By Adam Turner, Founder and Director, GVC
I have spent nearly two decades working in veterinary recruitment, and across multiple trips to Australia I have watched a lot of veterinary professionals make the move down under.
Some settle in weeks. Some take longer. Some never quite find their footing. The ones who thrive tend to have a few things in common – and none of them are about clinical ability.
My connection to Australia started earlier than most. As a teenager I had two pictures of city skylines on my bedroom wall: New York and Sydney. At 18, I packed a backpack and spent six months there. It didn’t take long to understand why people never leave it behind. I knew then I’d find a way to keep coming back, and working with GVC across multiple trips has meant I have.
So before you book the flight, here are five things I wish every veterinary professional knew before they landed. Small pointers, but the sort that make the difference between surviving your first few months and genuinely loving them.
1. Australia is further away than you think (emotionally, not just geographically)
This sounds obvious, but it catches people off guard.
No matter where you are travelling from, Australia is a long way from everyone you know. That is fine during the week when you are working and busy, but weekends can feel isolating, particularly in the early weeks. While you are having your morning coffee on a Saturday, everyone back home is asleep.
The best remedy is to put yourself out there before loneliness has a chance to settle in. Join clubs, get into community groups, use Facebook groups to find like-minded people in your area. The connections you make in those first few weeks will shape how quickly you adjust, so make them a priority from day one.
2. Lean into the lifestyle, properly
The days are longer, brighter, and the entire culture is built around making the most of them. Australians are early risers by nature. Get up with them. Start your morning with a walk or run, end your evening watching the sun go down somewhere that would look ridiculous on an Instagram post back home.
If you lean into it, you will collect what our APAC Director Jack calls “Australia moments”, the kind that make you think “how is this my actual life?” You did not travel to the other side of the world to recreate the life you already had.
3. Take coffee seriously. The Australians certainly do.
Coffee shops open at 6am and the standard is genuinely exceptional: flat whites, single origins, pour-overs at a level most of the world simply does not reach. Embrace it, make it part of your morning routine, and get to know your local café. It is one of the quickest ways to feel like a regular somewhere rather than a visitor.
One word of warning: do not mention Starbucks. It does not go down well with the locals 🤣
4. Explore before you settle
Do not assume the first suburb or city you land in is where you belong. Each area has its own feel, its own pace, and its own community. The only way to find the one that fits you is to keep moving until something clicks.
When it does (and it will), you will know about it. Most people who say they found it hard to leave Australia can pinpoint the exact suburb where that decision was made for them. This is one of the reasons a lot of vets and vet nurses start with locum work: it lets you experience different practices and different parts of the country before you commit to putting down roots.
5. Australia is transient
You will make genuine connections quickly, because there are lots of people in the same boat as you. You will also find yourself attending farewell drinks with surprising regularity. People come, stay for a season, and move on. That is just the nature of the place, particularly in the cities and among the travelling workforce.
It can unsettle people who are not expecting it. Go in knowing that some of the best friendships you make will be short-lived but no less real for it. It is all part of the journey, and most people look back on it as one of the best chapters of their lives.
A few do’s and don’ts
After years of watching verterinary professional make the move, the patterns are hard to miss.
Do:
- Confirm your dates and book your flights. This is the first action of commitment. Once you’ve done this, it starts becoming real and everything falls into place around it. It is no longer a nice idea, it’s happening.
- Sort your state licenses early. Your working holiday visa is a quick process. Sorting your state licenses will help bring your plan to life – you can then plan your travels around this so start the process before you fly, not after you land. Luckily, GVC can help with this.
- Book your first locum assignment. This is often the most daunting part, signing up to work somewhere completely new. We recommend starting your first locum assignment in weeks 2-3, it helps give your whole trip structure as you’ve got somewhere to aim for and plan around.
- Say yes in your first month. The invitations dry up if you keep turning them down, and momentum is everything early on.
- Keep a bit of financial breathing room for the settling-in period. Spending money , deposits and setup costs add up faster than people budget for.
- Stay in touch with home, but not so much that you never actually leave the house on a weekend.
Don’t:
- Assume the first place you land is the place you will stay. Give yourself permission to move on and actively promote this.
- Try to do it all on your own. The logistics, the registration and the admin that catch people out – and that’s what specialists like GVC are for.
- Panic in the first few weeks. Almost everyone finds it strange at first, and almost everyone comes out the other side glad they stuck with it.
- Mention Starbucks. I did warn you.
Thinking about it?
If any of this resonates, the move is probably already on your mind.
The good news is you do not have to work it all out alone. At GVC we handle the parts that overwhelm people – from registration and visas through to finding the right practice and the right part of the country for you – so you can focus on building a career and a life you love.
