Applications Due: Rolling

Job Description:

Do you enjoy developing close relationships with cats and learning all of their likes, dislikes and fascinating quirks? Do you love sharing your love of cats with others? Does that include an endless capacity to enjoy other people’s cat photos and stories? Do you enjoy learning new things about cat behavior and sharing that knowledge with others?

Members of our cat lounge team help care for our 10+ permanent resident cats and facilitate positive visitor-cat interactions. Candidates for this position need to have experience caring for groups of cats in a rescue/sanctuary setting or experience partnering with a rescue/shelter to foster cats for medical or behavioral reasons. They also must have a strong understanding of cat behavior, including best practices for fostering positive relationships between cats and strategies for resolving behavior challenges.

Your day-to-day responsibilities will consist of:

• Ensuring the well-being of our cats including feeding routines and scooping litter boxes, enrichment and monitoring of individual cats and cats’ relationships, and regular care such as nail trims, ear cleanings, brushing, and preventative treatments

• Developing and maintaining close relationships with the cats. Learning their particular idiosyncrasies to best track their habits and behaviors and monitor any changes over time

• Monitoring 50+ daily visitors in the cat lounge and ensuring they are following all rules as well as facilitating interactions between visitors and cats

• Delivering a structured and consistent introductory speech to guests upon entry into the space

• General care of the space including regular cleaning and maintenance

• Taking and delivering drink and food orders from our cafe

Requirements (please do not apply if you do not meet ALL of these):

• Experience caring for a cat population in a shelter, rescue, sanctuary or equivalent environment (paid or volunteer) OR experience partnering with one of the above groups to foster cats for medical or behavioral reasons

• Ability to work weekends (the cat lounge is open Wednesday through Sunday and closed Monday & Tuesday)

• Ability to maneuver 40 pound bags of cat litter

• Ability to stand for long periods of time and walk up and down stairs multiple times a day while balancing a tray of food/drinks

• Ability to work onsite

Preferred Experience:

• Working with the public

• Have lived in the greater Boston area for at least 3 years (hiring local is one of our core values)

Application:

1. Resume (going over one page is okay to include relevant volunteer and community experience!)

2. Instead of a cover letter, please explain how you would approach the following four scenarios. Your total responses to all four scenarios should not exceed three pages. This will be used to evaluate your understanding of cat behavior and your approach to interacting with the public in the cat lounge. If you’re struggling to respond to any of these scenarios, this may not be the right position for you.

• Scenario One: A stray cat with no microchip is brought to a rescue and set up in a space by himself. The finders report the cat was very friendly and confident before being put into the carrier, but since his arrival several hours ago, he has stayed in the carrier and there is no evidence he has come out for food, water or the litter box. What are five strategies you would consider to reduce his stress and increase his confidence?

• Scenario Two: While working in A Sanctuary Cafe’s cat lounge, you notice that a visitor is offering a resident cat their beverage, which is against the rules. The visitor signed a waiver agreeing to these rules before they entered the cat lounge and the rules are also visibly posted throughout the space. How would you approach this situation (balancing prompt interception of the behavior and professionalism) and how would you explain why this rule is so important for the health and safety of the cats?

• Scenario Three: Later that day, you overhear visitors trying to figure out if two cats are playing or fighting. Being as objective as possible, what cat body language and behaviors would you look for to determine if this is a friendly cat interaction or a disagreement? If you decide the interaction is more aggressive than playful (or may be turning aggressive), what would you consider when deciding if a human intervention is necessary and, if necessary, what strategies would you use to intervene?

• Scenario Four: Two friends have entered the cat lounge. One is a lifelong cat lover but the other expresses a fear of cats. How would you help the fearful person feel more comfortable in the space and model approaching a cat for the first time?

Hourly Rate: Starting at $23.50

Benefits: Paid Time Off (Vacation Days, Sick Days and Personal Days), Health Insurance (Medical, Dental & Vision)

Onsite Benefits: Discounts at the cafe and bookstore, access to ARCs (advanced reader copies of books)

Please send your resume and cat scenario responses in pdf format to info@asanctuarycafe.com.