“How do you find these opportunities?”
- Remains the most common question I get on social media. Although I’ve gone through some of this before, I’ll list it all in the same blog post - from what the difference is between volunteering, shadowing and extern/internship, to how to pick which one is right for you. At the end I’ll give you some resources and tips on how to find these places, and show you some examples through my travels.
If you don't know me already (or maybe under my previous name @travelingvetstudent), I am Tina, I come from Norway and I just graduated from vet school in Wroclaw, Poland, and started my first job at a small animal practice in Cornwall, England. During my 5,5 years in vet school I travelled around the world and worked with vets and different animals on different continents in a variety of different conditions. Let me give you some tips if you're new to this!
Shadow / Volunteer / Work experience / Externships / Internships
Let's start by defining the different terms; if you want a proper definition you can google it - but this is my real world experience with these terms in my words:
Shadowing: This is the lightest form of work experience IMO - you literally "shadow" a vet/the nurses, and simply observe what they do and learn from it. This is typically less practical but is mostly free and without any obligations for when you can come and go. For example: I would text my local equine vet back home when I was home and had free time - simply to come over to observe what the vet was doing for the day/morning.
Volunteering: Basically you are giving your time to help towards a specific project. Local things can be helping/cleaning with local services, that looks good on your CV. But when we talk about volunteering abroad and similar, we typically talk about a long term planned travel where you usually pay the project to come help out/learn within a time frame. Typically the cheaper it is, the more "dirty work" it is, and the more expensive it is, the more of a "holiday-like" / clinical experience you'll get.
Work experience: This is similar to shadowing but more of a "planned" and "within a time-frame" manner. This can be e.g. your school requires you to have some work experience and you need x amount of hours over x week(s), and you apply/send an email and then they typically have to sign some form of papers at the end. Here you usually need to stay your hours and come to the days planned. (Some people use work experience / shadowing interinterchangeably)
Externships: Very similar to a work experience, but can sometimes be paid/accomodation covered, against you spending time, shadowing and helping out with easy tasks. Again, you will hear work experience / externship being used interchangeably. (It can feel a bit messy since your contact may use any of the words above).
Internships: Proper internships is usually a paid work position (or sometimes you have to pay) to work and learn under experienced vets. The purpose of this is for you to learn as much as possible in the shortest amount of time, and selling your soul while you're at it. Just kidding (or was I?). These typically last for months - up to 1,5 year. Examples are equine internships where you sign up for a year +-, work most days and nights with few holidays while being paid less than your Newspaper doorman. You can also find wildlife internships abroad where you typically have to pay a lot for your experience rather than being paid.
Which one is right for me?
Again this all depends on your budget and what experience you are looking for.
Shadowing is an easy ask for most vets by email with very little (or no) paperwork involved. If this is local you can also just ask on your days off to pop by and get some extra experience while observing this way.
Volunteering is usually a wonderful experience where you travel far away from home, surround yourself with people of all ages with similar interests, as well as maybe working with exotic/wild animals that you don’t see back home. This is also a safer way to travel alone, if you’re new to this or never traveled alone before.
Externships may be a good way to learn. My only tip here, though, would be to visit the place before you sign up for a long period of time, and have an extra thought if your contract says something like “If extern decides to leave before end time, they have to cover the cost of the externship personally”.
Internships are society's way of taking advantage of enthusiastic new grads that are eager to learn, IMO. They put them to work 24/7, give them sometimes not even the bare minimum to survive $, only so that they can get burnt out and tired of the profession all together, while getting a nice note on their CV and maybe some experiences wiser. For me I just think there are healthier and more pleasant ways of learning, although it may take you a little longer. I know not every internship is like this, but I’ve still heard this so many times, and experienced it myself, and want you to know what you are potentially getting yourself into when you’re looking at these “glamorous” internships out there.
Conclusion?
I have tried all of the above in various parts of the world. To conclude, I must say I’ve had my best experiences either through shadowing or volunteering. Also remember that once you get paid, they “own you” and can treat you however they like. Start with work shadowing at different places - this has very little obligations and does not put any pressure on you in an already stressful time.
Secondly, if you can afford it, I absolutely recommend volunteering abroad! I’ve had some of the best adventures of my life while volunteering in Africa and Asia. Just make sure your project is legit, and that you pick one that interacts with animals in an ethical way. If you can and you are new to this, I recommend to go with an experienced organization that fixes everything for you, leaving you with minimal stress regarding transports, accommodations etc. In later years I’ve been trying to save money on going on cheaper volunteer missions, even free ones. And I must say it’s hard to beat the expensive volunteer projects, where I’ve been darting from helicopters, lifted buffalos and taken blood from lions: At the cheaper/free ones you are usually left more to yourself, both for entertainment, food, and transport. They are usually more inefficient in the use of time and you get less out of your stay, and maybe even get less hands-on experience. Although the cheaper/free ones are more accessible, I do recommend doing your first trip with a proper (and usually more expensive) organization to have a great experience and a great start, if possible!
How to afford this?
I guess there is no general way to put this, since everyone lives in different conditions. I can only tell you how I was able to afford it, and hope that you can make some take-aways. I have written about this before but I’ll mention it again:
First year of vet school I lived in a fairly nice flat with my friends. I realized how much money that went into living, that could be spent on traveling and volunteering instead. Eventually I moved into the dormitory, which was the cheapest option of living in town. I saved almost 4000 Euros per year on this decision. Otherwise I stopped spending too much on eating out, buying stuff I didn’t need, and other things for my own comfort in my daily life. My friends always lived comfortably in nice apartments alone, going out to dinners or ordering takeaway every few days, and buying most of their drinks out. I lived in a shared dormitory, never ordered takeaway, rarely ate out and drank all my fluids at home, taking public transport and going to free events, as well as traveling on 11h+ buses on my Europe trips. And still they would ask me how I could afford traveling all the time. I hope this puts things into perspective and gives you some thoughts on where you can save money, so that you can travel and have all these amazing experiences, in exchange for some everyday comfort. But guess what, when you get into these luxury situations after living like this, you REALLY appreciate it..!
Other things I did to save money includes finding the cheapest means of transport (even if it takes you 4 x as long), by looking for flights in nearby cities if they had better tickets, as in most european countries the flights are a lot more pricey than trains and other public transport (not always, e.g. Norway). Use incognito mode, and look for the cheapest tickets on multiple tabs. I have earlier found quite cheap tickets on skiplagged and kiwi. Depending on where you fly, you can also save a significant amount of money on traveling with only hand luggage. Trust me, you really don’t need that much stuff! (And occasionally you can buy
some new stuff cheap or borrow from friends). I’ve traveled for months at the time e.g. 3 months around the US both while visiting family, “working” and doing a road trip around the west coast. Staying in hostels, or trying out surf couching or “host a sister” on facebook are other ideas, maybe even “petsitting”?
So where did my money come from, you wonder? Well, firstly, in Norway we’ll get a loan/stipend from the government towards studying abroad, which was my main “income” throughout vet school. Otherwise we’d actually have about 3 months summer holiday, which I usually spent working in Norway/Scandinavia to gain as much money as possible to spend throughout the rest for the year/end of summer when flights were cheaper again. - Yes, I actually spent almost every single other holiday throughout vet school on volunteering/shadowing or traveling!
Tips on where to find different projects
Again, I wish I could tell you "I found it all on x website", but my travels are a whole lot more random and chaotic than that, as you soon will find out. Regardless here are a couple websites to get you started on your volunteering (nothing sponsored):
Since I get this question so often, I've decided to list most of my trips, and how I found them:
Naankuse - Namibia, 2017. My first wildlife volunteer trip - found on a Norwegian search engine called GoXplore (if I remember correctly).
Wildlife Friends foundation Thailand, 2017. First backpacking trip, here working with elephants. Found on another page (the Norwegian version) called Kilroy.
Antelope park - Zimbabwe, 2019. Horses, elephants and lions (I have in later years questioned the ethical intetions of this place..), also through a search engine like GoXplore.
America - Washington, 2019 & 2021. Visited distant relatives that are all vets. (My aunt mentioned we had some vets far out in the family, of course I couldn't resist sending them an email!) This is also where I got to follow clinic owners, board certified veterinarians (including in dermatology and imaging), as well as visiting the vet from "Shark Week" in Las Vegas Aquarium! - All through contacts of my family.
Australia 2019. Shadowing at the AES with Gerardo, Alex and Brooke (wrote a whole blog about this earlier).
Sweden, 2020. I worked during the summer as a "vet nurse", something you can do in Sweden after finishing your pharmacology courses in uni!
Lion & Cheetah park - Zimbabwe, 2021. In this situation, my mum actually sent me that this place were looking for a long term volunteer to take care of their horses. I didn't really have the time for anything long term but realized that the person I was emailing was Gemma Campling, an RCVS veterinarian and the founder of World Wide Vets!! Listed on the crew webpage, I found her, as well as Hein (owner of VetX, that I was an ambassador for), as well as Tony (a guy I met earlier in Zimbabwe and played PoloX with). I felt a call and decided to go down for a few weeks to volunteer while my studies were online (pandemic). Gemma was there to welcome me and taught me so much, from equine medicine to darting and treating of lions.
VetX, UmkhondBig5 - South Africa 2021. Where I did my show "Tina in the Wild" - open capture and care course for wildlife enthusiasts. They actually contacted me during harsh times during the pandemic, and asked for help to sell their amazing wildlife capture and care online course to make it financially. We teamed up and I travelled down the following year with my friends and had the best time darting from helicopters and monitoring Cheetahs, etc! Check my series HERE!
Egypt Equine Aid, 2021. I first saw my friends riding among the pyramids and treating poor equids in Egypt, and simply asked them where they went about on volunteering here. I stayed for free incl accomodation!
Norway, 2022. Six months away from graduation I got a job as a vet on a "temporary lisence" in Norway! Apparently this might work for foreigners close to graduation as well...
GSPCA and Mayreau Animal Rescue - the Caribbean, 2022. I firstly found Mayreau on the facebook page mentioned further up! In the lack of surgical experience, I googled my way to the GSPCA, to get some more surgical experience before going to Mayreau by myself. Beautiful islands, and a great team at the GSPCA! They also handed me a big box of donations, that I carried with me all the way to Mayreau (on a ferry, then a taxi, then a speedboat). Most of my confidence came from my time in Mayreau, as the only "vet" on the island. Probably the most giving thing I've ever done!
Zaaso - Zanzibar, 2023. Where I did my first spays! Also found through a friend, that was here earlier and did surgeries (early on in her uni years).
Dubai Equine hospital, 2023. I was googling a lot for equine internships a couple summers ago, and came across their website. I made a note and waited until the application time to apply for an externship, I was shortlisted, and was called the summer before for an interview, and got the position for a month. Food, flights and accommodation included.
Acupuncture "internship" - Malta, 2023. I looked long and hard to find a place to do my acupuncture "internship", as a mandatory part of my diploma (CVA). I emailed dousins of people found at "VetFinder", and eventually found a suitable place!
I think the conclusion here is, to keep your eyes open! Start looking for things like this, join facebook grous/newsletters, follow people on social media and ask your friends where and how they did it! And SEND. THE DAMN. EMAILS!! The worst answer you can get is a "no". Truly, you've got nothing to lose. You don't see how many hours and un-answered emails is behind most of the opportunities given to me. For reference - my boyfriend got inspired and started doing the same, now he's in contact with some of the top Wildlife vets out there! Anything is possible, do not be scared to reach out! I'M ROOTING FOR YOU!
