@Andrew, I’ve been thinking about this. As well as everything that everyone else has suggested, I have noticed that there are lots of sits advertised for London. If you’re prepared to apply for those, to get your first sit under your belt, do so. They are probably sits which would otherwise be taken by travelling Australians or Kiwis, so you can capitalise on the fact that they cannot travel into the UK right now. Hope this helps a little bit.
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Hi Andrew, you’re amazing to try to grow your time on THS. You’re doing everything right. I think many people wants reviews but the only way someone gets reviews is to house sit. I understand your frustration. I took a chance on a couple at the beginning of the year who were new at THS. I’m a flight attendant and have now had them house sit 3 times. I took a chance on them and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made!
Keep searching!!!
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Hi @Rpatrick3200 welcome to our community forum, thank you for your encouragement and great piece of advice for @Andrew and for sharing your THS success story, we are so happy to have you join our community conversation.
I did the same with a younger couple of sitters. I’d always chosen more mature and experienced sitters until an application dropped into my message box, one of 20+ all experienced and more mature sitters. it was beautifully written, expressed the most compelling reason for why they felt they the were the right sitters, it had warmth, personality and professionalism and jumped off the screen at me, I wanted to have a conversation with this couple and get to know them better, they had external references but no THS reviews … but after more connecting I knew they were right.
They sat my home for three months, it was immaculate when I left and exactly the same when I returned and we have remained friends ever since.
Andrew’s determination to be successful speaks volumes. These are different times for sitters and owners, pre-COVID I’m sure he would have been on sit number +1, 2 ,3
Thank you again for your words of positivity @Rpatrick3200 and welcome.
Angela and the Team
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Hi Andrew,
One very important thing is the photos attached to your profile. Photos of you showing genuine affection (hugging or close contact with the pet) and spontaneous looking interaction (not standing stiffly beside or over them) is important. Borrow a pet if you must, get them comfortable with you, take a few candid photos! Volunteer at a local shelter, take some pictures, even ask the program director for a reference afterwards!
As a HO we just hired mid-twenty aged sitters (unusual for me) because they wrote a lengthy, well written, compelling letter to us using our names and all our pet’s names! They talked about all their volunteer activities(while pursuing higher education degrees). There were pictures of them with different farm animals, showing them not afraid to get close and dirty 
And I have to say that when we wrote the acceptance letter to them, the adorable reply back stating how long and hard they had tried to get accepted, and them running through the house shouting, “We got it! We got it! We’ve been accepted to our first sit!!” Well that made us doubly happy that we had chosen them over several more experienced sitters!
Don’t give up, Opportunities will increase in the next few months. Melanie
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Exactly - homeowners want to know you read what they wrote and have the experience they need. When I say I need people with horse experience and people apply who don’t have any…they didn’t read it.
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I have 2 sits listed that I can’t get any apps for but I would be thrilled to have you come to Wisconsin Andrew!!!
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Hi Andrew! Where are you located or based out of, and where are you looking to do house sits?
Maria
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Maybe just a little far to travel for me!
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I’m in the North of England, and looking for sits of up to 1 week in mid/Northern England, Southern Scotland or Wales.
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@Angela-Community manager .
Could it be a good idea to create a section in the forum for HO who are looking for a sitter nowhere to be found after a certain numbers of days their assignment is posted ? So, all the sitters here could see it ?
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It has nothing to do with gender or age. As an owner also, I’ve had no problem hiring single, mature men. There may be alot of competition. Once you receive your first review, it should make it easier to get hired.
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I totally understand Andrew
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Thank you @Brigitte, we are always looking at options to help solve problems which may arise for owners and sitters. Thank you for your feedback and suggestion … we will discuss and see how workable it is and how it could help.
Thank you
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Spot on advice!
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I would also recommend finding a way to connect personally if you can. We are currently on a month long sit in Hawaii. The owner told us we were one of 30+ applicants they received in a matter of hours. They said in their listing they were a military family, so in my application I noted my husbands service in the Navy and that he had lived on Oahu for a while. Also, and what they said sealed the deal, one of their dog’s name is Tressel. Unusual, so I asked if he was named after the former football coach at Ohio State. I’m a big fan of Ohio State. The woman said they were so impressed that I made the connection, I immediately jumped to the top of the list and got the first call, where we clicked. Take a chance and ask about names. If I notice something in the decor of the home based on the photos I may comment. I once got a sit based in part on the fact that I referenced a Thonet Bentwood Rocker in one of their photos, which turned out to be a beloved family heirloom. They may be getting 20+ applicants, but a lot of them are sending generic, canned applications. So take some time to read and reply to their specific ad. The more personal you can be and make a connection based on something you read or see, the better your odds.
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I often ask folks about their dog or cat’s names as starts a conversation & keeps on going! I applied for a kitty sit recently & had never heard of such name before.
I read all the info provided & often feel i’m the only person who does 
.
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Same here Runnerc
It is very important for sitters to submit an application email that demonstrates that they have taken the time to read their entire post and profile. One would think that a sitter would want to know exactly what we are seeking and the duties involved, and of course any disqualifiers (such as smoking, bringing their own pets, or young children). I write in several places that we will not consider anyone with fewer than 10 reviews, yet time and time again I get applications from people with one or two or even zero reviews.
The first impression of how conscientious someone will be can be gleaned from their response. If they did not read my profile or post about the sit, I have no reason to believe that they will follow any instructions, therefore they have disqualified themselves (regardless of how many reviews they have)
Another thing I can advise against is telling a housesitter that you have another sitting commitment but because you would prefer their house sit, would cancel on the other people to sit at my home. This demonstrates poor character and a lack of ethics and disqualifies them immediately. As they say…if they would do it to someone else…they would do it to you.
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I totally agree with you Dawn. This is something we learned very early on, how important personal connection is. It’s reassuring, it shows you care, that you are both interested… and interesting. We also have several experiences of being offered sits through shared interests, and funnily enough the repeat sit we arrived at today, happened the first time because we discovered we’d previously house sat for her sister in another country. That came to light because they both had a cat with the same name, and we’d mentioned looking after that cat A great tip… thankyou for sharing.
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Wow…small world! I was applying for a sit a few months ago, received a notice when it was posted and immediately started reading the posting and writing my application. It took me about 20 minutes and by the time I hit apply, there were already 12 applicants. Most of those folks obviously didn’t have time to hardly read the posting, let alone send a thoughtful response. Yet I’ve heard from many homeowners that go with the first (or at least one of the first) applicants they receive. I get that they are busy people and reading through all of the applicants can be time consuming, but I would think you’d want the best fit for your pet, not just the person who hit “send” the quickest. I’m now trying to get a generic reply that I can personalize a bit more quickly to try to get in the first handful for those highly sought after sits.
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