Hiring the most skilled and qualified staff members to work for Little Friends Pet Sitting is non-negotiable. Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Service providers are either ‘solo,’ meaning they only provide services to their clients or use a team of pet sitters and dog walkers. Little Friends has a fantastic team that is put together by a robust recruiting and hiring program and strict criteria to vet potential staff members. Each candidate must fit ALL of our criteria to join our professional team.
In this blog, we will go over our specific recruitment criteria and hiring strategies. We want all of our clients to feel comfortable knowing that we have top-tier staff looking after their pets!
The Benefits of A Team Approach
Working as a team of pet sitters and dog walkers offers numerous benefits for both the service providers and the clients. Team collaboration ensures that there is always someone available to meet the clients’ needs, providing flexibility and reliability, especially during busy periods or in emergencies. It also allows for a diverse range of skills and expertise to be pooled together, enhancing the overall quality of care provided to the pets. Team members can share responsibilities and support each other, reducing burnout and improving job satisfaction. Additionally, a team approach enables the development of consistent procedures and standards, ensuring that all clients receive the same high level of service. For clients, this means peace of mind, knowing that their pets are being looked after by a well-coordinated, professional, and dedicated team.
Our Recruiting, Hiring and Onboarding Process
At Little Friends Pet Sitting, we’re committed to finding the best talent efficiently. We use a variety of resources, including the recruiting project management application Breezy, to advertise on multiple online recruiting sites. We also highly value referrals from our clients and staff, and we even have a referral reward program in place for when a qualified candidate works out for us. This streamlined process ensures that we can quickly identify and onboard the right candidates, making it an exciting opportunity for potential job seekers.
Breezy also posts our job applications on Glassdoor, Google Jobs, WayUp, JobRapido, and ZipRecruiter.
The online recruiting platforms send the candidate to Breezy, where they may submit their resume and cover letter, complete a form with “knock out” questions, and complete an application. The qualifications for the job are located on this site.
The Recruiting and Hiring Program
The next step in the recruiting process is a 45-minute online interview with our Hiring Manager. If we decide to offer the candidate a position, we contact three of their references. If there are no issues and they are given rave reviews, we move forward in offering the candidate the job.
Once the candidate accepts the job, they are asked to submit a background check result through a company called Acutrac. If they pass the background check, we contact them to let them know they passed and discuss a date to attend the extensive online training where we go over the job in more detail.
We cover what is expected of an exceptional pet sitter or dog walker, how to use our software to accept visits, communicate with clients and management, submit reporting to the client after each visit, and track their calendar for upcoming visits.
The new team member is then onboarded into our administrative processes, which include reviewing availability for pet sitting and dog walking, payroll, and training on how to use our Time to Pet Software.
Our management staff then monitors Time to Pet to review staff calendars, visit schedules, visit start and stop timeframes, messages sent to clients, and report cards sent to clients so that immediate support can be provided for the staff if there are any issues. Where there are opportunities for ‘just in time’ training and feedback, our management is on point to quickly provide that feedback.
In addition, we publish a monthly newsletter with articles on our processes, our software, and specialized pet care training information. This newsletter allows us to continue educating our current staff, ensuring they are always learning and growing as pet care professionals. Our monthly newsletter also includes reminders about key processes and also tips on pet care while they are performing their duties.
At Little Friends Pet Sitting, we believe in going above and beyond to ensure all of our employees are provided with the best possible knowledge of the latest pet care practices to ensure our clients’ pets receive the best care. Our extensive recruiting and hiring program plus the onboarding process leaves little room for error when selecting the right candidates for our pet-sitting and dog-walking roles.
Interested in getting started with a career in the pet care industry in Charlotte, North Carolina? Join our team by filling out the online application, and our hiring manager will review your information and get back to you as soon as possible!
