PetRelocation Core Values: “Why Work With Us?”
In his commencement address to the 2005 graduating class at Stanford, Steve Jobs said, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
This philosophy is a huge component of our culture at PetRelocation and relates to one of the key questions that a candidate is expected to answer before being asked to join our tight-knit team. Very simply, we want to know, “Why Us?”
In a vibrant and growing city like Austin, there are always job openings for project managers, high-end customer relations, or people with sales and professional services expertise – and many of those are with high profile, easily recognized companies.
The people we end up hiring did not start their job search thinking, “I want to work in the pet travel industry!” Instead, most individuals will discover one of our job postings on Indeed, LinkedIn or Simply Hired if they were not referred by a current employee or a former client.
For this reason, the PetRelocation hiring team only reviews applications that include both a resume and a cover letter. This is a continuing topic of discussion when it comes to modern recruiting and recruiting philosophy. One article by Kim Isaacs on Monster.com, “Should you always send a cover letter?” espouses a number of points that we think are valid on this topic.
Sarah celebrating her first completed pet move
The capacity to do a job (possessing the requisite skills and competency) is only part of the total package that our hiring team assesses. When submitting an application to PetRelocation, the standard form letter providing an overview of your resume – pointing out recent accomplishments or repeating back to key words from the job description (“You want someone who can do X, which I have with a 25% increase in revenue”) are useful, but should be supplemented with additional information.
At PetRelocation, we believe that a well-written cover letter will help us to understand why a candidate is interested in working here specifically. What about the job posting or the company caught your eye? People tell us all the time, “I love animals.” That’s good, because we do, too. However, the people who will advance further in our candidate interview process share with us what inspires them and what they hope to learn while being a member of the team. In other words, tell us more.
If a member of the team sees a resume that looks promising but there is no cover letter attached, they might email the candidate to ask that one be submitted. But, that is the exception and not the rule. Our job postings clearly state: IMPORTANT! Tell us more about yourself in a cover letter and explain how your skills and experiences qualify you for this position. Applications without a cover letter will not be processed. Candidates should consider this a test that demonstrates they are detail-oriented and can follow instructions.
Want to come work with Jack in our pet friendly office?
We read each new resume with the hopeful expectation that ‘this person will be the next new hire at PetRelocation.’ That is one reason for these ‘behind the scenes’ posts shared on the PetRelocation company blog. I hope that future applicants find this informational and educational.
If there are questions or suggestions you want to make about other topics of interest related to Human Resources, please reach out by emailing us here. If you're interested in working with us, please take a look at our careers page to see all current job openings.