I know its very competitive out there, but I’ve applied to about 7/8 spots now and been declined for all. Perhaps that’s not even a large amount in the grand scheme of things and I shouldnt lose faith yet! I think my writing is personal, eloquent and friendly. I’m a newbie and have no TH reviews yet, but have three really lovely reviews from friends I’ve sat for.
Also, i see there is a money back guarantee for HOs who don’t find a sitter, but not vice-versa. Curious as to thoughts around this.
Hi @Joannacurwood your topic has been asked on the forum several times. If you search on the spy glass you will find many threads with lots of information to guide you. Here’s one you get you started. Good luck. New Sitter but don't get a single sit, any suggestion?
I’m not sure what you meant
The money back promise works for both HOs and > sitters.
Sitters memberships:
You can cancel your membership and receive your money back if you have been unsuccessful in confirming a sit within 14 days of making your 5th application. This applies to your first-year membership only.
Do you want to link your profile here to get some feedback?
Please do add your sitter profile link here to your forum profile for specific feedback (an admin can help as needed). Meanwhile, here was my advice on a similar post. Not all will apply to you if you are a single sitter. I recommend you read ALL the replies on this thread as there is a LOT of good advice and info here, some comments get off track but worth your time if you are struggling to land a sit. Good luck!
I am drawn to more rural settings, which are not as competitive, and I avoid most cities. If you don’t need to rely on public transportation to get to a sit, and you’re interested in staying in a small town or out in the sticks, you’ll have better luck securing a sit. If, however, you have your sights set on London or NYC or San Francisco, you may well be beat out by established sitters with many 5* reviews. One strategy is to take local(ish) sits at first just to build up some excellent THS reviews. Hope this helps.
I signed up on February 13th this year and started applying on the 17th of February, and got my first request for phone/zoom interviews literally 45 minutes, 24 hours, and 48 hours after applying. We had calls/zooms roughly 3-10 days after interest by the HO was communicated. I had to withdraw from 2 of these HOs because the “sit” I accepted was a 2-month engagement. I had to write “apologies for withdrawing messages”; in the fray of meetings, I also applied for another “sit” and was accepted without a phone/zoom interview within the hour of applying.
I also got 3 messages from HOs who thought we would be a great fit, but for one reason or the other they were not ready to extend an offer (I actually had to withdraw anyways because of the 2-month “sit” I accepted).
Why did I have, what I like to think, great success? Well for each HO it was probably different reasons, but the HO who accepted us without an interview had a connection to Jalisco which is where we currently live and that may have played a part in her selection of us. The 2-month “sit” couple liked the idea of us working remotely to be a steady presence for their 4 fur-babies. All the others who showed interest, they didn’t say, but I suspect it was more than one specific thing.
My suggestion is to apply to everything and craft tailor-made applications. Good luck!
Thanks for that. For some reason I only saw info on HO’s getting the refund.
Here’s my top tips
Welcome to the Forum @Joannacurwood 
if you’d like me to add your listing to your Forum profile, I’d be happy to do that for you!