5 Ways to Hire and Retain Great Employees in Your Pet Franchise

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Owning a pet franchise is a team effort. Each role has different responsibilities to fill every position in a shop. Finding and keeping good talented staff members is crucial for your shop to continue to be successful. Fortunately, for Splash and Dash shop owners, corporate assists hugely with the initial hiring process. This gives shops a huge advantage when first opening.

As time progresses, a shop begins to expand or employees move on. Shop owners will need to hire outstanding employees. Having a great staff keeps productivity high, boosts store morale, and drives sales figures.

Finding and hiring skillful employees can be a meticulous task, so keep these six tips in mind when the time comes up to bring more members to your team.

Publicize Your Shop’s Recruitment

Since Splash and Dash shop locations are placed in high traffic areas with many people walking by it is always a good idea to take advantage of corporate A-frames. A ‘we’re hiring’ A-frame will help generate word-of-mouth publicity in your local community.

Shop owners will also want to post a job opening on job search engine websites like Indeed.com, Snagajob.com, and Craigslist.com. These websites are recruitment tools to help filter resumes to a shop owner. This will help you find dog groomers with great experience that are looking to continue a pathway in the pet franchise.

You can also post on social media. Since a huge amount of patrons are following Splash and Dash on our shops’ Facebook or Twitter accounts they will see the post. If customers know of an interested person they can spread this information along.

 Clearly Define the Job Description of Your Pet Franchise

Whether you are looking for a bather, groomer, sales clerk, or store manager you will need a job analysis. This will review the work environment, responsibilities, duties, and necessary professional skills of each position in your store.

Having a clear outline of what you expect will help you organize your search. A good idea is to make a checklist of each position your shop needs to thrive.

Retain Good Candidates and Taper Through Unqualified Candidates

As resumes and cover letters come to your attention, you will want to ‘weed out’ candidates who are clearly not a good fit for your shop.

Employees that will be handling dogs, like groomers and bathers, should have strong prior experience and be adaptable to Splash and Dash culture and methods. The company prides itself on exemplary service. Consider viewing prospect applicants in this vein.

Use your job analysis description as a guide to help you discern which applicants you believe will be a strong fit for your pet franchise. Organized resumes and succinct cover letters show individuals’ adeptness and professionalism. It is always a good idea to save any promising resumes you receive for a quick reserve. Keep these on file to be in a proactive state of hiring even when you have no open positions. This ensures that you will be one step ahead in the process if an employee leaves.

Another good idea is to screen your applicants before setting up an in-person interviews. A prior phone interview will help you get a glimpse of who the applicant is and if they will meet your qualifications.

Ask Critical Questions During an Interview

After you have narrowed down applicants into three or four promising leads this is the stage where you should begin scheduling job interviews. The interview is one of the most important stages of the pet franchise hiring process. This is when shop owners can discern who the most appealing candidate will be. Different shop owners have varying techniques of interviewing, but the goal should be the same—find the best candidate.

The trick to an informative interview is asking the right questions. You will want to ask questions designed to prompt candidates into revealing their professional skills. Here are some sample questions that might help you strategize.

  1. Please describe the Splash and Dash culture and how do you think you will fit into the shop’s goals?
  2. What relevant work experience do you have, and how will this affect your transition into the shop?
  3. Do you work best alone or with a team?
  4. How would you handle a scenario with a disgruntled customer?
  5. At Splash and Dash, we work with animals every day. What about your skills, disposition, or past work experience qualifies you for this?

Many hiring managers suggest ending an interview on a fun abstract question like, “If you were a dog breed, what kind of breed would you be?” This gives a candidate the opportunity to be creative and really showcase their personality.

Check Background References

After you have conducted all interviews now you can begin checking each candidate’s credentials. Since the pet franchise is a place that works closely with patrons’ animals you may consider an effective background check. The expense can help prevent hiring a possibly problematic employee and will save your shop money by curbing employment turn-around rates.

Checking a candidate’s references also gives employers insight into who they might possibly hire. If a reference gives you a glowing summary, or a letter of recommendation, take this into account. Employees who burn bridges in the past are likely to continue this pattern and will have a harder time providing references.

Find candidates that past employers and references have confidence in.

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