A pet sitter is someone who cares for a pet in its home while the owner is away. It could also include taking the pet on a walk. A pet sitter is responsible for providing food and water, brushing fur and teeth in the case of dog and cat, walking dogs, and cleaning litter boxes. They also give medications when necessary and take the pets to the vet if they suffer an injury or become sick while pet sitting them. Working as a pet sitter may sometimes require that you stay overnight at the owner's home so that you can let pets out for regular bathroom breaks.
To be a successful pet sitter, you should have a good rapport with animals. You should also be reliable and trustworthy, and you must have interpersonal skills, communication skills, and a love for animals. Pet sitters are not required to have any formal education but must be familiar with all the aspects of caring for pets. The median annual salary of a pet sitter is $23,760.
How to Become a Pet Sitter
What is a Pet Sitter
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Pet Sitter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $7.34 an hour? That's $15,270 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 16% and produce 51,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Pet Sitter Do
There are certain skills that many Pet Sitters have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Compassion, Customer-service skills and Patience.
How To Become a Pet Sitter
If you're interested in becoming a Pet Sitter, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 45.4% of Pet Sitters have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.5% of Pet Sitters have master's degrees. Even though some Pet Sitters have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Pet Sitter. When we researched the most common majors for a Pet Sitter, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or High School Diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Pet Sitter resumes include Associate Degree degrees or Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Pet Sitter. In fact, many Pet Sitter jobs require experience in a role such as Cashier. Meanwhile, many Pet Sitters also have previous career experience in roles such as Volunteer or Sales Associate.
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Pet Sitter Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a Pet Sitter can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as Nanny, progress to a title such as Lead Teacher and then eventually end up with the title Account Manager.
Pet Sitter Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Pet Sitter
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12 Pet Sitter Resume Examples
Build a professional pet sitter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 12+ resume templates to create your pet sitter resume.
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Emily Moore Pet Sitter |
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Pamela Perez Pet Sitter Experience Pet Sitter2019 - Present Menards•Columbus, OH
Pet Sitter2015 - 2019 Menards•Columbus, OH
Pet Care Specialist2013 - 2015 Menards•Columbus, OH
Skills Clients PetsPet ParentsMental HealthCPRLitter BoxesFarm AnimalsFamily PetsInsulin InjectionsPet StylistPatient Behavior Education Bachelor's Degree Psychology2010 - 2013 Ohio State University•Columbus, OH |
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Learn How To Write a Pet Sitter Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Pet Sitter resumes and compiled some information about how to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Pet Sitter Resume Examples And TemplatesAnd if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Choose From 10+ Customizable Pet Sitter Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Pet Sitter templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Pet Sitter resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Find the best Pet Sitter job for you
Pet Sitter Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Pet Sitter Jobs - $30K and Up
- Entry Level Pet Sitter Jobs
- Part Time Pet Sitter Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Pet Sitter Jobs
Top Colleges for Pet Sitters
1. University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA • Private
2. Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX • Private
3. Vermont Technical College
Randolph, VT • Private
4. Texas A&M University - Commerce
Commerce, TX • Private
5. North Dakota State University
Fargo, ND • Private
6. Saint Francis University
Loretto, PA • Private
7. The University of Findlay
Findlay, OH • Private
8. West Texas A&M University
Canyon, TX • Private
9. Post University
Waterbury, CT • Private
10. Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO • Private
Find the best Pet Sitter job for you
Pet Sitter Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Pet Sitter Jobs - $30K and Up
- Entry Level Pet Sitter Jobs
- Part Time Pet Sitter Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Pet Sitter Jobs
Online Courses For Pet Sitter That You May Like
Learn essential knowledge and skills to be able to confidently carry out emergency first aid on a pet animal...
Learn about behaviour in dogs, dealing with cats, rabbit behaviour, cats and dogs psychology, aggression in dogs, pet...
Essential training to keep your dogs safe, attract clients & gain skills & confidence to take action in an emergency...
Top Skills For a Pet Sitter
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 22.2% of Pet Sitters listed Customer Service on their resume, but soft skills such as Compassion and Customer-service skills are important as well.
Best States For a Pet Sitter
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a Pet Sitter. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Maine, Hawaii, and North Dakota. Pet Sitters make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $28,908. Whereas in Maine and Hawaii, they would average $25,112 and $24,718, respectively. While Pet Sitters would only make an average of $24,229 in North Dakota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$28,908
Avg. Salary
2. West Virginia
$22,048
Avg. Salary
3. Hawaii
$24,718
Avg. Salary
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