In the last few days I have had several homeowners invite me to sit. One sent me a personal message and I replied that I was interested. We are meeting face to face tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss, etc. But 2 of the invites did not have a personal message and when I went to check out their listing it indicated “not looking for a sitter”. How can they invite me, if it is not an active listing? Also, if I accepted the invite, how would I get credit for it. I guess I am really confused. I have been doing this for a while, I have many sits under by belt and I have never experienced this. I do have a few local folks who will contact me personally and check if I want to sit for them. And if I say yes, then they will list it and I will accept immediately so that they can remove it. Maybe I am over thinking this. Thanks for your time.
@islandgirl1947 Owners are being more proactive in searching for sitters, rather than just waiting for sitters to apply. Some owners send personalized invites - to one or more sitters - whereas others send them without a personalized message. Unless they specify that you are the only one they are inviting, and that they are waiting for your response, you should look at it as someone bringing their listing to your attention and asking you to apply, if it interests you.
Most of us would prefer a personalized invite (to sitters) or response (to owners), but for various reasons this doesn’t always happen.
Until you are invited, you accept, and the owner confirms, the sit is not officially confirmed. Perhaps check your calendar to make sure there’s a black line through the date range, as this is automatically generated once a sit is confirmed.
The ‘not looking for a sitter’ can mean many things. They could have invited many sitters and found a suitable one. If you had not yet applied, you would not be notified of this. Or they could have reached five applications, in which case the listing is paused that way. They could also have opted to cancel their listing.
Thank you!