[Akari_32]

Hey ya guys! I’ve been recommended to a local veterinary clinic for a job, and I’ve pretty much got it, but I did not know what the position was that was open until just tonight when I finally got to talk to the office manager after a terrible, three week long game of phone tag. So I need some help.

Turns out, the position that she wants me for is in their on site pet resort. I would be making a 20 minute drive to the clinic Tuesday and Thursday once a day for the whole day, and Saturday and Sunday twice a day. Tuesdays and Thursdays I would be in the resort and possibly in the actual hospital (where is where I want to be) from time to time, and the weekends I would driving out there to feed the dogs, let them out and clean kennels in the resort, once in the morning and again in the evening. This is as far as I know.

She asked me what I had in mind for pay, I told her I didn’t even know what the position was, so I couldn’t begin to know what I thought a good starting pay was. This is where you guys come in. I’ve been looking around online for anything that would tell me a decent starting pay. I can’t find anything! I found one job listing sort of website with a position that looks pretty much the same as what I will be doing (minus the hospital work) that listed their pay as $19 an hour. Does anyone know how acceptable this is? Has anyone worked a position like this before (or know anyone who has?)? What sort of things do you think I can expect?

I’ve only ever had one job interview, and 4 years later, I’m still there. But in their defense, I knew managers that worked in the company, because I’m not good under pressure lol I want to be as prepared as possible, given the time restraints of just finding out what they are even hiring me for. I do know that when it comes to starting pay, let the employer offer first, because you could have something in mind way less than they do. Other than that, I pretty much don’t know anything.

I’m going in there tomorrow after work to learn more about the job and talk with the office manager, so if anyone has anything to offer me, please feel free to do so. A pet resort isn’t exactly my first option, but its in a clinic, and I’ll be helping out in the hospital when needed during my weekdays. If I can make a good model of myself, I could take a different position in the hospital itself. That said,t his is my first (paying) step into my career field (I’m going to school for vet tech), so I don’t want to screw myself one way or another.

[aquariangt]

check out glassdoor and see if you can find anything on there. Salary dot com may work as well, but you have to sign up for them iirc, which is free, but spamtastic. Hard to say what fair is as I don’t know what cost of living in Florida is compared to Colorado-also my first job in my field was at 16, so I never had to do the completely ground floor thing in a while, my first job out of school was still in food service, just now with more experience and a degree behind it.

[crazy4cats]

$19 sounds great, but bet it is more like $15.

[Akari_32]

Glass door is actually where I saw the $19 an hour posting lol I’ll have to see if I can’t find it again and see what state it’s in. The problem is, which out an exacty job title, I can’t find anything useful! The closest I can come up with is maybe animal care technician. Not sure how right that is. To top it off, the pay is everywhere from minimum wage-ish to upwards of $25 an hour. So do you guys think I may be in the right range then, with what I’ve found? Does anyone have a better job title than what I’ve come up with?

[aquariangt]

look for kennels, and see if you can find something higher than just a kennel attendant. Potentially camp bow wow or the like.

Again, I don’t know min wage or COL in florida, but $19/hr would be a solid wage out in colorado, and we have fairly expensive cost of living

[Akari_32]

Minimum wage in FL is something like just under $8 I think. How the crap they think anyone can live on that, I don’t know lol Everything is high here because all the snowbirds bring their money down here, and don’t care about what the cost of anything is, they just pay for it.

Good idea, I’ll try that! There’s a Camp Bow Wow not far from here, actually.

[Akari_32]

Camp Bow Wow is coming up at around $10 an hour for non-managent.

[aquariangt]

if its a normal manager and not a GM, i would say that we be closer to what you’d be doing helping in the clinic as well. The hourly people at bow wow from what I can tell, are just kennel attendants without much other responsibility

[Akari_32]

True. Those were about $11 or so an hour.

[Bobby dog]

Hey Akari:
I always start my search at the Bureau of Labor Statistics for salary and hourly wage info. Then I contact local employers for further info. I looked up two possible job titles. IDK if these would describe your duties, but it’s a start:

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes392021.htm

http://www.bls.gov/ooh/personal-care-and-service/animal-care-and-service-workers.htm

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