First, and most importantly Welcome to THS!! It’s a great, interesting and diverse community of animal lovers.
I have written a pretty brutal critique here based SOLEY on the portion of your bio section “My Experience” …. That’s all I’d read when I started my diatribe here.
After writing this, I read your WHOLE bio and it’s like two different people wrote everything outside of the “My experience” section! That “My Experience” section needs work. It’s the first thing owners see. The later section(s) sounds like a mature, competent, level, professional, lovely person wrote it! … SO… take this with a grain of salt and consider rewriting your “My experience” sections with the care and maturity of the rest of it and with these (admittedly, rather harsh) thoughts in mind. (disclosure, I have both cats and dogs - the cat is easy, I “shop” mostly for dog sitters)
Okay….
At the beginning of your profile all I saw was cats, cats, cats… right away I thought, okay, she’s a “cat person - cool" but I questioned the extent of your experience with dogs.
“Since you were 16” is not especially impressive in this animal-centric community. Lifelong pet owners are more the norm for the truly experienced sitter. That’s not to say that there aren’t GREAT sitters who didn’t grow up with pets, but given a choice the “I grew up with animals” folks win. I’d delete that phrase “Since I was 16”.
I had to look up what the word “Wasband” was. Learning what it was did not add anything useful to your bio. I thought maybe I’d learn something interesting and Wasband was some kind of hip, new communal situation or something…lol. Nope. IMO - Delete that.
To be completely honest, I’d have stopped reading at this point and politely declined your application. I’d have missed the other sections which would have kept me on-board with at least interviewing you! First impressions matter a great deal - especially when one can be very selective.
It’s great that you eventually mention the dogs you’ve sat for. That means folks with easy dogs might feel comfortable with you as a sitter. (But why locking the dog in a bathroom? I don’t think that’s a universal calming action and, frankly, sounds a bit weird unless there’s a hurricane or maybe on fourth-of-July. Personally, I’d leave that out). Experience of #2 non-THS reviewed sits is not “extensive” experience.
Rather than a tale about cooing to Cruz for bedtime - maybe just say you’ve got experience with crate-trained dogs. (but mentioning someplace that you’re able-bodied and can carry a 40+ pound dog could be a plus!)
When you say “experience with medications,” what is the extent of that. Can you properly “pill” a cat? (Head back, drop pill, poke with finger?) or give SQ fluids? Clean wounds? How about “managing” health conditions - can you take a temperature? Give insulin injections? Put on an Elizabethan collar? You say you can “Handle any special needs…?” Really? Be honest.
(Okay, after reading your whole bio it’s clarified more a bit later with specific diseases, but do be specific about abilities if you have them)
You use the phrase “extensive experience” near the end. I’m sorry but that might be overselling. I’d just say “with my experience.”
There’s NOTHING wrong with presenting yourself as a clean, conscientious, motivated and honest person who wants more animal time. Some owners simply want someone mature, calm, self-sufficient, clean and level-headed to feed/water/hang out with their pets and watch over their home. Those with animals with special needs appreciate hearing specific examples of your abilities if you’re truly capable of offering them.
Keep it simple - don’t try to sell yourself as something you’re not! You never really know exactly who is evaluating your ability to care for their pets - (hint, hint) they might be a dog trainer or veterinarian or vet tech who has a pretty good idea of what “extensive experience” truly means.
Proofread your writing too - I think you intended to say “bedtime” but it was truncated.
Check spelling (though not in your bio, in your forum intro you mention “loosing” your cat - it’s “losing”). Unfortunately, things like spelling and grammatical errors can be dealbreakers if an owner gets tons of applications and something like that is in your bio. (You never know what little things bug people)
As an overall suggestion - be efficient and honest with your words. Don’t try to oversell yourself. Be concise but thorough and specific.
Owners are often looking at many applications and don’t appreciate wading through unnecessary fluff. In your initial private message to them be fairly brief. Let your general THS bio do the selling, but if relevant do say a thing or two to owners about why you’re a good fit. Don’t overdo it however if there’s a legitimate reason that it’s an exceptionally good fit for you share that. My next sitter has a sit north of me then wants to be at her aunt’s house (south of me) for Thanksgiving and I’m on the way - our dates align - she has tons of great reviews, etc. it’s a win/win so we both confirmed.
When you get to the interview let them ask you questions, but be prepared with a few of your own. Make your expectations clear. Will you need a car? How far is the vet? If you’re not bringing your own car will you rent one? Will you expect your owner to loan you their car? If so, ask them then and there. (That can make or break a sit). If they’re not offering their car in their bio, they’re probably not wild about the idea.
Sadly, many won’t even consider sitters who don’t have a bunch of THS sits under their belts all with five star reviews, especially if they live someplace that gets lots and lots of applicants. They can afford to be very selective.
For you, I would apply to lots of sits in places that might not draw lots of applicants. You know, the places you’d never want to live. Apply for sits with cats but take the sits that also have easy dogs when you can. Once you get some sits under your belt and start getting good reviews, you can get bolder about applying in the places you really want to visit. I’d also try to get some more experience with dogs outside of THS if I were you. A GREAT way to get some would be to volunteer at a local shelter to be a dog walker - get some experience walking reactive and anxious dogs - having something like that on your resumé would reflect very, very well.
Best of luck to you!
(and sorry for the brutality - just being honest!)