Pets at Home

14

Okay, this is a bit of a long shot :smile:

I'm trying to work out what to do with my summer, I'm thinking I should do some part time work to get a bit of money together. I possibly have the option of doing some hours at Boots, which is my old job, but in all honestly I don't enjoy that so much. I was thinking of Pets at Home (yes, soppy animal lover here :rolleyes:

).

I realise it probably won't actually involve much animal-time, but at least animal related stuff is better than showing old ladies where the feminine cream is :s-smilie:

Either way, there's not a lot of info on their website and I don't really know what sorts of jobs are available.

So, before I contact them, I was wondering whether any of you lovely folk have worked in Pets at Home before, and could tell me what it's like, and whether it's a good/bad job to have?

Hope this is in the right place, and thanks for any replies :tsr2:

Reply 1

foxiroxi

10

Well I work there so anythign you want to know just ask!!!!

Firstly just go to your local store and ask if there are any jobs going. They can give you an application form :smile:

I assume you will want full time hours. Depending on the store depends on your hours you will work. Whist at Letchworth I would either start at 7am, 9:15, 11:45 or 13:15 and work untill either 16:15, 18:30, 20:30 or 22:30 when working full time however shifts can and may vary. I also used to do 16:30 till 20:30 whist at school.

Most stores want you to be flexible and work week days and weekends

early shifts (7am start) you will be expected to clean out the animals where's a twilight (untill 22:00) you will concentrate on delivery. Not all stores have twilights though.

Your main job will be to help customers, for this you need knowledge on products and animals. you will need to know about the animals sold aswell as animal's caterd for. Dog nutrition is VERY big at the moment :smile:

You will have to do everything, clean animals, look after ill animals, tills, delivery, work back stock, clean the shopfloor (shelves etc) You will do promo changes (oh how fun! Not!)

However I love the job. You will learn so much more about animals and their care :smile:

As I said at the start feel free to ask me any questions :smile:

If you get an interview I could try and help you with what they look for although each manager is different :smile:

Anyway I must go...working a twilight tonight from 6-10 which will mostly consist of customers wanting fish untill 8 (when the store shuts) then aving to do a day's deleivery in 2 hours! :biggrin:

..... oh I love this job.....sometimes! :biggrin:

Reply 2

bunthulhu

OP

14

foxiroxi

Well I work there so anythign you want to know just ask!!!!

Firstly just go to your local store and ask if there are any jobs going. They can give you an application form :smile:

I assume you will want full time hours. Depending on the store depends on your hours you will work. Whist at Letchworth I would either start at 7am, 9:15, 11:45 or 13:15 and work untill either 16:15, 18:30, 20:30 or 22:30 when working full time however shifts can and may vary. I also used to do 16:30 till 20:30 whist at school.

Most stores want you to be flexible and work week days and weekends

early shifts (7am start) you will be expected to clean out the animals where's a twilight (untill 22:00) you will concentrate on delivery. Not all stores have twilights though.

Your main job will be to help customers, for this you need knowledge on products and animals. you will need to know about the animals sold aswell as animal's caterd for. Dog nutrition is VERY big at the moment :smile:

You will have to do everything, clean animals, look after ill animals, tills, delivery, work back stock, clean the shopfloor (shelves etc) You will do promo changes (oh how fun! Not!)

However I love the job. You will learn so much more about animals and their care :smile:

As I said at the start feel free to ask me any questions :smile:

If you get an interview I could try and help you with what they look for although each manager is different :smile:

Anyway I must go...working a twilight tonight from 6-10 which will mostly consist of customers wanting fish untill 8 (when the store shuts) then aving to do a day's deleivery in 2 hours! :biggrin:

..... oh I love this job.....sometimes! :biggrin:

Thanks foxiroxi :biggrin:

I will pop in and get a form in the next couple of weeks before I go back to uni! I guess I don't really mind whether I do full time or part time, although my inherent laziness is leaning towards one of them (16.30 to 20.30, you say... :biggrin:

) I'll see what they've got going, but I'd probably go for the evening shifts - however, if early starts means more time with the animals I may be swayed! But I guess if they want flexibility I'll get the chance to do both! :smile:

What sorts of breaks do you get?

All the duties sound perfectly fine! Do they teach you about dog nutrition or do they expect you to know stuff already? :s-smilie:

Thankyooou!

Reply 3

Emsy

1

bunthulhu

Thanks foxiroxi :biggrin:

All the duties sound perfectly fine! Do they teach you about dog nutrition or do they expect you to know stuff already? :s-smilie:

Thankyooou!

I was wondering this also; I am applying for a job at my local pets at home store and wondered whether they train you to know about the animals or when you first start are you put on tills and stock then when experienced moved onto selling certain animals?

Also, ive never worked a till before do you think this will matter? lol

Thanks, Ems x

Reply 4

foxiroxi

10

Everything is trainned so don't worry! :smile:

You won't be expected to know everything but you will be expected to learn it. In store you have all the leaflets on all the animals we sell aswell as leaflets for PAH own brand food, wainwrights food, afew on fish (setting up tanks, deisese etc) and many more.

When you start you will be given a book which is known as "step 1" :biggrin:

This will help in your learning of animals, stock, tills/cash handling etc etc etc and you will need the leaflets mentioned to help with this.

You will be tought how to deal with animals before being let loose on them but it's not that hard really when you want to learn. For the first few weeks you will be mainly on till as it's the easiest to learn (They are sooooo not complecated. I worked them fine! :biggrin:

Most mistakes can be easily sorted and you won't be left alone much while your new anyway :smile:

The breaks depends on teh hours worked. a full day will be a 45 min lunch and two 15 min breaks. If the store is well staffed and you have a nice manager you can sometimes take say a hour lunch and a 15 min break. Once I took all hour and 15 mins in one go so I could take my dog training classes (however that was condition on me coming in that day due to staff shortage!)

It's always good to go in with knowledge of something you can use in the store (I had lots of dog knowledge and in my application form and interveiw I really expressed these!!!!) I didn't have a clue about birds, fish or hamsters!!! :biggrin:

If you have pets, mention them in the application form :wink:

Emsy, Till's are not at all hard. So it won't matter.

Most stores will have you come in for a couple of hours to begin with to get you till trained :smile:

You will be paired up with someone and they will teach you. :smile:

The company is good in a whole. After compleation of your step 1 book and step 2 book you get a small pay rise aswell :biggrin:

If I missed out any of your questions just ask them again, likewise if you ahve any more :smile:

Good luck with going for the job :smile:

Reply 5

Multiplexed

18

To the thread starter, you tried it yet?

Reply 6

DisneyKatie

don't worry about not knowing anything about the animals, or getting trained into how to care for them in the store. I was going to majorly slag off pets at home, as our local one-the warrington branch employs staff with no brains, either that or they have brains but don't bother training their staff. I've known about 7 unrelated different people who have brought animals from that store, only to find that they have given birth several weeks after getting them home, as the warrington staff cannot sex their animals, resulting in them mating. i know this first hand as I asked for a male hamster and later found out I had been given a female when she had a season. my only hesitation in completely running pets at home into the ground is that the branch in knutsford is absolutely awesome, and the staff there couldn't be more helpful, so I'd just say to go with it if you're sure you're working with people who will teach you right! good luck x

Reply 7

Emsy

1

DisneyKatie

don't worry about not knowing anything about the animals, or getting trained into how to care for them in the store. I was going to majorly slag off pets at home, as our local one-the warrington branch employs staff with no brains, either that or they have brains but don't bother training their staff. I've known about 7 unrelated different people who have brought animals from that store, only to find that they have given birth several weeks after getting them home, as the warrington staff cannot sex their animals, resulting in them mating. i know this first hand as I asked for a male hamster and later found out I had been given a female when she had a season. my only hesitation in completely running pets at home into the ground is that the branch in knutsford is absolutely awesome, and the staff there couldn't be more helpful, so I'd just say to go with it if you're sure you're working with people who will teach you right! good luck x

I applied and the manager was SO rude to me i'm not bothering accepting a job there.

Regarding pregnant animals at pets at home - this is so true!
I've seen rabbits having sex in the store near me and there were kids around ... felt sorry for whoever bought that one! Also a few friends rabbits from different stores have given birth too.

Ems x

Reply 8

GemmzyLou

Emsy

I applied and the manager was SO rude to me i'm not bothering accepting a job there.

Regarding pregnant animals at pets at home - this is so true!
I've seen rabbits having sex in the store near me and there were kids around ... felt sorry for whoever bought that one! Also a few friends rabbits from different stores have given birth too.

Ems x

I work at pets at home, and i know for a fact that we are not allowed to keep male and female animals together. Thats why youll notice that the pens are seperated, and so one side are females, and one side are males. When we get animals in they are usually about 8 weeks old. It is pretty hard to sex animals when they are that young, but all the people that i know that work at pets do the best they can to sex the animals, are well trained and ask for a second opinion if necessary.
And the rabbits having sex thing...when youve got a lot of males together you're going to have dominance issues. This is perfectly natural and healthy for rabbits to do. Rabbits will hump each other to show who is the top dog (so to speak) - it is a sign of dominance...and seeing as they are all males, or all females......they aren't impregnating each other.
some stores may be letting our name down...and for the rude manager...im sorry you had to endure that...all our managers are great =)

Reply 9

adz1991

I have just applied, does anyone know the salary for Pets at home?

Reply 10

bunthulhu

OP

14

Ooh, I'd nearly forgotten about this thread.

I applied at the start of summer; sent a CV with a covering letter, and got ignored. :mad:

Reply 11

adam_17

foxiroxi

Well I work there so anythign you want to know just ask!!!!

Firstly just go to your local store and ask if there are any jobs going. They can give you an application form :smile:

I assume you will want full time hours. Depending on the store depends on your hours you will work. Whist at Letchworth I would either start at 7am, 9:15, 11:45 or 13:15 and work untill either 16:15, 18:30, 20:30 or 22:30 when working full time however shifts can and may vary. I also used to do 16:30 till 20:30 whist at school.

Most stores want you to be flexible and work week days and weekends

early shifts (7am start) you will be expected to clean out the animals where's a twilight (untill 22:00) you will concentrate on delivery. Not all stores have twilights though.

Your main job will be to help customers, for this you need knowledge on products and animals. you will need to know about the animals sold aswell as animal's caterd for. Dog nutrition is VERY big at the moment :smile:

You will have to do everything, clean animals, look after ill animals, tills, delivery, work back stock, clean the shopfloor (shelves etc) You will do promo changes (oh how fun! Not!)

However I love the job. You will learn so much more about animals and their care :smile:

As I said at the start feel free to ask me any questions :smile:

If you get an interview I could try and help you with what they look for although each manager is different :smile:

Anyway I must go...working a twilight tonight from 6-10 which will mostly consist of customers wanting fish untill 8 (when the store shuts) then aving to do a day's deleivery in 2 hours! :biggrin:

..... oh I love this job.....sometimes! :biggrin:

i work there aswell unfortunatly :frown:

Reply 12

adam_17

adz1991

I have just applied, does anyone know the salary for Pets at home?

its really complicated and depends on your age plus how much training you have done

are you 16-19? or 18+?

Reply 13

adam_17

bunthulhu

Ooh, I'd nearly forgotten about this thread.

I applied at the start of summer; sent a CV with a covering letter, and got ignored. :mad:

im not supprsied to be honest, all applications must be with an application form and as they get loads (supprising i know)

if you are still intrested you need to fill one out

Reply 14

adam_17

GemmzyLou

I work at pets at home, and i know for a fact that we are not allowed to keep male and female animals together. Thats why youll notice that the pens are seperated, and so one side are females, and one side are males. When we get animals in they are usually about 8 weeks old. It is pretty hard to sex animals when they are that young, but all the people that i know that work at pets do the best they can to sex the animals, are well trained and ask for a second opinion if necessary.
And the rabbits having sex thing...when youve got a lot of males together you're going to have dominance issues. This is perfectly natural and healthy for rabbits to do. Rabbits will hump each other to show who is the top dog (so to speak) - it is a sign of dominance...and seeing as they are all males, or all females......they aren't impregnating each other.
some stores may be letting our name down...and for the rude manager...im sorry you had to endure that...all our managers are great =)

you're really lucky

Reply 15

bunthulhu

OP

14

adam_17

im not supprsied to be honest, all applications must be with an application form and as they get loads (supprising i know)

if you are still intrested you need to fill one out

That's not what they told me in store (they said to send a CV), and there is no application form online let alone information or listings of christmas vacanices. It's pretty retarded if they expect some mystical form off me :p:

Reply 16

adam_17

there is!

you need to look at www.petsathomejobs.co.uk not www.petsathome.co.uk

but it would be best to do it via the store. i think what happened was the staff member couldnt be bothered to call someone to get you a form

Reply 17

Sandi-16

I applied a while ago, and got an email today saying that they wanted to meet me.. It doesn't exactly say it's an interview, more like a chance to find out more about the job and stuff. Has anyone been in this position too? I've never been to a group meeting for a job, so if anyone has experienced this at Pets at Home, any pointers would be helpful! :smile:

Reply 18

skbennett

Hi Sandi-16 I got an email the other day for my local PAH branch and have the same thing! Not quite sure what it is! would appreciate anyone's pointers too :smile:

Reply 19

zigzak789

Same for me, got a reply from my local store saying they want me to go in and do some stuff!

What store are you two going to?

Pets at Home

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