He's pressed hard, surprisingly, to find an animal minder (11)
I believe the answer is:
shepherdess
'an animal minder' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'he's pressed hard surprisingly' is the wordplay.
'hard' becomes 'h' (abbreviation used in pencil classifications).
'surprisingly' indicates an anagram (a surprising ordering of the letters).
'hes'+'pressed'+'h'='hespressedh'
'hespressedh' anagrammed gives 'SHEPHERDESS'.
'to find' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shepherdess that I've seen before include "Bo Peep, perhaps" , "Little Bo-Peep perhaps" , "Tender of animals" , "She guards flock" , "Country girl" .)