What are the responsibilities and job description for the Animal Welfare Specialist position at ATLANTA HUMANE SOCIETY AND SOCIETY?
The Animal Welfare Specialist provides humane animal care and superior customer service at the Atlanta Humane Society (AHS) - Marietta in accordance with the AHS mission, goals and management philosophy. This unique facility seeks to provide a welcoming space for potential adopters and the local community. The AWS supports humane animal husbandry by providing physical and emotional enrichment to all animals, and through feeding, cleaning, and daily maintenance of the kennel facilities. In addition to animal care, the AWS assists campus guests by providing information regarding humane animal care, promoting and executing AHS services, programs, and events, facilitating visitations with animals, and counseling potential adopters to facilitate great human-animal matches.
Duties and Responsibilities
• Provide animals with adequate food, water, exercise, medications, and daily emotional enrichment
• Observe, record, and report on animal health and behavior
• Maintain animal care records to ensure proper feeding and medicating, and ensure animals receive timely attention from a veterinarian as needed
• Handle animals according to Fear Free principles and established safety policies and procedures
• Clean and sanitize animal habitats according to the AHS cleaning and disease control protocols
• Maintain a clean, safe, and professional environment for the animals and the public
• Report building and equipment maintenance concerns promptly
• Stock food and supplies, laundry, and dishes on a daily basis • Process deliveries, donations, laundry, and dishes daily or delegate appropriately
• Deliver superior customer service to AHS animals, constituents, affiliates, and partners
• Collaborate with other departments and volunteers to accomplish departmental and organizational goals
• Promote a culture of leadership, respect, and commitment and provide help to others
• Provide customers with organizationally approved content such as medical information, behavior profiles, animal care requirements, and adoption package benefits to help clients make good choices
• Council potential adopters in accordance with the AHS Adoption Philosophy and Guidelines, complete adoption paperwork, generate receipts, and maintain precise adoption records in the animal management database
• Promote and perform sales of retail at the location; report dwindling supplies to management
• Promote corporate partner and sponsor products and services to clients such as Purina and VCA
• Other duties as assigned Program Support
• Acts as campus lead through promotion, training, and implementation of the AHS adoption process and AHS Adoption Philosophies and Guidelines
• Supports Pets in Crisis Support Program Activity through coordination activities and liaising with PICS program management to provide direct client support
• Provide direction and practice inclusion to support volunteer engagement and utilization
• Support leadership through positive participation in campus events and services such as pet wellness clinics, and the food and supply pantry.
Qualifications:• High school diploma or GED equivalent
• Six months previous customer service experience in an office or retail business setting preferred
• Six months experience in a similar capacity in an animal shelter, veterinary hospital or clinic preferred
• Computer literate in a Windows environment required
• Knowledge of animal diseases, medications and treatment protocols preferred
• Ability to utilize effective problem solving/decision making skills
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team environment
• Desire to work with animals and people
• Experience in handling/reconciling funds preferred
• Ability to multi-task and handle a high stress, emotional environment
• Must be able to set aside personal judgement for the betterment of the client and the animals
• Must be able to communicate with and work well with a diverse clientele, different races, ethnicities, faiths, sexual orientations, income levels, etc.
• Ability to work productively alone or with minimal supervision; must be self-motivated
Working Conditions
• Requires humane handling of animals and safe handling of cleaning supplies, chemicals and equipment in compliance with safety rules and according to SDS rules
• Ability to lift, pull or push up to 50 lbs. with reasonable accommodations
• Required to follow AHS uniform policy
• Works in a high noise level area
• Physical efforts require constant bending, stooping and standing
• Safety procedures must be adhered to without exception
• Exposure to dogs and cats of all sizes and varying degrees of behavior and/or medical conditions
• Exposure to other small mammals and birds
• Exposure to animal waste, potential zoonotic diseases, and common allergens