Veterinary Assistant

Job Description

Job Description

Every great veterinary career starts somewhere. This is a great place to start yours.

Maybe you have never worked in a hospital before, but you are the person friends call when their dog is sick, and you have always known you wanted to work with animals for real. Here is the good news: you do not need experience to start. You need to be dependable, warm, and genuinely willing to do the work, all of it, that keeps a busy hospital running and its patients cared for. We will teach you the rest, and we mean that.

The Grand Lake Veterinary Hospital is an independently owned, progressive, well-established hospital in Oakland, where medicine is driven by doctors and standards of care, not corporate profit targets. Our team will tell you it is the best place they have ever worked. You would be joining a smart, kind, collaborative team in a recently renovated, state-of-the-art facility, and if you want a future in veterinary medicine, this is a place where assistants grow into technicians and beyond.

What You Will Do

• Move patients and clients through their visit from check-in to discharge
• Restrain patients gently and safely for exams and procedures
• Prep and turn over exam rooms
• Run and process lab samples
• Support doctors and technicians throughout the day
• Provide in-patient care: feeding and keeping hospitalized and patients comfortable, clean, and safe
• Maintain a clean, organized, and safe hospital environment

What You Bring

• High school diploma or equivalent
• A genuine love of animals, and the steadiness to help them even when they are scared, sick, or in pain
• Reliability and a strong team-first attitude
• Willingness to do hands-on patient and kennel care, including weekends and holidays
• Calm and efficiency when things get busy
• Good communication skills and a warm way with people
• Previous animal-care experience is a plus, but not required

What We Offer

• Competitive pay based on experience and production ($18 - $20 per hour)
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with up to 4% employer match
• Profit-sharing plan
• Paid Time Off (full-time) and paid holidays
• Educational Assistance Reimbursement, up to $5,250 per year for qualifying programs
• Generous employee pet discounts
• Generous CE support and frequent Lunch and Learns
• Team-building events
• Real opportunities to grow within the practice

A Few Things to Know About The Grand Lake Veterinary Hospital

• Independently owned and doctor-led: medical decisions are made in the exam room, not a boardroom
• Rare staff turnover. People come here and stay
• We invest in you with CE support, Lunch and Learns, and real internal growth paths
• Community recognized: runner-up in the East Bay Express "Best of the Bay" Reader Poll and a NextDoor Neighborhood Favorite