Explore & Prepare: Career Options for New Veterinarians

First, this three-minute video introduces you to a range of career possibilities available to you with your veterinary degree.

Next, this list is a useful starting point for exploring veterinary career options, offering a variety of links where more information can be obtained. It’s worth noting that this is not a complete list of opportunities, and there might be many other options based on your individual interest and experience. Also, many of these careers require additional training and experience beyond a veterinary degree and clinical experience.

Take advantage of the career development webinars on AVMA Axon® to explore some of these career options in depth. Most are free of charge to SAVMA members. Dive deeper to see if one of these options is a good fit for you.

• ACADEMIA
  • Veterinary technology faculty
  • Veterinary teaching hospital faculty
  • Undergraduate faculty
• ASSOCIATIONS
  • Animal shelter organizations
  • Veterinary Associations
  • American Veterinary Medical Association
  • American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges
  • State Veterinary Medical Associations
  • Veterinary organizations
• CLINICAL PRACTICE
  • Private Practice
    • Companion animal practice
      • Feline
    • Avian
    • Exotics/pocket pets
    • Emergency
    • Hospice/Euthanasia services
    • Integrative Medicine
    • Acupuncture
  • Mixed animal practice
  • Large animal practice
    • Equine
    • Small ruminant (e.g. sheep, goat, llama, alpaca)
    • Bovine
    • Swine
    • Poultry
  • Shelter Medicine
  • Rehabilitation/Sports medicine​​
  • House call practice
  • Relief veterinarian
  • Aquatic veterinary​ medicine
    • Aquaculture
    • State wildlife agency aquatic health programs​
  • Laboratory animal medicine
  • Wildlife medicine
  • Zoo medicine
  • Specialty/referral practice​
  • Forensic veterinary sciences
• COMPUTER SOFTWARE
  • Practice, laboratory, regulatory software development and sales
• GOVERNMENT
• INDUSTRY
  • Technical/professional services
  • Sales/marketing
  • Management
  • Research and development
  • Regulatory affairs
• INTERNATIONAL
  • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Security
  • World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
  • U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
  • Non-governmental organizations—in U.S. and abroad (may be volunteer)
    • Veterinarians Without Borders
    • Rural Area Veterinary Services​ (HSVMA)
    • International Veterinarians Dedicated to Animal Health (VIDAS)
    • EcoHealth Alliance​
  • University research or capacity development projects—in U.S. and abroad (typically temporary employment)
• LOCALLY-BASED SERVICES
  • Rescue and disaster response
  • Forensic veterinary medicine
  • Local animal organization
  • Animal shelters
• MANAGEMENT​
  • Corporate Veterinary Practice (e.g. Banfield, VCA Management)
  • Consulting
    • Business
    • Industry
    • Livestock
• MEDIA WORK
• RESEARCH
  • Universities
  • Industry (e.g. Zoetis, Elanco)
  • USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS)
• UNIFORMED SERVICES
  • Air Force
  • Army
  • US Public Health Services (USPHS) Commissioned Corps
• VETERINARY DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORIES
  • University-based laboratories
  • National Veterinary Service Laboratories​ (see USDA)
  • State and county public health laboratories
  • State government laboratories
  • Industry (e.g. IDEXX, Antech, livestock and poultry laboratories)
• WRITING/EDITING/PUBLISHING
  • Veterinary publishing companies
  • Journal editors