Skills
Veterinary Technician Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in veterinary technicians, and how to build and show them.
Veterinary Technicians need technical skills such as animal restraint, anesthesia monitoring, and radiography, plus people skills like compassion and calm under pressure. They also use tools such as Anesthesia machines and monitors and Digital radiography.
Technical (hard) skills
- Animal restraint
- Anesthesia monitoring
- Radiography
- Lab testing
- Venipuncture and catheters
- Dental prophylaxis
People (soft) skills
- Compassion
- Calm under pressure
- Teamwork
- Client communication
Tools, equipment and technology
- Anesthesia machines and monitors
- Digital radiography
- In-house lab analyzers
- Dental equipment
- Microscopes
- Practice management software
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how veterinary technicians put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Animal restraint” and “Anesthesia monitoring.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “compassion,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Veterinary Technician National Exam (VTNE) near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our veterinary technician glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Veterinary Technician training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.