Are you tired of being held hostage
by your groomer who may or may not show up for work? Who's quality of
grooming is mediocre at best? Who "forgets" to clean ears or cut the
dewclaws? Who makes the grooming area look like a tornado hit it and
complains and
doesn't appreciate you or their job? Who keeps you in fear of saying
anything about their lousy work habits for fear that they will quit and then you
will have no one?
Have you ever considered sending an excellent staff
member to Georgia Pet Grooming School to learn to groom? What if, after your
investment in their education, they decided they could make more money working
for someone else? There's no way to get your investment back. We've
seen this happen many times. We have the answer to your problems though!
If you can relate to this, then keep reading.
We are
the leading pet groomer training school in the world. Our students come
from all over the world to learn our unique approach to pet grooming.
We are based in the Atlanta, Georgia area and have been consistently training
25-30+ students at a time in our Alpharetta training facility for over six
years. Last year, we opened our second teaching site in Marietta, Georgia where
we can train an additional 25-30 students. Our plans call for adding a third and
fourth location this year, in which we will be able to raise our volume to 100
to 130 students training at one time. We are planning to add more locations
next year.
We can
provide unparalleled training because we have by far, the highest ratio of
purebred dogs of any grooming school in the world. This
enables the students to receive top quality pets with which to learn. In
addition, the method with which the students progress through the training
program enables them to be taught by an expert in each step
as they are learning.
As part
of our plan for growth, we have closely
followed and examined the challenges most companies have specifically with
finding and keeping
highly skilled reliable groomers. We believe we have
come up with some solutions that will help employers such as you hire and retain
the best groomers possible. In addition, if you know of
some good candidates for grooming school, refer them to us and we'll train them
for you.
Below
are problems we have observed along with our solutions
ü
Contractual problems with schools
o
We require
no written contract or commitment from any employer with our schools.
Our training and hiring services are available
to you regardless of the level with which you choose to engage them.
If you are not happy with our services, you have
no obligation whatsoever to our school.
We have a contract with the student who is responsible for making payments on
their tuition beginning four months after they begin school. This gives
them enough time to graduate and work for at least a month before the first
payment is due.
ü
Amount of investment to train a groomer sent by the employer
o
We have
programs in place in order to make training extremely affordable for a
student to initiate. They can begin school by paying only the
registration fee and purchasing or borrowing their
grooming equipment. What this means for the employer is that if a student is
truly motivated, they can come up with the initial investment themselves and not
place that burden on the employer. Then they are also motivated to do well in
school, since they have invested in themselves. In addition, the employer does
not waste money investing in a potential groomer that does not have the right
aptitude for grooming. Monthly tuition payments do not begin
until four months after they start school,
which is enough time to graduate and begin working. Either the student or the
employer may pay these monthly tuition payments, which last for 18 months.
ü
Retention of groomers if you do invest in their education
o
First of
all, we have drastically lowered the initial investment that has previously been
required if an employer chose to send an employee to grooming school to be
trained.
o
Secondly,
we have a retention program in which the employer, after 30 days of satisfactory
employment from an employee begins paying retention
bonuses over an 18-month period. This in effect pays for
the cost of their tuition or takes over their tuition payments for them. This
strongly encourages the groomer to remain working for your company for at least
a year and a half or lose the bonuses. This is significantly less costly
than paying to train a groomer that just doesn’t work out.
ü
Length
of time it takes to properly train a groomer
o
We have
addressed this problem by increasing our training hours to make available as
much as 75 hours per week that a student is able to attend class. This makes it
possible to receive 600 hours of training in as little as eight weeks.
Generally, 600 hours is considered an adequate amount of training for groomers.
This quick intensive training period also greatly decreases the problem of
students becoming “homesick” and wanting to take a break in their training
schedule. However, should this happen, because we train each student on an
individual basis, there is not a problem if a student should choose to take some
time off in the middle of their training; they just pick up where they left off.
ü
High
cost of housing students while training
o
We have
negotiated a corporate rate with local extended stay hotels. Students sharing
rooms can further reduce costs. Sharing rooms is
usually not objectionable since the students can spend 75 hours per week in
class and very little time in their room. Our future plans call for adding dorm
type efficiency apartments at the Marietta teaching site.
ü
Ability
to evaluate and obtain top quality graduates
o
We are
all too well aware of the challenges involved in
finding highly skilled groomers. We have developed a program where top
prospective employers can discover who our very best
graduates are and keep them!
How would you like to hire an excellent, top quality groomer that is unshakably
reliable and dependable, and fast and efficient (10-12 pets per day) on top of
it, that will still be working for you a year and a half from now? Sound
too good to be true? We are all too aware of the challenges in finding
such a groomer. It's one of the main reasons we founded our grooming
academy back in 1999.
Here's how it works:
All during their education at our academy, all of our
students are evaluated bi-weekly and rated on the following traits:
They are evaluated and graded with a
point system that gives them a maximum score of 100%. They can receive
from a "0" to a "5" on each skill or trait. A "0" would mean they failed
in that area possible only once during that evaluation period, for example they
missed cutting one toe nail during the two week period. (We are very
strict and tough on them and strive for zero mistakes!) A "5" is worthy
only when any one of our expert instructors could not have done it better and they
consistently did it that well during the entire evaluation period.
Now you
can imagine how valuable it would be to hire graduates that consistently
maintained a score of 80% or higher through their entire education at our
academy! They would have impeccable attendance, a great attitude, be a
real team player (great for when your other groomer doesn't show up!), have
excellent grooming skills, never miss a thing, always have the pets finished on
time and always follow your rules, instructions, policies and procedures!
How do
you get these awesome employees and more importantly, how do you hang on
to them?
Here's
what you need to do- First, decide what level of employer you are. Let the
graduates know what you are willing to offer. We have a rating system for
the prospective employers, just like we do for the graduates.
Bronze Level Employers
After
receiving 30
days of satisfactory employment, a Bronze Level Employer can choose to begin
monthly retention bonuses in the amount of $339 which will pay for the graduate's tuition over a period of 18
months. If at any time you are not 100% satisfied with your recruit, you
may terminate employment and
the agreement will be null and void and you will have no further obligation
to the school or the groomer.
OR, Bronze level employers may agree to pay
commissions (or the hourly equivalent) of 60% after 6 months of satisfactory
employment.
Silver Level Employers
After 30
days of satisfactory employment, a Silver Level Employer will begin
monthly retention bonuses in the amount of $339 which will pay for the graduate's tuition over a period of 18
months. If at any time you are not 100% satisfied with your recruit, you
may terminate employment and
the agreement will be null and void and you will have no further obligation.
Gold Level Employers
After receiving 30
days of satisfactory employment, a Gold Level Employer will begin
monthly retention bonuses in the amount of $339 which will pay for the graduate's tuition over a period of 18
months. If at any time you are not 100% satisfied with your recruit, you
may terminate employment and
the agreement will be null and void and you will have no further
obligation.
In addition, the Gold Level Employer must agree to provide
their choice of one of the following: