Applications Due: February 26, 2024

Job Description:

Do you enjoy developing close relationships with cats and learning all of their likes, dislikes and fascinating quirks? Do you love sharing your love of cats with others? Does that include an endless capacity to enjoy other people’s cat photos and stories? Do you enjoy learning new things about cat behavior and sharing that knowledge with others?

Members of our cat lounge team help care for our 10-15 permanent resident cats and facilitate positive visitor-cat interactions. Candidates for this position need to have experience caring for groups of cats in a rescue/sanctuary setting or experience fostering cats for medical or behavioral reasons. They also need to have a strong understanding of cat behavior, including best practices for fostering positive relationships between cats and strategies for resolving behavior challenges.

• 50% ensuring well-being of cats (feeding and cleaning routines, enrichment and monitoring individual cats and cats’ relationships)

• 50% working with the public, facilitating interactions between visitors and cats

Requirements (please do not apply if you do not meet ALL of these):

• Experience caring for a cat population in a shelter, rescue, sanctuary or equivalent environment (paid or volunteer) OR experience fostering cats for medical or behavioral reasons

• Ability to work weekends (the cat lounge will be open Wednesday through Sunday and closed Monday & Tuesday)

• Ability to maneuver 40 pound bags of cat litter

• Ability to work onsite (this position has very little remote work)

Preferred Experience:

• Working with the public

• Have lived in the greater Boston area for at least 3 years (hiring local is one of our core values)

Application:

1. Resume (going over one page is okay to include relevant volunteer and community experience!)

2. Instead of a cover letter, please explain how you would approach the following four scenarios. Your total responses to all four scenarios should not exceed three pages. This will be used to evaluate your understanding of cat behavior and your approach to interacting with the public in the cat lounge. If you’re struggling to respond to any of these scenarios, this probably isn’t the right position for you (we’ll be posting other positions in the coming weeks!).

• Scenario One: A stray cat with no microchip is brought to a rescue and set up in a space by himself. The finders report the cat was very friendly and confident before being put into the carrier, but since his arrival several hours ago he has stayed in the carrier and there is no evidence he has come out for food, water or the litter box. What are five strategies you would consider to reduce his stress and increase his confidence?

• Scenario Two: Two cats have been settling into a new space in separate rooms. They have never met and their history with other cats is unknown, though they have shown some positive interest in other cats. The goal is to have these two cats share the whole space 24 hours a day and to feel comfortable leaving them together unsupervised. What strategies would you use to maximize the likelihood they will get along, including a rough timeline for each phase of the introduction?

• Scenario Three: While working in A Sanctuary Cafe’s cat lounge, you notice that a visitor is offering a resident cat their beverage, which is against the rules. The visitor signed a waiver agreeing to these rules before they entered the cat lounge and the rules are also visibly posted throughout the space. How would you approach this situation (balancing prompt interception of the behavior and professionalism) and how would you explain why this rule is so important for the health and safety of the cats?

• Scenario Four: Two friends have entered the cat lounge. One is a lifelong cat lover but the other expresses a fear of cats. How would you help the fearful person feel more comfortable in the space and model approaching a cat for the first time?

Hourly Rate: Starting at $22.59 (Based on MIT’s Living Wage Calculator)

Benefits: Paid Time Off (Vacation Days, Sick Days and Personal Days), Health Insurance (Medical, Dental & Vision), Retirement Benefits after First Year

Onsite Benefits: Discounts at the cafe and bookstore, access to ARCs (advanced reader copies of books)

Please send your resume and cat scenario responses in pdf format to info@asanctuarycafe.com.