WHEN REVIEWING APPLICATIONS
(1) HOW TO LOG IN
Login to: https://manage.rescuegroup
(save this link on your browser navigation bar or add a link on your desktop to make logging in easier)
Account 5664
Username ___
Password ____
**Click, remember me / save login so you don’t have to actually log in each time
Go to features (top navigation bar) –> submitted forms
***You can use view: ‘Assigned to You’ to see all the open apps assigned to you or choose another view if you so choose
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(2) CHECK APPS AS FREQUENTLY AS POSSIBLE, ASSIGN APP TO YOURSELF
Initial Application Review:
From here go to “VIEWS” drop down (under submit a form button)
–> ‘all new applications’ (you can see comments, who they were left by and when, where the applicant is located, animal they are interested in, date submitted, etc)
–> Click on an applicants “FORM ID #” (don’t click form, contact, etc, it won’t bring up their app. Only the form ID # brings up their actual app)
–> Edit form details –> assign to –> choose your name –> SAVE –> View Answers –> Read through app –> after you’re done reviewing: click ‘Contact Applicant’ at the top –> put your email in the FROM…. click ‘Load an Email message’…
(3) FOLLOW UP VIA EMAIL ON APP WITHIN RG
If you are denying them choose –> ‘No fit at this time’ message –> make sure ‘from’ says ‘info@ROMPRescue.com’
If they have an incomplete app choose –> Incomplete Message –> make sure ‘from’ says info@ROMPRescue.com
If you have questions choose–> Follow up Questions –> list your questions between the first paragraph and the ‘Wags’
**You can use the window expand icon (looks like two // ) in the bottom right corner of the ’email body’ box to make it bigger and add in additional questions for follow up–> Send Email
(Any/all other subsequent follow up dialog will be handled through your email as if they provide follow up answers, it will be directed at your email address)
After you click send, you’ll get redirected to the form answers page and that email will be added to the comments
(4) ADD COMMENTS TO APP & P/F (Pass/Fair) for STEPS
You can add any additional comments you feel important (i.e. why you denied an application or what you liked about the, etc) to the comments section –> Click Comments, click add comment. You may want to add why you denied someone, what you liked / did not like about their app, etc so it’s easy when Liz or someone else looks at the app, we can see what you saw in the candidate (and if they apply again, we can cross reference their last app)
–> click form from (applicant’s name)
–> Steps –> Check which steps were completed and if they were passed/failed (Reviewed (pass/fail), if pass then Sent follow up Q’s P/F, if pass that then looks good
(5) CHANGE APP STATUS
–> When you are done reviewing, click ‘form from (applicant’s name)’ (or ‘form ID’ for them if you are login in again and at the submitted forms page)
–> Edit form details:
DENIED (if you sent the response not a good fit aka Denied) (your step should be fail)
INCOMPLETE (if you sent them the response to resubmit b/c app was incomplete) (your step should be fail)
ADOPTED ELSEWHERE (if they let you know they since adopted elsewhere and no longer looking for a pet) (your step should be fail)
CANCELED (no longer want to adopt – it happens sometimes) (your step should be fail)
REQUESTED MORE INFO or UNDER REVIEW if you sent them an email / are reviewing
DELETED – duplicate application, if they sent in two of the same forms, mark 1 to status deleted***For any apps YOU LIKE that are missing references in their initial app but they provided it in the follow up dialogue, ADD IT TO THE APP (Submitted forms –> Form ID –> Edit Answers –>add them in —> Save)
(6) IF YOU LIKE, ASSIGN TO MELISSA MOSS
If you like them after all your communication –> change status to ‘under review’ and assign the application to to Melissa.
It will send her a copy of the application.
ALSO send Melissa a copy of your Correspondence with all the Follow Up Questions.
She will make sure no two adopters being passed through review will be for the same dog.
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(6) APP REVIEWED BY LIZ
Melissa –> Will get email with app, click on app link to open –> View answers, wait for follow up Q responses from volunteer fwd’ing them to you via email **Make sure you are logged in per step 1 before clicking on link
If you need to ask more question
–> continue dialogue from fwd message
If you do not like the app
–> Change status to DENIED and leave a comment why
–> add ‘Liz Reviewed’ step to FAIL
If you like the app:
–> Change ‘assigned to’ to Karen or Debbie
–> Change dogs status to PENDING so we no longer take in additional apps for that dog
–> Leave status as ‘Under Review’
–> add ‘Liz(Melissa) reviewed’ step as PASS
–> Send them an auto message ‘Doing Ref Checks on your app’ so they know to expect ref’s to get called
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(7) MELISSA SENDS GOOD ONES FOR REF CHECKS TO KAREN OR DEBBIE
–> Will get email with app when it’s assigned to you, click on app link to open and pull off reference information –> View Answers **Make sure you are logged in per step 1 before clicking on link
–> check personal 1 / personal 2 / groomer / vet ref to ‘pass’ if you successfully completed them. Leave the ones blank that you still have to do
**If someone gave a reference that has a bad number / not working, EMAIL them asking for another reference. Click the email icon next to their application within RG or ‘contact applicant’ while you are viewing their answers within RG. –> Load an Email message: Bad Reference Number. Add the appropriate type of reference that was bad (personal, vet, groomer) and note their name and the number that was provided. –> REPLACE YOUR EMAIL in the’ FROM’ –> SEND
Check to ‘fail’ in steps if the reference gave a bad referral i.e. said didn’t trust them / bad with pets / etc
–> if they have any fails, change status to DENIED
–> Send email with ‘not a good fit’ message
If they pass all ref checks, leave status as ‘under review’ assign back to Liz as she will need to setup a home visit or assign one of us to do so
Use this page to complete ref checks:
https://romprescue.com/
https://romprescue.com/
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(8) THOSE THAT PASS REF CHECKS –> ASSIGN TO LIZ FOR HOME VISIT
Liz –> if you don’t want to do/can’t do the home visit, assign it to whomever you want to do so (Diann (west suburbs), Steffie, Corrine and Jill (city of Chicago), Jodi/Wendy (MI)) offered to help
Change status to ‘home visit scheduled’ when it’s scheduled, leave comment with date/time scheduled.
Home Visits: Use this form to complete home visit reports
Post home visit, change home visit STEP to pass/fail
If they failed, change status to denied and leave a comment as to why
If they passed but no adoption yet, make a comment that they passed home visit but need xyz type of dog, or … can adopt after such and such date, etc. Whatever the hold up is, write it in the comments and Change status to APPROVED
For Foster homes, change status to APPROVED TO FOSTER
If adoption does take place, change to status ‘adopted’ and it will prompt you to fill out a successful adoption which will take the adopted dog off our available list (self explanatory, if you are responsible for this and cannot figure it out, let me know and I’ll do it)
(9) Additional home visits –> see (8) and repeat
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**If there are two applications that are the exact same, mark one – deleted (this happens because they hit the submit button too quickly rather than waiting for a redirect and it sends two to us :/ ) In such cases, if you can remember, go to contacts, type in that persons name, and check both contact and select MERGE from the drop down in the upper left corner. otherwise, I’ll go in a merge duplicates periodically in the future
ADDITIONAL NOTES
VIEWS explained (I can add views or data within the view, if you feel something is missing let me know)
–> All Open Applications: Adoption, foster & volunteer apps that are in status ‘submitted’
–> Applicants in Review: adoption/foster/volunteer app with status appointment schedule, pending, requested more info, waiting home visit, waiting landlord, waiting vet check
–> Approved: any app with status approved
–> Hold for Better Match: those with status hold for better match
–> Adopted: those with status adopted (meaning adopted from ROMP)
–> Assigned to You: any app assigned to you that is open (open app = submitted, pending, under review, waiting vet check, waiting landlord, request more info, appt scheduled, hold for better match)
–>Closed: All apps with status adopted elsewhere, waiting on applicant, returned, expired, cancelled, forwarded, sponsored, hold, deleted, denied, incomplete
Default & All statues…you can’t see comments or see city/state in these views :/ so I don’t use them
Volunteer Apps (leave them alone, don’t review, only review foster/adoption apps)
**You can search for an application by the contact person’s name. Login, go to the search box on the left, make sure it says CONTACT (not animal), then type in part of their name / email / phone / etc and it will pull up contacts that match, click on the correct applicant, click submitted forms (on top) and it will pull up forms from them 🙂
When checking references:
1. Introduce yourself as a volunteer from ROMP and explain that a friend of theirs offered their name as a reference because they are interested in adopting a dog from us and ask if they have a few minutes to answer a few questions.
2. Try to be conversational while asking questions. The questions we provide for reference checkers are a bare-minimum guideline. Ask follow-up questions. Obtain and note as much information as possible. The information you are gathering is very important in the decision-making process. Not everyone will be a good fit for one of our rescues. I’d rather know that at the beginning rather than after the dog is adopted and the adoption fails or something terrible happens to the dog. Eg, if someone says that the applicant has solved behavior issues in their pet before, ask what kind of issue, what did they do to resolve it, how long did it take, did they seek outside help, etc. Sometimes the devil is in the detail. They may have had a dog that had a house training issue and they solved it by turning an indoor dog to an outdoor dog. That would be a deal breaker for ROMP.
Ask the reference how they know the applicant. If they are friends, are they work friends, college friends who haven’t seen each other in ten years, or neighbors who BBQ together every weekend? You get the idea.
Ask if the reference has a dog. What kind of dog? Has the applicant ever interacted with their dog or dog-sat for them? What can they tell us about those experiences?
3. Be sure to thank them for their time and remind them they can always call or email us if they think of anything else that we should know.
4. Never express an opinion on whether or not the applicant will be approved for adoption. Just explain that reference checks are only one step of the screening process.
5. When checking references, pretend you are re-homing your most beloved dog and ask as many probing questions as you can think of to make sure we have a complete picture of the applicant’s personality, history, etc.
See step 7 in ‘Reviewing Applications’ (above) for instructions on how to submit apps for review (in blue)
Application Stats / What to expect
Incoming applications = ~20/week
Should be adopting out ~ 4 dogs / month
Should have 1+ foster home visit / month
We get about 20 apps in each week. In theory, if all the application reviewers check 5 apps a week that should cover all the incoming apps. Of all those apps, each app reviewer should approve 1-2 ‘amazing’ apps each month for reference checks, so be selective!
Each reference checker should call on 1-2 applicants references each week based on approvals from application reviewers.
If we adopt out 40 dogs a year (which is about right) each home visit volunteer (Liz, Jill, Jodi/Wendy, Diann, Corrine) should to do 1 home visit / adoption each month + 1 foster home visit.
Those are the goals, thank you for helping us stay on track and help the pups!