Casual Pet Sitter (Sunday Morning and school holidays)

About us

Purrfect Sitters Ltd has been trusted to care for customers’ animal families in Leeds, West Yorkshire since 2008, and we are a well-established business. We offer a personalised pet sitting service, catering to a variety of animals, including cats, birds, fish, rabbits, hamsters, and even wild animals in need. Everyone at Purrfect Sitters truly cares about the animals in their charge, whether it’s kittens wanting to play and explore or feline OAPs needing medication and routine care. We are also responsible for people’s houses we take out bins water indoor plants and open and close curtains as requested.

Job Title: Pet Sitter

Location: Various - your day will start and finish at the
company office, 49 Fawcett Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS12 4PE, but the role
involves travel across Leeds.

Reports to: Purrfect Sitters Owner/Manager

Salary: £379.16 per month (£12.50 per hour)

The successful candidate can also opt in to our pension scheme with payment made once sufficient earnings have been met.

Hours: This role will suit a student or someone available during Leeds City Council school holidays. It requires 364 hours per year. This is approximately worked out at 4 hours per week term time and 16 hours per week school holidays.

There will be a core number of hours each week covering SUNDAY Morning, with the remaining hours worked during our peak service times over school and national holidays (Bank holidays, Easter, Summer holidays, Christmas, and New Year). You need to be available and at the office in LS12 for 5.45am For the starts of shift every Sunday morning.

Once established extra shifts can be added, they will be paid as a zero hour contract additional to your set monthly payment.

Holidays: 44 hours per year (holidays cannot be booked during
our peak service times). Hours will be accrued if more hours are worked each month.

Reviews: Annual reviews of hours, wage, and holidays.

Role Details:

We are looking for an enthusiastic cat loving Pet Sitter to join us, who has care and empathy as well as a positive 'can do' attitude and not put off by animal hair or mess!

We provide a non-judgmental, professional pet care service in customers' homes when they cannot be there. We visit pets in their own homes once or twice a day to feed, clean, and care for them when owners are on holiday or unavailable. Our bespoke service aims to look after our customers' animal family in the same manner as they are accustomed to at home, this involves cleaning and looking after the clients home by opening and closing blinds putting bins in and out and watering indoor plants when requested.

The animals you will be visiting are mainly cats, with additional care provided for birds, rats, rabbits, fish, tortoises, and occasional reptiles. Training will be provided on how to care for different pets.

The role involves substantial lifting, squatting, bending, and occasional crawling to ensure all animals are present and correct. Therefore, a relatively good level of general fitness will be required. this job requires a lot of driving, you might need to drive up to 20 miles per round.

The wage reflects the complexities and concentration needed for the role. We are looking for someone who can stay focused, calm and who can work alone and self-supervise to ensure tasks are completed in a timely manner. The job can also be quite pressured at times with work needed to be done in a short space of time.

Applicants must reside in the Leeds area and easily be able to travel to the office LS12 for the start of each shift, preference will be given to anyone who is local to LS12. A full, clean driving licence is essential. You will work across all our postcode areas, and a good knowledge of Leeds is desirable. Use of a personal vehicle during summer, for visits may also be required, subject to the vehicle passing satisfactory checks. You will be responsible for informing your insurers, and we will reimburse 45p per mile for travel.

The ideal candidate will genuinely love animals and understand that pets rely on us for care and attention while their owners are away. The role is predominantly a lone worker position, requiring confidence to work alone while maintaining a professional approach to ensure assigned tasks are completed. This is a highly responsible role with shifts that demand immediate mental concentration. While working with animals is rewarding, it involves a considerable amount of trust and responsibility. We are seeking someone with enthusiasm, patience, and, most importantly, someone who is level-headed and unflappable.

On working days, availability to accompany your manager to new customer consultations may also be required as and when needed.

Skills & Requirements:

• Full, clean, UK Drivers Licence.
• Reliable and committed.
• A genuine love of animals.
• Experience and confidence in working with animals, particularly cats. Full training will be given.
• Have a good basic knowledge of English and Maths.
• A good level of general fitness.
• The candidate must be willing and able to work a varied schedule.
• Able to work under pressure, alone and responsibly.
• Good eye for detail with excellent observational skills.
• Ability to work calmly and methodically.
• Ability to self-supervise to ensure all tasks have been completed with the safety of the house and cats being paramount.
• Hard worker with a positive attitude.
• Comfortable working on a computer. Ability to work a smart phone and Satnav.
• Able and confident enough to occasionally meet with new customers and speak to them about our services.
• Have excellent time management skills to ensure all duties are carried out within the agreed time.
• Safe and courteous car driver.

Disclosure Check: A full check will be done via the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), formerly a Criminal Records Bureau Check. No final offer of employment will be made until a satisfactory response has been received. Purrfect Sitters Ltd will pay for this.