Guess what? I hang out with dogs for a living now... No biggie!
.
When I first moved to the city, I realized that Dex needed some more training. After doing some research, I set up a meeting at Pups Pet Club to get Dex evaluated for training. This is when I met Dan, the CEO at Pups, for the first time. I was incredibly impressed with Dan's knowledge, his coworker's patience and the Pups business model as a whole.
Fast forward a few weeks, when I unexpectedly lost my job. Luckily, Lauren's school offered me a temporary, part-time subbing gig. However, I knew that I wanted to find something that could lead to a career... Or something that I was passionate about... Or at least something fun since my last few jobs have made me feel so insignificant and miserable.
And that's when Pups came back into my life.
I applied to be a full-time Doggy Daycare Attendant with a "hey, at least I'll get paid to play with cute dogs all day" mindset. When I went in for an interview, they asked if I'd be willing to work the front desk as well. Of course I said yes. I won't divulge every detail of my first few weeks because frankly, it's not that exciting. But, I will say that this is the most exciting, insane, interesting and fulfilling jobs I've ever had. Obviously it's great to "get paid to play with cute dogs" all the time, but I also took great responsibility in taking care of each animal and making sure their owner's felt important to us.
My supervisors must have caught on to my keen sense of excitement and responsibility because an opportunity for advancement came fairly quickly.
While I was closing the Lakeview Club one night, Dan came in for an evaluation similar to the one I had a few months prior. The pet-owner was reluctant to spend so much money on dog training because, frankly, she was young and probably didn't have $600 laying around. So, she was in the same boat that I was when I started training with Dex. I heard the hesitation in her voice so I interrupted their meeting to say, "hey, I was in your exact position few months ago but I paid the money, listened to every piece of advice Dan gave me and ended up seeing a ton of improvement with my dog". Just like that, the client was ready to commit to training. That's also when Dan realized that he had helped me in the past which led to him presenting me with a potential promotion. He asked me about "my ideal future with the company" and where I saw my career going. I told him that I ideally wanted to get back into communications and marketing. Truthfully, I didn't even consider the fact that Pups might have that kind of job for me. Plot twist: they do. Dan and I met for a semi-formal interview a few days later and he offered me the Member Advisor role within the Sales & Marketing team at Pups Headquarters!
Ever since that offer, I have felt an overwhelming sense of excitement and relief. Excited to advance my career and relieved to have work stability again. This is quite literally a dream job for me and I’m ecstatic to move forward with Pups. Especially because I’m (clearly) passionate about dogs.
Now, it wouldn't be a Kate Quill blog post without some kind of cheesy lesson. So here it is. This experience has taught me to be an advocate for myself. I need to remain truthful about my "wants" and vocal about my "needs" in order to obtain them. Additionally, I need to communicate these things to the people around me because they might just help me take that next step!
Alright, if you've made it this far, I truly appreciate it. So, here's some cute dogs as a reward! Say hello to Cosimo, Dottie, Kevin & Potato (a blind angel puppy).
Comments