Hi. Welcome to the forum.
I am a sitter but I understand that your next step would be to message your applicants, acknowledging their application and perhaps suggesting further contact. If there are applications that don’t fulfill the criteria of your listing you can decline their application, you can have a chat with them or some of them to help you find the best match. You can also ask questions you consider relevant just via message. It is up to you. But I think if you “invite” a sitter that means you are offering them the sitting, so you must choose first.
The agreement is not firm until you have offered the sit to an applicant (just one) and they have accepted through THS.
If I were you, I wouldn’t keep them waiting for long as they may have other options and can withdraw their application.
This thread may help you to anticipate the kind of questions sitters usually have for owners
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