I recently joined THS through a friend that’s been doing it for a few years. Long story short I’m transitioning in life and decided to go for it. Planning an international trip this January with my daughter! I’m a dog walker on WAG a popular pet app in Texas! So, I’ve always been around animals and truly love being with them. My dream is to buy land somewhere in the mountains with a stream nearby and do homestead with my daughter.
As a freelancer mom my daughter goes with me to every pet sit/pet walk. She’s been around animals before she was even born. So I thought this would be such a great opportunity! Get to be around some cute fur animals, my daughter and travel!
My excitement is quickly dimming. Almost all my applications have either been ignored, opened and no response or kind decline which I’m certainly understanding of. What more can I add to my profile?
Welcome to Trusted Housesitters! How long ago did you start applying? I am an experienced sitter and find that 1/2 of my applications are ignored, over 1/4 are sat on for a really long time, and less than 1/4 are acted upon within a few days. I used to get interest right away, so things are definitely languishing more.
@welcome Victory- what kind of sits have you applied for so far ?
You say that you are planning an international trip. Many experienced THS sitters startedwith a more “local” sit . This means that you can offer to meet up with the pets and HomeOwner before the sit to provide reassurance.
Then once you have completed the sit and got some 5 THS reviews , you will increase your chances of being invited to sit overseas.
I also notice that you have only one external reference on your profile . Adding some more will also help you to secure that all important first THS sit.
You maybe could add some information about your daughter’s age (if not in your profile ) then mention in your application . She looks very young in the photos .
There are others sitters who travel with their children on this forum , I’m sure they will be along soon to share their thoughts and experiences.
I think your profile is very good. Could you get a few more character references from your dog walking clients? That first sit is always hard to get, it took me about 12 applications to get my first one, that was 10 years ago. Keep going and you will get one eventually. Start with local sits to get reviews.
A few more thoughts… your profile is lovely. I would book you right away! However your experience section is very short. Can you put the experience that is in “Why you want to sit” into the experience section? Are you able to get some written references added to the site, since you do not yet have TH references?
I know many more ideas will come your way soon from other frequent forum posters. Good luck!
I agree with the advice of others. Getting local sits to build your profile should not be terribly difficult. The DFW area has plenty of sits but it is not a wildly popular location, especially in summer (I know. I’m a Dallas homeowner).
One thing I noticed is that the name (Mankanka) in your external refence is not the same as your name, so that looks odd.
I would delete the photo of you with the kitten in the car. It is very cute, but some cat owners would think that it’s dangerous to let a kitten roam freely in a car so it could turn them off.
I use WAG a pet app and communication is done through the app. I’ve no way to reach out to them unless my clients reach out to me first!
Waiting on a few that said they would leave a review!
I should’ve clarified, I’m planning an international trip Jan 2024 when my lease ends, I don’t plan to renew! Right now, I’ve been applying to local sits in the Texas area.
Thank you for the tip! I will go and update my profile. Maybe add a few more details about my daughter. She’s only 1 so didn’t really know what important details I could add!
Yes! I noticed that once I finished my profile. “Mankanka” is my first name and for my forum I used my middle name. Once I saved it I realized it might look weird having two different names
First of all, @Victory welcome to the forum. There are so many members here who are more than willing to help you along the way in the wonderful journey of petsitting and seeing the World at the same time. I see you have already received quite a bit of assistance.
I do suggest you start with a few local sits to “get your feet wet” and get those ever important reviews. If you run across any that are last minute sits, or getting very close to the start date, I suggest you apply for them with a very attractive and informative application. If they are very close by, you can suggest meeting them in person so they can feel secure with their choice.
Hi @Victory and welcome to this wonderful world.
We’ve all had to start and it can be frustrating. It could be more difficult having a 1 year old baby with you as some homes won’t be suitable/safe for babies and some animals may not get on with them.
You’ve been given a lot of advice already and your question has been asked and discussed here on the forum. Here are a few links:
I wish you luck. You just have to get that first sit and you’re off. Just remember you’re applying for ‘jobs’ and make sure you personalise each application
Welcome to THS and I am sure you will be able to find some sits–lots of opportunities here. Without seeing the types of sits you are applying to and the types of messages, it would not be possible to say if either of those things are factoring in.
But generally, there are times when HO’s are not very responsive to messages–the reasons for this vary, and it is always good to apply for multiple sits even if they have similar dates, unless you really want a particular assignment and want to wait to see what happens. Not all HO’s will send any sort of explanation about why they declined an application–it is important not to take not getting chosen personally.
A HO can only pick one person and who knows what draws them to their preferred sitter–it could be experience, it could be a similar hobby or job, it could be a purely intuitive sense, it could be the sitter is looking to come to that area for a really specific reason, which makes it less likely they will cancel. So those getting ‘rejected’ don’t necessarily have anything ‘wrong’ with them.
You may be aware of this, but in case you aren’t, HO’s are able to choose a ‘family-friendly’ label for their sit, meaning they will accept applicants with children. If you are applying to sits without this label, that means they probably aren’t open to children. So be sure to search with this filter if you aren’t already.
Make sure you read the entire listing and personalize your message to show you did read it. I personally don’t send messages of more than a paragraph or so, but I am sure to mention at least a couple of things that seemed important to the owner, like experience with their type of dog, not having a problem with a certain behavioral issue mentioned,etc…
Hi, I started applying for my family of 5 about 4 months ago and we get rejected all the time. “Our house isn’t big enough for five people” is the phrase we hear the most. But…we still got 14 sits and on our 9th sit as we speak. It’s just like sales where it’s a numbers game. Keep applying especially some local sits so that you can get some local sits under your belt. The second sit we did wouldn’t accept a family but five minutes from where we were so I applied just for me and my daughter. The HO was even reluctant then because we had no reviews and now she wants us to petsit again but now we’re thousands of miles away
Yes! Most responses have been others saying their home is not kid friendly. Which I understand but now two weeks into it I’m getting a few more responses! Thank you for the advice!
THS reviews , you will increase your chances of being invited to sit overseas.