I recently joined and I wonder if I did something wrong. I advertised for a sitter and received one application and maybe 10 indications of interest. I contacted 4 or 5 of the interested sitters over the next 3 days, with 2 sitters giving me a potential confirmation, but nothing definite. These 2 did not materialize, so I attempted to communicate with the only applicant (so far) to invite him to have a conversation; however, he had already withdrawn his application. Then today the applicant reapplied. I answered honestly that I now had an applicant and a planned phone interview, didnât know how that would work out, and asked whether I could contact him in either case. My thought was letting him know if I had selected another person was the right thing to do. His response was that I was playing games and not to ever contact him again. What???
I wouldnât take it personally. There are many members here whoâve had a lot of different experiences. Some people get frustrated by the system. We all need to give each other a little grace.
Welcome to forum @Anastasia52 !
I donât quite get your process, so:
The usual way to go forward is to
Publish a listing and dates
Sitters apply for dates
Host reach out to applicants they would like to explore a possible sit with to have a videocall
The parties have a videocall. Both host and sitter decide whether they are still interested (or not).
If host would like the sitter, the host will send a formal invitation to sit. If not, the host start over with another sitter.
The sitter can withdraw at any time until sit is confirmed.
If the sitter accepts the formal invitation to sit , there is a formal confirmed THS sit.
If you have one applicant and go forward with people that havenât applied, that would be a huge red flag for me as a sitter. If you reached out and had him re-apply and then said you was going forward with someone else, I too would consider it flaky and a host I wouldnât partner up with. It could seem as youâve been stringing him along as a back-up.
THS is about good matches between equal partners. Your process could be interpreted as a sign that you donât get the THS spirit. Sorry to be blunt, but probably best this time to be clear.
Iâm not quite following- I gather that the one application you received originally didnât seem suitable so thatâs why you talked with others ?
You only need one sitter - if one is suitable and available , arrange a video call asap and if that goes well , offer them the sit .
The majority of sitters on the forum have said that they prefer prompt responses to their application and will withdraw if they donât hear from hosts .
For context we have confirmed 35+ sits on THS all except 2 have read our application , arranged a video chat and confirmed us as their sitters within 24 hours of our application.
That is correct.
If you received only one application, then you really only had one âindication of interestâ. If someone saved your post as a âfavoriteâ, that was just a way of them bookmarking to return to it later - they were not applying. If they were free for the dates, they would have applied, so contacting them was not necessary (not a faux pas, really, but not useful for you to get a sitter for your dates)
The first sitter was probably frustrated that you had not invited him to a phone conversation right away. And you were making it clear that he was your âsecond choiceâ. No worries, weâre all new once, and we learn. It might have been more prudent to go ahead and have a conversation with him AND the other person, and just let them know youâd make a decision within a day or two. Sitters can apply to as many sits as they want, and you can get up to five applicants for your sit. If you donât move quickly, good sitters will be gone.
You didnât really let him know you had selected another person - you let him know he was your âbackup planâ, even though he had been the first to apply. Iâm personally fine with being someoneâs backup plan, but I want that offer to come from me - not from them!
Your post is kind of confusing. I think youâre trying to say:
One applicant, whom you werenât keen on. So you contacted sitters who favorited your sit, but nothing came of that. Then you contacted your lone applicant. Meanwhile, you got some other nibbles and arranged chats. Because you contacted your lone applicant, he reapplied. At that point, you told him you had other nibbles and asked whether it was OK to contact him again if your nibbles didnât pan out.
If the above is accurate, I could see why your lone applicant essentially told you to fly a kite.
It appears that you need a bit more practice at using THS effectively. How you describe your first attempt sounds a bit wonky. Your biggest mistake was failing to realize that seriously interested sitters contact you for your published sit dates. Sitters who express an âinterestâ are flagging your listing as maybe interesting for future consideration but not for the dates youâve published. So reaching out to âinterestedâ sitters is usually not very successful.
Make sure your listing is attractive and grabs attention. You canât put too much effort in here.
Fill out your Welcome Guide in detail ahead of time so that youâre prepared to share it when a sitter accepts your sit invitation.
Only send out a formal invitation to a sitter who has actually applied for your dates and ideally after you have had a video chat to confirm the suit is a good fit.
When you get an application for a sitter for your published dates, respond within 24 hours. Decline if theyâre not a fit or set up a video chat if they look like a good prospect. If you go radio silent for more than 48 hours on an experienced sitter with good reviews, theyâll likely move on and not look back.
Do understand that sitters applications include an âacceptâ button. Donât use that button until youâve completed your vetting of the sitter (and their vetting of you). After you pushed your âacceptâ button, the sitter has to hit the âacceptâ button at their end before youâve successfully booked a sitter.
There was no formal invitation on my part. I attempted to reach out to him with an invitation when the 2 couples I was interested in dropped out. My invitation did not go through because he had in the meantime withdrawn. A second applicant came forward, whom I was planning to interview by phone. After that the first applicant reapplied and I told him what the situation is now and that I would get back to him either way; i.e., letting him know I had chosen someone or moving forward with his (renewed) application.
Thank you all for your responses. Iâve learned a few things from your remarks. I should not have waited to respond to his application while looking for someone that I felt would be a better match. Secondly, I made an assumption that a sitter saving a sit doesnât necessarily indicate the level of interest I had supposed.
When a sitter «favorite» a listing instead of actually applying, that would normally mean that the sitter has seen your listing, can not do the dates you have published (if they could they would have applied).
The favorite button for a sitter means that they get automated notifications when you publish new dates. It doesnât really mean that the sitter would apply then, either. But could, of course.
A host reaching out almost never result in anything. It do happen, sometimes. I have declined all invitations, there are too many factors that need to align to make it happen.
It can be confusing.
If you only got one applicant, you could consider linking your listing to your forum profile, and the community here could help you with input on your listing.
How to add a listing or profile link to your Forum profile!
Some things that sitters look for and that many hosts donât mention:
1. Why should I want to go to your destination?
2. How do I get there? What is the possibilities of public transport? Maybe something on how to get from airport?
3. Beds: What bedrooms can we use? What sort of beds and how large? (Please use measurements and not full/ double/ queen and such, as the meaning differ). Some couples prefer separate bedrooms - so mention if possible.
4. where does the pets sleep? Many avoid pets in beds/ bedrooms How long can the pets be left for outings. (4+ hours? 6+ hours?)
Thanks, Garfield. This is and all the advice/comments in response to my post have been extremely helpful.
âŠprobably shouldâve read through the doâs and donâts before publishing the listing to begin with. Lesson learned 
Good luck!
Hi Anastasia, I think it was him playing games, as if I have understood it correctly he withdrew his application and then reapplied. Sounds like somebody with a very short fuse, which likely would not have been ideal. I wouldnât worry about it.
Well, as soon as someone starts making rude comments, they are out of the game, right?
I would never sit for someone, or leave my pets with someone, who canât keep a conversation polite, especially before weâve even agreed on partnering up!
Iâm confused. You say you had one application and âmaybe 10 indications of interestâ. Do you mean they âFavouritedâ your listing? If not, I canât see how sitters could express interest without actually applyingâŠ
Itâs a bit unclear what happened, but it sounds to me like the applicant withdrew after not hearing back from the OP for a few days. Lots of sitters do that. Then she reached out to him after he withdrew to set up a chat. So, he then reapplied to move forward and set up the chat. Then he was told that the HO was meeting with someone else and if that didnât work out she would get back to him. He could have been more polite about it, but I would definitely have withdrawn in that situation and been a bit annoyed. Of course, I would have sent a polite message when I withdrew my application.
@Garfield has clearly explained the process to be followed.
What you did wrong was to not respond immediately to the one applicant who applied. That person may have been great. How long did you keep him waiting for? Weâve discussed on the forum a lot about not reaching out to âexpressions of interestâ by which, I presume you mean, people who have favourited your listing. It rarely works out if you contact them because they get notified that you have posted dates & can apply if available.
Iâm not sure why the original sitter would have reapplied but can understand he would have been put out!
Basically correct. However I reached out to him before his withdrawal notice came through to me or simultaneously to his notice. In any event I did not see the notice until AFTER I reached out to him. Then, when I saw his withdrawal, I moved on, and when he reapplied I told him I had another applicant and was interviewing later this week. I asked him whether I could contact him either way; i.e., to tell him I was moving forward with another applicant or to invite him to pursue the sit. I think that the sitter situation was in a state of flux and messages did not keep up with the changes.
Youâre quite correct in saying the TH based messaging system doesnât keep up with LIVE events. This is why in ALL our applications we offer our WhatsApp mobile number to continue any messaging LIVE there after the initial contact via the TH messaging system.