Fears ease over graduate job hopes as bosses dismiss market concerns

Veterinary student leaders have sought to play down fears about the graduate job market, though they admit entrants may need to be more flexible than in recent years.

Several prominent companies have also indicated they expect recruitment to proceed in line with recent trends, despite fears of a difficult time ahead for new entrants.

Concerns first emerged in January when the RCVS council was told some of its largest firms were now taking on many fewer graduates.

Those fears were echoed by one new graduate who told Vet Times they had “never seen the job market so empty”.

‘Tough year’

She said many of her contemporaries had interviews cancelled, with only a few securing roles, while a representative of a prominent care provider was reported to have warned 2026 was likely to be “a tough year” for those seeking their first permanent posts.

Association of Veterinary Students president Jayson Hughes acknowledged the present picture was less straightforward for new graduates now, though he stressed informal feedback did not indicate a widespread lack of jobs.

He said: “Most final-year students do still seem to be securing jobs, but often with more emphasis on being flexible about location, type of practice or timing.”

Upbeat assessment

Although some major care providers did not respond to requests for comment on the issue, those that did also gave a more upbeat assessment of the present picture.

CVS Group bosses insisted their graduate programme would proceed “absolutely as normal” this year when they published its latest results on 26 February.

But its CVO, Paul Higgs, acknowledged improvements in the retention of recent graduates could itself be having a knock-on effect on new entrants’ prospects.

‘Great rewards’

He said: “Ideally, we want them to be staying in the first jobs and having great rewards from that.

“We’re definitely seeing more success in that and an outcome to that is that there may be a lower turnover of graduate roles.

“But we’re still actively recruiting. We’re managing to retain those great, newly qualified vets and keep them in the profession.”

Mr Hughes also reported increasing discussion among students about what a “good first job” looks like in terms of support, workload and progression.

Substantial investment

Elsewhere, IVC Evidensia said it was still making substantial investments in its graduate scheme, and expected to recruit similar numbers to 2025, amid what a spokesperson described as ongoing “significant interest”.

XLVets chief executive Andrew Curwen also reported no major difference in its graduate numbers, despite both changes in the wider marketplace and a growing trend of places being filled through longer-term relationships originated in IMR or EMS work.

Despite concerns that some companies prefer graduates to have identified a practice they want to join, or already have links to, before they apply, he argued such a process “works both ways and clearly has advantages for all parties”.