You need someone who can care for the pets on your schedule and work well with your team. Before you write an ad, make the job itself clear: what the person will do, what support they will have, and what you can genuinely offer.

Use the steps below as a working checklist. GroomJobs provides hiring resources, not live listings or an application system. You will need to choose and manage your own application channel.

1. Work out what help you actually need

Review a few recent weeks of appointments. Where does work get held up: bathing, finishing, reception, cleaning, or a particular type of grooming? Write down the gap before deciding on a job title.

Separate tasks the new person must handle on arrival from skills you have time and capacity to teach. Do not substitute a blanket years-of-experience requirement for a description of the work.

Record:

  • The services, coat types and handling situations involved.
  • The schedule you need covered and any flexibility you can offer.
  • Who handles bathing, check-in, cleaning and client communication.
  • Which tools and maintained equipment the salon supplies.
  • Who provides supervision, feedback and training.
  • The route for raising a pet-safety or workload concern.

Use the daily capacity calculator to explore your own appointment timing. Its arithmetic is not a recommended number of dogs per person; actual capacity depends on the work and available support.

2. Put the pay and expectations into plain language

Describe the pay basis and the details a candidate needs to understand it. If the arrangement includes commission, explain which revenue counts and how the calculation works. State the actual schedule, benefits eligibility and costs the employee would be expected to cover.

Avoid borrowing a pay range from an unsourced national table. Compare current relevant local offers, check your own budget, and have the terms reviewed for applicable requirements before posting.

The compensation guide and commission calculator can help you organize questions and examples. Neither determines whether a proposed arrangement is compliant.

3. Write a listing that describes your real salon

Specific details give candidates something to respond to. Replace phrases such as “great culture” with what they can expect: who helps with bathing, how appointments are scheduled, and how a concern is handled.

A listing outline to adapt

The brackets below are placeholders—not a live job or a suggested compensation package. Replace every bracket with a confirmed detail and remove any offer you cannot provide.

[Role title] — [Salon name], [location]

We are looking for someone to handle [specific services and responsibilities].

Schedule: [days, hours and any flexibility].

Pay: [confirmed range or formula, with a clear explanation].

Support and equipment: [what the salon provides].

Experience needed: [skills required now and training available].

Benefits: [actual benefits and eligibility, or omit].

Apply: [the application method you manage, what to include, and who will respond].

Do not claim a certification, benefit or advancement opportunity unless it is true and current. See the job-posting guide for more help.

4. Choose a few channels you can maintain

Consider your existing professional network, relevant training providers, local industry communities and an appropriate job-listing service. Check each channel's current posting rules, audience and any cost before using it.

Keep a simple private record of where you posted, when it went live, the enquiries it produced and which became relevant conversations. That is more useful for your next hire than assuming one channel always produces better candidates.

Choose a reply routine you can sustain. Tell applicants what the next step is and close or update the listing when the role is no longer open. Do not leave an unattended inbox as the only application route.

5. Compare evidence, not first impressions

Use the same core, job-related questions for each candidate. Ask about their role in portfolio examples, how they approach an unfamiliar coat or handling situation, and when they would stop and ask for help.

Clarify what you do not know. A short tenure or a gap in a résumé is a reason for a neutral question, not an automatic conclusion about someone's reliability.

Start with the groomer interview questions and interview scorecard. Write down relevant examples and unresolved questions rather than relying only on a total score.

A conversation and portfolio review can happen before any practical assessment. If you later consider an assessment involving live animals or productive work, first establish appropriate safety, supervision, permission, insurance and applicable employment arrangements. This article is not a protocol for running that assessment.

6. Make the offer and first week clear

Confirm the responsibilities, pay arrangements, schedule, start date, reporting contact and any agreed conditions in writing. Leave room for the candidate to ask questions before they decide.

Before their first day, prepare:

  • Equipment access and the salon's cleaning and handling procedures.
  • A named person who can answer questions.
  • An introduction to booking and client communication routines.
  • An initial schedule matched to the person's demonstrated skills and available support.
  • A time to check in about workload, expectations and training needs.

Keep the promises made during hiring visible. If you offered training time or a review conversation, put it on the calendar.

7. Learn from the process

After the hire, note which channel brought the candidate, which questions clarified the fit, and what you wish you had explained earlier. Ask the new team member what was unclear during hiring and onboarding.

You do not need a complicated system. One clear role description, a consistent interview record and a first-week plan give you a process you can reuse. The retention guide can help you continue those conversations after onboarding.