Build the schedule around dependencies
A hiring plan is more useful when each stage has an owner and a dependency. Identify delays the employer can resolve without promising an outcome outside its control.
- Reserve interview availability before candidate introductions.
- Assign credential and reference-check responsibilities.
- Allow for candidate notice periods, relocation and start-date agreement.
Prepare the role brief
Write down the information a candidate needs to evaluate the position before the search begins.
- List the hospitals and travel expectations within the role.
- Define authority across clinical quality, people and operational decisions.
- Agree reporting relationships and how hospital leaders will be supported.
Plan the work location in Jacksonville.
Name the planning district or municipality and the street address. San Marco, Mandarin and Arlington are Jacksonville neighborhoods. Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach and Baldwin are separate municipalities in Duval County. Orange Park and Fleming Island are in Clay County, Ponte Vedra and St. Augustine are in St. Johns County, and Fernandina Beach and Yulee are in Nassau County. Coverage on this site is limited to Florida; a hospital in Georgia falls under a different state licensing authority. Then state what the role asks of the doctor, because candidates compare terms before they compare neighborhoods. A full-time Jacksonville associate role should give the days worked each week, how leave and continuing education are covered and who the doctor works beside. A Jacksonville specialist or surgeon role should name the referral network, the advanced equipment on site and the certified colleagues who share cases. A Jacksonville emergency role should describe the overnight team, the handover and the hospital that takes transfers. A Jacksonville medical director role should say which hospitals the premise permit covers, because the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation requires every premise permit application to list the licensed veterinarian responsible for managing the establishment. When a role covers more than one site, give the drive distance in miles between them and say whether each hospital serves a city neighborhood, a beach community or a neighboring county. Telehealth does not remove the license step: the Department states that a veterinarian must be licensed in Florida to provide telehealth to an animal located in Florida, including one in Jacksonville.
Give the hiring team one brief for each hospital, with clinical work, support staffing, weekend and after-hours duties and location stated together. For a role that covers more than one hospital, list each site, the planned days at each and how schedule changes are communicated. This site describes employer hiring coverage without claiming a Jacksonville recruiting office.
Review Jacksonville-area recruiting coverage →Local context for this role
The North Florida Transportation Planning Organization describes its Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns county region as more than 3,000 square miles with a population of nearly 1.7 million, and the Census Bureau's 2023 County Business Patterns counts 208 veterinary services establishments across those four counties, so a regional leader for Jacksonville hospitals may work across four county jurisdictions. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation states that each establishment must have a licensed veterinarian responsible for its management, that the permit holder reports a change of responsible veterinarian on form VM 13 within 10 days, and that a clinic that moves needs a new premise permit while a sold clinic needs a new permit and a new inspection. The Department also states that each licensed clinic is inspected once every two years and that the responsible veterinarian for the premises must ensure the client prescription disclosure is given and the one-time signed acknowledgment is obtained and kept in the patient's record, so a Jacksonville leader named on several permits answers for that step at each site. State in the brief which sites the hire would be named on and who files each change.
Plan Florida credential checks before the start date.
Florida licenses veterinarians through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and the Board of Veterinary Medicine regulates veterinarians, premise permits and limited-service clinics. Assign a person to verify license status, record the date and resolve questions with the Department. Check any additional specialty credentials required by the employer with the issuing organization.
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation online license search · Florida Board of Veterinary Medicine licensing information
Confirm the service and terms with BEGHR.
Scope regional veterinary director and multi-site leadership searches serving Jacksonville-area practice groups.
Read the service scope · Review the recruiting process · BEGHR veterinary placement