Head Of Communications at VetCT

3 years mixed practice in Cumbria; fabulous first job using the breadth of my degree. LOVED IT, but was lonely. Moved down south for an internship, then week on – week off night vet to look after ailing family in my weeks off. Since then regular GP SA vet; mainly ECC and shelter medicine.

I knew I didn’t want to be a vet full time once having a family. I get bored and tired, and like variety and flexibility. I didn’t decide to become anything – I explored lots of options and at one point was going to become a clothing designer! But the wellbeing issues took precedence and I started website design, content creation, networking and support groups. Lots of opportunities came about as a result and I just said YES to everything until I figured out what fitted.

Flexibility and variety – I can work when and how I want. However, I have so many roles I can become easily distracted and inefficient. Also, working a lot from home means I’m never away from work. It can be hard to set aside proper family time and make a genuine separation between work and home life.

Wake up, check email and social media (I’m admin for 17 pages and 4 groups!). Get kids up, dressed and off to school (biggest achievement of the day). Work 9.30-3pm computer based, usually with a half hour dog walk or run in the middle of the day. Collect kids and ignore work until after dinner. Play, cook, read, do homework etc. then once the kids are in bed I’ll work for another hour or so (if I can engage the brain!)

Someone with good organisational skills, self-motivated, picks up new tricks easily and happy to learn on the job.

I self-taught web and social media skills through local Meetups and networking. Ask for a lot of advice and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how much help you get. The biggest barrier was my own self-doubt, but this has ebbed away through peer support, and trial and error.