I am looking for the advice to get sit. I am getting rejections from all. I have been taking care of cats but very new to the trustedhousesitters platform. any suggetions pls.
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Hi @mkapadia, welcome to the forum and THS community.
This is an excellent opportunity to get sits if you are willing to sit during the holidays. There are lots of last minute sits.
If you only have experience sitting cats, it’s probably better to apply for cat sits.
Local sits are sometimes easier to get, especially if you’re willing to meet the pets and owners in advance.
You can apply for as many sits as you want. An application is not a commitment.
It is important to read listings very thoroughly and refer to relevant information about the pets and responsibilities in your application, you have to show that you meet the requirements.
There are threads with specific advice about applications. I found this: The perfect application
You can also link your profile and you will get some advice on how to improve it, if you want.
Good luck
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Have you tried local sits? How about references from people who know you including maybe a sit on another platform? The last sitter we had was a newbie and she’d put a house mates statement saying what a great house sharer she was. You could put in your profile that although you’re a new sitter on this platform, you’ve looked after ………
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Welcome @mkapadia which location are you looking for sits . There are thousands of sits over the holiday period . Mainly in U.K. and USA . Have you tried applying for a holiday sit ?
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Get references from friends and the people you have sat for before. I got four of my friends who I had petsat for to give me a reference, and that gave me the push start I needed. I got my first local sit about three weeks after that. And they became a regular sit.
Show plenty of photos of yourself with pets. Good luck.
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Make sure you sell yourself on your profile, as if you were applying for a job, tell prospective HO how good you are and that you will look after their property and fur family. Put plenty of pics of yourself with different animals. Ask past employers and anyone that knows you who is a respectable person to give you a reference and explain to people that although you are new to this platform how much experience you have.
And then when you apply for a sit do a decent cover letter, say why you like to sit and why you are in that particular area.
The first sit is always harder to get but as you get references from them then other sits will be easier to get.
You could look at doing sits more local to you to start with as well.
Theres quite a few on now where people are wanting sitters for Christmas.
Good luck.
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Welcome to forum @mkapadia !
First - as a sit can get five applications and only one of those will be the sitter - statistics says that most applications will be declined. So don’t take a decline as a «rejection» of you, it is a matter of numbers.
A host can choose you for a number of reasons - that you are similar, like the tone of your listing or whatever. But with several applications chances are they will choose a sitter with (good) reviews over one that doesn’t. So it is important to get reviews. 5* THS review is best, second place is recommendations from friends/ other sits. So get those.
For the first sits you might get lucky, but chances are it is good to do some sits mostly to get reviews and not because it is your dream sit. Applying for last minute, short term, local sits - those are easier to get because sitters with loads of reviews are less likely to apply for them (and be your competition). As @Newpetlover says it also give you the advantage of being able to meet up in person before the host confirms the sit or before the sit to meet the pets. Such an offer might be why they would choose you.
After you get 3-4-5 good THS reviews it will be much easier for you to be chosen.
The next couple of weeks is a great opportunity to get reviews as there are so many more hosts than available sitters. Se if you can get a local short sit or two. If you for instance care for a cat in your area it will be quite easy to do.
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Yes—your references/“referees” are important. These can be from your private sit clients, work, close friends—anyone who knows how responsible you are.
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All the responses were helpful , thanks every one for suggestions, it gives more inspiration to me.
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