Equine Careers: How Grooms can increase their salary
Several times, every day I am involved in discussions with grooms and employers about salaries. One of the most commonly asked question by grooms in what is considered a poorly paid profession is, “what can I do to get the top end of the salary ranges advertised in your jobs?”.
There are some basics you can achieve fairly easily:
- Ensure you have the best possible level of skills…learn from professionals and be able to showcase what you can do at the job interview/trial
- Have good people skills and be a team player who can mix
- Make smart career moves and choose jobs which help you get to where you want to be in your career
- Stay in those jobs 18 months minimum
- Have a professional but succinct CV
- Have us negotiate your salary with employers when finding your next job on THE GROOMS LIST
- Gain some extra qualifications
Intelligent Career Planning
This is by no means all you can do to enhance your equine career. Any investment in your career will undoubtedly pay back dividends, but you don’t want to make moves and spend money on qualifications and licences willy-nilly. Through a series of articles over the next few months, we will tell you how you could get some serious extra money in your pay packet each month.
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How to grow your equine career AND your salary!
When working with horses, whether as a groom or an employer, we do need to acknowledge the physical risks we put ourselves and others in, often in remote locations. We have all seen the gory pictures, we don’t need reminding and most of us have at least one story to tell. As the first in a series of articles about how grooms can increase their salary, let’s start with the simple, effective, inexpensive and possibly life-saving step – get a First Aid certificate PLUS get a 10% discount on the course fees via The Grooms List! But beyond financial considerations, let’s not forget that we need to look after ourselves and each other. Find out more about options available to you, the difference it makes to your business or career and, of course, claim your 10% discount here!
Several times, every day I am involved in discussions with grooms and employers about salaries. One of the most commonly asked question by grooms in what is considered a poorly paid profession is, “what can I do to get the top end of the salary ranges advertised in your jobs?”. There are some basics you can achieve fairly easily, and any investment in your career will undoubtedly pay back dividends, but you don't want to make moves and spend money on qualifications and licences willy-nilly. Through a series of articles over the next few months, we will tell you how you could get some serious extra money in your pay packet each month. Bookmark this page to easily access the entire collection of articles as it grows...
By having a 7.5 tonne+/HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) license, and a certificate to legally transport horses (as part of your job, or as your job) you can add anything from circa £200 up to £1000 or more to your monthly wage. If you are a freelance groom to add this service to your skills repertoire can really improve your “offerings” to prospective clients. The outlay required to get these qualifications can be steep for many, but at The Grooms List we have many jobs that come in where the Employer is happy to fund this training in return for a contractual promise to remain in the role for which you were employed for a mutually agreed fair period of time. The Grooms List by Caroline Carter Recruitment has negotiated a cracking 20% discount for you or your employer to make this more affordable for you by partnering with a specialised HGV trainer who trains...
Whether to gain qualifications is always a hotly debated topic and many have strong opinions on the subject. There is no doubt about it that the BHS qualifications are prized highly throughout the world and will, especially when combined with additional practical experience, make you more sought after in certain areas of the equestrian job market both at home and abroad. They can be a door opener and an income booster in many situations! We are delighted to have another guest blogger on board to start the review on this big subject....
There are of course many factors which influence the longevity and success of any working relationship. Between grooms and employers, none of these are more hotly debated these days than that of grooms’ salary and the general package. You don’t have to look too hard on social media to see the disgruntled outpourings from all sides and every day I have conversations which clearly demonstrate much is still left to be done for this situation to become resolved. I don’t pretend to have an answer as to how we raise the income levels of this particular sector, (which is in many ways is similar to many of the “caring professions”) but I believe how and when the topic of salary and terms is covered within the whole interviewing process, if addressed, could have a positive impact on the longer term security of those involved. In this article, I give both...
The most fruitful horsey careers are built on consideration and planning. Unless you understand some of the key things recruiting employers take seriously, you cannot structure your equine career development to your maximum benefit in terms of getting the best job choices, salary and associated benefits. Taking your first equine job and seeing where life takes you can be quite a ride, but if you stick to this as a strategy, it is unlikely to get the most the equine industry has to offer and it can lead you into some terrible situations too that can stop many a promising career in its tracks. Again social media is full of grooms with stories to tell on that front! In this article, we ask what job longevity means and how it might positively, and negatively, impact your equine career development.
At any stage in your life, deciding on or changing a career pathway is a very tall order. We have to identify a working life that is enjoyable, that we are not only capable of but are likely to be good at, and that will sustain us financially and provide for our retirement. It’s hardly surprising that so many of us passionate horse lovers opt for a career with horses! So many young horse lovers stand on the threshold of their adult life envisaging a long future of playing with ponies every day and being paid to do it. What’s not to love?! Well, quite a lot actually – living the dream can soon become very disenchanting… unless you do it right!
As specialist equine recruitment consultants, we see the good and bad outcomes of unstructured career pathways and the results of the "rooky errors" grooms make without correct guidance. We're passionate about the part we can play in improving the role of an equine groom as a credible career pathway. Many equestrians join the equine industry by making a blind leap into it, accepting the first job available to them. Needless to say, this isn't a constructive foundation for a fruitful career in the equine industry. Many grooms resort to "job-hopping" in search of the training and opportunities they crave, without realising the damaging effect this has on their CV and future career prospects. By contrast, an Equine Apprenticeship makes the you focus on what you would like to achieve within your career and how you can achieve it. You can then source meaningful employment as an Apprentice Groom, enabling you to...
