Please can home owners send a short note when declining a sitter. I ask this as I think it’s the polite way to go about it but also if it’s something in or not in the application or profile I can adjust accordingly. It doesn’t have to be too detailed even a quick we went with the first applicant or we prefer sitters who have photographs showing them with cats.
This puts our minds at rest.
If I decline an offer to sit I always send a note and get a pleasant reply saying thank you for letting us know
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@Crazydoglady - some homeowners are reluctant to give a reason for declining a sitter as they have had unpleasant responses. I agree a personal message would be nice but I don’t expect an explanation as to why I wasn’t chosen.
As a sitter I always reply to a homeowner’s invitation even if it doesn’t come with a message.
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I think it’s very nice if the homeowner messages to say something like “sorry we’re going with someone else” but I don’t really want or need further explanation. Everyone is so different that I’m not sure someone telling me why they picked someone else would lead me to change some aspect of my application/profile in a way that was guaranteed to lead to an increase in acceptance rate. I think it’d more likely give me a complex.
On balance I’d rather present us as we are and trust homeowners to pick us if they think we’d be good and move on if not.
Exception being if e.g. they went with a sitter theyve used before and/or would like us to apply for future sits. Then a heads up and small explanation is great as I won’t just reapply for different dates on a sit that’s declined us.
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We do send individual notes. However there isn’t necessarily a reason why a sitter isn’t chosen; though there usually is a reason why one sitter is chosen. If our current sitters hadn’t submitted an application we wouldn’t have had a problem choosing from the other applicants as each one brought something different.
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I don’t care if they send a reason. A decline doesn’t mean there was something wrong with your application, it may just mean they got more than one great applicant and had to choose one.
But, I do appreciate a polite note rather than just an auto-decline. It can just be something like, ‘thanks for applying, however we decided to go with another sitter’.
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@Crazydoglady I certainly agree that it would be nice but some folks are not too keen on sending rejection letters. As long as you are landing sits, it is best to not let the small things bother us or believe that it reflects an application needs improvement.
Just in case you didn’t see the thread, there have been recent discussions about what HOs look for or what info sitters are sending if you want some helpful tips on potential ways to improve applications. It is linked below.
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As a sitter, I also agree that it’s nice to receive some response rather than the auto decline. I just recently had an application declined for a previous sit where I received a great review. The couple said they were going with a previous sitter who their pets loved. I was curious to see who this previous sitter was so looked at their listing. The sitters had no previous review from these homeowners and only had two reviews in total so they obviously weren’t previous sitters which left me a bit baffled as to the reason for declining my application. I probably won’t apply for this sit again.
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@Globetrotter It is possible the the sitters sat for them previously through another platform and had just recently joined THS. It is also possible that the previously used sitters had to cancel and you are seeing the information on substitute sitters. That said, if you are interested in the sit, you may reconsider applying in the future.
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Never thought of that - thanks for shedding a new perspective on this as I wasn’t sure what to think.
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@Crazydoglady No reason is needed, we just ask the HOs to give us a decision in a timely fashion. Over the years we have found out that HOs are not always honest in their rejection note. We have been declined because they said they wanted a single person, but then went with another couple. We were declined because they were looking local person, but then went with an international couple. If you are looking for a peace of mind or ways to improve your profile after the sit ends look up who was selected as a sitter and if both parties left a review. That will be a lot more accurate information.
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To be honest, I normally send applications out with the understanding that it’s a bit of a numbers game (particularly now I’m targeting some more popular areas in my future travels) and don’t necessary expect feedback. It’s like job applications and dating apps these days; sometimes you’ve got to steel yourself for sending a lot out and just being patient.
That said, when I had only one (stellar!) review and had a few rejections with no explanation for sits I thought I’d be suitable for I did question myself a lot. Then I had an HO decline my application with a nice note that she thought I was qualified but she just went with someone else, and I really appreciated that.
So a perfunctory note with something to that effect feels like nice etiquette when declining an application. As a sitter I recently had to withdraw a few applications because I’d accepted a sit and I just copy pasted a one-liner explaining and wishing them luck, and it wasn’t hard.
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When we’ve been declined, I always write back to ask if there was anything in our profile that gave them pause or any feedback they could give. This was when we were new to the platform. I think we’ve been declined twice. One HO said nothing gave them pause, they just decided to go with a sitter they’d had before, which I understood. The other HO gave various points of feedback, which were actually helpful (that’s what made us switch from a single to a couple profile, etc.) So I don’t think there is harm in asking politely and if they never reply, that’s okay too. I don’t expect that every HO would want to sit there and give reasons, but if I were an HO and an applicant asked me, I’d probably share whatever my hesitation or reason was.
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Could be that the owners missed the deadline for submitting a review for the previous sitter, and that’s why you didn’t see one.
Not sure. The homeowners were very quick at giving me a review and the last sitters. The sitters didn’t mention anything either about ever having sat for them before. No big deal - I’ve moved on 