Professional Dog Walker/Pack Carer (Eastern Subs & Inner-West Sydney)

What makes a job the absolutely best job in the world - for you?

• Spending your day loving, patting, praising and caring for dogs?
• Thrive for the outdoors and getting plenty of exercise?
• Caring for your ‘clients’ like they’re members of your own family?
• Being known as one of the best ‘dog whisperers’ in all the land?
• Building strong customer and team relationships?
• And being well rewarded for it?

Yeah? Aroo – do we have something for you!...

Pawsome Pet Services™ is Sydney’s preferred boutique premier pet service provider. We create the best pet care experiences for busy Australian families. We genuinely love and care for our client’s pets like family. You’ll be working with the best in the industry, having been nominated as a finalist in the Australian Small Business Champion Awards!

We take the time to understand the needs of both clients and pets. Our success and strong reputation has been built from being subject matter experts in the field of pet care and by offering exceptional customer service and care to ensure a safe and happy environment for our clients’ pets; giving them the exercise, love and companionship they require to live long, healthy and happy lives.

What’s the gig?

We are looking for a highly experienced dog walker to join our small, friendly team of Pawsome Ambassadors/Dog Walkers/Pet Carers.  This is a part-time role where you will be providing dog walking/cat visits and customer services in either Sydney's Eastern Suburbs or Inner West suburbs (depending on the roster), for approx 15-20 hours a week initially between Mon-Fri mornings (with extra hours on offer as we continue to grow and occasional pet sitting/dog boarding offered outside business hours if you want it). You will need to be available from 8:30am to mid-day weekdays. You’ll be providing Professional Dog walking, and pet care services to our boutique clients; It’ll see you delivering exceptional customer service and embracing our core brand and team values:

• trust,
• empathy,
• passion,
• unflappable,
• innovation,
• accountability and
• own change.

You will represent the Pawsome brand professionally and are able to work autonomously as well as with the team servicing Inner West and Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, NSW.

 A typical day/week?…

• Providing group and individual dog walking and field daycare services; this includes driving to pick up and drop off dogs (securing dogs safely in your vehicle and not being easily distracted by their behaviour or noise whilst driving). You will be interacting (play), exercising and socialising groups of no more than 4 dogs at a time, at various dog friendly parks and beaches. 
• Ensuring walks are fun and interesting and always ensuring safe handling and care of the dogs and people (public) at all times.
• Taking high quality Pawsome photos and videos ‘on the job’ and provide feedback and updates to clients after each service on their pets’ adventures.
• Facilitate and attend client consultations.
• Attend home pet visits and perform duties as required for this service
• Freely go the extra mile and bring a can-do attitude to the role, our clients and their pet(s).
• Managing your daily schedule and a high level of customer service and client communications around pick up and drop off ETA's. 
• Participate at Pawsome events and activities outside normal business hours on the occasion.

Sounds pretty good right?

 What you need to be a Pawsome wolf pack leader…

• We envisage you have been performing in a similar role and/or have a desire to build your career as a subject matter expert in the field of Professional Dog handling, pet care and/or dog behaviour training.
• You will have an excellent understanding of dog behaviour, handling and language, with experience managing controlled and safe group dog walks from miniature to large size dogs breeds.
• You have dog safety escalation prevention and handling skills.
• Enthusiastic and passionate about the welfare of dogs, cats and pets big or small – this is what drives you to be recognised as one of the best in the industry.
• You’re an excellent time manager and adaptable to change as no day is ever the same (i.e. changes to client schedules, the unpredictability of dogs, weather, traffic and road conditions).
• You’re a fast learner, self-starter, responsible, reliable, have initiative and flexibility.
• You're respectful, able to effectively articulate yourself and positively influence others through your natural leadership practices.
• A friendly and positive individual, with a penchant for building solid and trustworthy relationships.
• You thrive in exceeding your individual and group sales revenue goals and contributing to overall business growth strategies.
• Are adaptable, able to act out of confidence and make quick decisions, show foresight and exhibit strong initiative and common sense.
• You operate with a high level of emotional intelligence and possess exceptional interpersonal and organisational skills.
• You enjoy fitness and have the mental and physical stamina and resilience to deal with the challenge of balancing all responsibilities of this role and can manage high pressure situations with tenacity and control.
• You are proactive, resourceful, a strategic thinker and solution-orientated – you are able to maintain control and composure during stressful situations.
• Demonstrate professionalism and a high level of customer service and communication when dealing with clients and staff.
• You enjoy driving, are a confident and safe driver (capable of driving a caddy van), and understanding you have precious cargo on board so you will need to drive safely to prevent potential dog car sickness or injury. You will win in this role if you are able to tolerate busy Sydney traffic, not be easily distracted by dog noises in the back and enjoy the challenge of finding the shortest path between point A and B.
• Natural desire to shine and bring your best to everything you do.
• Communicate any concerns or noticed changes in pet behaviour, general health, training needs and manage any incidents with clients and staff per Pawsome procedures.
• Administer animal first aid and medication per client instructions.
• Have the confidence to comfortably initiate conversation with dog owners on location to develop new business opportunities and raise brand awareness – as you are genuinely passionate and knowledgeable about animal welfare, this will be second nature to you.
• Ensure all daily administrative duties are up to date and accurate i.e. our service scheduling app and roster/time management systems.
• Abide by and follow all Pawsome Policies, processes and procedures at all times.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Successful applicant – ideal competencies, knowledge and experience:

• Proven work experience as a Professional Dog Walker/Pet Carer (minimum 6 months), or currently studying in a related field is highly sought after.
• 9-5 is not for you – you thrive for the outdoors, flexibility, variety in your day to day and the unexpected.
• You can commit to the hours of 8:30am to mid-day weekdays (with some flexibility to adjust to client services) and able to commit to the role for a minimum of 12 months or longer.
• A competent level of MS office tools (i.e. Excel, Word) applications.
• A competent level with smartphone technology.
• Advanced organisational, time-management and decision-making skills.
• A recent qualification in administering animal first aid or medication is highly desirable.
• Current qualification in or are studying Animal Companion, Dog Behaviour Training, Vet Sciences or related study would be advantageous. 
• You have local knowledge of Inner West and/or Eastern Suburbs Sydney as it is essential to be familiar with the area(s) you are servicing and reduce driving time and be willing to travel accordingly to meet our clients’ needs.
• A confident driver and hold a valid NSW drivers licence
• Can work autonomously and trusted to carry out services unsupervised.
• You must be able to provide us with a recent National Police Check certificate upon request.

Keen?

A competitive package and perks is on offer to the successful candidate. 

You will also be supplied with everything needed for a safe and happy work environment, which includes use of one of our 2021/22 Company VW Caddy Vans to complete services in. It could be the most rewarding decision you've made in ages!

If all of the above has got you wanting to chase a stick and you're confident that you're just the wolf pack leader we are looking for - please apply here and explain in a cover letter why you would be the pawfect candidate - and please include your residential Post Code.  

Shortlisted candidates must be willing to undergo a voluntary 2-3 hour field evaluation to allow us to assess your suitability for the role.

Pawsome Pet Services™ is an Equal Opportunity Employer and strongly encourages all suitably skilled persons to apply for this role. We are also a registered Covid Safe business.