How to Find a Career in the Pet Industry while Assisting Animal Shelters?

In a time of economic unrest, many are going back to school and making a goal of working for passion rather than pay. For pet lovers, the idea of attaching tail wags and wet kisses to a paycheck is a dream that may seem unattainable at first.

The pet industry is one fraught with opportunity. Any experience from administrative to labor to management can easily transition into a career where the focus is the welfare of animals rather than profits.

It all begins with volunteering at animal shelters. Certainly, shelters may post job openings in the classified ads, but volunteering will open many more doors while educating on every level of animal care and running a pet-centric business.

Experience that centers around communications and office work can easily transition into administrative work at an animal shelter. Many shelters have volunteers that help with database upkeep, newsletter writing and phone work, and these volunteers answer to the paid animal shelter office manager or marketing director.

More physical experience is always welcome at animal shelters. Help is always needed with maintenance, grounds upkeep, and the wrangling and training of dogs.

Experience in human resources or management is welcome at animal shelters that need help managing a large volunteer pool and running fundraisers. Volunteers who offer additional time before and after such events will build a network that could reach far beyond the shelter walls. The fact that fund raising is such a big aspect of running a shelter means that those with accounting and sales experience will find an area to help as well.

Even those with little experience can volunteer as a dog walker or cat caregiver and gain invaluable know-how. This will prove extremely helpful to anyone hoping to start a dog walking or pet sitting business of their own.

Volunteers at animal shelters are the first to learn about paid job openings, even when volunteering minimal hours of their free time. But just as valuable is the experience gained working in the industry, which can easily transition into the opening of a business or getting a resume on the top of the pile when other pet-related businesses are hiring.