Working at Petco?

[sally24]

Hey, I'm 16 years old and have recently been looking into the requirements for getting into vet school. I'm currently volunteering at a local animal rescue, and have been keeping track of the hours toward my small animal experience.

My question is, does working at a pet store positively effect my animal experience hours? I looked it up online, and some people say that it's not a good idea. Their reasoning was that you don't actually get to deal with the animals the majority of the time. 😕

So, yeah. I'd appreciate some insight. I'm new to all of this. Thanks! 🙂

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[grrrr121]

It won't affect you negatively to work there. I worked at Petsmart in the small animal department where I cared for the birds, fish, and exotics. I included all those hours in my animal experience. They have other positions you could include in animal experience too, like dog trainer or bather. But if you're a cashier or stocker, I would just include that in the work section as there is no direct work with animals.

 

[LetItSnow]

Hey, I'm 16 years old and have recently been looking into the requirements for getting into vet school. I'm currently volunteering at a local animal rescue, and have been keeping track of the hours toward my small animal experience.

My question is, does working at a pet store positively effect my animal experience hours? I looked it up online, and some people say that it's not a good idea. Their reasoning was that you don't actually get to deal with the animals the majority of the time. 😕

So, yeah. I'd appreciate some insight. I'm new to all of this. Thanks! 🙂

I dunno that you can claim all your working hours as 'animal experience', can you?

It probably wouldn't impact you negatively. The real question is whether you could use that time for better experience elsewhere.

 

[abbercadaver]

Hey, I'm 16 years old and have recently been looking into the requirements for getting into vet school. I'm currently volunteering at a local animal rescue, and have been keeping track of the hours toward my small animal experience.

My question is, does working at a pet store positively effect my animal experience hours? I looked it up online, and some people say that it's not a good idea. Their reasoning was that you don't actually get to deal with the animals the majority of the time. 😕

So, yeah. I'd appreciate some insight. I'm new to all of this. Thanks! 🙂

The rescue hours are awesome and will definitely count towards animal experience.

The pet store hours....eh, I doubt it'll be able to 'boost' your hours much, unless you worked as a Vet Assistant or maybe as a groomer? Just working in the store (e.g. not 'with' the animals), won't count just because it's a place of business associated with animals. 🙁

Good on you for keeping track of hours already!

P.S. There are "animal" and "veterinary" hours that you have to fulfill. Just so you know. The "veterinary" hours have to be completed under a veterinarian. 🙂

 

[bunnity]

At this point in your life, getting a job on your resume is a really good idea and may make things easier when you are looking for more directly vet-related jobs down the road. I think the fact that it's animal related, even if you can't list every hour as "animal experience" on a vet school app, is even better.

 

[Trematode]

Is employment at pet stores really looked favourably upon by vet schools?

There is a chain here that has a very bad reputation for neglect (which I have witnessed in one store) and giving out incorrect pet care information (which I have witnessed in 2 stores over an 8 year span). They have made the news before for some of the things that have been done.

Are you positive that working in a chain store will not affect someone's application?

I donno, IMO, working in a Ma and Pop store, specialty store (like a fish store), groomer, etc. would be more valuable experience. Depending on the reputation, wouldn't fast food look better on an application?

 

[Tiger369]

At this point in your life, getting a job on your resume is a really good idea and may make things easier when you are looking for more directly vet-related jobs down the road. I think the fact that it's animal related, even if you can't list every hour as "animal experience" on a vet school app, is even better.

👍

I think that getting a job working in a pet store is better than fast food, as long as the pet store takes care of their animals properly. I feel like it would be more valuable for the future if you try getting a job as a vet assistant to put on your resume that you worked in a pet store and helped to take care of the animals there.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Is employment at pet stores really looked favourably upon by vet schools?

There is a chain here that has a very bad reputation for neglect (which I have witnessed in one store) and giving out incorrect pet care information (which I have witnessed in 2 stores over an 8 year span). They have made the news before for some of the things that have been done.

Are you positive that working in a chain store will not affect someone's application?

I donno, IMO, working in a Ma and Pop store, specialty store (like a fish store), groomer, etc. would be more valuable experience. Depending on the reputation, wouldn't fast food look better on an application?

I think it's fine as long as you have a balanced view of things coming out of it. I've certainly had experiences at places that I thought was horrible for the animals, and pretty much spent 2/3 of my interviews talking about them. I talked about their public reputation, how the place actually ran, what was bad about them, what was good, and how things could have changed and what prevented those changes from happening. Interviewers seemed to be especially interested in my roles at those places, and what personal actions I'm proud of/not so proud of.

So while I don't think working at a pet store is by any means the best experience to have on an application, I don't think it necessarily would be negative.

 

[SnowyRox]

👍

I think that getting a job working in a pet store is better than fast food, as long as the pet store takes care of their animals properly. I feel like it would be more valuable for the future if you try getting a job as a vet assistant to put on your resume that you worked in a pet store and helped to take care of the animals there.

That would be my feeling.

Treat it as a stepping stone to get job experience. Do your own research to understand proper care and don't simply trust your employee manual (but obviously adhere to your job description).

 

[bigkittinteef]

I also worked at Petsmart for three years taking care of the fish, birds, small mammals, etc. I listed it as animal experience since the majority of my time was animal related (feeding, cleaning, basic medical treatments, etc). The schools I applied to didn't seem bothered by it at all; if anything I believe it helped. I feel that it is a great place to start if you have trouble getting a job at a hospital.
I have to admit, some chain store locations are not as good at maintaining acceptable standards. One I worked at was downright awful, but the second location had a pre-vet student as a manager. She made the second location a completely different (and much better) environment for the animals and myself. It's hit or miss with chains!

 

[thenuttyclub]

For what it's worth, I'd say this definitely isn't something that will negatively impact an application. I've worked at 2 different pet store chains doing different pet care jobs, as well as worked as a trainer for PetSmart. Did I get animal experience - definitely, but I think the bigger things that I took away from it were dealing with clients and helping advise them about new/existing pets (client relations is extremely important... love working with animals all you want, but realistically a veterinarian also has to deal with people 95% of the time!), proper/preventive care, and most importantly some very deep insight into the human-animal bond.
There are so many more sides to getting quality experience for an application than it just being animal or veterinary experience. You can get great experience that is directly related without it even being near animals; it just depends what you take away from the experience. Adcoms are generally looking for people who are not only motivated, but mature and well-rounded and able to look at bigger picture ideas. Don't sweat the small stuff. You've got lots of time to build a great application!!