Dr Ben Porter
Scientific Services Veterinarian (Royal Canin Australia and New Zealand)
Core role Features
quick fire overview.
salary
£60k +
travel & flexibility
Travel is a requirement of the role, but the amount of travel is quite variable from month-to-month (usually a few days per month). During 'conference season' there are extensive travel commitments.
Values
Collaborative, creativity, ambition, drive.
region/location
Australia
essential skills
Excellent communication skills.
After graduation, I launched my veterinary career at a large mixed practice in Shepparton, Victoria, Australia, where I was a jack-of-all-trades and gained extensive experience in all facets of small and large animal medicine and surgery. I thrived off the diverse and busy caseload and had a particular interest in orthopaedics, reconstructive surgery, dentistry, and avian medicine and surgery. After 6.5 years of full-time practice, I got to the point where I liked but no longer loved being in clinical practice. There were several reasons for this, including owner cost-constraints, long hours, lack of work-life balance, and ultimately the regular after-hours. Even to this day, certain ring tones elicit my stress response.
I have never been change-averse and have always kept my career options open. As luck would have it, I received a call out of the blue from a close friend who was a Technical Services Veterinarian for a large global animal health company. This call coincided with a period when I was dissatisfied with clinical practice. A maternity-leave position had become available, and I was asked if I would be interested in applying. It was the most opportune time to make a move into the animal health industry.
There were no specific qualifications other than a veterinary degree and a ‘few years’ of clinical practice.
The best bits are definitely that I get to be creative, analytical, problem-solve, and collaborate with absolutely amazing people. On top of that, there are many ‘perks’ to my role including:
- Flexible working conditions, including the ability to work for home
- Good remuneration + bonuses
- Versatile role/cross-collaboration
- Exposure to continuing education
- Opportunities for career and skill set development
- Social interactions & networking
- Travel, both domestic and international.
- On the flip-side, the travel can be draining especially during ‘Conference Season’ which sees me living out of my suitcase for periods at a time.
Every day is highly variable, which is something I embrace and love. Most days kick off with team or project meetings, approving social media content for our digital team to ensure it meets brand and regulatory guidelines, replying to any pressing emails, and resolving any escalated or difficult consumer care enquiries. The latter is something I enjoy as you get to use your clinical knowledge to assess patient histories, laboratory findings, etc. to determine the best nutritional support for the patient. The rest of my day is spent reviewing technical marketing pieces, working on local/regional/global projects, providing internal and external nutritional training, driving key opinion leader (KOL) and key account engagement, drafting communication and educational pieces, etc.
The only issue I very occasionally encountered was the perception of other vets that considered industry to be “The Darkside” and that I was “no longer a real vet”. To be honest, once I explained to them my role and it’s inherent benefits particularly around work-life balance, they always end up asking if there are any similar positions coming up.
Embrace change, value yourself, trust your intuition, and network. Never be afraid to ask for advice or help.