The Results-Oriented Animal Care Workplace

Animal care jobs, whether training, grooming or feeding, are involved in a lot of detail. When animal care people are so engrossed in the details of their jobs, it's easy for them, for anyone actually, to lose sight of the job's major contribution.

A Results-Oriented Animal Care Job Description is different from a traditional job description because it focuses an employee on the several job results that answer the question: What results must this animal care job accomplish for the organization?

Animal Care Job Standards added to job expectations tighten management controls by clarifying how well and when results must be accomplished.

Animal Care Job Objectives establish management and employee plans by highlighting important current and future results needed.

Job-specific Animal Care Employee Management Forms maintain consistent and legally sound management actions by basing manager-employee interactions on job results.

The Purpose of Animal Care Jobs

Stated in a results-oriented, three-line style, animal care jobs--

CARE FOR ANIMALS by

maintaining their health and environment; breeding, training, grooming and rescuing them.

Types of Animal Care Jobs

Some animal care jobs supervise the breeding of animals. Other jobs provide services to care for animals for a short term while others, such as in zoos, care for the animals and their environment for the long term. Veterinarians and their assistants provide medical care to animals where as groomers maintain an animals appearance. And, of course, somebody has to manage and supervise the animal care people and processes.

Animal Care Job Management Tools

Here are actual job examples of how animal care job actions can be focused on results and kept on track using each of our job management tools:

Results-Oriented Animal Care Job Descriptions form the foundation of all job management tools. Our uniquely structured job descriptions focus on the result to be accomplished first and prominently, followed by the duties performed in order to accomplish the result. For example,

RECOMMENDS ANIMAL CARE ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

Animal Care Job Standards sharpen employee attention and management control by defining and communicating how well the animal care results must be accomplished and what benchmarks will be used to measure job results. For example, for the job result above, the job standards might be:

• Animal Care situations are correctly understood.
• All options are identified and evaluated.
• Animal Care recommendations are ready when needed.

Animal Care Job Objectives point the direction for employee actions by focusing job efforts on current and future animal care issues. Job objectives are written in the three-line, results-oriented structure. For example, for the job result above, a job objective might be:

SPEED-UP DECISION MAKING by

reducing time to deliver animal care recommendations by 10% by (date).

Animal Care Employee Management Forms tied specifically to each animal care job description are more helpful (and legal) than generic forms used for all different kinds of jobs. Job-specific forms are used to state job qualifications, guide job interview questions, orient new employees, plan job training, and appraise job performance.

Animal Care Job Qualifications are stated in the same terms used in the job description. They are not translated into generic (typically behavioral) terms. For example:

RECOMMENDS ANIMAL CARE ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

Animal Care Job Interview guide questions are inserted directly below each job result in the job description: For example:

• "What specific job responsibilities have you had in this area?"
• "Where did you have these job responsibilities?"
• "When did you have these job responsibilities?"
• "How did you go about accomplishing these responsibilities?"
• "What accomplishment in this area gave you the most pride?"
• "In this area, what were some of your biggest challenges?"
• "How did you overcome the challenges?"

The Animal Care Job Orientation guide reformats the job description sequence so that job explanations, policies, protocols, processes, and procedures are logical and complete and can easily be checked off. For example:

RECOMMENDS ANIMAL CARE ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

The manager might say: "Here's the procedure and format we use to analyze and present animal care recommendations."

The Animal Care Job Training plan guides a thorough examination of actual job knowledge, skills, and abilities as described in the job description that need improvement or that might be enhanced. For example:

RECOMMENDS ANIMAL CARE ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

The manager might say: "Analytical skills would be improved by enrolling in a statistical analysis class."

The Animal Care Job Performance Appraisal guide is a job-specific form. It is not a universal form used for all jobs. The guide adds an appraisal scale below each job result in the job description so that attention can be drawn to each job requirement and expectation. For example:

RECOMMENDS ANIMAL CARE ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

__ Great! Just want we wanted.
__ We have a problem.
__ Improvement is needed.
__ Much, much more than we asked for.

Comments: _________________

Animal Care Résumé Template

Potential employers want to know what a job applicant has accomplished in his/her animal care work career. They don't want to be bored with minor details. Our Résumé Template provides:

• an outline to help assemble personal background information.
• a Results-Oriented Job Description to provide the animal care job language-focused on results-needed to write an effective résumé.
• Animal Care Job Objectives to orient thinking in terms of accomplishments.
• instructions on how to use a Results-Oriented Animal Care Job Description and Animal Care Job Objectives to express job accomplishments.

Use the animal care job description responsibility statement as a base:

RECOMMENDS ANIMAL CARE ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

Select the animal care job objective that fits your experience:

REDUCE COSTS 10% by

improving animal care processes.

Combine the two into a résumé statement:

Reduced costs 10% by analyzing, identifying, and recommending new animal care system controls.

Animal Care Career Links

Indiana University, Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior

Information about potential careers in the field of animal behavior and about the type of training required.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Learn about the training and education needed for animal care jobs, earnings, expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions.

Worldwidelearn.com, Animal Care

Career planning information regarding animal care employment, job outlook, related occupations, working conditions, education, training, qualifications, salary expectations, associations, accreditation and other resources.

About.com, Veterinary Medicine

Information about animals - veterinarians, veterinary technicians, alternate careers (i.e. zookeeping); associations; software; magazines; non-profit organizations; Veterinary schools; online learning.

Search 4 Career Colleges, Veterinary and animal care training and education

Directory of Veterinary colleges and universities and online learning.