Mentoring Millennials and Generation Z in Your Veterinary Practice

The transition from veterinary school to veterinary practice is challenging. Effective mentoring helps veterinarians and staff master the technical and interpersonal skills they need to thrive as practitioners and as leaders throughout their careers. Millennials currently make up approximately 34% of veterinarians and 56% of non-veterinary staff and are expected to represent 75% by 2030.^1-3 Generation Z is now beginning to graduate from US veterinary schools and enter the workforce. Generation Z veterinary technicians have been in the field for several years and represent approximately one-quarter of non-veterinary staff members.^1-2 These new professionals will soon be filling key roles in your veterinary practice. Are you ready to mentor them effectively?

Mentorship: What’s expected?

Both Millennials and Generation Z expect mentoring in the workplace, even if they aren’t always confident about asking for it.^3,4 Gen Z wants mentors who can help them find their footing in new situations and develop new skills. Mentors can be anyone: practice owners, more experienced veterinarians, seasoned staff members, or practice managers, both from within your practice or from an outside network. What exactly are they looking for?

• Listen first. Listen to what your mentee needs. Don’t assume, for example, that females need advice on maintaining a balance between work and family. Make sure your advice aligns with your mentee’s priorities. The most effective mentors spend 5 minutes listening for every minute they spend talking, encouraging their mentees to work out their own solutions.³
• Consider context. Personal context matters. Our current veterinary workforce lacks diversity, with more than 93% of veterinarians and more than 89% of staff members identifying as white.^1,2 Those who are first in their family to enter the veterinary profession or come from different ethnic or socio-economic backgrounds may want specific support around these issues.⁴ Mentoring these new colleagues will be important in veterinary medicine as we try to introduce diversity into our overwhelmingly white profession.
• Support confidence-building. As new graduates, Gen Zers value mentors who listen, answer questions, empathize with the challenges they are facing, and support them as they use their hard-earned knowledge.⁵ Building confidence is as important to them as building skills; self-doubt is one of their biggest self-identified challenges.⁵ Remember, 70% of employees with a mentor demonstrate better work performance and leadership development; the confidence that comes from working with an effective mentor plays a large part.³
• Offer flexibility and autonomy. Members of Generation Z expect flexibility to accommodate work-life balance, something that has historically been a major challenge in veterinary practice.⁶ They value teamwork and continuing education, especially self-education.⁶ This fits well with mentoring, in which the mentor asks questions and makes suggestions while allowing the mentee to try out new approaches or skills and reflect on them. Generation Z employees appreciate autonomy—the ability to make their own choices—but with added support when needed.⁶

Providing effective mentoring

Mentoring is most successful when mentors and mentees share similar attitudes towards life; it does not rely on participants sharing ethnic or gender identity.⁷ Training mentors can help bridge any gaps. A well-trained mentor knows their own blind spots, particularly those relating to generational stereotypes, currently summed up by ‘OK Boomer!’ and ‘Poor Snowflake’ attitudes. If you’re mentoring a Gen Zer, or someone in your team is, get some relevant training; mentoring effectiveness doubles when mentors have been trained.³

• Address communication skills Growing up as digital natives and completely comfortable with online relationships, Gen Zers, like graduates of most generations, may initially need help with the difficult discussions about injury, illness, and finances that happen in the exam room or on a farm call.⁶
• Develop an internal program Within your practice, anyone can be a mentor, and anyone can need a mentor. Mentoring relationships can be short-lived, or last for years. All you need is one person who wants to improve in a specific skill, whether medical, interpersonal, or even business-related, and another person who has that skill and is willing and able to teach it. Your program doesn’t have to be complicated; just three simple keys will help you build a successful in-house mentoring program.
• Get outside support Follow the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) mentoring guidelines for agreements, topics, and the mechanics of building a mentoring program.⁸ Explore the opportunities on MentorVet Connect, which has special programs for new veterinary graduates and for staff members. They even offer a certification program for veterinary mentorship.⁹ Scholarships are available for up to 300 veterinary technicians to participate in the MentorVet Tech program in 2025.¹⁰

Mentoring Millennials and Gen Z: A mutual investment

Mentorship is a life-long practice in veterinary medicine, and Millennials and Gen Zers seem to sense this intuitively. Meet their expectations and you will find them to be loyal, passionate team members, the kind you want in your veterinary practice.⁶ They value security and stability and will change jobs to get it. ⁶ Provide that sense of solidity and they will reward you by staying on board. The benefits are significant, and the only cost for an internal program is your time and attention.

References

1. Merck Animal Health. ‘Improving Wellbeing and Mental Health.’ 2023. Accessed 21 October 2024. https://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/offload-downloads/2023-vet-wellbeing-presentation.
2. Brakke Consulting and Merck Animal Health. ‘Learnings from the Merck Animal Health 2023 Veterinary Team Wellbeing Study.’ https://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/offload-downloads/2023-vet-team-wellbeing-presentation.
3. Mentorink website. ‘Mentoring Statistics 2025: Tomorrow’s blueprint.’ Updated 24 February 2025. Accessed 29 August 2025. https://www.mentorink.com/blog/mentoring-statistics/
4. Li, C., Veinot, P., Mylopoulos, M., Leung, F.H., Law, M. ‘The new mentee: Exploring Gen Z women medical students’ mentorship needs and experiences.’ (2024) The Clinical Teacher3 (2024): e13697.
5. Reinhard, A. R., Hains, K.D., Hains, B.J. Strand, E.B. ‘Are they ready? Trials, tribulations, and professional skills vital for new veterinary graduate success.’ (2021) Frontiers in veterinary science8: 785844.
6. Borowska, M. ‘Generation Z Demand for Mentoring Support.’ (2022) Human Resource Management/Zarzadzanie Zasobami Ludzkimi6.
7. Quicksall, M.S. ‘Inclusive mentorship for the next generation of veterinary professionals.’ (2024) Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice6: 869-880.
8. Tait J., Carpenter T., Davidson, S., Kendall, T., Lakoski, J., Neff, J., Williams, F., Worth, A. ‘The American Animal Hospital Association Mentoring Guidelines.’ Published 27 June 2023. Accessed 4 June 2025. Available online: https://www.aaha.org/resources/2023-aaha-mentoring-guidelines/.
9. MentorVet website. Redefining mentorship to promote veterinary wellbeing. Accessed 15 July 2025. https://www.mentorvet.net/.
10. ‘Mentoring Scholarships available for veterinary technicians.’ AVMA@work blog. Published 6 November 2024. Accessed 26 August 2025. https://www.avma.org/blog/mentoring-scholarships-available-veterinary-technicians.