Contract: Permanent, full time 37.5 hours per week
Salary: £25,011 - £27,047 per annum
Location: Sheffield, S7 2PY
Closing date: Sunday 10 November 2024
Interview date: 19 & 20 November 2024
We're recruiting an Assistant Manager – Offsite Services to lead and streamline our home-based pet operations. In this role, you'll ensure that every pet finds the perfect match with their new family as quickly as possible, while maintaining top-quality care for both our pets and clients throughout the entire adoption journey. Join us in making a difference, one pet at a time!
More about the role
This is an exciting opportunity to join Blue Cross and lead a dedicated team at our Sheffield rehoming, advice, and behaviour unit, located just a short drive from the stunning Peak District. Our proactive team is committed to helping the local community in various ways, from supporting people and pets in need through our food bank to offering rehoming services for a wide range of pets.
In this role, you’ll play a key part in ensuring exceptional care for both pets and clients while making well-connected, efficient decisions that prioritise pet welfare. As the leader of our home-based pet operations, you’ll oversee the smooth running of daily activities, acting as the subject matter expert in practical animal handling and assessment. Your goal will be to prepare pets for adoption as quickly and effectively as possible. You’ll work closely with your team to ensure timely pet assessments, behaviour management, and training, while providing full support to foster carers.
You’ll also be responsible for achieving pet-related targets, ensuring your team of Pet Welfare Assistants maintains the highest standards of animal care and adheres to national processes in case management. Since we don’t have cattery or kennel facilities, innovation and teamwork are essential to address the most urgent cases effectively.
Motivating and managing your team is central to this role, enabling the centre to provide top-quality home-based pet care while helping your team develop professionally.
This is a full-time position, working 37.5 hours per week, including weekends and bank holidays.
About you
You’ll be a great people manager, bringing finely honed skills from your experience in an animal-related environment, along with expert knowledge of pet welfare and care.
As a dynamic and innovative leader, you know how to inspire and motivate your team, driving continuous improvement. You’ll lead a team of Pet Welfare Assistants, empowering them through effective management and coaching.
With excellent communication skills, you adapt your approach for different audiences, ensuring your message resonates. While juggling multiple tasks, you remain calm and organised, making confident decisions in high-pressure situations.
Your strong analytical skills enable you to monitor and evaluate effectively, implementing meaningful improvements. Rather than resting on your laurels, you’ll have a genuine desire to enhance onsite facilities and services, actively engaging your team in the process.
Having worked in emotionally charged environments, you understand the importance of resilience and have excellent “bounce-back ability.” Your emotional intelligence and empathy will shine as you support your team and the public, creating a compassionate and effective workplace.
Knowledge, skills, and experience
* Significant experience in managing a team.
* Significant experience in delivering high level Customer service in a fast-paced environment.
* Significant subject matter expertise and application of pet welfare and handline of domestic animals
* High standard of verbal and written communication.
* Current full driving licence
* The ability to demonstrate, understand and apply our Blue Cross values
It would be great (but not essential) if you also had:
* Performance management and improvement experience.
* Experience working with volunteers.
* Understanding of safeguarding issues.
Want to know more detail? Great! We have attached the job description which hopefully gives you everything you need.
How to apply
Please visit our website, click the apply button and complete the online application process before the closing date on Sunday 10 November 2024.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive an overwhelming response.
Job Benefits
Our people are the most important part of delivering our purpose. If it were not for their amazing efforts and commitment, we would not be able to make the difference that we do today.
In return, Blue Cross wants to ensure we provide you with the best working environment we can. We want you to be happy working for us and will do everything we can to make sure you are.
Our generous benefits package includes:
* Enhanced annual leave entitlement: 30 days plus bank holidays
* Pension scheme with enhanced employer contribution
* Health cash plan
* Life assurance
* Unlimited access to an employee assistance programme
* Programmes for physical and mental wellbeing support
* Free access to GP via MetLife
* Recognition scheme Annual volunteer days
* Claim for professional fees
To read more about the benefits Blue Cross has to offer, please visit the 'why work for us' page on our website.
About Blue Cross
Blue Cross is a national charity that has been helping sick, injured and homeless pets since 1897.
Every month we help thousands of pets and their people by providing veterinary care, expert behaviour advice and find homeless pets loving families. We also offer education for future generations plus pet bereavement support for those who have lost their beloved pet companion.
We love the ways that pets can make such an amazing difference to the people they live with and we offer lifelong support and advice to help that unique relationship thrive. With your support we can give back to more pets and their families who need our help.
Pets change lives. We change theirs.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion
We believe that every pet should enjoy a healthy life in a happy home, and we always seek to recruit the best people who share our values and commitment so we can continue to help and support pet owners across the UK to achieve this.
At Blue Cross, we want you to feel that you belong, without the need to hide any part of who you are.
Diversity and inclusion at Blue Cross means creating a workplace where all people, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, nation or country of origin, disability, age, and socioeconomic backgrounds are welcome, respected, supported, and have access to equal opportunities.
We are working hard to reflect the world we live in and the communities we serve at every level of our organisation. As much as we have made positive advances, we consider diversity and inclusion to be a work in progress – a continual commitment that remains a priority for all of us.
If you would like to talk to us about any reasonable adjustments or changes to our recruitment process to support you to be your best, then please get in touch.
Our values
Our values define the way we do things. We use them every day to guide us, and to make sure we put people and pets at the heart of everything we do.
Compassionate: We listen, we are non-judgmental, we are kind and caring to the pets and people we encounter, and we offer support in difficult times
Courageous: We make brave decisions, embrace change, and encourage innovation, ensuring we always act with integrity – doing the right thing even when no one is looking
Inclusive: We value all our relationships and work in an open and positive culture where we celebrate our diverse talents and empower you to be you