Emergency Hiring Plan
Goal: Have a DP fully-trained by the end of 4 weeks from their start date.
Game Plan Overall:
Job Ad. Turn on an Indeed job ad, set with a medium-to-high budget to get lots of applications quickly. Note: This amount will depend on the market. In Memphis, there isn’t a difference between spending $30 a day vs $50 a day in the number of applications you will get. So set it at the highest that makes a difference. Be sure to put an end date on the ad just in case you forget to turn it off.
Interview ASAP. Start interviewing and scheduling ride days ASAP. Remember, no matter the pressure you feel to just hire someone, anyone, we would rather hire SLOWLY and make the RIGHT call on hiring then make a bad or even just ok hiring decision and then have to live with it for a year.
Immediate Start Date. Ask your preferred candidate to do everything possible to start immediately, even foregoing the cultural norm of a 2 week notice (unless doing so would leave the other company in a bind, which just isn’t ethical (Value #4). You can do this by just asking them if they can start on a certain date or just plainly stating that we have the position open on this date and need someone starting then, and then let them figure it out.
Shelter Partner. Get a shelter partner if you don’t already have one so that you can accelerate the training schedule. See below for how to do this.
4-Week Bonus. Incentivize the new hire and their trainer to get all the training done in 4 weeks to get their bonuses.
Accelerated Schedule. Start the training plan which is below.
Fill Their Calendar. During the end of the 3rd week of their training, if they are ready, start pre-selling their calendar to get them setup with clients.
Case Study For How We Did It The First Time
Click here. (We hired and trained two people at the same time using an LT and a full-time Dog Pro.)
DAILY SCHEDULE
The daily schedule is split in 2 with study time and in-field time each day.
Schedule based off LT
10:00-1:00 - Study/Shelter Time
1:00 - 1:30 - Lunch
1:30 - 2:00 - Cert Study
2:30-6:30 - In-Home Lessons
Schedule based off Normal Dog Pro Schedule
10:00-12:00 - Study/Shelter Time
12:00 - 12:30 - Lunch
1:00-6:30 - In-Home Lessons (cert study in-between lessons)
How It Works:
The trainee meets the trainer at the shelter or wherever the training is taking place, and then follow them to the in-home lessons as they move about their day. After each lesson the two call each other to discuss what happened with each appointment.
When we are at the shelter our goal is to pick a handful of a select dogs to work with at each shelter. We don’t want to train all the dogs at the shelter.
The Overall Steps To Training A New Team Member:
I do, you watch.
I do, you help.
You do, I help.
You do, I watch.
Week To Week SCHEDULE:
Week 1
1st half of the day - Cert 1 study and indoctrination only.
2nd half of the day - Client appointments where the trainee is watching only.
Evening HW this week: Cert 1 Study
Weekly Goal:
1) The DP needs to be Cert 1 certified.
Week 2
Note: For this plan to work, you must have a partnership with a shelter.
1st half of the day - Start Cert 2.1 and 2.2 and go to the shelter to let the trainee get hands-on.
2nd half of the day - Client lessons where the trainee is being more hands-on with the Trainer leading.
Evening HW this week - Study Cert 2.1-2.2.
Weekly Goals:
1) The DP needs to pass the Cert 2.1 test and have grasp the first parts of Cert 2.2.
2) The DP needs to be “getting it” as far as the hands-on dog training moves following their trainer’s instruction.
3) The DP needs to watch their assigned videos.
Week 3
1st half of the day - Go to the shelter to get hands-on and start Cert 2.3.
2nd half of the day - Client appts where the trainee is hands-on and somewhat leading.
Evening HW this week - Continue to watch these videos and read the written materials.
Weekly Goals:
1) The DP needs to fully grasp the concepts of concepts in Cert 2.2.
2) The DP needs to be able to lead most exercises as well as come up with a game plan for the next lesson BEFORE the lesson starts with minimal help from the trainer.
3) The DP needs to watch their assigned videos.
Week 4
1st half of the day - Go to the shelter to get hands-on and pass Cert 2.2 and 2.3 tests.
2nd half of the day - Client lessons where the trainee gets hands-on leading ALL the exercises.
Evening HW this week - Continue to watch these videos and read the written materials.
Weekly Goals:
1) The DP needs to fully grasp the concepts in Cert 2.2 and 2.3, pass their tests & be certified.
2) The DP needs to be able to lead ALL exercises from start to finish with the client and run their game plan by their trainer before the appointment.
3) The DP needs to watch their assigned videos.
Week 5
The new trainee starts in-field alone on Thursday with their own clients, leaving Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday open for them to get any extra training they may need. Heavy, in-person QC done by a Certified Dog Pro during this week.
Weekly Goals:
1) The DP needs to be working their own personal clients this week.
2) The DP needs to be able to win over their clients emotionally, do a great job and deliver wow to them.
3) The DP needs to be doing such a great job that their QC supervisor has almost no negative feedback for them.
Week 6
More clients of their own and they are working solo some with more in-person QC by a Certified Dog Pro.
Weekly Goals:
1) The DP needs to be able to win over their clients emotionally, do a great job and deliver wow to them.
2) The DP needs to be doing such a great job that their QC supervisor has almost no negative feedback for them.
Offer To The Shelters
We’ll train the dogs for FREE in basic commands and a few problem behaviors like pulling on the leash and jumping on people to help make dogs more adoptable. The dogs that get adopted we will do a FREE In-Home Evaluation.
Any dog that gets adopted we will do a FREE In-Home Evaluation for and if they can’t afford training we will send them some free resources we have created.
Optional - We’ll give 1 FREE in-home lesson for the adopting families (only for the dogs we work with) to help make them more placable.
Optional - We’ll give the adopting families 3 months of FREE Wonder Dog Tribe Membership with any dog that gets adopted that we work with that isn’t reactive or aggressive.
Optional - We’ll give a donation if needed to make this partnership work. This may not be needed but it is an option if needed.
Issues we ran into With Shelters
When pitching the first shelter their interpretation of what I offered was somehow that we would train dogs for free for the clients. So make very clear that we are helping train some basic behaviors for dogs and then doing a Free Eval.
General Script For The Shelters
“We are looking to partner with select local shelters and rescues to help make the dogs more placable by training them in some basic obedience. We are willing to send our certified Dog Pro’s out a few times a week when we have extra time in our calendars throughout the year. Is this something that you’d interested in exploring?”
If they are interested then tell them the offer above.