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Care Center Specialist

Schedule

This is a part time position with a rotating schedule.

Who We Are

ACC is one of the nation’s largest open-admission animal shelters, whose mission is to End Animal Homelessness in NYC. We touch the lives of nearly 30,000 animals each year. ACC is more than an animal shelter; we are a resource to the community, always seeking ways to keep the human-animal bond intact. With a 90% placement rate, our progressive, life-saving initiatives contribute to the successful placement of our animals.

We strive to find loving homes for homeless and abandoned cats, dogs, guinea pigs and rabbits, both by adopting animals directly to the public and by partnering with more than 200 dedicated animal placement organizations (our New Hope partners). We also help keep NYC communities safe and rescue animals in need, responding to emergencies that involve animals as well as keeping our doors open 24/7 for people and animals in need.

Summary

The Care Center Specialist is the backbone of the Staten Island Care Center, responsible for providing professional, supportive service to clients and progressive, compassionate care to some 3,000 animals that come through the facility each year. As ACC’s smallest full-service care center, the small staff at Staten Island get the benefit of having roles and responsibilities across all functions and departments, making them some of our most well-rounded team members. The Care Center Specialist creates a healthy environment for all animals by monitoring behavior, maintaining the cleanliness of kennels, and providing exercise and socialization. Of equal importance, they create a warm and inviting atmosphere for clients by providing and connecting to internal and external services and acting as ambassador for all things ACC. With such varied and wide-ranging responsibilities, their overarching goal is to ensure that each interaction – whether human or animal – is of the highest quality, thoughtful, and providing for the needs of all parties.

Required Qualifications:

+ High School Diploma or GED required.

+ Six months of previous animal care experience, or equivalent education in a related field, is required.

+ Treats animals and people with respect.

+ Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds and work standing for 8 hours or more.

Benefits

Part-Time employees are not eligible for vacation time or personal leave.

Essential Job Functions:

+ Maintain a high standard of animal care and welfare, which includes providing scheduled feedings, clean water at all times, proper bedding and enrichment toys.

+ Present professional and friendly demeanor to clients at all times, smiling and greeting with well-informed and enthusiastic responses upon entry to our care centers and thanking them for visiting upon departure.

+ Maintain records, report and perform extensive data entry work in animal sheltering software; including creating people and animal profiles, documenting communications via thorough notes, and being able to find required information in the software.

Other Responsibilities:

+ Properly clean and sanitize kennels, cages, equipment and areas of shelter as assigned, according to ACC policy and procedure. Bathe or clean animals immediately if they become soiled.

+ Exercise and socialize with animals on a regular basis.

+ Observe and document unusual behavior, signs of illness and any injury of an animal on a daily basis.

+ Communicate vital information to relevant personnel as appropriate.

+ Restrain, confine, handle animals, including those which are ill, injured, quarantined, and aggressive.

+ Support the success of placement efforts by proactively participating in animal enrichment, writing animal bios, and taking great animal photos, as well as communicating with the Media team on “rockstar” animals.

+ Accurately perform Lost/Found checks using all available methods of contact (phone, email, letter) to locate possible owners.

+ Be knowledgeable and conversational on ACC policies and common animal welfare practices.

+ Administer said services including admission of animals, adoption, reunification, lost and found, etc.

+ Work cooperatively with ACC volunteers, staff and partners.

+ Interact with the public in a professional, personalized and sincere manner via phone, email and in person to answer questions about services provided by ACC.

+ Register pets for NYC licenses online and collect appropriate fees.

+ Effectively and professionally communicate policies concerning intakes, adoptions, euthanasia and relinquishments to ACC clients, members of the public, and other organizations.

+ Maintain accurate cash drawers (money and receipts); perform end of day reconciliations.

+ Fear Free certification required within 30 days of hire.

+ Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Preferred Qualifications:

+ Ability to excel in a physical and fast-paced setting, someone who handles a high-stress environment with a calm demeanor.

+ Has good attention to detail and a strong work ethic to complete tasks correctly.

+ Is a confident communicator, a team player, willing to pitch in to help others to achieve the needs of the daily needs of the organization, a self-starter, and self-motivated to stay busy and productive during slow times.

+ Ability to shift gears to handle unexpected events and available to modify schedules if necessary with notice for the organization, this position does also includes forced overtime per union handbook.

+ A passion to help animals and is able to interact with them in a calm, non-threatening manner.

+ Open to learning how to handle other animal types outside of dogs and cats.

Work Environment

At Animal Care Centers it's all hands-on deck. We work together as a team, which means you may be asked to help with tasks that involve working outside in all sorts of weather. As a busy animal shelter in one of the biggest cities in the world it can get noisy inside. Employees should have the ability to remain calm yet professional in stressful situations involving animals and/or members of the public. Animal Care Centers houses hundreds of animals in its facilities at any given time and with that comes fur, odors and other airborne particles in abundance.

Animal Care Centers offers many low-cost services to pets and people in need. This includes compassionate end-of-life services for people who cannot afford to go to a private veterinary office but still want to provide a professional and peaceful transition for their beloved pet.

Reports To: Care Center Manager

Overtime: This is a union position and is eligible for overtime.