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Roo is the leading online veterinary relief services platform. We connect quality Veterinarians, Veterinary Technicians, and Assistants in search of freelance work with exceptional animal hospitals looking to fill short-term personnel needs.
What is relief work?
Beyond our platform, Roo aims to empower a community of smart, trustworthy, agile, and resilient veterinary professionals who value freedom, flexibility, and work-life balance.
Roo helps veterinary technicians and assistants find great hospitals to work at, matching skilled techs and assistants with relief shifts in need of coverage. As a vet tech or veterinary assistant with Roo, you start by creating a profile, which only takes a few minutes. Then, once you're approved, you can conveniently browse available relief shifts in your area and select shifts when and where you want to work. After working a shift, rate your experience to let other relief techs know how it went. You'll then get paid within two business days.
Roo aims to provide full transparency of all our hospitals to ensure the best possible matching and make every shift a success. Relief techs and hospitals have profiles that provide key information and user-submitted ratings. Our website and app enable you to search hospital shift opportunities by location/distance, and skill sets required. We also provide dynamic pricing, compensating you accordingly for your market and the type of work performed.
It's easy, quick, and convenient. Your time is valuable, and Roo is here to give you your time back.
A relief veterinary technician (sometimes called a locum tenens technician) is a freelance contract professional who fills in for technicians when they're sick, vacationing, or out on leave — like a substitute teacher for the animal healthcare industry. Veterinary relief professionals ensure animal hospitals can continue to remain productive and service the same number of pets and clients while allowing their full-time staff to take time off, aiding their work-life balance as well. Sometimes, during busy periods, animal hospitals may employ relief techs to help lighten the load on their staff, reducing burnout.
Traditionally, relief workers have had to manage their own hospital relationships, accounting, taxes, travel, and insurance, but Roo handles almost all of this for our technicians and assistants, making relief work easier and more accessible for all.
Roo is a great way to earn more doing what you do best by picking up additional technician shifts when it fits your schedule. Our website and app provide a variety of hospital relief shift opportunities, allowing you to work where you want, when you want.
Additionally, the nature of relief work allows you to explore new clinics and specialties without committing long-term for a unique learning experience, to keep your skills sharp, or just to break out of your routine. If you end up finding a hospital you love, Roo can help you get full-time placement.
Ultimately, we aim to empower technicians so you have a better work schedule, a community full of other professionals to learn from and network with, and other support vehicles that will improve your quality of life.
Yes! Even if you're employed full-time, you can always pick up relief shifts to earn extra money. Relief work is also a great way to try out other hospitals to see if they're a better fit and learn from other doctors. Or, you could become a travel tech, practicing on the road and picking up relief shifts wherever Roo is available.
You never know what you'll find, and Roo is free to join with no membership fees and no penalties for inactivity so you have nothing to lose!
Signing up to become a Roo relief veterinary technician or assistant is as easy as clicking this link and creating a profile. Join now and start finding relief vet jobs near you!
*Technicians must have at least 5 years experience to join.
Due to the specific skill sets that our hospitals demand, Techs must have at least 5 years of experience to join Roo. In every state besides California, Techs must be proficient in the following skills:
Technicians in California need to be registered and proficient in the following additional skills:
If you’re unsure if you’re qualified to join Roo, just ask! Email us at hello@roo.vet.
Roo currently provides veterinary relief services in these states and metro areas, and we are constantly expanding. Don't see your area in our coverage? Let us know we should bring Roo to your area by signing up.
Roo is completely free for technicians and veterinary assistants. There's absolutely no cost to join, and there are no monthly fees. You'll only make money with Roo.
Once you have created a profile, our Roo Tech Coordinators will be in touch with you to arrange a virtual onboarding call. After this meeting, you should be approved within 24 hours. If you don't hear from us, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team. Once your profile is approved, you can begin booking relief shifts right away.
Roo aims to ensure quality professionals are on our platform. We want to hear from you before we approve your profile. If licenses/registrations are required to practice in your state, we'll verify those during this call.
Veterinary technicians are all awesome, but many technicians have different skill sets and technical ability. Roo's Tech Tiers help us highlight what skills you have to the hospitals we work with.
We use a 1 - 4 system with a Tier 1 Tech including veterinary assistants and newer technicians while Tier 4 Techs are Specialty/ER technicians with highly-specialized skill sets and experience. During your orientation process, we'll place you in the tier that's right for you, and you can advance to the next tier if you acquire the skills and experience required.
Check out this article to learn more about our Tech Tiers and how you can level up and earn more!
We’ve set up Roo so that you can be paid out fast! You can input your bank account information when you set up your profile, and all payments will be direct deposited into this account.
Once you complete a relief shift and rate the hospital, we trigger your payment to be processed in as little as 2 business days (NOTE: How long your payment takes to make its way into your account depends on your bank and their processing times).
The compensation for each Roo shift is determined by our dynamic pricing model, which accounts for location, technician tier, type of work performed, demand/urgency, and other factors. The total amount each shift pays is displayed when browsing and selecting shifts, so payment will always be transparent when booking shifts.
An average veterinary technician salary is hard to estimate as this can vary substantially between regions. At Roo, we pride ourselves on our transparency, and therefore, we do not want to provide any information that could be misleading or subject to change.
Roo offers a number of ways for you to earn even more, including through our promoted Boosted Shifts, which provide higher pay in exchange for high-demand shifts or shifts that need to be filled urgently.
We also offer various promotional rewards to relief techs who are active on our platform. Details for specific promotions and other offers will be emailed to you, so be sure to subscribe to our Roo email notifications to be eligible. Progress towards any promotions you're participating in will be automatically tracked in your Roo app.
At Roo, our goal is to make relief work easy for technicians, and that includes providing significant help with your taxes as an independent contractor. Our article on how to file taxes as a relief tech is a great place to start.
Roo's platform automatically keeps track of your hours and earnings to help you file your taxes each year. When you first sign up, our tax center will automatically issue a W-9. If your earnings add up to over $600 in a single year, Roo will email you a single 1099 form that covers all relief income you earned through our platform for the calendar year. We even track your mileage for you, which can be applied as a tax write-off.
Additionally, we have a partnership with Fit Money CPA to support you with any tax needs that go beyond our expertise.
We’ve gone to great lengths to help you find exactly what you’re looking for cheetah-fast in the nation’s largest relief network! When you first log in to our website or mobile app, you'll land on our map search page. You can simply click "Shifts" to return to this screen at any time.
Enter your address, city, or zip code to find something nearby. You can also use the date filters to select a range of dates or set specific dates when you’re available. There are so many more filters to choose from to help you find that Goldilocks shift that’s “just right.”
Once you see a shift that looks like a match, smash that "Request” button. This lets the hospital know you're interested. They'll have up to 72 hours to “Confirm” your shift request, which makes it official. We’ll send you an email to let you know.
You can request up to 3 shifts on the same date to increase your odds of getting confirmed. The first hospital to say yes wins, and we’ll automatically remove any overlapping requests to ensure you don’t get double booked.
Then, all that’s left is to do what you do best: help pets and earn more!
No, Roo does not have any monthly requirements or minimum number of shifts/hours you need to pick up to stay active. Freedom and flexibility are our core values, and you are free to build your schedule however you like. Complete just one shift or as many as you want — it’s up to you! With Roo, you define your own work-life balance.
Roo has no penalties of any kind for inactivity or taking time off. In fact, we encourage it. Work as much or as little as you like. Take a vacation or just some personal time, enjoy a long parental leave if you're welcoming a new child into the world, or simply take a break from it all. Whenever you're ready to return, Roo will be right here waiting for you.
You can now cancel shifts quickly and easily using the Roo platform, and we’ll notify the hospital. To cancel a shift, please find the shift you’d like to cancel in the Roo mobile app or online platform and use the “cancel shift” link.
Keep in mind, canceling can leave the hospital without a vet for the day, which can create problems for the hospital and hurt client relationships. Therefore, we limit the number of cancellations allowed over a 30-day period or within 4 days of an upcoming shift.
If something comes up and you need to cancel a shift that's within 4 days, please reach out to customer support for help.
You can use your Roo Inbox in the Roo app or online platform to send messages to hospitals ahead of confirmed shifts. This is a great way to ask any questions like what's their dress code, where to park, and more.
Prior to your shift, the hospital may contact you at least 24 hours in advance regarding any details you should know.
You're welcome to contact Roo at any time by email at hello@roo.vet, or you can call us at 1-833-Roo-Vets. You can also use this link to reach out to our amazing Customer Support team.
You can also use the Roo Chat feature in our app to contact us directly as well. We look forward to speaking with you.