Job Opportunity Deep-Dive: Make Your Mark on the Global Pet Community with NAVC

HR Director Kimberly Chatfield with one of her furry co-workers

Every pet owner dreams of bringing their furry pal to work, but how many can say they work with pets for a living?

For nearly 40 years, the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) has been creating unparalleled opportunities for the veterinary community that foster lifelong learning, encourage growth and promote wellbeing to advance animal care worldwide. And, lucky for our animal-loving communicators, the NAVC public relations team is hiring!

NAVC is searching for a “superstar” public relations coordinator to grow with its team and help drive NAVC’s impact on the healthcare and well-being of animals, as well as the veterinary teams that care for them, both in the U.S. and around the globe.

We had the opportunity to sit down with NAVC Vice President of Public Relations Robin Pence to learn more about the organization and what’s in store for the perfect-fit candidate. (Hint: when it comes to on-the-job opportunities, bringing your pet to work is just the tip of the iceberg!)

In your words, what sets NAVC apart as a great place to work for public relations, communications and marketing professionals? 

The culture, people and mission are unmatched. Pet ownership in the U.S. is at an all-time high and people are more dedicated than ever to providing the best healthcare to their pets. The NAVC provides the necessary continuing education, training and resources for veterinary professionals to stay on top of all the amazing advances taking place in animal medicine – whether its oncology, cardiology, dentistry or orthopedic surgery – that help animals of all species live longer, better quality lives.  

If you love animals and appreciate the heroic veterinary professionals who care for them, it doesn’t get any better than this. At the end of the day, you are helping provide better healthcare to animals everywhere.   

We really are a family here at the NAVC and remind employees that family comes first. We are uniquely pet friendly – and our four-legged colleagues who come to work each day with their humans are a common and comforting presence in the office.  

This is also a uniquely supportive and collaborative environment – no sharp elbows here!  We work together in support of our mission and each other. It’s common to have lunch brought in and have team outings and events in recognition of our employees. We also get “Summer Fridays,” which include every Friday off through July and “Frenzy-Free Fridays” in June and August. The frenzy-free days are clear of meetings and non-urgent emails, giving us dedicated time for continuing education or other quiet work. Employee appreciation is big at the NAVC, including special events – such as deep-sea fishing or river rafting – and gift certificate giveaways for employees for office makeovers, whether they’re at home or on site.  There is no shortage of smiles and warmth at the NAVC. Though we are a nonprofit, we are run as a professional business with great benefits too. No surprise the NAVC has been recognized annually as one of the “Top Workplaces” by the Orlando Sentinel!

 What does a “day in the life” look like for you at work? 

Every day for the PR team is about promoting the NAVC and creating new ways to keep us in the press. We begin each day scanning the news from multiple sources to see what’s new, what’s trending in the news cycle and where we might fit in. In addition to staying on top of what’s being written, we look to see who is reporting the stories so we can continue to grow our database of journalists to target for NAVC-focused stories.  

After that, each day is different. We can be focused on promoting a specific NAVC announcement or event that is in play, , or working to keep moving the ball forward to create stories and supporting media assets for events further down the road, like the Veterinary Meeting & Expo (VMX) 2023 – the world’s largest continuing education event for the veterinary industry. For all of these events and media opportunities, we are looking for ways to bring the story to life for a reporter, visually and anecdotally, and researching the right reporters and media outlets to target.    

We need to be able to pivot and prioritize because, on a moment’s notice, we will have the proverbial “bird-in-hand” – a reporter who wants to interview our Chief Veterinary Officer or CEO. Each story is unique, as are reporter’s interests, so we need to craft the messages accordingly to make sure we are promoting the NAVC’s interests in a way that will also appeal to the reporter. 

Part of the more scheduled part of our day is meeting with and collaborating with other departments across NAVC to support and promote their programs and events to press and through the many award applications we submit for NAVC. A great part of our job is that we get to work with almost every group within NAVC, which is rewarding and interesting!  

What types of opportunities await your new hire?

The opportunity to make your mark and grow your career! This is a growing public relations function. Since we launched the NAVC’s formal public relations program in 2019, we have significantly grown our media coverage each year and positioned our organization, CEO and Chief Veterinary Officer as veterinary industry leaders and go-to sources for the press.  Today, our media coverage garners more than 2 billion impressions/potential global audience reach each quarter, driven by interviews we have secured through trusted relationships we have built with reporters at major national, pet and trade media outlets.   

Our story is simple and special: how advances in animal medicine are helping animals of all kinds live longer, better-quality lives. The person to join our team as a public relations coordinator will help tell that story, developing media opportunities and reaching new audiences. They will also be on the ground at the Orange County Convention Center each January providing media support for VMX – our No. 1 event and the largest gathering of veterinary professionals worldwide each year. At VMX, our public relations coordinator will manage the b-roll production team, interview presenting veterinarians and find new products and technology to feature from the Expo Hall floor. They will manage onsite press and support our exciting Satellite Media Tour, live from the Expo Hall. They will also have the opportunity to connect with public relations professionals from the world’s leading pet, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies who exhibit and sponsor events at VMX. This Florida Today story we generated at VMX 2022 really captures our conference and how the PR team brings it to life.  

A brand-new area of focus for the PR team and PR Coordinator is managing the veterinary industry’s only awards program dedicated to recognizing outstanding marketing and advertising in animal health. The VETTYS Award program was launched by the NAVC in 2017, with winners recognized at VMX each year. Management and growth of this program was recently transitioned to PR, adding to our roster of exciting opportunities.  

From driving valuable, earned media coverage to seeing grand-scale events to fruition, our new public relations coordinator will have the fulfilling opportunity to advance our nonprofit’s mission … and have fun doing it. It’s the best job you can imagine!

To learn more about NAVC’s public relations coordinator opportunity, check out the FPRA Orlando Job Bank. Qualified applicants are encouraged to submit writing samples, story placements, resumé and cover letter to NAVC Director of Human Resources Kimberly Chatfield (kchatfield@navc.com).