26 Key Attributes Veterinarians Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Sophia Miller

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Veterinarians diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals. Includes veterinarians who conduct research and development, inspect livestock, or care for pets and companion animals.

The core tasks that veterinarians are likely to carry out include:

Treat sick or injured animals by prescribing medication, setting bones, dressing wounds, or performing surgery.
Examine animals to detect and determine the nature of diseases or injuries.
Provide care to a wide range of animals or specialize in a particular species, such as horses or exotic birds.
Inoculate animals against various diseases such as rabies or distemper.
Advise animal owners regarding sanitary measures, feeding, general care, medical conditions, or treatment options.
Operate diagnostic equipment, such as radiographic or ultrasound equipment, and interpret the resulting images.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that veterinarians would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Having a strong preference for investigative work environments. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 100%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 97.6%

Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 95.6%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 94.6%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 94.4%

Maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93%

Analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 91.4%

Persistence in the face of obstacles.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 90%

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 89.4%

A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 88.4%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86%

Being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85.8%

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 85.8%

Developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85.6%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85.2%

The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

Preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 83.2%

Establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 82.8%

A willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 82.6%

Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 82.4%

Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

Having a strong preference for realistic work environments. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 81%

The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%