneering surveyed 170HR directors and seniormanagers across Australia aspart of its 10-year trend study,finding that 45 per cent of thosepolled identified Gen Xers —those born between 1963 and1980 — as being the hardestworking.
Of those surveyed, 25 percent identified baby boomers asthe hardest working, followed byonly 3 per cent nominatingmembers of Generation Y. Thesurvey found 79 per centthought baby boomers to be themost loyal, but lacked ambitionand were least comfortable withchange. Directioneering’s studyidentified Gen Y workers as themost likely to want clear careerprogression and ongoingtraining, and 51 per centidentified the youngergeneration as the mostmercenary. They were also seenas the most willing to accept
change and the most likely towant to be challenged.
DirectioneeringInternational’s managingdirector Nick Plummer said theresults emphasised the need fora more personalised approach totalent and career management,given different generationsbrought different skills andattributes.
‘‘HR professionals arerecognising that employees ofdifferent generations havedifferent needs and aspirationsand therefore need a tailoredapproach to talent and careermanagement rather than a one-size-fits-all strategy,’’ he said.
The survey also found 94 percent of HR professionalsexpected technology to have animpact on their business overthe next decade, and 82 per centsaid a more competitiveenvironment would be a keychallenge over that period.
One in five of those surveyednamed social media as apotential corporate risk, and 81per cent had implemented socialmedia guidelines.
Tips for successGOOGLE Australia and NZ’sengineering director Alan Noblewill give Australian start-ups histop tips on becoming a success atthe SouthStart event in Adelaideon October 4.
Mr Noble, and SouthStartfounder and app developerChhai Thach, will talk aboutstart-up trends and how they arebeing seen as an alternative foryoung people to jobs in themining industry and otherstruggling sectors.
Mr Noble said his top tips forstart-ups included makingdecisions, going big or goinghome, auditing andexperimenting with ideas,admitting when things were notworking, and adapting ideas ifexperiments failed.
‘‘Everyone has creative ideasfor the next big thing, but thedifference between making it bigand staying still is the decision tomake a go of it and committing100 per cent,’’ Mr Noble said.
Mr Noble recommendedsetting lofty goals, saying bigideas came from visionaries whowere not afraid to givesomething a try. He said it wasimportant to experiment to seewhether ideas worked, withGoogle trying more than 5000experiments annually, but likelyto adopt only about 1 per cent.
Mr Noble said being able totry something new also meantaccepting when things wentwrong, adapting andrecognising a need to change.
Personal strategy will set you up for work, life and familyHEATHER LINAKER
MANY of us work towards a stra-tegic plan in our organisations butfew take a similar approach to ourcareer and private lives.
A personal strategic plan is apowerful tool for regularly review-ing where you are, and your prog-ress to where you want to be in life.
Create your own strategic planby answering these questions:● What aspects of your life areimportant? For many people thisincludes family, career, financesand health. It might also include
community or voluntary work, orpersonal development such aslearning a language.
If you struggle to come up withsome areas, think of all the rolesyou fulfil such as partner, parent,sibling, son or daughter, manager,employee, mentor, friend, runneror church member.● Where are you now? Start bywriting down your situation. Forexample, you might be two yearsinto your second managementrole, with responsibility for part ofa business unit and managing ateam of 20. For health, you mightbe walking three times a week and
for personal development, youmight plan to study for a post-graduate qualification.● What are your key goals? Usethree timeframes: the next year,three to five years and 10 years orlonger. Use ‘‘smart’’ goals: specificand stretching, measurable, at-tainable, realistic and timely.
Your short-term career goalmight be to lead an organisation-wide initiative that reports to yourboard and will give you the oppor-tunity to work with colleagues inall business and support areas,widening your experience andraising your visibility.
Your medium-term goal couldbe to lead one of the business unitswithin four years, and your long-term goal might be to secure anoverseas posting within seven.● Who can helpyou? These couldbe formal or informal arrange-ments, paid or unpaid.
You might discuss with yourmanager the possibility of havingregular mentoring sessions withan executive leadership teammember. You could identify advo-cates within the organisation andmake conscious plans to strength-en your relationship with them.● What are the most likely ob-
stacles?Using the career example,opportunity and timing might bethe biggest challenges. If so, con-sider what plans B and C could befor each of your three goals.
For example, if there is no suit-able new project for you to lead,how can you expand your internalnetwork and raise your profile?● Who will hold you to account?It could be a family member orfriend you talk to regularly aboutyour goals and your progresstowards them. Some people prefera mentor or coach.
You will find it easier to reachyour goals if you know at least one
person will hold you accountable.● How to celebrate success?When you reach key milestones,how are you going to celebrate?
This does not have to be an ex-pensive exercise: the key to feelingsatisfied is to pause and markwhen you have reached anachievement, rather than movingstraight on to the next goal.
I have focused on you careerbut the strategic plan works just aswell across health, finances andfamily life.
Heather Linaker is chief executiveat aventura3.
Weekend Professional editor: Verity [email protected]. Phone: 08 8206 2682
Men on the declinein a profession thatoffers flexibility
MELBOURNE-BASED SueRamoo always had a passion forscience, biology and animals butfaced a tough choice whenleaving school betweenbecoming a concert pianist or aveterinarian.
She chose the latter, andalmost a decade after graduatingis preparing to complete herspecialisation in internalmedicine.
‘‘General practice was verydifferent to human medicine andthat’s what threw me off,’’Ramoo says. ‘‘It wasn’t
unpleasant, I just wanted to dosomething offering a bit morethan just general practice.’’
Ramoo, 31, is among thegrowing number of female vetsundertaking up to five extrayears of specialist study.
She began her studies in 2000,and Ramoo remembers herlecturers at the time jokingabout the declining number ofmale students.
‘‘We had a lot more dairy vetsaround and a lot of large animalvets,’’ she says, explaining thatmen were usually more suited torural veterinary work.
‘‘I’m quite petite myself andthere’s no way I would be able todo the large animal work.
It’s a changing profession and
there are a lot more (female) vetsin the city now.’’
Thirteen years later, andwomen outnumber men four toone in veterinary courses, as theytake up a career that requirescompassion, good high schoolmarks and an interest in science.
The profession offers womena degree of flexibility if workingin general practice, with Ramooadmitting her specialisation canbe demanding. ‘‘I don’t do anyvaccinations any more, or anysimple things, so every animal Isee is for something serious.’’
But she enjoys her career andthe opportunity it provides,including being able to solveproblems and help animals.
VERITY EDWARDS
Looking for a career opportunity?You have Critical Care Nursing qualifications and in excess of 5 years recent
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The team has positions available for a Clinical Nurse Consultant full time.What you need to join our team:s��2EGISTRATION�WITH�!(02!�AS�A�2EGISTERED�.URSE�s��%XPERIENCE�IN�#RITICAL�#ARE�.URSING��A�QUALIlCATION�IN�#RITICAL�#ARE�.URSING�IS�PREFERREDs���%XPERIENCE�IN�CLINICAL�NURSE�MANAGEMENT�IN�#RITICAL�#ARE��A�QUALIlCATION�IN�.URSING�-ANAGEMENT�OR�EQUIVALENT
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If you would like to investigate your opportunities with Calvary Hospital Bruce further please contact the Nurse Manager for Critical Care Ms Narelle Comer on 02 6201 6099
Website: http://www.calvary-act.com.au/career-vacancies.htmlClosing Date: 8 October 2013
In the tradition of the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary. With values of hospitality, healing, stewardship and respect. Calvary Health Care ACT is people
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TEACHING AND LEADERSHIPPOSITIONS IN DARWIN IN 2014
The Essington School Darwin is Darwin’s premier school
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additional enrolments and will again increase its enrolments in 2014. As a result,
additional experienced and successful teachers and educational leaders are
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Educational Leadership Positions:
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