Just a couple of days ago I was hired at Smolak Farms as their Animal Care Manager. Such a nice name for: feed the chickens and pick up the poop! It is actually a bit more than that, but it's close.
It was a rather random process that led up to this job. Craig was perusing craigslist as usual looking for a job for him better than bus driving. He came across their post and sent it to me. I thought, sure, I can do this for a while. I've done chores once or twice in my life. I went for a short interview and was hired a day or two later. I officially started Monday, and have spent the last 3 mornings feeding the various animals, doing more thorough mucking out of their shelters (in the rain I might add), and taking some time to let them acclimate to me and trying to "make friends" with them so they get used to interacting with people.
The fun part of this job besides the animals is that the owner wants to develop the animal area more, and I can give input on how to do that. We may be halter breaking the bigger animals so they can be led around, and held so kids can pet them. It's pretty flexible at this point.
I am also going to manage one or two other workers who will help cover chores every day and help develop the educational side of the animal areas. One girl works as a host at the science museum, so I think she will have good ideas about how to make it more interactive and engaging.
So check out the farm's website and see where I work now! The greatest part is that it's only 4 miles from our house. Even though we only have 1 car, it's not much of a burden to drive around giving each other rides to and from work.
Stay tuned for updates on the critters and my first management position.
