I’m a HO turning dual membership to become Sitters also after 1 year on the app. With my hubby… my question is how many pics AS A SITTER profile is recommended of us? Types of pics? Us doing our hobbies? Always include animals? Couple nice pics of us dressed up and stuff? We’re both retired professionals 55 and 63, very casual these days. I will include our animals, we have 2, plus I can add a few of those I’ve sat. Is it important to include my past beloved pets? There are many… Help me Focus so I don’t attach too many or not enough or the wrong type please.
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Ok edited lol For me personally, I have only three of myself, two with pets (I can’t and don’t like selfies) I also have pics of my past dog, a few of different pets I have sat for i.e. both cats and dogs to show what breed, size etc that I am familiar with. It doesn’t take much at all to fill the ten pic default limit.
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Ooops I revised my question to be more clear sorry…. Now I’m Becoming a SITTER too. Please re-answer if you don’t mind.
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This does blow my mind… hahahaha
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We are both HOs and sitters. As sitters, we have maybe 8 pics of my husband and/or me with cats and dogs. Shows us in action during sits.
As HOs, we want to see what pets prospective sitters have experience with.
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During the three years I’ve been a THS sitter, I figured that my profile and pictures “worked” only if I got the sits I wanted. They did, but if they hadn’t, I would have just kept tweaking them.
There’s no one-size-fits-all. Consider what your strengths are as potential sitters. Then consider how to best get that across visually.
Personally, when I started, I figured my strengths as a potential sitter involved having my own rescue dog and being highly responsible career wise (with the idea being that people who are responsible tend to be that way consistently, extending to sitting). Like my decades of work have all involved getting stuff done well and solving problems. Taking care of pets and homes is dead easy by comparison for me.
My lead photo was of me and my dog, happy together, clearly visible, full face. Then I included photos of my coworkers, including when our company went public on the stock market after years of building. I included a photo of my large team and me. And so on. My profile mentioned how I’d owned and taken good care of homes over decades, driven safely cross country over decades of road trips. And so on.
That approach worked for me — I quickly started getting sits in popular cities. (I sit only in cities and avoid anything rural.)
If I had a different life, say had lots more pets or kids or grandkids, or professional animal-care skills, I would tell my story differently. And so on. So consider, what visual storytelling puts you forward as great sitters? Do you have unique or strong pet experiences?
As I gained experience and rave reviews as a sitter, I changed all but my lead photo. Now, I have only one picture of my dog and me, and all of my other photos are collages of pets I’ve sat, without me in those images at all. And I’ve kept getting sits easily.
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Sitters can only upload a maximum of 13 pictures. All our pictures are of us- mostly with various pets we’ve sat in different locations & a few without pets showing our hobbies (e.g hubby with guitar & me practising yoga) & a happy Wedding Day pic! They show different aspects of our lives which I think gives a nice balance.
I really wish HOs would include at least one picture of themselves in their profiles (out of their 40+ allowance!) Most don’t but I think it should be compulsory. It has happened occasionally that if there is no video call or personal handover we sit for people without even knowing what they look like! I’ve always found that a bit wierd!
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I started playing around with my sitter profile, which is not live yet. I can upload 19 pictures. Thanks for your advice!
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@Lokstar and @MTBer I thought it was 12? I just reviewed and updated mine last week and it was only 12. Just checked again now - 12, 13 including profile pic. Maybe different numbers for different membership level?
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Thanks for the great ideas! I hadn’t considered some of these angles you have pointed out.
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Yup, you can get creative, depending on your experience, strengths and preferences. Like some sitters enjoy rural sits and/or don’t mind mowing or gardening. If so, you could include photos of you guys mowing or gardening, for instance. Or maybe you with plenty of homegrown vegetables or flowers, to show how you’re a green thumb. Or say you have your own pool or hot tub and share a photo of your taking care of them. And so on.
Or maybe you want to sit in a particular location and you have photos to share that show your connection to the place. Or you have experience with certain breeds of pets. And so on.
The key thing is, hosts will typically prioritize choosing sitters who would take the best care of their pets and home. That would be logical and apply to the greatest number of potential hosts.
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Omg I just looked again, you’re right it’s 13 total. Not sure where I saw that, my eyes are so tired been a LONG travel day today! Sorry.
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We have one picture where we are doing a hobby but it is also kinda animal. (Think: we are painting and the painting depicts a cat. Or we are in a museum and pretend to poo bag something behind a t-rex skeleton. Or we are playing historical dress up in a fancy library and have a full size ceramic dog with us). I think that is the picture that sets us apart many times: it is whimsical, something different, and connects with people with similar hobbies.
Beside that all our pictures are with various animals, some just chilling but usually interacting.
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Most hosts dont know that the sitter only sees a tiny thumbnail of their faces. I would prefer there to be at least one normal size too.
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The little HO profile pic would be enough if it were possible to click to enlarge it. I can’t understand why this was not implimented years ago- enough people have complained…
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If you look at the web version, you can actually zoom in to the pic. It’s not great but far clearer than the app thumbnail.
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My photos are mainly of me with pets plus 3 of my sister with pets as she does some sits with me. With your HO hat on, what photos did you take notice of the most when checking applicant profiles? Maybe that will help you. I think HOs are really looking at your interaction with different pets, not seeing you on holiday, for example.
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And in the opposite, think what kind of photos would deter hosts from choosing you.
A host asked sitters to evaluate their profile. Several noted, that the face of Trump being in the living room tv could be a downer - is the host MAGA? No, Trump is just all the time in the tv. But it can be tiny things like this. Scrutinize your photos and see what kind of conclusions one can draw from them when one is worried about who to let into their home.
I think this is not relevant to you, but in general some sitters choose to post pictures of them partying. Most hosts dont get great ideas from that, but instead: will they be drunk “on the job”. away on nights. bringing guests or worse, parties.
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I am a homeowner and sitter. As a HO, I want to see photos of the sitter with pets. I don’t need to see glamor shots of the sitter on a beach, by the Eiffel Tower, or photos bragging about their career success (unless their career is petsitting!). What is important to me is that the sitter has experience with taking care of homes and pets. I don’t care if they look like Shrek (no offence to ogres) or have been a CFO/COO/CEO.
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We’re a couple profile as well (though I usually sit solo). We have two photos of us together; most of the others show us enjoying time with THS pets, and a couple feature our own cat lounging in our house with background views of the garden.
Our own cat photos also include wider views of the inside of our home, so hosts can see a bit more of how we live and the kind of home we keep.
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