How to be a valuable member of staff
- Be aware of where to stand when moving stock on a farm or working with horses
- Learn how to operate gates and tie suitable knots – if you don’t know, ask someone to show you – it’s ok to find this difficult initially
- Always leave gates and stable/kennel/cage doors as you found them
- Follow Health and Safety rules – ask about these during your first few days
- If you are shown how to do a job which needs doing regularly, show initiative and get on with it when it needs doing e.g. filling up water buckets
- Check you are allowed to do these things alone – when being shown how to do something you could ask “next time this needs doing, can I just get started or should I always check first?”
- If you want to discuss something or need to ask for help, try and wait until people aren’t too busy
“I noticed the staff always cleaned the kennels at the end of the day – when I offered to do it, they were so grateful and I felt really appreciated”
Quote from a student.