We had recently applied for a popular sit where 50 other sitters had previously applied. It was a bit of a long shot but we figured that “you have to be in it to win it”!
Yesterday we realised that the sit listing was saying “Currently not in need of a sitter” implying that the home & pet owner has either selected a sitter or decided not to go away after all.
Whilst I can understand that the owner might not want to copy and paste a reply to each applicant, I would have thought that the THS app and/or website would have notified us and removed the application from our dashboard?
Yes, you should have gotten either a ping on your device and/or an autogenerated email saying something to the likes of "Sorry, you didn’t…"But don’t be discouraged, just keep moving. Apply to many sits as often as you like, one will click and pick you.
This has been discussed before on the Forum and it has happened occasionally to me. You sometimes don’t know why as the owner doesn’t always respond at all, which I find very discourteous but that’s sadly the way some people are. I have occasionally written a message to ask why I wasn’t responded to and/or why they no longer want a sitter. Sometimes I get a response…
As I understand it … once a host followed by a sitter hit accept button, a "Sorry but … " message is sent to other applicants.
Could the “Currently not in need of a sitter” info instead of “Sorry but…” message imply that the sitter hasn´t accepted the sit yet or the owner withdrew the ad or some other changes have been made?
=> Listings saying “Currently no sitter needed” can mean 3 things, either the HO’s changed their minds, or confirmed a sitter on THS, or paused the applications.
In that case, HO’s usually do that when they think they have enough good applicants and they want to take the time to choose wihin those applicants whithout having no ones.
=> PM’s Applications saying “This homeowner is currently not looking for a sitter.”, generally followed by an E-mail saying: “You weren’t successful this time…” can means 2 things, either the HO’s changed their minds or that they confirmed a sitter on the platform.
So in your case if you don’t have that message: This homeowner is currently not looking for a sitter." above your application in your inbox, it’s seems that either they changed their minds about getting a sitter, or they paused the applications.
Here are a few examples. I once had a HO pausing them in order to do a video call with me prior confirming on the platform, in the meantime on the listing it was saying “Currently no sitter needed”. Yesterday I got an invitation whom listing also says “Currently no sitter needed” but the invitation in my inbox was still valid, so I guess the HO’s also paused the applications.
This may mean they have stopped applicants as there are 50 plus already. It doesn’t mean they have made a chose yet. A prudent pet owner does that to give themselves time to look through all the applicants.
Fingers crossed, you haven’t been rejected yet. Good luck.
@robinwills I have had a similar experience, and likely others have too. I applied for a sit where we even had some messages back and forth and that I was asked if I could be flexible with dates, which I agreed was fine. I didn’t hear further and the date came and went with my most recent message showing as unread. The listing showed ‘currently not in need of a sitter’ at some late point. My decision was that I would not want to sit for that homeowner, and I will not submit any further applications to them. I understand there’s a simple one-click way to at least update/respond to all applicants, and I expect that level of courtesy and respect.
I will mention that a message can show as unread on the website if the homeowner reads messages on the app. The product team read the forum so are aware of this and that may be addressed at some point. For now, perhaps don’t assume that your message wasn’t read.
I can’t believe a HO wouldn’t Pause applications before allowing for 50 applicants, since it’s implausible they would earnestly consider that many before making a choice, and clearly no expectation to reply to each applicant. As a HO, doing that seems discourteous, clueless, or lazy. I always Pause applications as soon as I have a small handful of possible fits for the sit, and always reply to every applicant. In the unlikely event that I still don’t find a good fit in the pool I’ve received, I can unPause again to continue looking. TH has thoughtfully given us good tools to engage respectfully and create trusted owner-sitter relationships. As a Sitter, I’d see a HO with 50 applicants as a sit that is probably not a good fit for me. But that’s just me. Thanks for posting this.
There is something not right about this listing - I applied six months ago when there was 4-7 applications and my application was never read. The listing has now disappeared from the site.
