food service associate

crew member

zookeeper

bartender

service crew

Toledo Zoo

I was in the facilities and grounds crew (custodial) for a summer/fall season while I was still in college, so this won't be speaking for the zoo as a whole, just this department.

As far as part-time work goes, the pay is pretty good, and you can expect good hours during the busy season.

The work is moderately physical, with long hours spent outside on zoo grounds, but that really isn't a problem if you like that kind of work. It can make for a really rewarding experience, especially if you like seeing the animals and walking the zoo grounds. You are also expected to help guests when needed, which is also nice if you enjoy that sort of interaction.

Scheduling is a low point here, especially as someone with outside obligations. You don't get much notice before the schedule is sent out and the call-off procedure tends to apply whenever management feels like it. Requests for time off, even when given in advance, are typically ignored, not even rejected. The management just genuinely didn't look at the request or forgot about it, since I often got scheduled for days I had requested off, but management only seemed to be made aware when I had mentioned it after the schedule came out.

Expect hours to be cut in the  fall/winter months. This came unexpectedly for me, and I had little notice to find supplemental income. It may be my lack of occupational experience that would have led to this surprise, but there was no mention of this AT ALL, not even a passing reminder during the morning meetings. Nothing in the job description leads one to believe that hours slow down later in the season. I hope that they have rectified this issue.

Training here is a joke. Not so much in the quality of the training, as it is conducted by senior coworkers, who did a pretty good job when I was here. The problem lies with whether or not you will be trained on a task in the first place. While training is SUPPOSED to be logged by whoever is training you, management rarely checks up on this. This is not to suggest that training co-workers aren't doing their diligence, but yet again, its a problem with the management.  A few times I was asked to do something I was not trained on, and it was only because the management did not check the logs in the first place to even see if I was trained on it. This is made worse by the fact that they seemed annoyed and regarded it as an error on MY part.

I only worked at the Toledo Zoo for about a month, and in the time I worked there, even though I had applied for 5 full days a week part time, I got at most two 3 hour shifts per week. Once I even got zero hours for the week. the base pay for park operations, and as far as I know you can’t get a raise in this position, is $12 an hour. this job is great as a side hustle if you’re willing to cooperate with the incredibly inconsistent schedule and the iron grip payroll has on management (you’re only allowed to clock in 5 minutes before your shift and there’s 800 underworked part time employees on pay roll) but as someone trying to have a real genuine part time job with a consistent schedule and good hours, this did not work at all. I’m not the only one, I worked gates, the parking department works way less than gates. Most days, gates have to charge parking while the parking employees get sent home when it’s a little bit slower than usual. See what I mean by the iron grip of payroll? Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, the policies in place and the culture is wonderful, I’ve made some wonderful friends at this job, but the company is far too concerned with paying their employees as little as possible whenever they can. For your sake, try somewhere more stable, or get a separate part time job on the side.

A typical day at work, being whatever day you signed up, would be hot sometimes muggy since it was a summer job. It's different for each person because you can sign up for a day and time that fits your life schedule. Requirements for Seasonals, those who worked during the summer, were 40 hours of work done by the end of October so you can work next year or move up to Year-rounds. Management was great, they took very good care of the teens and made sure they were enjoying themselves while also doing what they were supposed to be doing making the Toledo zoo a fun and educational place. The co-workers where great to be around and sometimes you even made friends to hang out with afterwards. The hardest part was remembering your schedule and being patient to wait for reliefs. If you did conservation projects the hardest part was picking up trash, placing mulch and lifting heavy objects like tires in the hot summer heat. The most enjoyable part of the job was making new friends, seeing smiles on little kids faces, and at beginning of October and you have your hours in the field trip to different zoo's. What I learned there has helped me through High school. It taught me a lot about public speaking and making it easier for me and other zooteens to speak out in public. It also taught leadership skills. 

As an Avian Care Intern, my typical day began at 7 am. My first responsibility was to clean the public exhibits designated to me, and then change the water and feed the birds within them. Upon completing these tasks, there were always other odd-jobs that had to be done, such as preparing the diets for the next day, washing dishes, or issuing bird enrichment devises. The zoo also provided enrichment for it's employees in the form of lectures and seminars that one could attend on a variety of subjects. Very interesting stuff! 
The most difficult part at first was ensuring you had all the diets in the right place. It just takes some time to know what's right and what is wrong, but there was always a helpful co-worker there to address any questions and concerns I might have. The best part of the job was being around all the amazing different species of birds, each with it's own brilliant plumage and behaviors. Some birds are more indifferent to your presence than others, but the keepers would never put you or the birds in danger, so nothing to worry about there.

The only benefit to working at the Toledo Zoo if you aren't someone that is a higher up or has a job built around a license or a degree or what not is location. For many its convenient and there is a bus right to it.

Worked there for about 4 years and while they welcomed me back after cancer that is about it. The crew is so so, its very laxed but I'd say they are pretty good overall.

The pay is always state minimum, no incentive to change it the whole thing is non-profit so  you are basically doing glorified charity work.

Never was once considered for a promotion or full-time.

But people were nice and I got to move around a lot so it wasn't all bad.

But hind-sight 20/20 5 years later, wish I picked somewhere else to start to help me grow.

Look else where for a first job if that is what you are thinking. If this isn't your first job and you are looking for a hourly part-time job? You are worth more and I would look else where as well. Unless you are walking distance I would look elsewhere.

I absolutely love my job, been here for about 10 months, our management is pretty great for the most part excluding their Crew Meal Policy. I really enjoy working here, hard work is worth it when minimum wage where I live is $15.50. I have awesome co-workers and have never really had a problem with anyone, everyone may not be as enthusiastic to work, but we don't deal with people hiding in the back on their phones, so that's cool. Managers are good, they listen to employees concerns and do their best to help whenever needed. We have a decently busy store most days but we never really have issues.
Training in the beginning wasn't incredible, but they gave us the time to learn. Absolutely love this restaurant and I l'd say it's the cleanest store out of all the stores our franchisee own. This place has made me want to eat more McDonalds (I've heard that some stores make people absolutely despise McDonalds food) But honestly I'm always happy to come in on short notice to cover shifts, I really enjoy my work, even if it is just minimum wage, it gives me something to do and a little money as a bonus.

Show up early and prepare the zoo for the day. Depending on weather and any events going on it could range from less than 100 to about a couple thousand a day. Management in the food areas was lackluster and hard to work with. Very moody and if you got on their bad side they would talk behind your back. Could use some change in that department.. But the employees in the admin and non food areas are great! They don't treat you like a number and were very friendly! Hardest part was working with the higher ups in the food departments. If they weren't happy no one was happy. The best part was getting to see all kinds of animals everyday! I would recommend this job to someone starting out entry level or someone who likes a bit of change from day to day.

Good starter job for college student who live at home or someone looking to learn more about Landscaping.  There were plenty of easy slower days and then there were a lot of hot sweaty days with a lot of strenuous activity.  Most of the people you work with are prettty nice and the supervisors were pretty professional.  The pay was minimum wage and it's just a part-time position.  I was technically considered a seasonal employee but worked there for two years straight? It's a beautiful environment and it's nice to be around the animals.  You get to help with the Christmas lights in the winter, if you don't like working out in cold weather than this is not for you.
You can use this kind of job as a stepping stone because they will definitely be using you.

When I look back at my experience at the Zoo, I would say overall not a good place to work. People will be used and nothing done about getting pay raise or promotions. They say you get a pay raise every year buts it’s a quarter at most. Worked there for 5 years, never did anything terrible and if I made any mistake I owned up to it and fixed it. Yet had a situation happen and was called into HR and it was handled horribly. I could tell they were going to let me go before even hearing about my side of the story. Was a misunderstanding at most but my side didn’t matter in the slightest. You can be part time and working 40+ hours a week in 3-4 days and be there working more then some full time employees but yet you wouldn’t get full time benefits or such

The environment itself was great, if you enjoy the animals and the work on its own was easy. Working over the summer, most days were hot in the intense sun and heat. It was left to you to keep yourself cooled and hydrated. On the record hot days of the summer, free water was given out to guests, but not to staff. Staff had to either bring their own, or use one of the few good drinking fountains. Although it seemed higher management didnt care for you much, low end management (supervisors, department managers) made up for such with close relationships and a strong team bond.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Food service associate 10 salaries reported	$13.00 per hour
Crew member 8 salaries reported	$12.36 per hour
Zookeeper 4 salaries reported	$18.77 per hour
Bartender 9 salaries reported	$14.42 per hour
Service crew 6 salaries reported	$13.00 per hour

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