Living and Working at Energy Vets Taranaki with Dr Sieara Claytor - Small Animal Veterinarian - 1031

Energy Vets, Taranaki | Starting Out as a New GradIn this REAL+STORY episode, Julie South speaks with Dr Sieara Claytor, a 2025 graduate working in her very first full-time veterinary role at Energy Vets in Taranaki.Sieara moved from the United States to study in Australia and has now started her career in rural New Zealand. Six months in, she’s already managing emergencies, assisting in surgeries beyond routine desexings, handling after-hours responsibilities, and working across two clinic branches.Rather than focusing on “graduate programs” or formal structures, this conversation looks at what support actually feels like day to day — senior vets scrubbing in alongside her, nurses staying late when needed, multiple vets available when things get busy, and space to ask questions without hesitation.Sieara also talks about adjusting to rural life, commuting without traffic lights, wildlife cases, pig-hunting injuries, and the reality of after-hours in a regional clinic.If you’re a new graduate — or someone mentoring one — this episode gives a clear sense of what challenge-with-backup looks like in practice.In This Episode00:00 – Introduction to the REAL+STORY series with Energy Vets01:05 – Sieara’s background and first impressions as a new grad03:30 – Rural caseload: emergencies, variety, and learning fast04:52 – What support in surgery actually looks like06:43 – Realising you’re more capable than you thought07:56 – Moving countries and adjusting to rural life09:16 – How after-hours really works11:32 – Differences between the two clinic branches12:50 – The early-career lens on Energy VetsHiring LinkIf you’re an experienced small animal vet exploring your next step, you can find out more about current opportunities at Energy Vets Taranaki About Julie SouthJulie South is the founder of VetClinicJobs and host of Veterinary Voices.She works with veterinary clinics that want to show what working there is really like — not just list job requirements. Through VetClinicJobs, she helps clinics make their culture clear and recognisable, so vets and nurses can tell whether a clinic is Their Kind of Clinic long before a vacancy appears.Could Your Kind of People recognise Their Kind of Clinic?A job ad may catch a vet’s or nurse’s eye. But it’s their own due diligence that determines whether they apply—or keep in touch.Culture Story Centres turn real experiences from inside your team into credible, discoverable recruitment evidence, giving vets and nurses meaningful reasons to choose your clinic.Explore Culture Story Centres for veterinary clinics