Pet Waggin’ is so proud of the community that we live in and the community that we work together to build every day. That includes our amazing clients, both two and four-legged! Since the Long Beach community is at our core, Pet Waggin’s hiring and staff training is one of our biggest and proudest investments because, without a great team, we wouldn’t be serving our community the way they deserve.
We do things a little differently around these parts.
You see, we know it’s worth the time to train the right people to join our family and serve your furry family members. And, as part of our Pet Waggin’ community, we invite you to take a peek behind the curtain to see our process on hiring and training the best pet sitters and dog walkers in Long Beach!!
Employees vs. Contractors
One of the main reasons we chose to hire employees instead of contractors is because it allows us to set up a team-based system, always ensuring we have someone on call with prior knowledge of your pet, just in case. Find out more about your secondary pet sitter, our pet care team philosophy, and our team based structure here.
Hiring
We have an extensive hiring process to make sure that we’re hiring the right person to join the team! There are a whopping 5 steps to our hiring process:
Phone Interview: We do an initial phone interview to determine a Pet Waggin’ cultural fit, commitment level, and experience level. This will let us know whether or not we can move forward.
In-Person Interview: If it seems like the candidate will be a good fit, we’ll bring her into the office to meet face-to-face and discuss some more scenario-based interview questions. We want to make sure that the potential new employee knows how to handle herself in the many situations that can arise in the pet care industry. We also explain our process and let her also determine if we’re a good fit for her!
Field Interview: Next, we match the candidate up with one of our seasoned pet sitters and send her out on a field interview. This gives her an opportunity to see our processes in action and allows our seasoned pet sitter to see how this potential employee would react on a typical visit.
Reference Checks: We do personal and professional reference checks on all potential employees. We want to hear it from others that this candidate would be a good fit for the Pet Waggin’ family!
Background Check: It is absolutely imperative that a background check is run. We know you trust us to be in your home while you’re away and take wonderful care of your pets. We use Acutraq as our background screening company for every single person that joins our team.
Onboarding
Once we’ve made an offer, it’s time to start training! We believe in investing in our team and, as such, we spend a lot of time making sure that our new team members are onboarded correctly! We have two main binders: an Employee Policies Manual and an Employee Field-Training Handbook that are both about 50 pages long. New employees are given time to study each of these during their 3 in-office orientations. They’ll then be quizzed on the training guide before hitting the road to make sure they know their stuff!
Shadow Training
After they pass their quiz, it’s off to train! For two weeks, the new employee will shadow our seasoned pet sitters on all dog walks and pet sitting appointments. During this time, they’re able to take notes, ask questions, and get to know the team and clients.
Trainer Ride Alongs
Our on-staff trainer will also do ride alongs with our new employees before we allow them to go out on their own. The purpose for this is to ensure our whole team is kept up to date on the proper safety and training techniques and ways to maintain good behavior in our most excitable clients!
Checking it Twice
We make sure all of our pet sitters carry along our 20-item pet sitter checklist. These items include extra things such as turning on the lights, bringing in the mail, etc. These checklists are a great way to make sure nothing is missed!
We know that you have your choice in dog walkers and pet sitters and we’re so honored when a new member chooses to join the Pet Waggin’ family! We’re so proud of the team we have. To meet the team and read a little more about what their favorite part about working with great pets like yours or what their number one pet care tip is, click here!
To schedule your FREE First Impressions Visit with one of our team members, click here! And, if you just want to chat or ask some general questions, we’re here for you! Just head on over to our Contact Page and select the best method of communication for you. It’s a Waggin’ good time with us and we can’t wait to meet you!