Pets at home assessment evening?

[charcobain]

Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone has ever applied for a job at P@H and been invited to the group assessment evening and would be able to tell me what exactly goes on as I've been invited to one on Sunday, thank you!

[RubyDooby]

I've been to two, you just sit with a group and say a little bit about yourself and your pets, you then do some group activities like building hamster cages and making fish tank displays. They also just tell you about how pets at homes training works. Its all very relaxed. I got through that stage and had a trial morning but I never got the job, luckily! I now work in a cattery

[charcobain]

Originally Posted by RubyDooby

I've been to two, you just sit with a group and say a little bit about yourself and your pets, you then do some group activities like building hamster cages and making fish tank displays. They also just tell you about how pets at homes training works. Its all very relaxed. I got through that stage and had a trial morning but I never got the job, luckily! I now work in a cattery

Ooo, okay thank you! I'm actually intrigued to get the job as my P@H is rather nice compared to some you hear about, as much as I love animals and people, I'm curious as to what actually happens behind closed doors there.

[racinghamster]

I imagine it`s like a `get to know you` excersize and team building. But it`s worth remembering they are a retail store like Tesco even though they sell livestock. Might be worth going for though if it means someone on the team who has good knowledge, but you would still have to grit your teeth and sell naff cages and hamsters to screaming children. I don`t think I could! x

[GhostsInSnow]

I've also been to 2 different ones. They both started out with use standing in a group, the staff introducing themselves and telling us what it's like to work for P@H and the sort of training you can do, then we got split into smaller groups for a "group task". The first one I went to (I never ended up getting the job), the group task was to design a fish tank so we'd chose a tank in store and then find all the bits and pieces we wanted to put in and add those plus a list of the fish we wanted. We had to decide on a target audience for the tank and market it towards them and then we had to "sell" it to the staff.

The second one I went to, the group task was a lot more amusing. We were each given 5 newspapers and some tape and had 25 minutes to build a tower as tall as possible without sticking it to the floor or anything else to help hold it up My group came second

After the group assessment thing, they get you all back together and then send you off one at a time with a member of staff to do a bit of an informal thing which is basically asking you when you're available, where you see yourself in 3 years, just basic stuff really and you can ask any questions you want. I always ask about career development and opportunities to move up the ladder as it shows ambition and stuff. When you've finished this bit you can leave and you usually find out within a few days whether you get through to the next stage (work trial) or whether you've been unsuccessful.
I'm waiting to hear back from my second one at the moment but the manager from my local is on holiday this week so I won't hear anything until she gets back next week.

It's worth remembering, as racinghamster said, that they are retail first so they value retail experience over animal experience. I guess it's easier for them to put you through their animal training rather than having to train you how to do retail. Most important thing though, be yourself and have fun.

[racinghamster]

The training sessions sound to me like testing your ability to think on your feet, have intuition and some organisation. If they gave me a fish tank and some accessories to `sell`, I would probably place a lot of pebbles (natural) on the floor of the tank and natural foliage suitable for the type of fish I was being asked to sell because they could catch you out giving you goldfish or tropical fish, so I would research cold water and tropical fish and try and look as though I knew what I was doing! Both species probably require different set up`s. So do some online research. Go that bit further than your typical applicant. x

[katmick]

I am working in a large chain pet-store in Ireland. Just weekends. To put myself through college. It is nice and rewarding when you see good animal owners and animal lovers and people that truly care about animals.
It is not nice when you care about hammies and you realize that you cannot beat the system, when your manager tells you to sell the cages that they want you to sell, eventhough you trying your best to explain what is best for hammies. At the end of the day, that job is a retail, but it needs people with true passion and knowledge about animals who can hopefully bring about the change.
Good luck with it. x

[racinghamster]

katmick is right. You have to make the best of what`s in store and if even giving new owners advice on extending their cage or upgrading it, that`s a good job done. Pet stores attract good owners as well as the bad ones, so being there for the hamsters and other animals is all good if you can convince and persuade. x

[Thin Lizzy]

Has anyone else noticed that P@H are selling the hamster sky cage in their stores?
They've got it priced at £70! I walked past and saw it but had to go back and double check as they've never before. At last!

[charcobain]

I just got back! It was pretty nice and relaxed, there were 6 of us all together (out of 15 :/) and we had to build a bridge out of newspaper that was able to hold dog toys and then give a presentation about animals, they gave my team a Royal Python. In the end we had a mini interview, got a thank you card and left! Fingers crossed guys!