Hi all,
I’m just wondering what is an appropriate amount of time to wait to see if you have gotten a sit? There is a beautiful sit that I am dying to get - applied for it about 2-3 weeks ago. We had some communication back and forth and they were very lovely and said they would pick a sitter asap.
They then put the sit out for application again - I couldn’t apply again as it said I had already sent my application. They’ve been reviewing applications again for another week (I do understand it’s coming up to Christmas now so people are busy) buy how long would you wait to see if you have been successful? It still says “reviewing applications” but I’m thinking i probably haven’t got it?
Still a new sitter so just wanted to hear some thoughts from others
Thank you !
@Jayne I would suggest applying to other sits you are interested in because you could possibly still be waiting for another couple of weeks if not longer until the homeowners make their final decision. It depends really on how much you want this particular sit but if it’s meant to be then it will be!
Hi @Jayne If the hosts put the listing up for further applications it could be that, despite the friendly contact you’ve already had, that they weren’t 100% sure of you, or any of the other applicants in the first 5. If I were you, I would send a friendly follow up asking if they are still considering you as you are keen to make plans. Showing your enthusiasm with a follow up could swing it for you- it has done for us once or twice! Sometimes hosts get overwhelmed with a bunch of great applicants and can’t make a decision! Good luck! And if you are not the chosen one this time don’t lose heart-the next great sit is just around the corner!
1-3 days are plenty. It sounds like you are not exactly what they are looking, for whatever reason. We have also had such a situation before where the HO took ages and set up multiple video calls with different applicants. We waited patiently and weren’t picked in the end, lesson learned.
@jayne as a HO it’s easy to get distracted or a little overwhelmed sorting through applications. Let the HO know you are interested. If they are not interested in you the app allows them to reject your interest so both parties can move on. Good luck
As a general rule of thumb, I would say never hang around wasting your time waiting for a response if there are other listings that you are interested in doing.
Think of it as their loss if they miss out on you because they were too slow making up their minds.
I see listings with three or four applicants and the start date for the sit is the next day. It was hoped by THS that the application cap would encourage speedier responses from all members. Not sure what has happened with these listings. Have they changed their mind? If the four applicants aren’t suitable do they know how to decline them?
There will always will be members who communicate in a timely manner and those that don’t and no amount of ‘tweaking’ will make a difference. That’s life.
We’ve never been picked if we have had to wait for more than a week after our application. Our learning: The longer you have to wait, the lower your chances of getting accepted.
We applied for a sit over 11 days ago and we were the 5th applicants so it went immediately to ‘reviewing applications’. The host read it the next day but did not acknowledge or respond. We wrote again a few days later which has gone unread and a last attempt yesterday- also still unread. And the host is still apparantly reviewing applications and the listing remains open. Either they’ve chosen someone by now but have not properly confirmed the sit (first timers) or they are still waiting for the ‘perfect’ applicant but don’t realise they have to reject some people & unpause the listing, or they have changed their mind etc etc!
We’d normally have withdrawn our application by now and we are not expecting to get it now either. But for now we’ve just left it as our plans for those dates are still open. So its just there on the back burner. But tbh if they did suddenly choose us after all this radio silence I’d be inclined to decline now anyway. Its not respectful to leave sitters hanging on for so long.
I think it’s really inconsiderate of homeowners to do this. I am both a homeowner and sitter. When I advertise, I usually decide very quickly, i.e. within 2-4 days. There is almost always somebody suitable within that time, although I do live in a popular destination. I wouldn’t wait too long. Apply for more sits.
Thank you to everyone for the replies and apologies for my late response - the holiday period distracted me! Thankfully, the homeowners replied again apologising for their late response and have requested a video chat in the new year so I am still very hopeful ! As we don’t have anything else for that time I will keep my application in because we really do love the look of the sit. Fingers crossed
My friend just joined THS and had quite a struggle to get everything synced with alerts, email. I’ve coached her a bit since but she lost a sitter because she didn’t receive notifications that the sitter responded. Needless to say, when she did connect, the sitter took another sit.
Sometimes wires get crossed or notifications aren’t seen, or people see it, mean to respond later, and then forget. It’s unfortunate for her but also unfortunate a sitter missed out on a lovely home, sweet and easy pets in a beautiful place.
Hopefully her issues are resolved and she can get a sitter in March!
I have never received a best practice guide that I know of. I applied for quite a number of sits recently. I closed two or three sits as they were taking too long, more than a week. Two chose someone but closed without bothering to write. Two wrote neicely to say they had chosen someone else. Anyway, I comlete one sit tomorrow and two more to look forward to over the next two weeks.
I’m wondering if something like this is happening to me. We had a sitter apply to our ad. We talked here back and forth. They seemed all in but they never hit the “confirm sit”. I have been trying to reach them on THS for days and I see they read my messages but they do not respond. They have 8, 5 start reviews so I would think they are reasonable people. Can a mod from THS look into this for me. I hate to lose them over a glitch. It is not easy to get sitters in my area.
