Invites to countries not listed

We keep getting invited to UK sits which aren’t on our specified country list. We then have to decline and explain we don’t sit in the UK and they seem surprised (& occasionally miffed). Is that a glitch in the system or the HO not doing their research? :thinking:

Unless an owner were to read the bottom of a sitter’s profile listing their preferred countries, they wouldn’t be aware of those preferences (and a lot of owners don’t seem to read the profiles in detail, based on my experience with invites and others here). There is no way for owners to filter results based on sitters who listed that country on their profile.

On other sites I use sitters don’t list their location. When an owner does a search of sitters by country, they see sitters who listed that country as one of interest. I think THS should list results in a similar way and perhaps do something like Mindmyshouse does, where people can indicate their location (it doesn’t show up on the profile) and check a box indicating whether they want to show up in results for their location for local assignments.

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Hello, @KC1102 Thank you for the reply and suggestion, so it has maximum visibility please feel free to add it to this thread What Features Would You Like to See on THS? :grin:

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I suggest moving this from ‘Our experience’ to ‘About’ in your profile (and change the order of the sentence), then home-owners might see it better:

“From the end of April 2023 we are headed to Asia for the rest of the year, having been full-time house sitting for the last 18 months through Morocco, Turkey, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Germany, Portugal, Italy, France & Belgium.”

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Thanks @Ketch - we hadn’t thought about changing our profile. Do you think they’ve read that bit?. I was hoping the filter helped HOs to not ask sitters who weren’t in their country selection.

I dont think the filter is that sophisticated, unfortunately. As a home-owner, it’s very hard to seek out a sitter. Even if the sitter puts UK, that doesnt necessarily mean they want to come to Manchester!

I think changing your profile might help - it’s the newspaper approach: put the pertinent information up front and centre, then at least if the reader doesnt get to the end, they’ve read the important point :smiley:

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:100: right @Ketch! As writing newspaper articles is part of my day job you’d think i’d know better :rofl::rofl:

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Do y’all know how much I would like to spend time in the UK? It’s super hard to get started and it’s hard as a sitter to find our preferred locations.

Hi Suzie, I’m interested in learning more about your experiences, if you’re willing to share. How many UK sits have you applied for? Have you had any feedback from those that you weren’t successful with? Could you get a couple of sits under your belt in the US to get started and get some reviews? Have you looked after a friend’s or relative’s home or pets and mentioned that in your profile if you have? How many references do you have on your profile? I’m English and I’ve not had any problem getting sits in England, France, Germany or the US, maybe I can help you get off the mark with a sit in the UK.

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I tried to reply privately. I’m happy to answer any questions you have.

Hi @Suzie4LSU , I know you asked for and received suggestions from members about your profile in the past, but I would again like to mention that to get started, do consider shorter, local sits. It would also be advantageous if you could add a few more personal references to your profile.

Being able to take on a farm sit makes you special as not everyone is willing or able to do them, but in getting the first few sits under your belt, do not rule out sits for dogs, cats, birds, etc. and change your profile to reflect your desire to take care of them, as well.

It is also not necessary to state you are looking for sits of two weeks or longer and doing so, limits you, at least at this early stage. You are ruling out shorter sits that would help you get started. After you have a few reviews, you can apply for sits of any length, two weeks or two months.

I am also American and like you, joined with the goal of getting to the UK. After many, many sits, I felt I had credibility and enough good reviews and applied for and was accepted at a series of amazing sits in the UK last summer and fall. I’m headed back there in May. This can happen for you too.

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It looks like the topic of why a sitter is receiving invites for sits in countries they’ve not indicated they want to go to has been solved. Thanks everyone for your help on this. I’ll now close this thread.

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