Hi there,
We are brand new to house sitting but super keen to jump right in. Probably not the best time to start with so many travel restrictions at the moment, but we’re looking to get some sits closer to home (near Sydney, Australia) to get some experience and some reviews to add to our “resume”!
The ultimate dream in a few years is to spend much of our time wandering the world and doing sits overseas - meeting some great people, great pets and becoming immersed in the local culture.
I’m not sure if this is a bit naive, but that’s the plan!
We’ve only applied for one sit so far, but unfortunately we weren’t successful 
Looking for nay tips about boosting your chances at a successful application. I love reading people’s stories and experiences on this site. Looking forward to adding to those stories one day!
Cheers,
Paul
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Welcome Paul. If you have not already done so, set up alerts in the THS platform for the areas of interest to you right now. Being one of the first to apply sometimes helps. Also, develop an application template that you can customize to the sit. Make sure that you use the names of the home owners and pets in your application. Read their profile, sit notice and any sitter reviews prior to applying. Focus on the home owners’ needs and how you can meet them and not how much you want to go to the location. I started out with short sits in my own home town just to get reviews. I am pretty new too, but I am now on a weeklong sit in a beach resort area with 2 cute pups. Don’t get discouraged if it takes a while to get selected. Just keep applying and you will get selected eventually. Good luck!
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Welcome to our Community Forum @Sparksy
Hi Paul, it’s great to have you here and you’ve certainly come to the right place for help and great tips on how to get started.
Join in the conversations, ask lots of questions and it wont be long before you have your own stories to tell.
Angela and the Team
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Welcome Paul!
It’s a very tough time at the moment trying to get sits at the moment. There are a lot less people needing sitters but also a lot more sitters needing sits so it is quite a challenge. As @Southernsitter mentioned, get in quick and have a customisable application template ready to use.
If you don’t have much experience with looking after pets, try and find some other ways of getting experience other than housesitting like dog walking. We used a site called BorrowMyDoggy when first starting out to get some experience, it’s a UK company but I’m sure there is similar in Australia. This can also be great for getting photos of you with pets to make owners know that you know what you are doing!
Good luck!
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Hi,
Thanks for those tips. Yes, I’d like to start out local and get some experience / reviews. I’ll put some work in on an application template. Thanks again and enjoy your sit at the beach resort! 
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Thanks Provence,
Yes I would like to do some local sits - I guess in the current climate that’s all we have anyway!
My long term goal (a few years down the track when I retire) is to venture out into the world (I’ve got my eyes on Europe!!) and use house sitting as a way to experience cultures in ways that the normal tourist routes don’t. That’s the end game! For now, I’ll work on my applications and try and get a few sits closer to home. Thanks for your support.
Paul
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Hi Angela,
Thanks for that. Looking forward to having some sitting stories to tell. I love the support shown in this forum!
Paul
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Hi there,
That’s a great idea. Thanks. I’ll look them up.
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Welcome as a new sitter! We’ve been sitters for five years now and as other sitters have indicated, we started doing local sits to get a feel for it and then ventured into international sits. As another sitter mentioned, I think being the first applicant on a sit really helps. We’ve applied on sits where homeowners have snapped us up immediately and then there are other homeowners who like to wade through many applications - everyone is different. We’ve had a number of homeowners approach us saying they loved our profile so I think creating a good one is key. We have a lot of information in our profile which conveys our interests and personalities. I often think that there’s a commonality that draws the homeowners and sitters together as well - might be a certain hobby, the place they were born or their favorite country they’ve visited. We sat for one couple who had the same painting in their livingroom that we did and another that had their home painted the same color as ours. There are so many house sits in Australia - you will have no problem gaining local sits to start out. We did a sit in Ballina three years ago and it was one of our favorite. Our first time to Australia and hopefully not the last. Best of luck!!
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Hi Annette,
Thanks so much for the message. It’s great to hear people’s stories. Everyone on here is really encouraging and positive. It seems like a really nice community.
Covid has put the brakes on here - as with just about anywhere around the globe. We’re in a pretty good place in Australia in regards to Covid but we are in that place as movement between state borders is very tightly controlled. So travelling to do a house sit is limited. I’ll use this time to put some effort into our profile - it needs work! Thanks for your advice.
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