Lost and Found Volunteer at Lost Cats Brighton

What does the opportunity involve doing?

Our Lost and Found volunteers work from home and must have access to a laptop or desktop computer. The volunteers are part of a team who look after the ‘Lost & Found’ side of our work on a rota basis. ‘Shifts’ are available in the morning and / or afternoon during the week, in the evening or at weekends. Most volunteers offer a few hours each week.

The role involves working across several different platforms (Facebook, our website and email…and sometimes phone) to promote lost and found cats within Brighton & Hove and the surrounding areas. The objective is to help raise awareness, support owners and try – wherever possible – to help reunite lost cats with their families. This work also involves identifying stray cats – some of which may come into the care of Lost Cats Brighton (via our network of short-term foster carers).

Once we have received your completed form we will invite you for an interview. This would be an informal chat with one or two of our existing team of volunteers.

Due to the nature of this side of our work, we deal with sensitive and private information (contact details for members of the public etc) and so we need to complete due diligence to be assured that we recruit volunteers that are suited to the role, reliable and trustworthy. Therefore we will also ask for one or more references ahead of finalising any offer from us to join the team.

What induction, training and support is offered?

Full one-to-one in person training will be given for this role, followed by opportunities to shadow an experienced volunteer. Training takes place over a number of weeks, and will continue until our experienced volunteers are confident a new volunteer is ready to work independently.

Initially, although working independently, new volunteers are always given a specific team member to contact should they need to.

Volunteers work remotely from home and are provided with a detailed handbook and training checklist, as well as day-to-day backup support from other volunteers via a Whatsapp group.

We are particularly looking for volunteers who can also help with some community outreach work; this may involve chip-checking a found cat or even helping owner's who need support to leaflet and speak with neighbours when their cat has gone missing. As the role involves direct work with members of the public volunteers are asked to adhere to our safeguarding and volunteering policies.

Volunteers need to be able to commit to being available at pre-agreed times (times that they have previously committed to being available). They must be team players with a willingness to adhere to the systems, beliefs and values of Lost Cats Brighton.

What skills or qualities are needed?

The role involves working directly with members of the public, therefore volunteers will need to be polite and feel confident when interacting with people who may be feeling distressed.

Patience, a willingness to be flexible, a team player, non-judgemental, a willingness to follow guidelines, diligence, good attention to detail, resilience, someone who enjoys a little bit of detective work sometimes(!), someone who is motivated to help cats in need, honest, has good empathy and a good sense of humour are all required for this multi-faceted and incredibly rewarding role.