BEGHR sources and screens candidates against your clinical and employment requirements. Receive a shortlist of 3–5 candidates, with billing against agreed search milestones and a 45-day replacement provision under the agreed terms. BEGHR handles client invoices and account questions. Your practice makes the hiring decision.
Define the Memphis work location
Name the street address, municipality and county. Memphis is the large central city, while Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, Lakeland, Arlington and Millington are separate Shelby County municipalities, and Atoka, Munford, Covington, Oakland, Somerville and Piperton are separate Tipton and Fayette county places. Cordova, Raleigh, Hickory Hill, Whitehaven, East Memphis and Midtown are neighborhoods inside the City of Memphis. The Memphis metropolitan statistical area also reaches into Mississippi and Arkansas, and coverage on this site is limited to Tennessee, because a hospital in another state falls under a different licensing authority.
Start with the shift the hospital needs covered
An emergency veterinarian search should make the working pattern clear before outreach starts. Specify the shift length, start and finish times, weekend rotation and whether the position is dedicated to nights or rotates between days and nights. Explain how leave, handovers and unfilled shifts are covered. A candidate should not have to infer those expectations from a general emergency-care job title.
Describe clinical support during the actual shift
State which clinicians and support staff are present overnight, what specialist consultation is available and how cases are transferred when more support is needed. Distinguish resources physically available during the shift from resources available during daytime hours. Include expectations for surgery, critical care, client communication and supervision of other team members.
- Shift pattern and coverage obligations
- Technician and assistant support by shift
- Case responsibility and clinical escalation
- Handover, transfer and referral coordination
Assess the working model as well as experience
Ask candidates to discuss role-related examples of triage, prioritization, handover and communication under pressure. Use a consistent interview framework and give candidates room to ask about the hospital’s operating model. Business Executive Group can use the employer brief to discuss search fit. Fees, screening responsibilities and engagement terms are agreed before recruiting work begins.
What emergency veterinarians compare before accepting
Emergency veterinarians compare the shift model and the support on the floor as closely as pay. Describe shift length, overnight and weekend coverage, the number of doctors per shift, average case volume and acuity, and whether the hospital is a standalone emergency clinic or a 24-hour emergency and specialty center with ICU support and specialists for referral. Explain compensation (hourly, salary, production or a guaranteed base with production, plus any overnight or holiday differential) and benefits (health, dental and vision insurance, paid time off, CE allowance and days, license and DEA fees, liability coverage, retirement plan) and any sign-on bonus. Candidates also ask about credentialed veterinary technician ratios, equipment for critical care, mentorship for doctors new to emergency medicine, and wellness measures that help prevent burnout.
- Shift length, overnight and weekend pattern
- Doctors per shift and case volume
- Standalone ER or 24-hour specialty center
- Differentials, production and benefits
- Technician ratios and critical care equipment
- Mentorship and burnout prevention
Practice types a Memphis search can cover
Veterinary employers in and around Memphis range from single-doctor clinics to large animal hospitals and multi-site groups. The brief changes with the type of practice, so the search starts by naming which of these the opening belongs to.
- General practice and wellness: small animal (companion animal) hospitals focused on preventive care, vaccines, dentistry and routine surgery
- Emergency and urgent care: 24-hour emergency hospitals, overnight ER teams and extended-hours urgent care for pets
- Specialty and referral: surgery, internal medicine, cardiology, oncology, neurology, dermatology, and diagnostic imaging and critical care services
- Mixed and large animal: practices that treat livestock and equine patients alongside small animals, often with ambulatory calls
- Exotics, shelter and community medicine: avian and exotic pet practices, shelter medicine and nonprofit clinics
- Practice leadership: medical director, chief of staff and regional roles in private, partnership and corporate veterinary groups
How a recruiting partner helps a Memphis practice hire
Many of the veterinarians who would be the right fit for a Memphis practice are not actively looking. They are employed, busy with patients and only open to a move when someone explains why the opportunity is better than their current role. A recruiting partner helps by reaching those people directly, presenting the practice honestly and screening each candidate against the brief before the hospital spends time on interviews. For Memphis employers, the search starts with the hiring brief and a review of the location, schedule and compensation structure. BEGHR manages the client relationship and invoicing, while the recruiting delivery team provides sourcing, screening and candidate presentation. The practice keeps every hiring decision, interviews the people it wants, and makes the offer directly. Pricing is shown after the employer opt-in, and the agreement sets out billable milestones and replacement terms.
Memphis context for this search
The Animal Emergency Center lists 3767 Summer Avenue in Memphis on its own site and says it is open seven days a week, including overnights, weekends and holidays. Memphis Veterinary Specialists & Emergency lists 555 Trinity Creek Cove in Cordova and says it provides emergency care 24 hours a day, seven days a week for cats and dogs. A Memphis emergency brief should state shift length, overnight staffing and the weekend rota, and should say whether the Memphis hospital also offers specialty services, since an emergency doctor in Memphis also needs the 20 hours of continuing education the Board requires each calendar year.
Memphis veterinary hiring context for employers
The Tennessee Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners' continuing education policy states that each veterinarian must obtain 20 hours of continuing education each calendar year and each veterinary medical technician 12 hours, and that a licensee who falls short must submit a letter and certificates and make up the deficit hours by December 31. For a veterinarian licensed in another state, the Board's application instructions list proof of active practice in three of the previous five years at an average of at least 25 hours a week and 60 hours of continuing education in the previous five years, the Board accepts credential packets from the American Association of Veterinary State Boards VAULT service, and its lapsed license policy states that applicable law prohibits practice without an active license. For technicians, the Board uses the title Licensed Veterinary Medical Technician and recognizes graduates of programs accredited by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association as comparable to American Veterinary Medical Association graduates, and its supervision position statement says supervised persons must be employees of the supervising veterinarian, who does not have to be on the same premises. The Memphis/Shelby County Veterinary Medical Association describes a mission to promote the practice of veterinary medicine in Shelby County and lists continuing education and jobs pages, the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville has a Refer a Patient page for veterinarians, and Lincoln Memorial University's veterinary college in Harrogate hosts a job board for its graduates. O*NET OnLine, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data, lists the Memphis, TN-MS-AR median annual wage for veterinarians slightly above the Tennessee median and below the national median, the Memphis median for veterinary technicians below both, and the Memphis median for veterinary assistants slightly above the Tennessee median and below the national median. The same state rules apply to every Memphis employer, so confirm them before the Memphis search starts. Sources are listed on each Memphis service-area page.
- Continuing education support: state the paid days and course support behind the Board's 20 hours a year for veterinarians and 12 for technicians, and say who tracks the hours before the December 31 deadline.
- License route: ask a candidate licensed elsewhere for the practice history and continuing education the Board's instructions list, and say whether the start date holds if the Board's review takes longer than planned.
- Technician delegation: name the tasks assigned to Licensed Veterinary Medical Technicians and the doctor who supervises them, because the Board's position statement requires supervised persons to be employees of the supervising veterinarian.
- Premises: a hospital opening a new site needs a Tennessee premises permit, and the application form asks for a supervising veterinarian and license number, so state the permit status before promising an opening date.
- County and municipality: name the hospital's county and city, because the Census Bureau's 2025 estimates put the metro's Tennessee counties at 910,226 residents in Shelby County, 62,287 in Tipton County and 45,071 in Fayette County, each with its own county government.
For the wider engagement, review our veterinary recruiting services and the employer search process.