Careers: Vet Nurse vs Early Childhood
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Topic: Careers: Vet Nurse vs Early Childhood
Posted By: Plushie
Subject: Careers: Vet Nurse vs Early Childhood
Date Posted: 13 April 2011 at 8:37am
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Is anyone in either of these fields?
Currently i am qualified and work as a chef but its really not great with a small child - in fact its almost impossible. I am overqualified to work as a cook in a cafe only open during the day. I am seeking a career that is a bit more child friendly (ie. work normal hours!) and have narrowed it down to the two options above! If you work in either capacity i'd be interested to hear about your job, if you like it, if its hard to get work, if the study was a pain, if it works in well with your family...etc etc. Please and Thanks 
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Replies:
Posted By: Hopes
Date Posted: 13 April 2011 at 8:53am
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My SIL was a vet nurse before she had her daughter. She's on here somewhere, I should tell her to check this thread out. It seemed like a pretty cool job - regular hours, although I think she did some on call stuff for emergencies, which might be hard with a baby unless you had someone handy who could look after him at those times? -------------   
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 13 April 2011 at 9:37am
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I think you will need to go and spend some time doing both to see what would suit you. I've done some vet nursing (though I'm not qualified) and I could never do it as a career but thats just me. It just seemed like a lot of cleaning up after the vets. There is weekend work involved in most places as well - whether or not that bothers you not sure.
Early childhood the hours will depend on what kinda place you work at. Kindy would be regular suitable kiddy hours but some daycares are open very early until about 6pm. |
Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 13 April 2011 at 11:06am
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I would thoroughly research things that would interest you as well. I had looked into vet nursing because of hours etc but have now gone with Nursing because I think I'd enjoy it more.
But if you are set on those 2 then I would ring a few places and see if you could sit in for a day and see what it's like iygwim. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: GuestGuest
Date Posted: 13 April 2011 at 1:12pm
| What is it with vet nursing? Everyone seems to think it's a great idea until they actually start the training! You get paid very little for doing all the jobs that the vet doesn't want to do plus there's nowhere else to go from there, not my idea of a fun job! Why not train to be an actual vet? |
Posted By: Plushie
Date Posted: 13 April 2011 at 1:42pm
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i was wondering about that littlered, need to find out what they do! if its injections and stitching and shaving legs for needles thats cool. if its solely cleaning down the blood and poo not so much.
mostly not a vet cuz it takes 2x as long and i'd like to qualify&work sooner and you can do a lot of nurse stuff by corrospondance bonus as no uni/tech here. also feel i wouldnt be accepted to a higher level qual. wish i could go shadow is a great idea but would have to take bubba along too and im not sure they'd like that! thanks for reples and sorry for poor typing feeding atm! |
Posted By: Chantala01
Date Posted: 13 April 2011 at 2:43pm
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I can shed some light on vet nursing. I am a qualified vn, pay is crap but it is slowly improving. Job entails lots of cleaning, giving injections, monitoring anaesthetics, intensive care of sick animals, holding/restraining animals for vet, assisting with euthanasia, sterilising instruments, setting up and maintaining iv drips, taking and exposing x-rays, customer service. There is a lot involved, but it is rewarding. It is a job you do for the love of animals. It depends a lot on the clinic your in how good a job it is for a Mum. Where I was before and while pregnant was crap for Mums, but lots of places are much better. I loved the work, hated the workplace. Due to crap pay it is not worth me going back to work, we'd end up worse off with childcare costs. It is hard to find clinics who want "shadowers", they do kind of just get in the way. It is a job where you need to be calm in high stress life and death situations, be unfazed by gore, be able to put up with anal or stressy vets (as most are!), and be able to deal with some of the idiots who own animals.
Don't get me wrong it's a great job, but there is more to it than most people think and it's not remotely glamorous. You regularly get peed on, pooed on, vomited on, and less regularly bitten. Twice in a year I had to go on ab's for cat bites :( Childcare to me would be the better option to fit with motherhood, in home childcare can be quite good money and means no childcare costs, days off with sick kids, very little stress like working outside the home. I have some ece training and am going to do in home childcare once my baby is a bit older. With childcare you prob could shadow in a centre, or at least discuss exactly what they do (more than just play with kids!) Other thing with vet nursing, jobs can be hard to come by, particularly if you're inflexible with hours. Most clinics are open till 7pm and lots now are 7 days a week.You also never get out at 7pm, and need to arrive before opening to check hospital patients. There is also lots of things you can't do while pregnant if you thought you might have more kids still. Wow, that went on a bit!! LOL, sorry. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: GuestGuest
Date Posted: 13 April 2011 at 3:18pm
Neither vet nursing or early childcare are going to pay well. That was my number one pre-requisite when considering a career! Even on my crappiest day at work (today being one of them) I know that they pay me well so I don't mind so much! 
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Posted By: myonlineself
Date Posted: 13 April 2011 at 5:16pm
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Just wondering, given people have said both those options pay pretty rubbish - which makes me wonder if its worth the time, effort and cost of retraining - if you would be better off working as a cook for a cafe during the day, as it probably pays about the same? Does being over-qualified preclude you from those jobs, or you just aren't interested in them? This is totally just a question out of curiousity, not a judgement at all! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Plushie
Date Posted: 13 April 2011 at 7:08pm
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Brill just the feedback i was looking for thanks guys. I trained as a primary teacher and graduated but never practiced and i've been told that i can't transfer credits to ECE.
myonlineself - i'm unhireable for a daytime cook, the pay is pretty avg (13-14$ most places) and as i've been working at a top position in a top restaurant in a top hotel for a few years for 3x the amount now i'm far far overqualified. No one seems to hear "i have a small baby and i want to work to fit in with his little life". If both have low pay its a bit of a bum - careers.govt seems to think they both pay in the $25hr region though i knew it was lying for ECE i had hopes for the vet nurses. Pay is for sure a bonus, like you said LuckyRed i can suffer through a sh*t day if i know i'm getting paid well in the end. May be back to the drawing board then. Dammit!! |
Posted By: zoeymil
Date Posted: 14 April 2011 at 12:50pm
Bowie- i'm an EC teacher. I have been teaching for 6 years and think it's a wonderful career to have with young children. I'm about to go back to work 2 days a week. The hours can be very flexible and you don't need to work fulltime. I think the pay is ok i'm on more than $25 an hour!!!. There is great on the job training that lots of my friends have done with children, although if you already have a degree you will be able to do a graduate diploma in ECE this should take 1 and half years max!! You should look into ECE more especially if you have a primary training.... but thats just my thoughts.... if you have any other questions PM  ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 14 April 2011 at 12:57pm
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I did early childcare & the pay was rubbish but I always wanted to work with young children. I went to teachers collage & also did a correspondence course while waiting to get into another course. I did first aid training also. I loved the job but after a few years of no money & getting a bit sick of kids I moved on.
Wish I gone into nursing...both times I got the forms to fill out I got pg 
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Posted By: Kimnthekids
Date Posted: 14 April 2011 at 9:42pm
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Just a thought, why dont you look at cooking in a child care center? You would be able to bring the skills you currently have... with daytime hours (Usually 6.5 hours or less a day) and then you would get an inside view and see if you thought it might be for you. I'm an ECE teacher, and also think the pay isnt that bad. I dont know where you are in New Zealand - but unqualified (Auckland)you are looking at 13-17 an hour for early childhood, and then 22-27 for qualified, then more if you are head teacher/supervisor etc. But then again, you have to weigh up the cost of training for 3 years... and if it is truley a career choice you want to make. If it's really just for the next 5 years or so till bubs is bigger, then you have to look into is it worthwhile. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: pekay
Date Posted: 14 April 2011 at 9:46pm
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It should only take a year if you have you primary teaching degree. I have also looked into to it! And don't ECE have pay parity with primary teachers, so the pay can't be too bad, especially if ECE is more a 9-5 job (primary definitely isn't)?.
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Posted By: Ella1
Date Posted: 14 April 2011 at 11:07pm
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ECE opening hours could be anywhere between 7am and 6pm. So not exactly 9-5. I'm not sure if we've reached pay parity yet with primary teachers, but if you have a degree the pay is pretty decent, especially after a few years. With a diploma though, the pay isn't so good.
The job can be great, but depends a lot on your employer (I'm pretty lucky). It is very exhausting work though, because almost all your work hours are contact hours (i.e. hours with the children, with maybe 2 hrs non-contact for admin per week). Plus unless you work in Kindy (those jobs are hard to get), you won't have school holidays either. I switched to working pt after I had my daughter, I couldn't have done it ft, with her waking so much at night. Good luck with your decision. |
Posted By: pekay
Date Posted: 15 April 2011 at 8:28am
| But you wouldn't be working more than 40hours a week -would you? That was more mt point. |
Posted By: chickadeedoo
Date Posted: 15 April 2011 at 9:47am
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just my 2 cents worth on childcare / ece part. If you work for say a daycare / childcare place you can place your child in there and you get at least 50% off the daily / weekly rate (all depends on how many hours you do in a week). Most companies do that anyway. I used to work in a daycare. ------------- 
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Posted By: Plushie
Date Posted: 15 April 2011 at 12:43pm
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Yeah, Pekay i wouldnt be going full time initially. That was also my hppe chickadeedoo that i'd get some kind of discount. Much to ponder
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Posted By: tictacjunkie
Date Posted: 15 April 2011 at 1:51pm
| I worked in dc briefly as unqual staff, also as a vet nurse (also no quals). I wouldn't go back to either. Lol, sorry. My vet nurse experience was ok, yes you are the vet's dogsbody, if you're in a larger clinic you don't have to do reception duties as they'll have a separate receptionist/retail. I left because I couldn't cope with emotional (sad &/or angry) people who's pet had died, & having to help euthanise animals who were lovely & healthy but unwanted. I found it too stressful, =(. |
Posted By: Chantala01
Date Posted: 15 April 2011 at 4:59pm
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Just to put reality on vn pay - I was in a clinic which paid absolute sh*t! I was only on $14 per hour as a qualified recent graduate nurse. The nurse who'd been there 10years was only on $18. But that is 1 clinic. I have friends who are paid a lot more than that - anything from $15-$20 is normal for a qualified VN. Starting rate I would recommend to not expect more than $15.
There are so many options for "wee" jobs for us Mums - I'm thinking I'll just go do something a bit menial like check out chick, stacking shelves at the supermarket or The Warehouse or something. I reakon I want work to be somewhere I can go do my thing without thinking too much & without any "take home baggage". Also some things like night fill can work out well as you can stay home with bubs in the day & Dad can look after in evenings. I know our local Warehouse nightfill hours are 8-11pm so ideal hours for a SAHM. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: tictacjunkie
Date Posted: 15 April 2011 at 5:21pm
| It is hard to find a job with hours that work. I had looked at shelf fill etc positions but my problem is that DH is away a lot & I couldn't find anywhere or anyone to do a/h dc. My plan is to get Lab Tech certificate once my youngest is 4, so hopefully get job when they're all at school. Our local factories work 4on 4off, so I'll still get time with kids & have less "days" to find them care for. That's the theory anyway! My eldest will be teenagers by then too. Sorry for the threadjack! |
Posted By: ereynolds
Date Posted: 16 April 2011 at 8:43pm
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LOL @ Chantala01. I am a qualified vet nurse (diploma) though Ive been out of it for a couple of years and you certainly hit the nail on the head with your comments!
I loved the work (even though you do feel like a glorified cleaner at times), but the hours and pay aren't all that great (even though my clinic paid reasonably well). I was routinely doing split shifts- 7 am start and 7pm finish with a break in the middle. Definitely wasn't good for my marriage and I wouldn't do it with kids. Once DS is old enough I am hoping to retrain in a different industry- perhaps looking at medical imagery or physio. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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