Pet Welfare Assistant

**Contract: Permanent, full time and part time (2 days)**

**Salary: £23,806 per annum (pro rata for part time)**

**Location: Hertfordshire, SG4 8EU**

**Closing date: Sunday 19 November 2023**

**Interview date: week commencing 27 November 2023**
- We’re recruiting a
- **Pet Welfare Assistant **for offsite animal care, for our Rehoming & Fostering team in Hertfordshire- We’ve just launched a new and exciting national Rehoming & Fostering team structure to support our aim of ensuring every pet enjoys a healthy life in a happy home. You’ll be joining a team who strive to be the best versions of themselves, so that they can do the best for the pets who need our help.More about the role
- Our beautiful rehoming centre in Kimpton originally opened in the 1940s and has facilities for dogs, cats and small pets. Our newly refurbished facilities include 20 kennels, five puppy pens and 29 cat pens, which includes a mother and kitten unit. We also have indoor rabbit space and rooms for small pets.- As a Pet Welfare Assistant - Offsite, you will be responsible for expertly managing a specific number of pet cases within the offsite pet care service, these can be rehoming pets in foster or Home Direct service or pets in temporary crisis care.- You will be ensuring welfare standards are met and that rehabilitation plans are followed and supported for pets in foster homes. As we want to help as many pets as possible, this role will be responsible for ensuring the assessment of pets preparing for a new home in offsite services is completed in the quickest amount of time.- For many, the Centre will be the ‘public face’ of Blue Cross so you will need to ensure that good customer service is at the heart of every interaction. At Blue Cross we are ambitious, and the work carried out by our centres is key in achieving our strategy and ensuring that ultimately, we help more pets and people.
- At our Hertfordshire rehoming centre, we provide onsite accommodation for pets in our care 24/7. Overnight shifts are usually undertaken by team members who live on site. Occasionally, you will be expected to carry out night checks or stay in on site accommodation overnight when the resident team members are either not working or away for a period of time. These duties are organised on a local rota and shared between all members of the team.About you
- You will be intuitive with pets, empathetic and welfare focused having worked in a similar animal related environment. You will also be used to assessing the needs of a pet, alert to the behavioural signs and have a basic knowledge of the use of medication e.g., hibiscrub, flea and tick treatments, diabetes management. In addition, you will have a fundamental understanding that the best welfare intervention for a pet is to find a new home and leave on site pet accommodation as quickly as possible.
- You will be self-motivated, forward thinking with a collaborative and creative approach to your work, which will ensure to bring your best pragmatic ideas for the care of the pets to ensure the best outcome is achieved. In addition, you will be able to quickly assimilate information, be competent at accurately recording information while also conducting conversations with clients and stakeholders. You will be an excellent communicator, approachable with strong interpersonal skills.
- You will know what it is like to work in an emotionally charged environment and have excellent ‘bounce back ability’ and resilience. In addition, you will be emotionally intelligent, showing empathy and knowing how to support clients and colleagues.**Knowledge, skills, and experience**
- Experience of having previously worked or volunteered with domestic animals or in an animal welfare environment.
- Hands on experience of assessing domestic pets with a basic knowledge of animal behaviour and the use of basic medication.
- Excellent listening and questioning skills.
- Good experience of recording information and being able to accurately convey this when communicating with others.
- Previous experience in working in a customer focused environment and used to achieving a high level of customer satisfaction.
- Good organisational and administration skills to include computerised systems.
- A full driving licence.
- I
- **t would be great (but not essential) if you also had**:

- Qualification or similar experience in animal behaviour or animal training.
- Experience of cash handling.
- Experience of working to strict health and safety procedures.
- Understanding of safeguarding issues.
- Want to know more detail? Great We have attached the job description which hopefully gives you everything you need.**How to apply**
- **Sunday 19 November 2023.**
- We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive an overwhelming response.Blue Cross benefits
- Our people are the most important part of delivering our purpose. If it were not for their amazing efforts and commitment, we would not be able t