Cat Grooming Salon Assistant — With Apprenticeship Opportunity
Awesome Paws Cat Salon is a cats-only grooming facility. We're hiring a Salon Assistant who wants to build a real career working with cats.
Read this part first.
Handling cats in a professional grooming environment is not the same as owning cats. Your cat lets you brush her on the couch. That tells us very little about how you'll do here.
In this salon you will work with cats who are frightened, defensive, matted to the skin, arthritic, elderly, or have never been handled by a stranger in their lives. They will hiss, growl, spin, bite, and try to leave. Reading that behavior correctly — before it escalates — is the job. Loving cats is the baseline, not the qualification.
If you're not comfortable with that reality, this isn't the right fit, and that's okay.
What you'll do
- Safely restrain and handle cats during grooming, using proper technique
- Read feline body language and communicate what you're seeing to the groomer, immediately
- Bathe cats and assist with baths
- Dry cats and assist with the drying process
- Prep shampoo, tools, and grooming stations
- Check clients in and out
- Answer phones, schedule appointments, return messages
- Handle daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning to keep the salon spotless
What we're looking for
- Substantial hands-on cat handling experience — vet tech, vet assistant, shelter, rescue, boarding, or grooming backgrounds are ideal
- The ability to stay calm and steady when a cat escalates
- Someone who speaks up about a safety concern rather than pushing through it
- Physical stamina — this is a standing, lifting, wet, hair-covered job
- Reliability, a positive attitude, and genuine willingness to be taught
What we offer
- Hourly pay plus tips
- Hands-on training with a clear path into a cat grooming apprenticeship
- A cats-only environment where groomer safety is non-negotiable — we don't ask staff to take unnecessary risks, and we don't finish what can't be finished safely
If you have real experience with difficult cats and you want to turn that into a profession, we'd love to hear from you.
Job Types: Full-time, Part-time
Pay: From $13.00 per hour
Benefits:
- 401(k) matching
- Employee discount
- Paid time off
People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply
Work Location: In person
