Volunteer – Adoption Counselor

About the role

We’re looking for compassionate volunteers to serve as Adoption Counselors! Help care for our adorable, homeless pets and match each one with the perfect forever home. It’s a rewarding way to give back, meet like-minded people, and be part of a team that changes lives, one adoption at a time. Just 6 hours a week can make a huge difference in their lives.

Responsibilities

• Assist a potential adopter to select an animal that best fits with the person, family, lifestyle and living conditions.
• Handle and walk/exercising adoptable animals.
• Assist staff with laundry, window/sidewalk/lobby cleaning, maintenance of play yards and meet and greet areas, cat kennel cleaning, cat cleaning at PetSmart, dog bowl cleaning, donation removal/storage and animal bathing.
• Facilitate the adoption of shelter animals into permanent homes.
• Review color code (green easy to handle; blue easy to handle but may jump, pull, be shy and bolt from the kennel; orange high level limited potential to redirect, over arousal, mouthiness and history of getting loose and fighting) on back of kennel card to assure proper handling.
• Notify staff of any medical condition.
• Greet people in the office, answer questions, and direct to the proper area or shelter personnel.
• Query potential adopters on what they are looking for (i.e. breed, size, age) and living conditions (i.e. other animals, children, housing).
• Arrange a meet and greet in the appropriate area for interested adopters and obtain the interested dog from the kennel utilizing appropriate dog handling procedure or obtain assistance from the staff.
• Review medical sheet to report injured animals.
• Process processing dirty laundry according to laundry protocol outlined in the Policy and Procedure (P&P) for Facility and Animal Cleaning.
• Sweep sidewalks.
• Clean windows in cat area, lobby and applicable entry doors.
• Clean cat kennels, community room and Hamster/Guinea Pig area as outlined in the P&P for Facility and Animal Cleaning.
• Clean the Cattery at Petsmart as outlined in the P&P for Facility and Animal Cleaning.
• Mailing out license renewal notices.
• Create adoption folders for both dogs and cats.
• Keep adoptable dog board current and update adoptable dog and cat binders when needed.
• Organize the paper Connex and boxing up prior monthly adoption paperwork.
• Accept donation and other correspondence needed.
• Utilize the “Adoption/Wish List” book for any animal’s customers would like to adopt but have not found what they want at the shelter.
• Provide handouts to adopters to reinforce information about adopting animals from a shelter environment.
• Follow up with adopters to ensure adoption is going well and respond timely to phone messages and emails from potential adopters.
• Communicate and act in a culturally competent and professional manner maintaining cooperative relationships with community members, co-workers, and work contacts.

Requirements

• Monthly availability and adherence to a schedule.
• Complete all County required training courses.
• Provide acceptable driving history at no cost to the County.
• Possess a valid driver’s license for operation of motor vehicles on Arizona roads at the start of volunteering and maintain said license while volunteering in this position.
• Knowledge of animal breeds, characteristics, and age.
• Familiarity with the adoption process and paperwork required.
• Familiarity with resources provided to potential adopters that addresses adopting an animal from the shelter.
• Standard animal care and control practices and methods.
• Policy and Procedure for Dog Handling Procedure and Dog Behavior Color Coding System.
• The Policy and Procedure for Facility and Animal Cleaning Procedure.
• Chemicals used in cleaning solutions.
• Use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Administrative filing and sorting, Indexing and sorting utilized by shelter clerical staff.
• Forms utilized by clerical staff.
• Storage area used by clerical staff.
• Prior experience working with animals and animal welfare.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Good verbal communication.
• Recognizing medical issues.
• Exercising patience, care and compassion in dealing with dogs.
• Reporting facility maintenance issues to the staff.
• Exercising patience and care when completing multiple administrative tasks.
• Exercise patience and care when completing multiple tasks, self-direct and motivate.
• Assist and communicate continually with shelter staff and manager regarding improving the adoption process.
• Understand and follow written and verbal instructions.
• Assist shelter staff with moving dogs to play yards and kennels.
• Assist and communicate with shelter staff any cleaning needs they may have.
• Adhere to administrative direction.
• Assist and communicate with shelter clerical staff any needs they may have.

Qualifications

• Authorized to work for any employer in the U.S.

Skills

• General knowledge of animal breeds, characteristics, and age.
• Familiarity with the adoption process and paperwork required.
• Familiarity with resources provided to potential adopters that addresses adopting an animal from the shelter.
• Standard animal care and control practices and methods.
• Policy and Procedure for Dog Handling Procedure and Dog Behavior Color Coding System.
• The Policy and Procedure for Facility and Animal Cleaning Procedure.
• Chemicals used in cleaning solutions.
• Use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Administrative filing and sorting, Indexing and sorting utilized by shelter clerical staff.
• Forms utilized by clerical staff.
• Storage area used by clerical staff.
• Prior experience working with animals and animal welfare.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Good verbal communication.
• Recognizing medical issues.
• Exercising patience, care and compassion in dealing with dogs.
• Reporting facility maintenance issues to the staff.
• Exercising patience and care when completing multiple administrative tasks.
• Exercise patience and care when completing multiple tasks, self-direct and motivate.
• Assist and communicate continually with shelter staff and manager regarding improving the adoption process.
• Understand and follow written and verbal instructions.
• Assist shelter staff with moving dogs to play yards and kennels.
• Assist and communicate with shelter staff any cleaning needs they may have.
• Adhere to administrative direction.
• Assist and communicate with shelter clerical staff any needs they may have.

Benefits

Volunteers are not benefit eligible.

Pay

N/A

Schedule

N/A

Equal Opportunity Employer/Program

It is the policy of Mohave County to provide equal opportunity in employment to all job applicants and employees. The County shall not discriminate against any person in recruitment, examination, appointment, training, pay promotion, retention, discipline or any other aspect of personnel administration, term or condition of employment, due to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, genetic information or disability, age (40 or older).