(HELP!) HO proposes co-sitting and declines me for asking for their LinkedIn

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
41

With LinkedIn, you can suppress your contacts (which they call “connections”), so other people can’t see them all. You can see what the individual posts and see other folks’ comments on them, so that helps give you a sense of how legit they are. You also can see the number of followers they have. Typically, folks with legit accounts will have at least 500 connections — each of those people have chosen to connect with them. And you can see whom they have in common with you, connection wise. Depending on what they do, you also might see their portfolio or work samples.

I find it dead easy to check someone out on LinkedIn, because even if they suppressed all contacts, you can see their employment history. And you can easily search for people who work there as well or worked there during that time. You could easily contact those people on LI. To lie effectively on LinkedIn is typically hard, because anyone who wants to do due diligence can do it pretty easily.

If someone’s profile is skimpy, then it won’t be much use. And in some industries if that’s the case, that might be a red flag. Like to work in the tech, startup or venture capital world and not have contacts in common and easily checkable is rare for legit people.

42

Indeed, there can be a lot of personal information on Linked in.

There is no need to provide information from LI to a homeowner who is choosing a pet sitter from background checked sitters (US). They aren’t hiring me for a job in my field after all.

I don’t care to help identity thieves or scammers access my personal information by posting it here on THS. I also don’t send personal information by unencrypted email. I’d be more likely to share my Airbnb profile with a HO upon request as that is largely unidentified.

I think if most people understood the ways in which their personal information was collected and exposed on the Internet they would be more careful. I’ve had close friends have their identities stolen and it’s really awful.

43

Yeah, I don’t care about a sitter’s LI. If they aren’t in a field related to animals, or hospitality, a sitter’s professional life does not tell me anything about how they would take care of my home or pet.

For new sitters with few or no references, AirBnb profiles are sorta useful because often an Airbnb host will comment on how clean someone leaves the place, but I doubt I’d even look at an Airbnb profile once a sitter has THS reviews.

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44

I only have about 100…

I have never really used it. I have always declined the contact requests by students, as I hardly know these people anyway.

And then there those “competences” that some people bestowed on me. I guess what I would have use of are some competences in pet care :slight_smile:

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45

Yup, some people don’t use their accounts enough to use for vetting purposes. But there are other ways to do that, of course.

46

I have just had an owner suggest I share the apartment with their dog and their partner, while they are gone. The partner would only be there at nights so can’t mind the dog.
I won’t ask for the partner’s LinkedIn anyway…

47

@andrealovesanimals lucky you! You get to mind a pet and a partner!

48

Cross-posting this from another thread, because what I wrote has relevance to LinkedIn:

Compatibility is not that important when finding someone to sit your pets and home. The top characteristics would be trustworthiness, conscientiousness and communication skills.

Why I say that: Consider among all your friends and you’ll see that you’re compatible, but those three characteristics actually vary among them. And when you entrust someone with your beloved pets and home, the deal-breakers are how conscientiously they’ll take care of their wellbeing, keep your house and look after security and your possessions. And how well they communicate, especially with questions or about problems.

Some people will do those things terrifically and yet you might not want to hang out with them. Meanwhile, there are plenty of personable people who have questionable conscientiousness, trustworthiness, reliability, etc., who will let you down. Like often you’ll see posts from hosts who’ve had disastrous sitters and they’ll say that those sitters seemed so nice or likable. Frankly, there are plenty of people who can fake likability or compatibility.

Sure, it would be great if hosts and sitters became friends, or were friendly, but if someone isn’t, shrug, it’s not as if you’ll be spending lots of time with them. But if they take good care of your pets and home, you’ve got the key things you need when you leave your pets and home to a stranger.

Again, this is my POV and I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. Personally, I’ve done a lot of hiring over the years and have had a lot of success building teams by looking for the three characteristics I mentioned, even when people have very different personalities otherwise.

And this also is why LinkedIn can offer useful info about sitters, regardless of field. If someone is conscientious, it will tend to show up in their career progression. It’s not the only way to vet people, but to take a look at a stranger, it can be useful.

Conscientious is a characteristic that tends to run across a person’s life, if they have it. It will show up in how they work, how they handle responsibilities elsewhere, like care-taking, finances, etc. Not perfectly or uniformly, but as a pattern.

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49

Here here @Maggie8K :raised_hands:t3::100: #succinctlyput

50

Not everyone uses LinkedIn. I have a LinkedIn account but I can’t remember the last time I logged in or updated it, probably a few years ago. It’s just not something I need or want to spend time on. One can be a successful, working professional and not be active on LinkedIn.

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51

Yup, totally agree. That’s why it’s one possibility for vetting and THS makes it optional.

52

This is a fascinating convo. If I understand the OP’s situation, a HO proposed cositting with another sitter who is a stranger to both the HO and the OP. The OP said okay but wanted to virtually meet the stranger they will share a home and pet care duties with. During that back and forth the OP asked for a LinkedIn profile from the other sitter. The other sitter, who wants time on ski slopes, and the HO felt that was too intrusive and dropped the OP like a hot potato. Do I have this right?

IMO this VIOLATES the 3rd Party prohibition. How is sharing a home and duties with a stranger a good idea or safe for any party in this arrangement or the pet?

If someone was open to this creative (risky) arrangement, how is asking for a LinkedIn profile a bridge too far? One can say no if your career is private (professional dominatrix maybe–I once had a job applicant with such credentials) or you just don’t want to share. Frankly I would ask for more than that. Besides the shared responsibility of a home and pet, there is my personal safety (who will she bring home with her?) plus my possessions including a laptop used for work that has tons of personal and professional data on it – including access to my LinkedIn profile. Jeesh!

It is fascinating to me that most commenters here care more about their LinkedIn info than any of the much broader and scarier possibilities that I just mentoned.

Given that THS has cracked down on sitters with overlapping sits, I would think they would want to know about this overlapping sit which is rife with risk.

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53

I don’t think most sitters would even consider a co-sit. It seems like a ridiculous suggestion to me, I would never stay with a stranger. I don’t see how it would be allowed on THS anyway. It’s a clear violation of the third-party rule and there isn’t a way to confirm two different sitters for one sit.