What Kind of People are you Hiring?

If you’ve been a pet sitting business owner for any length of time and you’re not a solopreneur, you’ve encountered a variety of different pet sitting employee candidates. Some of them you’ve hired, some you’ve steered clear of. Some of the new hires have worked out great but some have been a disappointment.

The ones who have been a disappointment may have quit early on in their employment or they may lack the commitment to your business that you were hoping for in your sparkly new employee. Whatever the reason behind your disappointment with them, there is a way to avoid this post-hire remorse. It’s all about setting expectations, both your own and your job candidates. If you can answer these three questions you’ll be on your way to great hiring!

The first question to answer is what kind of candidates are out there?

I’m not talking about personal characteristics like punctuality, attention to detail, caregiving or customer service skills. These things are important and you should spend some time thinking about them but that’s a topic for another day.

I’m talking about your candidate’s role in your organization. Pet care candidates can be divided into 3 main buckets listed below with some pros and cons for each type of candidate.

#1 Hobby sitters – These are the people who want to take care of animals for the pure joy of it. They don’t need the money but they want to do something to stay busy and earning some extra income while they do it is an added bonus.

Pros:

They are likely terrific caregivers and care deeply about the pets they are in charge of. They will go out of their way to spend extra time with the pets and provide a service that goes above and beyond for your clients.

Cons:

They will likely check out when the going gets tough. Pet sitting is hard. Yes, we play with dogs and cats but we also spend a lot of time driving, dealing with challenging animals and humans and cleaning up messes. The hobby sitter didn’t sign up for hassles and may quit when they realize the job is harder than they thought.

#2 Part-time sitters – This is by far the largest bucket. These are the people who have another job that is likely their primary source of income. They are looking for a secondary job to supplement this primary income doing something that they feel would be fun and meaningful. If they don’t have another job they have a partner or spouse who provides the family’s primary income and they are looking to supplement that.

Pros:

They are more stable than the hobby sitter and will likely put up with more of the negative aspects of the job because, while they love animals, they are in the job for the money.

Cons:

Because this is not their primary source of income, they may be more likely to quit if something better comes along. The primary job provides stability and a steady paycheck so they feel freer to jump from one secondary job to another if they feel it’s a better offer.

#3 Career sitters – This is the smallest bucket. These are the people who do nothing but pet sitting. It’s their primary and sole source of income. The reason this is the smallest bucket is that it’s difficult to make this work.

Pros:

If you can provide them enough hours to make a living and a fair wage, they will have the best longevity. They will be much more likely to take the good, the bad and the ugly that comes with the job and persevere. They know they’re in it for the long haul and understand that the job will have its ups and downs.

Cons:

It’s often very difficult for pet sitting company owners to provide enough hours to these people to keep them. There’s inherent variability in the demand for pet sitting, especially for less established companies. Economic conditions and seasonal variability have a large impact on the number of clients and jobs. It’s difficult for a business owner to guarantee x number of hours per week to a sitter and it’s difficult for someone who depends on this income to manage this variability.

The second question to ask yourself is which type do you want to attract? 

It’s tempting to say I want only part-time sitters but think twice about this. Strong companies have a variety of different types of people. Some new, some senior, some fully dedicated, some only partially dedicated. Each type of person brings something different, and needed, to the table. You have different types of clients, it makes sense to have different types of sitters to best meet their needs.

The best answer to this question is some of each type of sitter. This may not be an equal 1/3, 1/3 and 1/3 but ideally, it’s a good idea to have all of them represented. You will need to take a look at your business and decide what works best for you. A very mature business for example may be able to support more career sitters in addition to hobby and part-time sitters. A new business may only be able to support hobby sitters.

And the third and final question is how do you attract the kind of sitters you want?

It’s not as simple as placing a generic job announcement and waiting for the ideal candidate to respond. Just like you’ve spent time defining and targeting your search for your ideal customer, you need to do the same in your hunt for the ideal sitter.

Hobby sitters – Remember that these folks are not in it for the money. They want to occupy their time and think pet sitting might be fun. They find joy in caregiving and want to give back. Retired people who’ve spent their careers in caregiving jobs such as nursing or childcare fit this bill. Target your job posts to these people and go where they hang out. Job targeting ideas: AARP offices, animal rescue charities, senior Facebook groups.

Part-time sitters – Remember these are the people who are in it for the money but not as a primary income source. They simply want to supplement their family’s income and do something interesting in the process. Veterinary technicians, moms and college students fit this bill. Job targeting ideas: college bulletin boards, veterinary offices, mom Facebook groups.

Career sitters – These are the serious folks who are looking for a company that they like and feel they can be with long term. They are true professional pet caregivers so look for them in the professional arenas. Job targeting ideas: LinkedIn, professional job boards like indeed.com or zip recruiter. 

And then once you do attract a potential candidate make sure that you are asking the right questions in the interview process. Questions like, “What are your long-term goals?” and “How much money do you need to make in this position?” will help ferret out which type of candidate they are.

Getting crystal clear on what type of candidate you want for your company will save a lot of heartache and expense down the road. Spend some time on answering these questions on the front end and you won’t regret it!

Another article you might like;

How to protect your business…From your employees

https://www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog/protect-your-business/

About Eliza

Eliza is the owner of two successful pet related businesses; Preferred Pet Partners, a pet sitting and dog walking company, and The Pet Business Coach, offering coaching and resources to aspiring or current pet related business entrepreneurs. She maintains two awesome blogs. One for pet parents https://preferredpetpartners.com/blog/ and one for pet business owners https://thepetbusinesscoach.dog/blog-page/.  Eliza also supports various animal rescue and shelter organizations. Eliza and her husband have a growing pet family. Visit her websites: www.preferredpetpartners.com or www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog.