Information

Kookaburra Veterinary Employment is Australia's most innovative Veterinary Employment Agency.
Run by Wendy Nathan BVMS & Steve Nathan, we have been operating since 1998.

Our job sections are arguably the most up to date of any website in the veterinary employment industry, and probably the most viewed.

For the year ending 2010 the Kookaburra website had over 485,000 visits, over 1.9 million page views & over 6.6 million hits!

Vet Clinics

We can help with all your staffing requirements, from locum vets to part time or full time permanent vets, both experienced and recently graduated, veterinary nurses and other support staff. We can also advertise your practice for sale. We blieve we can give your vacancy greater exposure than any other Australian agency or journal.

Additionally we will promote your position to vets on our register actively seeking work (currently over 230!) and, where applicable, to new graduates in Australia and New Zealand.

Don't be fooled by our low fees - Nobody can match our job exposure, promotion and service!

Locums

We keep a constantly updated register of vets available for locum work throughout Australia. It includes vets from Australia as well as overseas vets travelling in Australia from New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, Canada and America.
We will search our database for suitable veterinarians, and put them in contact with you. It is always your decision whether or not to employ a Vet referred from us.
Only when a position has been filled by a veterinarian introduced by Kookaburra will you be charged.

Permanent Veterinarians

Register your vacancy with us and we will promote it to the many vets listed on our register who are seeking permanent work. We have experienced vets, recent and new graduates, and overseas vets listed with us. They will then contact you directly for more details or to arrange interviews. We also place your advert on this website, to reach vets who are not currently registered with us. We can hyperlink your advert directly to your own website, or we can create your own page on our website with photographs of the surgery at no extra cost - promote your practice vacancy effectively! What's more is that this service costs only a fraction of what some other veterinary agencies charge. Other agencies charge up to 15% of gross annual salary as a placement fee!
Promote your vacancy via Kookaburra and you could save $000's in agency fees!

Nursing Staff

See our Vet Nurse page for up to date adverts for available nurses and other support staff. To advertise on this page, just send us your advert.

Practices For Sale

Practices for sale can be advertised on our website (with photographs of the surgery, and detailed practice descriptions if desired). Real Estate Agents already know the secret of good picture advertising - now you can take advantage of this great service!

Vets

There is No Charge for the service we provide for vets seeking work.
We ask you to send us your resume, and make sure you are registered in the states in which you would like to work. We also require you to agree to our standard Declaration stating that you are a Veterinarian, and wish to be registered with us. You can request full details of any jobs advertised on the website, and we will also contact you with new job details as soon as they are listed with us, by email, phone or fax.

Locum Positions.

Locuming is a great way to travel Australia - Wendy did it for twelve months and recommends it to anyone who wants a bit of adventure, or simply to see more of this great country! It is also a good way to gain additional experience in working with different people, in different conditions, and improve your veterinary skills. Veterinarians should have a minimum of 2 years experience prior to locuming.

To receive full details of locum jobs you must be registered with us.

Permanent Positions.

We provide an excellent service for Vets seeking permanent positions. You could save your future employer $000's in agency fees (up to 15% of your gross annual salary) by finding your new position via Kookaburra and possibly find your application gets preference by applying via Kookaburra! (This is a genuine comment we received in September 2010 - ''......... my preference is almost always to employ a "Kookaburra" applicant in order to save $6-7000'.)

See our permanent jobs pages for all the latest positions. Check regularly as new positions are uploaded the day we receive them (and quickly removed when they are filled!) You are welcome to apply directly to any of the clinics advertising. However, if you register with us we will keep you updated with new permanent jobs that would suit your area of interest and expertise.

Overseas Veterinarians

You will need a visa to work in Australia unless you are a citizen or permanent resident of Australia or a citizen of New Zealand. For information on visas, contact your nearest Australian Consulate, or see www.immi.gov.au

Subclass 457 (Business (Long Stay)) visa program

On 14 September 2009, a number of changes were introduced into the Subclass 457 (Business (Long Stay)) visa program, including the introduction of the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT). The TSMIT, which is subject to indexation on a yearly basis, is set at a level that ensures all Subclass 457 (Business (Long Stay)) visa holders have sufficient income to independently provide for themselves whilst in Australia.

It is important to note that the TSMIT has no bearing on what the Subclass 457 visa holder should be paid in the workplace, and should not be considered as the applicable market salary rate where the sponsor does not currently employ an equivalent Australian citizen or permanent resident. It is the market salary rate for the nominated occupation, not the nominated worker’s proposed salary, which is compared to the TSMIT.

Overseas trained veterinarians should be aware that where there is an equivalent Australian in the workplace, the market salary rate will be determined by the industrial arrangement that applies to this worker. That is, the Subclass 457 visa holder must be provided the same terms and conditions provided to the equivalent Australian worker. The employer may demonstrate the market salary rate by reference to the applicable modern award or enterprise agreement. The applicable modern award for veterinarians is the Animal Care and Veterinary Services Award 2010 [MA000118].

As Veterinarians are subject to the Animal Care and Veterinary Services Award 2010 [MA000118], persons with less than two years practical experience in their country of origin prior to lodging an application for a Subclass 457 (Business (Long Stay)) visa may have difficultly accessing the Subclass 457 visa program should their employer choose to remunerate as per the award. This is because the minimum annual salary and minimum hourly rate stipulated within the award (which is determined by your level (classification) of experience as a veterinary surgeon) is below the TSMIT. It is important to note that for the nomination to be approved, the market salary rate must be greater than the TSMIT. This means nominations for which the applicable market salary rates are below the TSMIT are likely to be refused.

Recently graduated overseas veterinarians may therefore choose to gain experience in their country of origin prior to lodging an application for a Subclass 457 (Business (Long Stay)) visa or explore possible temporary migration options under the Subclass 442 – Occupational Trainee Visa.

For further information on the Subclass 457 (Business (Long Stay)) visa, or the
Subclass 442 – Occupational Trainee Visa, please visit the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s website at www.immi.gov.au

Registration to Practice

Full registration to practice as a veterinarian in Australia is available to:

Graduates in veterinary science from Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland, Murdoch and Massey Universities.
Graduates of London, Cambridge, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Edinburgh Universities.
Graduates of Dublin from class of 2004 onwards - for graduates prior to this please contact the relevant Veterinary Surgeons Board.
Members of the RCVS by examination.
Persons who successfully complete the Australian National Veterinary Examination.
Graduates with BVSc from Pretoria.
Graduates from accredited AVMA schools who have passed the North American Veterinary Licensing Exam.
Graduates from Guelph, AVC and Saskatchewan.

You are required to register in each individual state in which you wish to work. You will need to pay the appropriate fee, provide a copy of your degree certificate, and a letter of good standing from the most recent board you have been registered with eg. the RCVS for vets from the UK. For more information and Vet Board contact details, see the links page, or email or call Wendy or Steve at Kookaburra.

You can also contact the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council at admin@avbc.asn.au

What our clients say about our service.........

These are just a few of the many compliments we have constantly arriving........

Thankyou for your advertising website. We had a recruitment agency searching for 7 months and when the leads seem to dry up, we decided to use an alternative avenues. We had a flood of applicants, none of whom were duplicated in the agency list. We have just appointed an applicant sourced from your website. We were so pleased as the applicant was of high quality and because there was no high placement fee, we were able to offer a more than competitive salary package and still remain within budget.

A veterinarian position in Victoria filled Nov 2011 within 6 days produced this comment: "The response has been overwhelming. In those few days we had 23 applications. Many were new grad’s but there was still choice for some experience."

Everyone who applied came through you guys, which says something about the advertising pull that you guys have and your brand!

I have successfully hired a full time veterinarian. I got so many replies and was very happy to have a choice of applicants.

We have had an extraordinary response to the advertisement and will make a decision today as to most suitable candidate. Could you please remove ad from the website as soon as possible, to stem the flow!

Thank you so much for your generosity. You are helping save the lives of street dogs in need, as well as helping a small charity organisation.

Just want to thank you all and inform you that we have had great success with your advert and have two new vets starting with our practices’ next week.

I would like to report that we have filled our vet job vacancy - yet again with a vet who found us via Kookaburra. We don't have to advertise often but every time we do Kookaburra delivers the goods.

We employed our third and final Veterinarian yesterday. From this ad we have employed an experienced (10 year) vet, a 3 year experienced vet and a new graduate. Thank you for a fantastic result.

Our position has been filled. We had 5 very good applicants. Hardest thing is deciding who to employ!!!

Cannot recommend your site too highly and I will definitely use you again when I need another vet. I.B.

The response from Kookaburra vet has been great and I believe now I have both positions filled. Thankyou for your help.

I would like to thank you guys at Kookaburra for the outstanding level of service you provide, and for your personability and helpfulness.

Thank you again for the excellent service. I had very good applicants very quickly and in fact difficult to decide as the applicants were of high quality and from all over the world. Thank you again for an excellent and efficient service

Thanks heaps for your (as usual) fantastic service via your website. I am pleased to notify you of success re this ad and request removal (til next time!) of the ad. Many thanks.

We have had some really good reaction to our advertisement in recent time from both experienced veterinarians and from the new graduates. Consequently we are going to be fully staffed from mid December which will be the first time in over 18 months. Also the standard of experienced applicants was very high.

The Kookaburra service is new to me but has been excellent. I will be advertising here for my Vets from now on.

Once again, I'd like to thank you for the great service you provide - why anyone else would bother with advertising in journals is beyond us.