1 - This is a VERY lengthy & thorough application with 68 questions and for most people it takes about 20 minutes to complete. We are looking for serious animal lovers, who take their jobs as a priority. We have designed these questions to help you understand our company, what is expected and to give us some insight as to who you are. Some questions have MULTIPLE questions within them, make sure to answer ALL questions in each answer box. This is a VERY different type of position, it is also VERY rewarding and can be fun. Are you serious about working with us? Yes or No, Please explain -
2 - If you are hired, will you commit to working a minimum of 6 months with us? Of course, We hope you will stay for years like most of our sitters. We must have consistency for our clients and pets. If you are planning on moving, expecting any major life change that will require not working with us for any reason, or you are not willing to commit a minimum of 6 months with us for any reason, please do NOT apply. It is very hard on the animals.
3 - What is your personal email address? Not a company or school email. If your personal email is different then the one above, Please change your email above as well.
4 - Answer BOTH questions - 1. why do you think this position is a good fit for you? 2. What questions or concerns do you have about this position?
5 - Answer ALL 3 Questions - 1. Where did you hear about our company? 2. Where did you hear about this job opening? 3. Are you 21 or older?
6 - Are you looking for a position that is Full time, Part Time, Seasonal, only nights, only weekends, etc ?
7 - All of our Dog Walker/Pet Sitter positions are PART TIME/AS NEEDED. This means that you are required to work as we need you. You could have NOTHING on your schedule for weeks, then you could have 3-4 pet care visits in the morning, mid day and pm for the next few weeks (or if you have another FT job, then am/pm visits). That is the nature of the business. We can not guarantee any visits and we can not guarantee that you will not be crazy on some weeks. Do you still want to apply?
7a - We do not hire seasonal workers, nor only weekend workers, nor only certain days, nor only mornings, nor only nights. Why? Clients and pets get used to people and to only have someone for a few months has not worked for us in the past. As for only weekend, mornings or nights – it is very rare that someone will only schedule for a weekend, it will more likely be starting on Thursday and ending on Saturday or starting Friday and ending Monday. If a client goes away for 14 days and wants one visit in am and one visit pm each day, you will be responsible for am and pm for the entire 14 days. We have 3 positions that we hire for and 4 basic time frames for visits – AM, Mid Day, Supper & PM. A visit can be 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes. If you have a Full time DAY job, then choose 1 (see below). If you work Nights, choose 2 (see below). If you are flexible with any time (we LOVE you), choose 3 (see below). 3 will also have the most opportunities to make money. To join our TEAM, You must be okay all time periods in each position of the following – 1 - AM-Supper-PM 2 – Mids 3 - ALL. What times are you applying for, 1, 2, or 3 for each day?
8 - Are you currently employed? If yes, company name, location, position?
9 - For your current job, what are your hours? – earliest time you go in and latest time you leave. If unemployed, write unemployed
10 - For your current job, are you planning on leaving? What is your expected leave date? If unemployed, write unemployed
11 - If you are NOT currently employed AND looking for a full or part time job in ADDITION to working with us, will you still want to do pet sitting visits in the early morning, mid, supper and at night around another job? If not, please do NOT apply.
12 - If you DO have another Full or Part time job, and your hours are 8am to 5pm (or whatever your hours are), you may have a few visits, am & pm, will you be okay doing pet care visits as early as 5am and as late as 8pm? Also keep in mind, that the animals, being a living being, must come first, so if you are running late, the animals MUST be done no matter what.
13 - For those NOT currently working Full or Part time jobs, and you are hired with us for the above 1, 2, or 3, time frames - A requirement for this position is that you are FLEXIBLE for covering any pet care visits that may go onto your schedule. This could be am, mid day, supper or PM visits. So, as you are looking for a job in addition to ours, make sure to look for hours that do not interfere with what you are hired for with us. Do you agree with this?
14 - We are looking for TEAM players. A TEAM player is defined as someone who cares more about helping the group or team to succeed rather than about his/her individual success. In this case, we are all working toward a common goal, which is to give the best pet care possible to help our business succeed so we can all benefit. This means you will never leave any shift or pet care visit incomplete, or leave your co-workers covering for you without proper notice. We expect you to take your work responsibilities very seriously because animals depend on you. Do you agree with this?
15 - Do you LIVE in a city/town we service? You can see all of the cities we service, at the bottom of the home page of our website www.profpetsit.com .
16 - If you do NOT live in a city we service, do you live in a border town to the city we service?
17 - If the answer is NO to #15 & #16 questions, you could be driving more than pet sitting (keep in mind that if you are more than a 20 minute drive to the city/town you are applying for, you may be driving alot). Ideally, we like to have our sitters live in the areas they are servicing. That way, you are close to the pets you will care for, especially in bad weather like snow or last minute reservations. We do NOT pay for drive time or mileage. Are you okay with all of the above?
18 - For most people, your service area will be the city you live in (service area) and all bordering towns of that city. Since we do NOT pay drive time or mileage, we do like to keep you about 15 miles radius of your home. Are you okay with this?
19 - Many sitters, do not care about driving, how far are you willing to go? The more areas you are willing to cover, the busier you could be. List the cities you are willing to cover.
20 - All pet sitters help each other in emergencies, illness, vacations, etc. Which may be out of your service area. Are you okay with helping co-workers, keeping in mind, you may also need their help in an emergency or vacation?
21 - After you are hired, and finish your shadows, you may or may not get your first client right away. It may be weeks before something pops on your schedule. This is NORMAL for the pet sitting industry. We will start you slow. Once you have completed a few reservations, and we see you can handle this very unique job, you will get busier, as clients make new reservations. How do you feel about this?
22 - We are an extremely confidential non-discriminatory business and have many high profile clients. As an employee, no information, which includes but is not limited to, names, addresses, life style, or any information pertaining to our clientele or our employees or any information about our business, will EVER be given out to anyone intentionally or unintentionally. Are you comfortable with this policy?
23 - Are you comfortable taking direction from others? Explain
24 - Are you willing to learn new procedures?
25 - Are you good at following Policy and Procedures?
26 - Our policy and procedures were created from 3 decades of experience. They are in place for the protection of the pets in our care, our employees, clients and business. When someone does not follow just one of our policies/procedures, it acts as a domino effect and more than one thing ends up going wrong. When this happens, we have had employees get hurt, pets in our care get hurt or a client stop using our service and may or may not leave a bad review. This results in loss of business and hurts us all. Are you willing to follow all of our policy and procedures.
27 - In order to learn and improve your work with us, you must be able to learn from your mistakes. How do you handle criticism?
28 - How would you handle a problem or conflict with a co-worker?
29 - What are your organizational skills like?
30 - What are your strengths and weaknesses?
31 - How do you handle fast paced work environments?
32 - Do you enjoy a schedule that may change every day?
33 - Duties can include but are not limited to – Setting and releasing alarm systems, handling all pets, walking dogs who may pull you, lifting dogs, scooping dog messes inside/outside, washing food and water dishes, giving fresh food daily, giving fresh water, scooping litterboxes, play time, giving medications, giving treats, writing reports, customer service, disinfecting, constant cleaning, and more. Do you feel capable of handling these duties?
34 - You may need to lift large bags of dog food/kitty litter or large dog, is this possible?
35 - Answer all questions - Have you ever done any kind of dog walking/pet sitting in a clients home and/or boarding/daycare in your home before? Yes or No. If yes please explain – was this for friends, for a company (company name, location, website), how long did you do it for? What were your duties? Were you an employee or Independent Contractor, what were you paid?
36 - Please list any and all allergies that may affect you working in this position?
37 - What was the date of your last Tetanus shot, (Tetanus shots are updated every 5-10 years)?
38 -Have you ever been bit by any animal? If yes, what kind of animal was it and when did this happen? What were the circumstances under which you were bit? Are you afraid of this type of animal today? Would you have a hard time caring for this type of pet? Explain
39 - We care for all types of pets, Are there any other types of pets that you may have a problem with?
40 – We are in the process of expanding our company to a facility, possibly opening sometime this year. We will be offering added services of grooming, training, daycare, boarding, and more. Also with pet sitting and dog walking we have overnights, where a sitter will stay in a clients home. Are any of these services something you would like to do? If yes, which ones?
41 - If you are at our new facility (hopefully opening this year) and your shift replacement is late, you will be required to stay until they arrive to take over. How do you feel about this?
42 - All of our positions, including Our Dog walking/pet sitting positions are EMPLOYEE positions, we do not hire ICS (Independent Contractors). With the exception of the Animal Medical/Veterinary and Equine fields, most animal related jobs start at minimum wage (7.25/hour) or Volunteer (0.00/hour) positions. If you have not worked in the professional pet care field and have gained good experience, wage will reflect experience. With this information, what are you looking for in an hourly wage for this employee position? Would you be happy with minimum wage (7.25)? 9/hour? 10/hour? MUST give an hourly wage (writing negotiable is not accepted).
43 - Keeping in mind that there may be weeks with nothing on your schedule, do you need to make a certain amount every week or is this supplemental?
44 - Are you agreeable to the following FIVE things - 1 - All employees will be subject to a Criminal & Driving Background Check. 2 - At time of hire, all employees will sign a Non-disclosure, Non-compete, Non-solicitation contract. This will be in effect from date of hire until 5 years after the date of termination. 3 - At time of hire, all employees will sign an employee contract which states that you will follow our company's handbook of policy and procedure. 4 - At time of hire, all employees will sign that ALL items given to you will be returned. 5 - All employees will be required to attend training sessions and regularly scheduled employee meetings. Do you agree to all of the above? If not agreeable, please explain why –
45 - Do you currently own pets? If yes, please give names, breeds and ages
46 - Have your pets been to the veterinarian in the past year and what vaccines have they had in the past year? Are all of your cats and dogs neutered (spayed or castrated)? Have you lost any pets to unexpected death? If yes, what happened?
47 - Tell us a little about what animal experience you have?
48 - Do you have any official training, certification, degree in any animal related areas? If yes, please list
49 - Have you ever been alone to supervise a group of dogs before? How many dogs in the group 3, 4, 5 or more? What did you like about it? Did you dislike anything? Did you have any problems?
50 - How would you handle a scuffle between two dogs?
51 - Have you ever broken up a dog fight before? If yes, how did you handle that?
52 - Do you have Veterinary Assistant or Technician experience?
53 - Many pets need medication. Have you ever given a dog/cat a pill?
54 - Do you know animal CPR?
55 - Do you have experience in clipping pet's toenails?
56 - Do you have grooming experience?
57 - Do you have any dog obedience or behavior training?
58 - Are you familiar with alternative medicine, massage, homeopathy, or holistic medicine for animals? If yes, please explain
59 - What other experience or skills do you have that you think may be a benefit to our future facility & Professional Pet Sitting Etc and why?
60 – Make sure to answer all questions here - Do you have reliable transportation (you must have access to a car at all times to pet sit, this position can not be done walking, biking or using a Taxi/Uber)? Is this vehicle owned by you? If no, who owns it? Do you have current liability insurance of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence on this vehicle (proof will be required for our insurance company)? How do you feel about driving in all types of weather including snow?
61 - In case of an emergency, you will need to transport a pet in your car to the veterinarian, etc? How do you feel about that?
62 - We understand that things happen and we try to be as flexible as possible. We are looking for VERY caring, conscientious, responsible people who, through thick and thin, will make sure the pets are taken care of. If something came up would you still be willing to fulfill all pet care duties? For example, You get a call from the nurse, your son gets sick at school and is resting in the nurse's station but you have pet care visits that need to be done. What would you do?
63 - Another thing that may happen is your car may break down or not start, will you have a back up plan to make sure the pets will be cared for?
64 - Due to the responsibility of caring for many amazing animals that are depending on YOU, we require a written notice of a minimum 4 weeks or more (or stay until a replacement is hired), if you can no longer continue in this position. Are you agreeable to this requirement?
65 - Again, because animals will be depending on YOU, we are looking for long term employees, are you willing to commit to working with us for a minimum of 6 months or better yet 12 months or longer? This is very important to our clients and pets.
66 – Have you completed the survey? If you missed the survey questions at the beginning of the application process, you can go back to find it and do the quick survey. If you can not find it, let me know you need me to send you a new link in an email.
67 – After we go over your application, if things look good, we will have our background company send you an authorization form to do a background check on you. This is a requirement for this position. Make sure to look for that email and give them the authorization. Are you okay with this?
68 - Have you listened to the Recording yet? If not, this is our employment information recording. It is 10 minutes long and will give you added information to see if this job is a fit for you and you for us. Here is the link for that. If not active, please copy and paste – http://www.profpetsit.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/7-Employment.wav (do not leave a voice message until you have done 68a -next question, references and background check)
68a – Almost done. We will send Two Emails - One for 3 references and One for Background Check from Accurate. Make sure to look for those. Once you have done the emails for references and background check, The last thing for you to do is to call our office at 888-8088 for your phone interview. If you have completed the application, did the survey and listened to the recording, filled references & background authorization , then the last step is to leave a voice message with your name, address, that you heard the employment information recording and a phone number where you can be reached any time between 9am-12pm, Monday - Friday. We will return your call in the order it was received. We can not call you until we receive references & authorization for background, which can take a few days, so make sure your references do it quickly.