Help your animals find a caring home.
If you love animals, you may want to consider working at an animal shelter. As an animal shelter manager, you will have many responsibilities. You may find yourself using many varied skills on a daily basis. You will also be expected to be extremely knowledgeable on a wide breadth of things like animal care, animal behavior and animal nutrition.
Animal Care
Animal shelters need to be properly cleaned and kept up at all times. A sanitary and orderly environment is best for animal care and employee health. As a manager, it will be your responsibility to ensure the daily operations and maintenance of your shelter are executed properly. You must be knowledgeable about different animals and their behaviors. This way you can immediately recognize any problem or abnormal activity that occurs. You will also be expected to have expertise in animal nutrition.
Adoption
One of the main goals of an animal shelter is to provide the animals with a safe and happy home. As the manager, it is your duty to ensure that interested parties will make suitable caregivers. When guests arrive you will provide them with a tour of the facility and introduce them to the animals residing there. You will need to instruct potential animal owners about animal care, provide the animal's particular history, and perhaps even follow up after the adoption has taken place.
Supervisor
As a manager, you will be expected to run the daily operations of the shelter in a smooth and efficient way. You will need to hire capable employees and fire them if necessary. You must be able to delegate responsibilities, arrange schedules and make sure everyone is paid correctly and on time. If you are an assertive person who makes decisions easily, then these are skills that will come in handy. You should also be adept with using a computer and managing money.
People Person
Besides being passionate about animals, you also have to be able to enjoy interacting with people in a friendly and courteous manner. This doesn't just mean the exchanges that will take place with your co-workers. You will be dealing with the general public over the phone and in person. You need to be patient, calm and professional at all times. As a manager you will be the one to answer any complaints or questions that arise. You will also handle any public relations and potentially plan fundraisers for the shelter.
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