Information

Kookaburra Veterinary Employment - Veterinary Recruitment made easy.

Kookaburra Veterinary Employment is Australia's most innovative Veterinary Employment Agency.
Owned by Wendy Nathan BVMS & Steve Nathan, we have been providing quality service at a sensible cost since 1998.

Our job sections are updated every weekday, so you can be sure the positions advertised are actually available.

Our website statistics speak for themselves;

During 2023 the Kookaburra website received over 190,000 unique visitors, with over 50,000 sessions per month. ( stats. Google Analytics )

Vet Clinics, Industry, Universities & Government

We can help with all your staffing requirements, from Animal Attendants to Zoo Vets and everything in between. We can even advertise your practice for sale. We believe we can give your vacancy greater exposure than any other Australian agency or journal.

But it doesn't end there, we search our database & promote your position to vets on our register who are actively seeking work & appear to suit your requirements, and, if the job is suitable, to final year students/new graduates in Australia and New Zealand.

Don't be fooled by our low fees - Nobody can match our job exposure, promotion and service! Just scroll to the bottom of this page to see what Clinic Owners and Practice Managers say about our service.

Locum Veterinarians

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.
We now offer 2 types of locum vet service - straightforward advertising, or a traditional agency 'no placement no fee' service. Contact us for more information.

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 and appear to suit your requirements. We have experienced vets, recent and new graduates, and suitably qualified 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, our Smartphone Compatible job search website, and our iPhone app, Kookaburra Jobs, complete with your contact details, to reach vets who prefer not to register with employment agencies. We can place your clinic logo and 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.

What's more is that this service costs only a fraction of what some other veterinary agencies charge. Don't pay up to 15% of gross annual salary as a placement fee to get your perfect vet!

Permanent veterinary position fees

Minimum Fee $396.00 incl GST - first 4 weeks

Additional continuous weeks $70.00 incl GST per week

Cancellation fee of $132.00 incl GST if cancelled within the first 24 hours

No placement fee when job is filled

You have the potential to save $000's in agency fees!

Nursing & other Support Staff

See our Vet Nurse pages for up to date adverts from available nurses and other support staff. To advertise your vacancy, just email us your advert.

Our discounted fee for clinics is only $150.00 inc GST for up to two months advertising.

Standard fee for advertisers who are not Veterinary Clinics (i.e. Industry) is $280.00 inc GST for 4 weeks advertising.

Practices For Sale, Lease, & Partnerships

Practices for sale or lease, and Partnerships (or expressions of interest for partnership) 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 internet advertising - you too can take advantage of this great service!

Our discounted fee for clinics with practices for sale or lease is $240.00 inc GST for up to two months advertising.

Standard fee for advertisers who are not Veterinary Clinics (eg. Business Agents, Real Estate Agents) is $280.00 inc GST for 4 weeks advertising.

Partnership ads are charged as per permanent jobs ads (minimum fee $396) and the ad will also be listed on the relevant Jobs page.

Vets

There is No Charge for the service we provide for vets seeking work.

Remember to download Kookaburra Jobs, our map based app for job seekers for iPhone and iPad from the App Store

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.

We ask you to send us your resume, and make sure you are/will be registered in the states in which you would like to work. We also require you to agree to our standard Declaration.

You can then request full details of any locum jobs advertised on our website, and we will contact you by email or text with new job details that appear to suit your requirements as soon as they are listed with us.

Permanent Positions.

We want to help you find your perfect job. We have a huge range of permanent positions in General Practice, Industry, Universities, Government, Charity/Welfare & Wildlife/Exotic.

Register with us and we will send you details of new positions that appear to suit your requirements as soon as they are listed with us. Or if you prefer simply view our permanent jobs pages for all current positions. Remember to 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, please let them know you saw their vacancy on Kookaburra!

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.homeaffairs.gov.au

For Veterinarians and Vet Nurses heading to Australia from overseas, the 482 Visa is very popular. Information below has been sourced from the Department of Home Affairs website www.homeaffairs.gov.au in September 2023.

Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482)

The Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa (subclass 482) replaced the old 457 visa in March 2018. TSS visa holders can work in Australia in their nominated occupation for their approved sponsor under one of three streams:

Short-term stream

Length of stay – up to 2 years
Vet Nurses are currently on the Short term Skilled Occupation list (STSOL)
Requirements for eligibility include English language requirements, skills assessments (by VETASSESS for VNs), nomination by an employer, health and character requirements.
Must have worked in the nominated occupation, or a related field, for at least two years
There is no age requirement
The current link for skills assessment for migration for vet nurses is https://www.vetassess.com.au/skills-assessment-for-migration/professional-occupations/application-process

Medium-term stream

Length of stay – up to 4 years
Vets are currently on the Medium term Skilled Occupation list (MLTSSL)
Requirements for eligibility include English language requirements, skills assessments (by AVBC for Vets), nomination by an employer, health and character requirements.
Must have worked in the nominated occupation, or a related field, for at least two years
There is no age requirement
The current link for skills assessment for migration for vets is https://avbc.asn.au/for-veterinarians/skills-assessment-for-migration/ You can only apply for a skills assessment once you hold full registration with an Australian Veterinary Registration Board.

Labour Agreement stream

This stream is available if your employer wishes to sponsor you (as an overseas worker) and has entered into a labour agreement with the Department

Both the Annual Market Salary Rate (AMSR) for the nominated occupation and the guaranteed annual earnings that will be paid to the nominated overseas worker, excluding any non-monetary benefits (for example, accommodation or car provided to them as part of their salary package), must not be less than the TSMIT (Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold).
TSMIT is currently AUD 70,000 from July 2023 as specified in the relevant legislative instrument.

Registration to Practice

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

Graduates in veterinary science from Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland, Murdoch, Adelaide, Charles Sturt, James Cook, and Massey Universities, plus City University of Hong Kong (from 2023).
Graduates of London, Cambridge, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, Nottingham, Surrey and Edinburgh Universities.
Graduates of Dublin from 2004 - for Dublin graduates prior to this please contact the relevant Veterinary Surgeons Board.
Members of the RCVS by examination.
Persons who successfully complete the Australasian Veterinary Examination (AVE) - formerly the National Veterinary Examination (NVE).
Graduates with BVSc from Pretoria.
Graduates from accredited AVMA schools who have passed the North American Veterinary Licensing Exam, including Canadian & USA, plus Utrecht, Lyon, Mexico, Seoul, West Indies (St Georges, Ross).

Click here for a full list of qualifications generally recognised for veterinary registration in Australia & New Zealand.

You are required to be registered as a veterinarian with one of the Australian Veterinary Boards. 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 Kookaburra.

There is now National Recognition of Registration in every State of Australia - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, ACT, and now Western Australia and NT - Veterinary surgeons who currently hold primary registration and reside permanently in another Australian state or territory are entitled to practise as a veterinary surgeon in these States on a part-time, casual or locum basis without having to register with the local Veterinary Board (in WA there is a 3 month limit). In the Northern Territory, locum vets need to email the registrar to advise they are coming to the NT.
More information about NRVR can be found on the AVBC website.

The requirements for registration and the list of circumstances where an exemption to the requirement for sitting the AVE (Australasian Veterinary Exam) applies are subject to change and can be complicated - we suggest contacting the relevant State Veterinary Board for current information.

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........

We have filled our part time nurse role now, you can take the advert down.
For your statistics - I advertised only with youselves, and had around 5 suitable candidates to interview (a few more didn't fit the role requirements). We have found a great nurse :)

........we have been impressed with your service and would like to say that Kookaburra quite easily outshines their competitors.

We had an overwhelming response from the advertisement, thank you. Your website seems to be the first choice for everyone out there. The fees were also very reasonable.

I am pleased to say we had well over 40 applicants for the positions. I have filled all the positions with very high quality applicants. You provide an exceptional service and am thrilled with the results.

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 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.

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.